K-POP On Broadway - P/reviews & News Thread- Page 10

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 11/8/22 at 8:44pm

If it really is closing that soon..that hurts a little. I loved this show and (outside of the people on this board) I don’t know anyone who didn’t enjoy it. 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 11/8/22 at 9:37pm

YvanEhtNioj said: "If it really is closing that soon..that hurts a little. I loved this show and (outside of the people on this board) I don’t know anyone who didn’t enjoy it."

Outside of people on this board, how many people do you know that actually saw it?

It seems there isn't enough of an audience to drum up any real positive or negative word-of-mouth.

[Phillyguy]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:33am

I’m sad it’s closing so soon, but not surprised. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. The story was slow and had too much dialogue, dances were robotic, and sound was lackluster. 

Updated On: 11/9/22 at 12:33 AM

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:51am

Was at this evening’s performance. I went in with zero expectations or preconceived notions. I have next to no familiarity with the k-pop genre, and knew nothing about the show’s previous productions/iterations. 

The good:

I had an absolute blast. The music was phenomenal and really carried me through the show. Not once did I even consider sneaking a glance at my watch (even with the lackluster book - which I’ll discuss later). 

The cast is wildly talented. A couple of bum notes, but they are singing and dancing their hearts out and really selling it. I was rooting for every one of them.  

The audience all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Lots of cheering and dancing in seats. I was completely charmed by an elderly woman seated behind me (82 years old she told me during intermission) who was having the time of her life and was quite literally waving her cane in the air at several points during the the final act.

Patrick Park made his Broadway debut and clearly had some friends in the audience, because they went wild every time he appeared on stage or was featured in a number. This is the type of show that actually benefits from behavior like that - so their enthusiasm was most welcome and honestly it was just really endearing to see them supporting their friend. He did a great job and I had to call this out.  

The not so good:

The book. My god does some of that book drag. Others have put it far more eloquently than I ever could, so I won’t belabor the point too much. All I will say is I don’t even know how to go about salvaging it at this point. The show is its best when these performers are performing - and while I really appreciate the importance of what the show is trying to highlight during their book scenes - I think 50% of the dialogue could go and they’d still get the same message across. 

The sound design. I needed it LOUDER. I needed it BUMPING and PULSING. I needed to feel that music. I felt like I was watching a concert but not hearing a concert. I don’t know what they did at MJ but this show is in desperate need of that type of sound design. 

Empty seats. Lots of them. I could see them. The performers could see them. Obviously never ideal, but since the audience is illuminated throughout I kept looking around and seeing all the gaps which occasionally took me out of the show.  

The marketing. This show is selling woefully and I’d hazard a guess a lot of that can be blamed on the marketing (or lack thereof). Look, this show isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea - that much we all know. But that’s the thing about theater: it doesn’t have to be for everyone. But it DOES need to find its audience and be for someone. And their audience is out there. K-pop has become massive in America and continues to expand here. But people don’t know this show exists. A colleague of mine is a massive fan of k-pop and when I mentioned I was seeing the show tonight she literally didn’t even know it was happening. How is this possible?

As others have mentioned - why have they not been all over TikTok? I just checked their account - they’ve got maybe ten videos and just shy of 2500 followers. Just as an example, BTS (who, granted, are one of the biggest bands in the world), have 54 million followers on TikTok - and I am sure some of those 54 million followers are in the NYC area. There’s an audience there. They don’t seem to be making an effort to find it - and I am wondering if that tells us all we need to know, which is that they’re planning on it closing and don’t want to invest the money to market it. 

My only question then, is why would they film B-roll tomorrow if they weren’t potentially investing in some sort of marketing? Perhaps someone more in the know has some insights there. 

Those quips aside, I had a smile on my face the entire time and will be recommending it to several friends. And I definitely plan to see it once more after it’s frozen.  

tl;dr. Went in with no expectations. Had a fantastic time watching this supremely talented cast perform, despite the poor book and disappointing sound design. Hope it finds its audience but that unfortunately seems unlikely. Thrilled to see something unlike anything else I’ve ever seen on Broadway. So let’s please keep trying to push the boundaries of what “Broadway” means and is in 2022, and what it can mean and become in the future. 

Updated On: 11/9/22 at 12:51 AM

[Wick3]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 8:13am

Yup my friend told me he’s going to be in the audience this afternoon for the B-roll shoot. 

I also saw the show last night and yes Patrick Park got the biggest shoutouts during his intro! So happy for his debut!

Im really glad they changed the order of the finale concert and have MwE sing “Phoenix” after RTMIS and F8 do their numbers (when I had seen this show a few weeks ago MwE performed first.)

As far as marketing goes, I have seen some of the group numbers but none of the solos. Zachary Noah Piser and Luna are amazing singers and can get interest to a different group of people.

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 8:28am

jimmycurry01 said: "YvanEhtNioj said: "If it really is closing that soon..that hurts a little. I loved this show and (outside of the people on this board) I don’t know anyone who didn’t enjoy it."

Outside of people on this board, how many people do you know that actually saw it?

It seems there isn't enough of an audience to drum up any real positive or negative word-of-mouth."

Several actually. It’s getting a good amount of hype with the gays - similar to Six. 

[BJR]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 8:40am

Hard to market when your returns aren't giving you money to spend. You can only capitalize so much.

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 10:37am

Canceling a performance to shoot b-roll? Jeez. 

[Lola Getz2]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 11:00am

I can totally understand the pro-shot being produced. I am sure there is world-wide interest in this show on some level, and if this is closing soon, they might be able to recoup some by selling the rights, (think Diana.) Also, with all the money, time, and energy spent on this production, it is understandable why they would want to produce it; not financially, but for posterity. I am surprised more shows are not pro-shot if the producers have deep enough pockets. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:00pm

But unlike Diana, this is a show to be EXPERIENCED in person. Part of the major appeal is the immersive factor and the fact you can feel the theatre VIBRATE when the music starts.

Thats a quality that would get lost in a pro-shot and why the GMA performance was a bit disappointing for me (aside from not giving Luna a chance to shine)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:01pm

How do they use the space? I loved how Fun Home had the set rise from the stage floor. 

[JanMaxwellsBag]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:06pm

quizking101 said: "But unlike Diana, this is a show to be EXPERIENCED in person. Part of the major appeal is the immersive factor and the fact you can feel the theatre VIBRATE when the music starts."

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I sure as hell vibrated when Diana punched that mirror. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:07pm

I won’t speak for anyone else, but I think it was a thrill seeing both KPOP and Diana in person. 

[Lola Getz2]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:09pm

Quick question. Is there a difference between a pro-shot and a B-roll? 

[JanMaxwellsBag]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:12pm

Lola Getz2 said: "Quick question. Is there a difference between a pro-shot and a B-roll?"

I would say all b roll is proshot, but not all proshots are b roll. B Roll is usually to be played over news segments or used in commercials. But often times when people say “proshot” they are referring to a complete video recording of a show, for public consumption. The films of Hamilton, Come From Away and the aforementioned Diana are all recent examples of “proshots”(which is short for Professionally Shot, just in case anyone is out of the loop). Any show filmed for PBS or National Theatre Live are also proshots. 

Updated On: 11/9/22 at 12:12 PM

[Lola Getz2]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 12:45pm

Thanks, Jan. So which is it for K-Pop? Will this just be for promotional use only or streaming like Hamilton or Come From Away? Do we know?

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 4:41pm

RippedMan said: "How do they use the space? I loved how Fun Home had the set rise from the stage floor."

Long stage with some odd stairs at the back that can extend out across the stage (at one point there is actually a very STUNNING visual moment where they carry Mwe across the stage as she belts the **** out of a song). HOWEVER, I did not mention this before, they are not normal stairs and once or twice when people were walking up and down them they looked very uneasy getting up and down them. I would think with more use of the steps, the more natural using them would become.

The do make use of the lift still though in the middle of the stage. Whenever there is a flashback, they use the lift to raise the actors and whatever set pieces for that scene (a sofa, a boombox, a traveling trunk, etc) in and out.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 11/9/22 at 4:46pm

Lola Getz2 said: "Thanks, Jan. So which is it for K-Pop? Will this just be for promotional use only or streaming like Hamilton or Come From Away? Do we know?"

It's just a b-reel shoot so just for promo use. They will only only film select songs or scenes in the show. Not the full thing. A proshot takes a lot more time, effort, and money to produce. Something Kpop really does not have with the look of their grosses. I am so sad about this show's downward spiral. The longer I have sat thinking of it, the more in love with it I am. I only hope we get a cast recording out of it. It's score is fantastic.
 

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 2:41am

They dropped the TV performance version of This Is My Korea on streaming: 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1ynBeF3pqDpbhunJ0rDbQm?si=0nhraVQ5SFWG-Ab9VripVg

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 4:24am

short of getting raves this is closing November 27th

[Ensemble1665759202]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 12:42pm

Sounds like there's a cast recording coming in the next few months which is fun! Think they probably should have done the recording sooner before opening next week to build some hype, but we'll see what happens.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 12:45pm

Does anyone think they have the wrong theater for this? Circle in the Square really works for some productions but this doesn't seem like one of them. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 2:43pm

Haven’t seen it, but I’d think the immersive atmosphere and the thrust stage add to the feel rather than a traditional theater. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 2:56pm

Sutton Ross said: "Does anyone think they have the wrong theater for this? Circle in the Square really works for some productions but this doesn't seem like one of them."

The only better theater would be if they transformed the space to be more like the off-Broadway set up, but I'd say Circle in the Square probably houses this show better than any proscenium theater would.

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/11/22 at 2:58pm

Sutton Ross said: "Does anyone think they have the wrong theater for this? Circle in the Square really works for some productions but this doesn't seem like one of them."

Absolutely not. I think this is the ONLY theatre this would work in given the immersive atmosphere. Not only this would not work in a proscenium staging, but also all other Broadway theatres are much larger and would probably swallow it