La Cage-Substandard? Just to me?- Page 2

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 7:42am

"The main point, I think is that it isn't a $132 a ticket show. For $132 you want all the trapping that come with that price tag - full orchestra, full chorus..."

Really?
I would rather watch a great show, thats where my money would be spent well

[alterego]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 10:17am

If I'm going to put down $132 to see a "Broadway Musical" I want to see a decent Broadway musical with all the bells and whistles irrespective of the subject matter. As it is (production size) it is a $95 show. Just because it is a musical on Broadway doesn't mean you can charge the same amount as say what they might charge for a WEST SIDE STORY, PHANTOM, BILLY ELLIOT,POPPINS or whatever. Go to LA CAGE, you won't see the money on stage.

How much are tickets for SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM? If they are in the same price range they are just as guilty.
Updated On: 5/1/10 at 10:17 AM

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 10:44am

I'm with songanddanceman2. I'd much rather spend my money on a great production, rather than a ****ty one (WSS, Phantom) just because they spend more money on an orchestra and set.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 11:11am

Now you are just nominating shows that you don't like for your own reasoning. (I don't care for either WSS or PHANTOM but using them to illustrate my point).

You mention paying for a great production, this LA CAGE isn't a great production and as the original poster (goldenboy) said it is not unlike a dinner theatre production, by saying that I think he is saying what you see onstage is what you get at a dinner theatre - small orchestra, small cast, cheap sets. From all I've seen he is right on the money.

My argument (again) is that just because a show is on Broadway, irrespective of whether there are two people in the cast or forty you shouldn't charge top dollar simply because you can. If a show is small and doesn't cost an enormous amount to run each week producers should structure their ticket prices accordingly. For example, with its small company, small sets and small orchestra I would think LA CAGE should sell at about $95.

How much were the tickets when the show was on at the Menier Chocolate Factory ?Nowhere near $132 I bet. The ticket price for Broadway should be that price plus about 25% to cover transfer costs. If they can't do that then don't produce it on Broadway because it won't run long enough to recoup. As it is it might have done well at one of the larger Off Broadway houses where it would get a decent run and fitted in perfectly.

Updated On: 5/1/10 at 11:11 AM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 11:25am

The main problem with this production is that the comedy didn't work. It's supposed to be funny, and this was only mildly amusing.

This is like Isherwood's LEND ME A TENOR opinion. When I attended the show, the audience was eating it up and laughing hysterically. The same has been said by other friends of mine who saw it. It is funny. VERY funny. If you're going to say the production doesn't work for you, say it's because YOU didn't find it funny, not because the production is unfunny, because I can find more people than not who can say that's just not true.

LA CAGE was never meant to be a sleek, polished affair. That's where the last revival went horribly wrong. And Albin is SUPPOSED to be over-the-top. He SHOULD chew up the scenery and spit it out. What drag queen of his kind of renown do you know that is subdued? None. What's most important about him is that he's the total opposite of Georges and that's why they work. Kelsey and Douglas show us why their relationship is lasting even though they are polar opposites and it's not always easy. THAT is the heart of the show and the strength of this particular production of it.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 11:45am

I understand your point alterego, but that's simply not the reality of the business. Orchestra tickets to a Broadway show, whether it be play or musical, huge cast, small cast, Hugh Jackman, a no-name cast, flashy or pared down, run $110-$130.

You may not have thought it was a great production (why do you use goldenboy's opinion as if it were a fact?), but I did, many others did, and most critics seemed to as well. And as I said, I'd much rather spend my money on a great production with a small orchestra (La Cage, ALNM) than vapid fluff that has a big orchestra and decadent sets (Wicked, Phantom).

[alterego]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 11:55am

I wasn't quoting "goldenboy" as fact, I was trying to bring the topic back to where it started.

Once again you are missing the whole point of my argument so I won't go on with it any longer.


Updated On: 5/1/10 at 11:55 AM

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 12:18pm

I understand your point perfectly fine. And I just disagree.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 1:10pm

Alterego you said that its not a good production, when did you see it?

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 9:17pm

I just got bought my ticket to see the show for the Wed. June 16th 8 p.m. show. I "hear" what people have to say about the show, pro and con. But, I'll go into it with an open mind. I'm certain to have a very good time. from RC in Austin, Texas

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 10:08pm

"If you're going to say the production doesn't work for you, say it's because YOU didn't find it funny, not because the production is unfunny, because I can find more people than not who can say that's just not true."

Oh, for heaven's sake, whose opinion do you think I was expressing here, my cousin's brother-in-law's neighbor's? Whose opinion does anyone express on this board but one's own, unless otherwise stated?

No, it was not funny, certainly not as funny as it should be. The final scene, for example, in the original, was hilarious. Here it barely registered a laugh.

The original production and the revival were both funnier than this, and the original French movie was funnier than all of them.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 10:21pm

The good news is that last week the average ticket price (according to the charts on BWW) for LA CAGE was $75.29. Good to see that most people are taking advantage of the discounts available and are not finding the need to part $132 for a full price ticket.

Well said After Eight. Too many people on these boards think because you are expressing an opinion (of your own) that you are attempting to lay down the law for all others to follow. It is just the poster's opinion no one else's.

[Patash]

Posted: 5/1/10 at 11:47pm

"The main point, I think is that it isn't a $132 a ticket show. For $132 you want all the trappings that come with that price tag - full orchestra, full chorus..."

Wow. What an amazing statement. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but all I can read it that is "it doesn't make any difference how good the show is -- it's all about how BIG it is."

And that is the reason we have shows with helicopters, giant chandeliers, and revolving light up buses. I guess for some "good" only means "big. Sad.

By the way, I LOVED this revival in London. The club it is about would never have a 32 piece orchestra or a dozen amazing drag queens. To believe the story (if that's what one is supposed to do in the theatre) those things would all be counterproductive.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 12:00am

"No, it was not funny, certainly not as funny as it should be. The final scene, for example, in the original, was hilarious. Here it barely registered a laugh."

Well, both myself and the majority of the audience present at the performance I attended must have been watching a completely different production than you.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 3:43am

It finally hit me what was wrong with the Cagelles 'look'!

If they are supposed to be 'cheap', 'tacky', 1980's drag performers they would NOT be wearing lace font wigs.

The wigs need to be hard fronted. Lace fronts make them look like the performers hair. It's too perfect.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 3:46am

Just why is the show now set in the 1970's ?

[TIGGOSAURUS]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 4:05am

I presume it's set in the 70's because that's when the original French film came out.

I can understand people quibbling about paying $132 for a show if they don't think they're getting their money's worth, but unfiortunately it's the going rate on Broadway so no producer is going to undercut it too drastically. I'm glad London prices are a bit more sensible though.

As for wanting 'bells and whistles' for the price paid, surely you should be going to a circus instead of a Broadway show if that's what you expect?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 4:46am

Maybe the tickets wouldn't have been so expensive if they had used cheap, synthetic, hard front wigs.

Like I said.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 10:40am

Since we are quoting me as fact


Here are the facts according to me...

I would rather see great theatre than expensive theatre granted.... but this La Cage is not great theatre and added to that is CHEAP in every way.

If I am going to pay 132 a ticket- I want some bang for my buck.
Especially on Broadway. When A Dinner Theatre production of La Cage (which I recently saw) surpasses the one on Broadway- The Broadway La Cage is in trouble.

1) This La Cage is substandard revival
2) This La Cage has 7 musicians- ridiculous for a Bway musical charging 132
4) This particular La Cage is not great theatre
4) Douglas Hodge makes me cringe and to me is embarrassing in the role,
He makes Albin (to me and in my opinon) swishy and gay in an offesnive and embarrassing way.
I did not feel this with other Albins. And his I am what I am is ONE NOTE.
Loud and angry.
4) This La Cage in not funny: re Hodge, De Jesus
5) This choreography is substandard


Now as for production values
1) At 132 a ticket 7 musicians doesnt' cut it
2) Nor does substandard choreography
3) Nor does a production that flattens a good musical


There it is. My opinion as FACT.
As opposed to Ben Brantley's FACT

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 10:58am

Nobody's opinion is fact. No one's. Not Brantley's, not goldenboy's, not mine, not anyone's.

HOWEVER, no matter how much you say this production is substandard (your opinion) and isn't worth $132 (your opinion) and isn't funny (your opinion), the VAST MAJORITY of the theatregoers who are seeing this production are coming away feeling as if they got their money's worth and with a smile on their face. And, to add to that, the audience was loving every moment of the show, applauding and laughing hysterically. So no matter how many times you state your opinions that this revival is unfunny, it will be countered with the ACTUAL fact that almost everyone else around you disagrees.

This production is conceptually cheap. Bells and whistles have no place in this musical. If you didn't want to spend $132, you should have gotten a cheaper seat or used a discount code and left the $132 seats to the people who wanted to pay.

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 1:55pm

No, this new "La Cage" is not substandard - it's different. Loved it when I saw it in London in August, and I saw it on Wednesday, and loved it all over again. Like London, the theatre is very small, and that makes it all the more intimate.

Kelsey & Doug may not be the best singers, but their acting and interpretations of the songs are just wonderful - especially Hodge. I'm sure he'll win The Tony.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 2:10pm

neal,
did you even read the post above yours?

"(your opinion)"

"No, this new "La Cage" is not substandard"



It's (his opinion). Can't you respect anyone elses OPINON, or do you always tell them they are wrong?

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 5:49pm

Byron, show me in my post where I say that he's wrong. Where do I not respect his opinion?
Updated On: 5/2/10 at 05:49 PM

[TIGGOSAURUS]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 7:05pm

Matter of fact: goldenboy's opinion is no more worthy than anyone else's on this thread, and it certainly isn't factual in any way. But it certainly is pointedly 'loud and angry' and seemingly mainly focused on ticket price ('never mind the quality, feel the width' as the old saying goes).

[Smaxie]

Posted: 5/2/10 at 7:46pm

Goldenboy is also elsewhere on the board touting Promises, Promises, so I suspect this thread and his tone of barely contained rage is not exactly pure in its motivations.