Happy Opening "Next to Normal!!! — Page 2

I wouldn't worry about a Broadway transfer for this drab little show. It will have its little run, probably record a little cast album, and then mercifully vanish into well-deserved oblivion.

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I found a nice little interview with Alice Ripley about the show: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/02/actress_alice_ripley_on_fallin.html

I don't think this show is perfect (no show is- but this one is better than many, many, many others) but I wish the cast a great show tonight.

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Updated On: 2/13/08 at 05:33 PM

Wow, you'd think this was the only show ever to have stairs or slippery surfaces or... *gasp* running! The melodrama from fans is going to get old reaaaally fast.

Anyway, here's to fingers crossed for good reviews for this fantastic little show.




lol, no I'm really not that worried about it. But, no joke, this show, out of all the shows I've ever seen, is probably the one that has most potential for injury based on the set and staging. It's not even so much that it has 3 levels and stairs. It's the way they move around those three levels and stairs so quickly, and the fact that sometimes the stairs are moving. And the way they like.. swing around poles and stuff haha. There's just a LOT of times where you go "wow, if they fell doing that it could be disasterous". Again, really more for Aaron than for anyone else.

But yeah, I'm not too worried. I'm sure all the necessary safety precautions have been taken and such!



ANYWAY:
gahhh I cannot wait for reviews!! *prays they'll be great like the show*

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No that's from the "Catch Me I'm Falling" number

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^shoot.. I'm actually not positive which scene that is from. But I DO know it's not from Feeling Electric- Feeling Electric is very, VERY distinctive. Trust me, if puctures appear from that number, you will KNOW it's that (hint: TONS and TONS of lighting from the back, and the illusion that she's laying on a hospital table)

edit: YES. Catch Me I'm Falling. That's it! haha. I totally knew that :P

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Updated On: 2/13/08 at 06:04 PM

A little close, but you should have a full view.

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The theater is what, 300 seats? Even the back isn't exactly far away.

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In a big Broadway house, I can see that being an issue -- but at a place like Second Stage, saying that you can't see facial expressions from the back of the house is just going to unnecessarily make people worry.

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Hah. Why do we even pay attention to him anymore?

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Here's the thread where we can collect all these reviews:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=957255&dt=0&boardid=1

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Exactly snl ~ it's the staging. I'm sure there are precautions, but it's still kind of nerve-wracking to watch some of them (when Aaron lets fly and swings all the way around one of the poles removing his feet from the floor ~ he did that once when I saw the show), or when Alice jumps on the movable stairs during "Didn't I See This Movie" (in slipper socks...granted with the little traction thingies, but those can be hit or miss) and even though Aaron's holding them, they still move a bit. But yeah ~ it's mainly joking with the no break a leg thing like there was around Xanadu. :P

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If you think a movable staircase is dangerous, did you sit there holding your breath through the entirety of Tarzan? Moveable staircases are like, staples of high school theater. They're not exactly the height of risky tech design. IMHO, it seems not so much a concern for safety precaution as it does an attempt to make everything out to be soooooo much more dangerous than it really is in order to put the performers on some irrational pedestal. But whatever.

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Okay, but they're flying. Versus standing on a platform with wheels. If you're concerned for the safety of actors, it'd be much more worth the energy to worry about people who are suspended from wires, not standing on things that have been used in the theater for ages. Hell, they have movable ladders in bookstores. They're not something to get all "OMG I'M GONNA REBEL AGAINST TRADITION!!!" about. That's all. =P

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