HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
#1HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 2:48pm
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/09-2013/broadway-premiere-of-hedwig-and-the-angry-inch-sta_65980.html
Updated On: 9/9/13 at 02:48 PM
#2HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 2:54pm
I think Neil Patrick Harris is fantastic, I look forward to this.
8 Musicals.
Updated On: 9/9/13 at 02:54 PM
Jonwo
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/16/06
#2HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 2:56pmInteresting they've picked the Belasco but I guess there's slim pickings for theatres available in the Spring.
#3HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 3:05pmThat house is way too big-very disappointing choice. That and the best seats to enjoy the show will all be premium. Ugh.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#4HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 3:23pmI saw Passing Strange from the back row in the orchestra and Women on the Verge from the mezzanine and it all felt very intimate to me.
#5HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 3:30pm
i think the belasco is the perfect venue for this show...
looking forward to seeing it!
#6HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 3:45pmI saw WOTV from the back and I felt removed and that was a big show. Hedwig is so nuanced.
#7HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 4:34pmThey picked the Belasco? They must want it to fail...
#8HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 4:55pm
BettyBoy,
You say "way too big" but where would you have them go?
The Belasco is only slightly more than 1,000 seats, and approx 1/3 are in the balcony. That makes it roughly the size of the Booth in the orchestra and mezzanine (and the Booth orchestra is actually larger, I believe).
If a theatre of around 1,000 is too large, that leaves the Helen Hayes, the Booth, the Golden, the Lyceum and the Kerr.
The Helen Hayes is booked at the moment and the show would have little to no shot at recoupment as a limited engagement in a theatre that small. The Kerr, the Lyceum and the Golden have shows for the Fall and while it's likely one or more may be free in the Spring, a) they wouldn't be able to rely on that now if they wanted to announce the show well in advance and b) the theatre owners may already have a show committed to those theatres that simply hasn't been announced yet.
That leaves the Booth, which I'm guessing either wasn't offered to them (since it's much sought-after because of its intimacy), or the economics of the show didn't work in such a small theatre.
To be clear, I share your concerns about "Hedwig" being in pretty much any Broadway-sized space. But of the options available, and being governed in all likelihood by Neil Patrick Harris's schedule, I think the producers were smart to grab the best of what was available and lock it in now.
#9HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 5:18pm
Why Liff?
He's cute and all, but, oh wait.
#10HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 5:54pmI'm excited that Spencer Liff gets a shot. I think his routines on So You Think You Can Dance are consistently solid. However, I could be wrong as I’ve only seen the movie, but there doesn’t seem much space for choreography in the show. Am I wrong?
#11HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 5:55pmTickets aren't on sale for over a month, so it's not impossible that they would switch theaters should another one (i.e. Longacre) become available. That happened a few years ago with next to normal and SPEED-THE-PLOW with both switching theaters after their initial announcements.
#12HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 6:19pm
Curtain--have you watched Spencer's stuff on So You Think You Can Dance? He's turned into quite a good photographer.
Criticizing a dancer for being cute is like criticizing a puppy for being cute. They can't help it. They just are.
#13HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 6:36pm
I think there are houses that feel smaller and houses that feel larger. To me, The Booth, Helen Hayes and The Golden feel small. Maybe its the configuration or the construction, but Belasco feels bigger.
Actually, Im not sure any Broadway house will do justice to Hedwig for me. Someone in the last row of the mezzanine isn't going to walk out with the same experience as some in the front orchestra.
I think the conceptualization is all wrong. Hedwig is down on his luck, playing dives and the rapport with the audience echos that. It's imperative. This is what you get when you throw a "star" in the role. Unless they are re-imagining the piece, I'm having a hard time with this. People in the mezz are just going to feel removed.
#14HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 7:01pm
Actually, Im not sure any Broadway house will do justice to Hedwig for me. Someone in the last row of the mezzanine isn't going to walk out with the same experience as some in the front orchestra.
Agree.
But I'm excited anyway. Already planning my Hedwig/Cabaret double header.
RW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#15HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 7:49pmThe website says that it is a limited engagement. Interesting.
#16HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 7:53pmYes Joey, I like his stuff on SYTYCD But HEDWIG is hardly a dance show.
#17HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 8:01pm
I think the conceptualization is all wrong. Hedwig is down on his luck, playing dives and the rapport with the audience echos that. It's imperative. This is what you get when you throw a "star" in the "role. Unless they are re-imagining the piece, I'm having a hard time with this. People in the mezz are just going to feel removed. "
Exactly- I can just see the people in the back row of the orchestra wondering what Hedwig said to the person in the front row when he checked himself in the hand mirror and asked "How does my hair look?"
Oy, most of the show is made of little side remarks. And if they change it in any way, I'm afraid to see what it becomes.
Although I have such a close relationship with this show, I have to admit to lots of trepidations about it going Bway.
#18HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 8:05pm
"But HEDWIG is hardly a dance show."
Angry Inch, Exquisite Corpse, Sugar Daddy
#19HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 8:28pmSeems many on here know HEDWIG from its opened-up film adaptation completely unaware that on stage HEDWIG is performed as a monologue during a club date. There are no sets. The entire play is "told" to us by Hedwig while he's on stage with his band. That's it. The play was magical at the itty-bitty Jane Street Theatre which was basically the basement of the Jane Street Hotel so the intimacy was what really made the experience. The film adaptation brought to life the things Hedwig spoke about and was a completely different incarnation. I guess they are going to expand this new production to include choreography as the original had none. My interest has sadly diminished in this Broadway incarnation as I saw the original Off-Broadway over 10 times and still hold it dear to my heart.
#20HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 8:42pm
Close Bordy Fosse, but the Jane St. was originally the BALLROOM of the RIVERVIEW Hotel. And at 300 capacity, it wasn't really an itty bitty off broadway house.
It did have quasi choreography in the numbers I mentioned above.
#21HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/9/13 at 11:18pm
I'm inclined to give them a chance rather than dismissing it based on assumptions gleaned from the size of the theatre and the hiring of a choreographer.
It's one of the original producers producing it, the authors are likely still very much involved, it's a star who is a real theatre person and who seems to really want to do this right -- for all of those reasons, I'm going to try to be optimistic about this one unless/until given a real, concrete reason not to be.
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#22HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/10/13 at 1:12amI'm totally a newbie to the show, so forgive me, but are there other characters or is it basically NPH and the band? Do we know for sure that they are expanding the piece? It doesn't say he's doing choreography, but more "musical staging." Maybe they just brought him on as selling point?
#23HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/10/13 at 7:28amI think this is shaping up to be an excellent evening in the theater.
#24HEDWIG takes the Belasco starting 3/29, w/ Spencer Liff as choreographer
Posted: 9/10/13 at 8:29am
"I'm inclined to give them a chance rather than dismissing it based on assumptions gleaned from the size of the theatre and the hiring of a choreographer. "
How many of you have seen it in a larger venue? I have. twice. That's what I'm basing much of my opinion on.
BTW, have you seen it on stage, av. bway nut?
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