"Honeymoon in Vegas" Preview Thread- Page 5

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 9:59am

Saw it the other evening. It was a great deal of fun at Paper Mill. A lot of that fun is still there, but the pressure of Broadway seems to be looming over them. I hope they settle into it during previews and wish them only the best.

In other news, I was seated behind Constantine Marquis. He has some of the worst theatre etiquette I've ever seen. (As do the group he was with.) Texting, tweeting, talking, climbing over seats -- all while the performance was going on. Pretty sad.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 10:20am

Who is Constantine Marquis?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 10:52am

"Because Lord knows they haven't had any time to do that already, despite a full-scale production a few minutes from Broadway that happened more than a year ago and a full workshop three years ago."

Who gives a ****. Its a whole different story when they are finally in front of audiences. They just need to find their groove, and listen to what gets the laughs. They just started previews and have over a month of rehearsals and previews before opening. It was awesomeeee at paper mill and I'm sure they're gonna get the energy again

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 10:56am

"It was awesomeeee at paper mill and I'm sure they're gonna get the energy again"

Energy is not the problem. No matter how many Es you put in awesome.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 11:01am

Well whatever the problem is! I bet its gonna be great on opening night. They have flying elvis's :)

[newintown]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 11:14am

"Its a whole different story when they are finally in front of audiences."

What were they in front of at the workshop and the Paper Mill production? Anchovies? Or maybe just a few cranky kids who spell "awesome" with four "e"s?

The old MGM-style myth of the show that miraculously transforms in those last 6 weeks of previews (after years of development) rarely comes true in real life (note that I say "rarely," rather than "never"). It might be advisable to recall that this team (producers and creatives) doesn't have an enormous track record of hits to their credit.

But if believing in myths and fairy tales is what makes one happy, I say keep on keeping on.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 11:21am

LOL wtf was that newintown? Did i do something to offend you? Clearly, YOURE the cranky one. No they were in front of audiences at Paper Mill, and it was great! People enjoyed it including Brantley. The point is that they are not at Paper Mill anymore, they are on Broadway (even if paper mill is only 30 minutes away). And you can't tell me that every broadway show is perfect when they start previews. Thats why they have this period, to fix everything before opening. And things do change drastically during previews so idk wtf you're talking about

Updated On: 11/21/14 at 11:21 AM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 11:27am

"myths and fairy tales"

How about myths and hymns? Oh, wait, wrong unsuccessful songwriter.

But seriously, I think the myth is actually a bit different from the one stated, because i do not think anyone is trying to meaningfully fix anything, because Mr. Brown in particular never thinks anything is really broken and he somehow always manages to find folks to work with that leave that myth/fairy tale undisturbed. I have not seen the show so I don't know what if anything needs fixing, but I feel confident we need not reach the issue of whether it could theoretically be done.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 11:48am

^ Very true. I highly doubt they are actually going to use this preview period to make changes. It's probably pretty frozen as is.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 12:20pm

The last two JRB shows underwent big (13) and moderate (Bridges) changes during previews, so I don't know why you think he's against changing his shows/scores during the preview period. Songs were cut from both of those productions in early previews, so it's not like he refuses to have his scores touched.

I think the book needs some work, namely punching it up with a few more jokes, and the pacing of some of the bits needs to be worked out, and I don't see why this creative team would be unwilling to make the changes.

I don't know JRB personally, and I know there are rumors about his ego, but you certainly can't find evidence of it from his last few Broadway outings.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 12:41pm

Personally, I've never seen a Broadway show in the last 20 years undergo a truly substantive change in previews - as an example, I'm thinking of the case of replacing "Penny In My Pocket" with "Before The Parade Passes By" in Hello, Dolly, or (on a slightly less extreme level) replacing "Love Is In The Air" with "Comedy Tonight" in Forum (admittedly these changes happened before Broadway, but only briefly so, in the period out of town that now happens in town). Something that requires a major rethinking of structure, set, costumes, and meaning of the show. Today, it's mostly moving songs around or replacing a song with something that's only superficially different.

[itsahopi]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 12:45pm

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed out that they released the cast album the day before first preview. This doesn't appear to be a production we're going to see change much. I could be wrong.

[broadfan327]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 12:54pm

Jason stood next to my aisle at the end of the show, and I saw he had a pad of paper and notes written on a page in his hands.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 12:58pm

Who knows? It may be a huge it. They're pretty sure to get at least a positive nod from the Times, who don't have much of a track record for re-evaluation.

But there's nothing wrong with acknowledging the obstacles: a familiar but not iconic source, no real stars (Danza showed with The Producers that he's not a ticket seller), a songwriter who has yet to write a show that has caught on with Broadway audiences, lead producers without extensive Broadway musical success, and a bookwriter with little theatre experience.

None of this guarantees failure, of course. But it can legitimately give the rational observer cause for skepticism.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 1:04pm

13 recorded the OBCR before the show started previews and they still cut two numbers and altered lyrics and sections of others.

I get what you're saying, newintown. Most of the changes made nowadays a completely cosmetic, if changes are made at all. I saw The Last Ship again last night and I only noticed a handful of minor changes from the first preview.

Still, songs are still still cut and replaced. Scenes are rewritten and supporting characters are altered and/or dropped. Maybe the changes don't have the same magic results that "Before The Parade Passes By" had on Dolly, but there were plenty of shows back then too that made (large) changes and the final effect remained the same.

Cry-Baby, A Tale of Two Cities, 13, Bridges, Rocky and First Date all cut and/or replaced songs during previews. Maybe most of these shows were doomed from the start and it was just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic, but some creators do attempt to make meaningful changes- and I count the cutting of a song as a meaningful change.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 1:14pm

Technology has certainly erected a significant roadblock to major changes in previews. I think newintown has hit most of the main grounds for skepticism. Yes, there are changes made, but the minds seem closed (for whatever reason) to actually processing a fundamental re-evaluation based on what is heard from the audience. And that pad you see most likely contains notes for the actors or musicians rather than the writer.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 1:16pm

"...there were plenty of shows back then too that made (large) changes and the final effect remained the same."

Very true - I was thinking of the firing of Jean Fenn from Sail Away and combining her role with Stritch's, which still didn't make the show a hit (Leap of Faith performed a similar thing between its CA production and Broadway, didn't it? Also to no avail).

I'm afraid that I don't agree that merely cutting or changing a song is necessarily meaningful - I think of the replacement of 2 songs in Grey Gardens as merely moving a vase of flowers a few inches ("Marry Well" for "Being Bouvier," and "Goin' Places" for "Better Fall Out of Love" - I didn't find either change to have any meaning other than a desperate wish to "fix" - and I'd add that I didn't see that the score needed "fixing" at Playwrights; the new songs were just as good as what they replaced, but not better, and I still enjoyed the show enormously). A meaningful change (to me) significantly alters the meaning or tone of a character, a moment, an act, a show.





Updated On: 11/21/14 at 01:16 PM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 1:50pm

I don't think a change has to "significantly alter" something to be meaningful: sometimes, all it needs to do is clarify or even simplify. But when a show ends up not working for fairly commonly accepted reasons, one has to conclude either (a) that the creatives were not paying attention or (b) didn't know how to fix it.

[HBBrock]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 1:51pm

Question for those familiar with this theatre:

We have tickets dead center Orchestra Row K. I know the mezzanine overhang is very low and starts close. Has anyone sat in these seats? Will we miss anything from the overhang?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 2:09pm

Im still hoping that this show is great, and does well on Broadway

[jamielovesthebway]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 2:12pm

PLEASE BRING BACK THE FUN!!!!!!!

I loved Honeymoon when I saw it at Papermill and feel that it still has the potential to be THE FUN, toe tapping show of the Season - but after seeing it this week I feel that they can bring back some of the fun & charm that it had, especially in the Act One.

I love the score, the band is great and you can tell the actors are doing their best with what they have been given to work with, but the book and choreography needs work.

Speaking with several friends that saw it at Papermill & again in previews, we all felt that they have taken out the supporting character/ensemble vignettes that helped to move along the story in Act One. Instead they have the ensemble as "filler" in awkward choreography or sitting on stage, both to fill space.

I miss the charm of the couples in the park in the opening number in Act One and the scene with the pregnant "frenemy" running into Betsy. Although brief exchanges, these things helped to move the story along and gives a bit of variety and depth, which is desperately needed in Act One.

Act Two was in much better shape, except again for some of the choreo. The story moved along nicely and the fun was there!

I hope they can fix these things by taking a step back and remembering what worked in the earlier version and putting them back into the show! It really was much more fun and you will have a hit on your hands b/c I do love the show!!

[broadfan327]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 2:41pm

I sat in the center of row J last night and there was no overhang, so I can't imagine row K will be a problem.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 4:02pm

Technology really has become the biggest enemy to improving a show in previews. Once that set is built and all the cues are in place the show might as well be frozen. All you can basically do is make cuts. Adding anything new becomes a near impossibility. I remember at the first preview of Ghost thinking, well with this set even if they wanted to make changes this thing is staying put.

One of the best significant changes I can think of in recent memory was the cutting of the opening number of Gentleman's Guide and major overhaul of the first 15 minutes of dialogue. It was a wonder what fixing the opening sequence did for that show.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/21/14 at 4:34pm

cues can and often are changed all the way through, but the sets on some shows have become such engineering projects that even by the start of rehearsals major changes become cost-prohibitive.

[Patash]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 7:34am

I found it surprising that discount codes go all the way to mid February! I just booked tickets -- side section on the aisle row J at discount for MLK weekend mid January.