#1
Posted: 8/28/05 at 2:29pm
I am always in favor of anything that promotes Broadway and brings in new audiences. However, I can't help but have some reservations about this idea of taking shorter versions of shows to Vegas. Case in point, Hairspray and Phantom.
Although I understand that from a business perspective it may make more sense to have shorter versions, I am seriously concerned about what this might do to audience's perception of Broadway musicals.
First of all, what does this redux version say about the original Broadway show? It seems that the message would be: the Broadway version has a lot of fluff that is really unncessary and you can shave of 60 minutes from that and still tell the whole story in a very satisfying way. Is this what they are trying to tell LV audiences? Scenes, songs and dance numbers on Broadway are really not important to the whole experience, so those Broadway fools don't know what they are doing so here's the real important stuff in a 90 minute version?? In have a hard time accepting this.
Second, if audiences (not Broadway fans but tourists who only occasionally see a show) believe that the 90 minute versions are good enough, how will they react to a 150 minute show when they visit NY? Is the Broadway musical slowly going to be reduced to its minimum possible expression?
The point I am trying to make is this: When a musical opens on Broadway, it's already been heavily discussed, trimmed, timed and edited by its creators until they feel the show is just right. Then the out-of-town tryouts and previews provide more insight on the structure of the show and the effectiveness of numbers and scenes and come opening night, the creative forces behind the show have eliminated everything that they feel is not necessary or appropriate and present to us what they feel the definitive version of the show should be. Then the show opens, reviews are in, etc. and the show becomes a hit and audiences love it "as is". Then the CD comes oout (hopefully) and preserves that version of the show with all its songs, etc.
Suddenly some years later . . . guess what? THEY WERE WRONG! Those pretentious, over-the-top Broadway people really messed up and made people sit through about an hour of unnecessary stuff that we can certainly do without. So forget the Broadway version, and all those silly songs on the CD that are really not important and come see the show in Vegas!!
I know money makes the world go round, but come on!! I can't think how they can possibly shave off an hour from a show and still make people think they're getting the same show!
I can picture the Vegas Hairspray CD track list: "Good Morning Baltimore/Mama i'm a Big Girl Now", "Without Love", "The Big Dollhouse" "Timeless to Me" and "You Can't Stop the Beat". Period
Any thoughts on this?
Although I understand that from a business perspective it may make more sense to have shorter versions, I am seriously concerned about what this might do to audience's perception of Broadway musicals.
First of all, what does this redux version say about the original Broadway show? It seems that the message would be: the Broadway version has a lot of fluff that is really unncessary and you can shave of 60 minutes from that and still tell the whole story in a very satisfying way. Is this what they are trying to tell LV audiences? Scenes, songs and dance numbers on Broadway are really not important to the whole experience, so those Broadway fools don't know what they are doing so here's the real important stuff in a 90 minute version?? In have a hard time accepting this.
Second, if audiences (not Broadway fans but tourists who only occasionally see a show) believe that the 90 minute versions are good enough, how will they react to a 150 minute show when they visit NY? Is the Broadway musical slowly going to be reduced to its minimum possible expression?
The point I am trying to make is this: When a musical opens on Broadway, it's already been heavily discussed, trimmed, timed and edited by its creators until they feel the show is just right. Then the out-of-town tryouts and previews provide more insight on the structure of the show and the effectiveness of numbers and scenes and come opening night, the creative forces behind the show have eliminated everything that they feel is not necessary or appropriate and present to us what they feel the definitive version of the show should be. Then the show opens, reviews are in, etc. and the show becomes a hit and audiences love it "as is". Then the CD comes oout (hopefully) and preserves that version of the show with all its songs, etc.
Suddenly some years later . . . guess what? THEY WERE WRONG! Those pretentious, over-the-top Broadway people really messed up and made people sit through about an hour of unnecessary stuff that we can certainly do without. So forget the Broadway version, and all those silly songs on the CD that are really not important and come see the show in Vegas!!
I know money makes the world go round, but come on!! I can't think how they can possibly shave off an hour from a show and still make people think they're getting the same show!
I can picture the Vegas Hairspray CD track list: "Good Morning Baltimore/Mama i'm a Big Girl Now", "Without Love", "The Big Dollhouse" "Timeless to Me" and "You Can't Stop the Beat". Period
Any thoughts on this?
The meat is always leaner on somebody else's dinner plate!
