LEMPICKA Reviews — Page 19

I am around a lot of theater people. Pretty much daily. And I've maybe heard them mention BWW less than five times. You have to be seriously butthurt to want to blame these boards for being part of a show closing. You just don't want to face the fact that something you were really looking forward to, and had high hopes about, wasn't good to the general theater-going public. What would be the divide, exactly? I read somewhere that positive word of mouth means very little if those people are getting comped tickets. They actually have to buy them and tell their friends to do so as well. Those people who were at Lempicka every day, front row, that Matt Gould talked about- they couldn't keep this show afloat. The positive word of mouth was low compared to the consensus on what a dumpster fire this show was. Sometimes shows just don't work. Finger pointing and saying that people didn't give it a chance is very childish. How long should they have waited? They were bleeding money.

Of course you are welcome to post any opinions here. I do not think opinions are moderated here. You are welcome to post glowing reviews, or constructive thoughtful musings. There have been wonderfully thoughtful members here with many wise and observant words, over the years. You are also welcome to spew vitriol here. Many do.


My point is, don’t do that AND THEN deny in any influence. You can make whatever choices you want, but also be a responsible adult and accept your hand in whatever outcome, however impossible to measure. It’s a cop out to pretend there isn’t impact.


This is a discussion that has been happening on this board for the last 20 years. Welcome all ye Brand New.

one of the major delusions running through this thread is the idea that ppl on this board and its sibling all that chat have any real impact on a shows sales and causing premature closing or surprise success

you might alter the decision of a few dozen ticket buyers at most

not enough to save a show as hopelessly under water as lempicka

so no one on here is single handedly or even collectively responsible

its called scale

No one is saying this board has zero influence, but I do think the people who come here blaming board commentators for negatively impacting the public opinion of this show or any show vastly overestimate how influential opinions shared here actually are.

I was in a show a few years back that the folks of this board really didn’t care for. Nearly every reaction in the thread about it was mixed to negative. But we extended twice and sold out nearly every show because the actual public word of mouth was great and the show’s subject matter was intriguing. Now, this wasn’t a commercial venture, but still. As Kad said, this board is really just representative of the people on this board. Sometimes, that matches with public opinion (as with Lempicka). Sometimes, it doesn’t.

Shows with good word of mouth and subject matter people want to see sell to varying degrees; others don’t. C’est la vie.

yahyahyah said: "Actually, as opposed to IG, anything on BroadwayWorld could be argued to be more effective. Because the user logging onto BroadwayWorld.com is already self selecting and interested in theatre. As opposed to a random scroller who has no interested in theatre. So one could argue there is more net/net impact here over a random IG sponsored post."

I think your sense of scope is off here. Yes, if someone has decided to come to this board for opinions, the reactions on this board may be more impactful for them over social media, but that's just measuring the impact for ONE PERSON. And in the total scope of potential ticket buyers, how many of them actually come to this board, find this thread, and then read through all the posts? We see a lot of the same names posting because there's a very small subset of people who actually use this board (and yes, that subset is probably larger once you consider there's a lot of lurkers too), but as others have said, there's no way this board has any actual bearing on the success of a show. So to be honest I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. If you want people to just acknowledge that their posting here has an impact, I think that point is made, but in aggregate, the impact on the prospective audience as a whole is very small.

Every once in a while, I think 'Am I turning into Marylousie Burke? Maybe. Maybe I am.'

And then something like this happens and I'm sure of it.

That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

yahyahyah said: "Of course honesty is important when sharing your opinion. How did you glean I thought otherwise? Not sure how that is applicable to my point/ board members denying influence over word-of-mouth, etc."

Well there seemed to be an implication that posters sharing their honest, negative reactions were not wielding that influence (however small or large it might be) responsibly. I’m sorry if that’s not what you meant. I’m just frustrated at this growing trend of villainizing critics and audiences for voicing when something doesn’t work for them. But that’s more in response to the closing speeches and the review backlash than to you.

If these boards were the influencers some characterize them to be, they would play a discernible role in marketing and product enhancement: "A consensus of commentators on BWW and ATC agree: it's a revolutionary theater!" hasn't been elevated in press or media. Those of us who have been here for decades - 21 years for me - know how enjoyable this site is: intellectually stimulating, dish-creating, niche peer group establishing (if infamously, um, capriciously). But it's a wall on which we pen graffiti. Blessedly, that's all it is. We've been accused of crepe-hanging and literally destroying the theater with our vinegary cynicism since day one. We raise our voices, we offend, we threaten to leave. And sometimes do. But we have no power, particularly not over consumer decisions, and whenever that argument surfaces it seems like self-promotion.

Updated On: 5/20/24 at 02:24 PM

gibsons2 said: "Lola Getz2 said: "Matt Gould: We have to do better.

Me: Yes, YOU do."

Matt Gould is not the one to blame. He wrote beautiful score. Book writer, director and marketing team are to blame."



While many (most?) would disagree with you about it being a "beautiful score", the quality of the work is not what people are (justifiably) raking him over the coals for -- it's the sense of entitlement, playing the victim and "blaming the Broadway model" in his curtain speech. If the actual show had that much drama -- it'd run for 10 years!

Wick3 said: "I agree that the average person goes to tiktok and other forms of social media for information rather than BWW.

I used to come here for information on rush, etc. but nowadays I tend to go to reddit more.

As for Lempicka, if Madonna liked the production, perhaps she can save it if they produce this in London's West End by starring in the lead role? I can see her fans at least buying tickets."



Can you really see Madonna performing this role and singing Woman Is? NO! Madonna bolted during the start of the curtain call and did not go backstage for a photo op so the questions is: Did she like it?

This has been such a wild ride. I don’t think beautiful can even begin to describe this score and lead role. I genuinely think we have witnessed one of those cult flops such as Carrie. Not an average flop where people yawn, it goes and then no one talks about it again.

All it’ll take is for the apparent fans to be real, a well produced cast recording and some inner theatre circle believers that keep it alive and I’m sure we haven’t heard or seen the last of this show.

I think it could also be re-worked, like Carrie in the future where they try and rewrite the book, trim the fat in the score and re-conceptualise the production as something a bit less camp. No doubt for those of us still left here in 10-15 years we will also hear the same - X or Y is no Betty Buckley/Eden (by then everyone will only remember the cast recording and forget Eden’s pitch problems), or that by taking the camp out they removed the heart and fun of the show like Carrie.

binau said: "This has been such a wild ride. I don’t think beautiful can even begin to describe this score and lead role. I genuinely think we have witnessed one of those cult flops such as Carrie. Not an average flop where people yawn, it goes and then no one talks about it again.

All it’ll take is for the apparent fans to be real, a well produced cast recording and some inner theatre circle believers that keep it alive and I’m sure we haven’t heard or seen the last of this show.

I think it could also be re-worked, like Carrie in the future where they try and rewrite the book, trim the fat in the score and re-conceptualise the production as something a bit less camp. No doubt for those of us still left here in 10-15 years we will also hear the same - X or Y is no Betty Buckley/Eden (by then everyone will only remember the cast recording and forget Eden’s pitch problems), or that by taking the camp out they removed the heart and fun of the show like Carrie.

"

Has there been a flop where it was worked on for 10 years, performed out of town, was well received, came to Broadway and flopped, was worked on for 10 more years and then it did well? Stop beating a dead horse. I know people care but if they couldn't fix it now, who could rewrite it so it works? Sorry but I don't think it would work.

JSquared2 said: "gibsons2 said: "Lola Getz2 said: "Matt Gould: We have to do better.

Me: Yes, YOU do."

Matt Gould is not the one to blame. He wrote beautiful score. Book writer, director and marketing team are to blame."



While many (most?) would disagree with you about it being a "beautiful score", the quality of the work is not what people are (justifiably) raking him over the coals for -- it's the sense of entitlement, playing the victimand "blaming the Broadway model" in his curtain speech. If the actual show had that much drama -- it'drun for 10 years!

lol

they knew full well what the broadway model was

so to turn around and blame it for their shows demise is disingenuous

no one forced them to move the show to broadway

especially given the tepid response at la jolla

vanity project