"I heard it stinks." — Page 2

English import? Wasn't it a French import by way of Britain?

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At first, I thought I totally agreed with iluvtheatretrash but then I read Margo's post which had some very, very good & strong points in it. I'm on the fence here LOL.

While I agree with the original statements (except those about ticket prices, ticket prices really don't enter into what is truly being discussed here) there is something more I must add. Something that always drives me insane and it is very, very prominent on these boards.

The fact that when a show is an underdog everybody loves it, BUT as soon as the underdog goes main stream all you ever hear is "Oh, I hate that show," "Why is that show so popular, it's stupid," "When is (show title) closing?" Or... if a show is popular from the get-go it is automatically hated. Let me list a few for you and you will all shake your heads knowingly:

Phantom of the Opera
Les Miz
Rent
Wicked
Cats
The Producers
Spamalot
Oklahoma

among others to come in the future. And I'm sure there are plenty of examples I missed. And what theatre fans who subscribe to this method of trashing shows fail to realize is that if shows are not successful, especially in the main stream, then there will be no theatre to be a fan of. If producers aren't making money, then they won't be willing to spend money either.

And if some of you are shaking your heads "no" I've never hated a show just because it's popular then you may just be lying to yourself. Take it from me... I use to HATE Cats just because it was so mainstream. But now that I'm older I've come to realize that I hate Cats for so many other reasons. But not because it's popular.

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great points gypsy, bit that's really not what this was started out as! We all are guilty here of "drifting" off the original intent of this thread, including me!

I believe it started out as a callout to those who say things like "I heard it stinks" when they haven't even seen the show, and then try to keep others away from the show because of someone else's opinion that they heard.

I agree with you about not seeing shows that don't interest you. I have no interest in seeing All shook up. It doesn't interest me. I won't waste my money on it. BUT..I also won't go into All Shook Up threads and bash it because of what I've heard other people say about it. And, as Iluvtheatertrash pointed out, many people seem to think this is perfectly ok to do! (I am not talking about you, or anyone else on this thread, by the way!)

benjamingullet, I, too have hated a show for it's simply being popular! It's a common occurance on this boards, whether people want to admit it or not.

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"don't we try out a new hairdresser based on your friends friends friend who had a rave about the dude or dudette who cut her hair?"

Poor example. You can look at your friend's hair and judge for yourself if you like the quality of work before spending your own money.

"ticket prices really don't enter into what is truly being discussed here"

Sure it does. The price of the ticket and the offers of discount go hand-in-hand with word of mouth. When you hear a show is supposed to be great and your interested has been piqued, then ticket price can often be a deciding factor. If you were interested in a show, but the word of mouth was negative, would you still be inclined to go if the cheapest ticket available was $95? $60? $45? Most likely, your willingness to buy a ticket will increase as the price drops. Now if you are interested in a show and the word of mouth is that it is a not-to-be-missed-once-in-a-lifetime event, then you are more likely to spend more money. What I don't understand is how a show like Lennon justifies a $101.25 ticket price in the same league with other shows involving huge casts, huge sets, hundreds of costumes and full orchestras. To me, that's one reason NOT to pay full price, even if I was interested in the show, which I have never been.

"Helloooo...mamma mia much? Joe Wanker came by way of the Big Apple all the way from Boise, Idaho....and saw that Abba concert...went back to Boise and told Ms. Wanker, Deena Wankerette, and Michael McWanker their neighbor, that if they are ever in the big city, they've just got to see this show called Mamma Mia, and thusly an empire was born."

Hellloooo...Mammia Mia was already a megahit in London that generated tons of buzz and favorable reviews long before it reached NYC. ABBA is the single biggest pop group in the world. How much ticket sales on Broadway are made up of international tourists? Mamma Mia really didn't need any word of mouth in the US to be successful. It only needed to open.

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Updated On: 9/15/05 at 03:40 PM