How best to approach a new musical: cold or "spoiled"?

I've recently gotten interested in theater, and I have tickets to see Newsies and Once. I also hope to see Into the Woods (ha ha, long lines). In your opinion, is it better to see musicals cold, or should I listen to some of the numbers beforehand?

In my experience I have personally gotten more from a "cold" viewing my first time. There have been several times I have listened to music beforehand but when I have I am not really invested in it and couldn't really tell you what I just heard, so it is like I have gone to a performance cold. Once I have seen a show then I am able to more easily connect with the music. There have been a couple exceptions to this, but with those I have never been able to see a production of them at all, and at this point as much as I would like to see one, i do not either because I have crafted a vision in my head of what the show would look like and I know that my vision would not be the directors and I would not want to spoil mine.

With a musical, I would try to familiarize myself with some of the songs at least, especially a signature song that may be in the advertising, but I like to be surprised. But most I like to go into cold and discover it for myself.

Updated On: 6/5/12 at 11:26 AM

I think the key phrase by the OP is this: "I've recently gotten interested in theater...."

If you really are new to musical theater, then you should probably get cast albums and know the scores as well as possible before you go. For a lot of people (not all), it takes a little time to develop an ear to appreciate an entire evening of new music.

Once you do, however, there's nothing like the excitement of discovering a great score for the first time live in a theater.

I almost always go in spoiled unless we grab tickets day-of at TKTS or the box office. I get too excited about a show and want to know as much as possible. My most pleasantly surprising cold show was N2N. I knew I Miss The Mountains. Who didn't? But I didn't really know the story or the big twist. I normally see that stuff coming a mile away. Because of that, despite the show's flaws, it won me over. It was a true theatre experience and one of my favorites.

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For me, it really depends on the show.

For a comedy where the jokes are what makes the show (Spamalot, Ave. Q, Book of Mormon), I wouldn't want to go in being TOO familiar. I went in knowing practically every word to every song in Spamalot without having ever seen it and think I would've enjoyed it a lot more knowing less about it. Knowing when and where and how every joke lands wasn't as fun as hearing the jokes for the first time could've been.

For revivals I tend to either know everything about the show and don't mind or to learn everything I can about the show since the resources are available. It's usually the excitement of seeing the revival of the show live for the first time or the performances that are getting me into the theatre.

For new works, I like to go in cold, knowing nothing about what's going to happen. I knew a *little* too much about N2N when I saw it and was slightly disappointed and then vowed to never expose myself to too much about a new show before seeing it.

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I like and have always gone in cold to a new musical. For me, it takes away the fun of finding out whats going to happen next if I listen to it beforehand.

Updated On: 6/6/12 at 12:38 PM

The original poster joined in 2008 apparently and has a Follies marquee avatar, so I am gonna assume that experiencing a musical for the first time in a theatre won't be too alienating an experience...

Maybe so, but if he has to ask, I think my advice is still relevant.

Updated On: 6/6/12 at 01:46 PM

In this day and age it is very difficult but I love going into a musical not knowing anything.

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