Go into show blind or music memorized?

When you see a broadway musical do you prefer going in blind or having listened to the cast album many times?

Depends on the show, but have a general idea of the music so you know if you'll like it or not. Simple.

To me it depends. I normally watch a musical via rush or lottery or discounted ticket the first time I see a show and I always see those blind (when paying less than $50 I'm ok with that.)

If I loved the experience, I'd then pay full price ticket (or discounts if there are any out there) to see it again from the seat that I want to see it from. By then i would have listened to the cast album more or do more research on the show if the cast album isn't out yet; thus making the experience 'worth' the price I paid for it in my mind.

The first time I saw Hamilton was before I knew the music. I adored it, but there is so much coming at you, word-wise, song-wise, performance-wise-- you really had to concentrate to get the story. Seeing it again having basically memorized the cast recording was a total different experience. I could just sit back and let the show's total brilliance (and staging) just wash over me.

Owen22 said: "The first time I saw Hamilton was before I knew the music. I adored it, but there is so much coming at you, word-wise, song-wise, performance-wise-- you really had to concentrate to get the story. Seeing it again having basically memorized the cast recording was a total different experience. I could just sit back and let the show's total brilliance (and staging) just wash over me."

^ my best friend said the exact same thing. I went in knowing the music, and therefore the story, and he went in blind. He said he didnt really enjoy it cause he was focusing so hard on trying to listen to what was happening.

For me, I prefer to go in and just enjoy the experience without worrying too much. It's almost always a fun surprise anyway.

That being said, I listened the AVENUE Q recording for a long time before I saw the show off-Broadway and seeing it in person didn't diminish the music or my appreciation of it. So, perhaps it depends on the show and how one relates to it?

This is a conversation I have often with my friends, and I usually tend to be in the minority, but I hate going into shows blind. Every show in recent memory that I've seen going in blind I truly have not enjoyed as much as ones where I'm prepared. When I'm seeing a show blind, I spend so much time analyzing the story and trying to understand the lyrics and plot, and I form split-second opinions that taint my experience.

For example: I loathed Mean Girls when I saw it in previews. I hated the music and the storytelling. However, now that I'm extremely familiar with the cast album and have accepted the terms of the world the writers built, I'm much more willing to enjoy it as it is. The same can be said for Dear Evan Hansen, in my case.

So, yeah. I hate going into musicals blind. Between not being able to catch all the lyrics and keep up really effects my experience.

The only show I regret going in blind for was The Great Comet.

Depends. With an intensely lyric-heavy score like Hamilton or Pacific Overtures, I find that knowing the score is a huge advantage especially if like those two shows, the score is sung-through.

If it's a more old-fashioined kind of book show with very different kind of lyrics, I'd prefer to go blind. A Bock and Harnick type show for instance, in which the songs are contained within book scenes and the lyrics and throughline of them is transparent at first hearing. Of course, I grew up listening to those scores long before I saw those shows, but...