Kelly Ripa's plea to save THE PIRATE QUEEN...- Page 2

Posted: 6/9/07 at 6:28pm

"Frost Nixon is playing at the Bernard Jacobs Theater (formerly Royale ) with approx over 1,000 seats. "

Yep and the only negative press that show has gotten has been about its loss of intimacy in a much bigger venue than London had.

As for orchestras and theatre size having only been to Londona few times and never (Sadly) been to Broadway but havign seen a lot of touring shows--in various states of quality--it always strikes me as interesting. I've seen things liek the Livent Vancouver productions of Ragtime, Sunset Blvd, the Phantom tour they did which all had full 20+ orchestras, to tours of Guys and Dolls with 4 people in the pit (and this was an equity tour). So I guess a Broadway show having 15 people in the pit still seems like a lot--even if I wish full orchestras (when needed or intended--some shows do better with a more chamber encsemble style orchestra) were the norm.

It also amuses me about theatre size--I grew up in Victoria Canada where we rarely got any major musical tours--not because of lack of audience but because it was said that it wasn't financially viable for them to play in our major theatre (an old gorgeously restored playhouse built as part of the Pantages vaudeville circuit that seats 1400). Being able to only play to 1400 instead of 2400 like they could in a big barn of a theatre in Vancouver makes it not a good financial deal--when Iw as a teen and first went to the West End I was kinda amzed at how most of the theatres were the size of our old one or smaller--expecting for some reason them all to be in those big barns. So when I hear people complaining about intimacy and theatre issues I agree--but I probably don't have the sympathy I would since most of my major pro theatre experiences have been seeing shows in huge caverns...

Gypsy abotu amplification--I agree with you but need to raise a point that Ted Chapin mentioned in his book on Follies (Which was VERY amplified in its original production even though that was a few years before actual bodymikes). One reason the pits have to be more nad more amplified is because of the way theatres are now being designed--or renovated for different shows. More and more of the pits are being covered by stage (to help bring the stages out more into the audience past the proscenium--a common point now but one that wasn't when most of these were built--and to add more seats of course) whereas in the old days they tended to be completely "open". With the covering up the orchestra often can't be heard properly without amplification (particularly, ironically, but the actors themselves--if the orchestra wasn't piped back to the stage in some way they could hear very little of it). And then yes the actors' own amplification has to be adjusted to work with this...

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 6:56pm

The real tragedy is that Boublil and Schonberg wrote such a terrible score and script, and that it was decided to dump so much money on something so totally unworthy of the BIG SHOW treatment.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 7:20pm

I wonder if every subsequent return of "The Grinch" will be counted as a Revival in terms of Tonys.

I don't think any of the Grinch/Tony eligibility discussion really matters... it's not like that thing would ever get nominated for anything anyway. Next year, I'm sticking to the Rockettes.

[Autumn2]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 8:17pm

I loved this show! I wish I had the chance to see it again!!

[changinandhow]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:16pm

I'd like to help "save" the Pirate Queen, but the discount codes aren't working...anyone know of new(er) ones?

Try DAILYCO. $33.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:33pm

Actually Brooks screwed up the deal with the St. James by not allowing them a piece of the action.

[waterfalldancer]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:30am

I truly don't believe that Kelly Ripa was at all sincere. If you watched the show on Thursday, Neil Patrick Harris said he was going to the show that night. However, Friday's show was taped in advance, and the entire conversation on Ripa's part was actually quite sarcastic. Her asking him to say specifically what he enjoyed about the show made him look a little uncomfortable, as he still had not seen it yet. I was very impressed with the way Harris responded though. He is a great performer, and a wonderful supporter of theater.