Leaving Evita at intermission- Page 4

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:24pm

"High is the only show that I have ever walked out on at intermission."

I swear I think you missed out. It was so bad I was fascinated at how bad it was. It was CARRIE and MOOSE MURDERS bad. It was so bad I saw it more than once - and it didn't run very long.

The actors were fine (though there was plenty of scenery chewing), but my God! the writing and direction were dreadful.

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:33pm

Walking out at intermission, or even during the show for that matter, is largely regarded as acceptable in the theatre community. Everyone has a right to their opinion of a show and have a right to express that in the matter that they see fit as long as it's not a major disturbance or causes any physical harm to anyone. We could go back to the days of throwing things at the performers or booing them, but that's ridiculous nowadays. Walking out is perfectly acceptable, just like walking out of a movie or changing the channel during not entertaining program.

Hermajesty, saying that every show on Broadway is the best is simply dumb. You're taking all the power away from the audience if you say that every production that opens is the best. You also invalidate any awards or nominations that a show receives (more than the currently corrupt system does) because they all deserve Best Musical/Play/Revival.

The best theatrical experience I have ever had was not on Broadway and was not a tour of a Broadway show and has never gone to Broadway and it is still exponentially better than any show I've seen that was a Broadway replica. Saying Broadway is the epitome of theatre is getting the concept of Broadway wrong. Broadway is a commercial industry that thrives off of large audiences (500 or more), sometimes the best experiences are in much more intimate theatres.

And just because something is a hit, doesn't mean it's high art in any way. It just means that a lot of people are willing to pay to see it. There are a lot of successful movies, songs, plays, etc out there that are successful, but have very low quality.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:45pm

Bwaydid, I couldn't give a sh*t about Broadway whether it falls or survives, I'm British and support the West End, I am just saying don't support it; so lose it who cares?

[GatorNY]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:55pm

I finally saw the show today. We were able to get seats in the 9th row center at the TKTS booth, so I thought Elena must be vacation. Based on everything I had read, I was actually disappointed that not to get one of those little pieces of paper saying that at this performance, the role of Evita will be played by whoever. I can see why people had a problem with her. I actually didn't mind her voice. I am very familiar with the lyrics, so I wonder what it would have been like if I didn't know the show so well. Ricky Martin was much more of a disappointment to me.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:57pm

"I swear I think you missed out. It was so bad I was fascinated at how bad it was. It was CARRIE and MOOSE MURDERS bad. It was so bad I saw it more than once - and it didn't run very long."

Fair enough. :)

I was so tired that day and had already missed the story in the first act while sleeping, so I wouldn't have benefitted from seeing the rest of it that night. I thought briefly about going back to see it on another night when I wasn't so tired (big work deadline that day), but it was only in town for one week and the other evenings were already booked with other plans, so that was my one chance to see it.

So tell me more about this 'so bad I saw it more than once' thing - is that a regular habit of being fascinated by how awful something is so that you want to go back again to dissect its badness even more, and appreciate even more details of badness that you might have missed on a first viewing, sort of as an intellectual experience?

I get enjoying the experience of extreme badness (i saw the movie Grease 2 and spent many a day laughing about it afterward with my viewing companion and singing the amazingly awful songs), but have never really wanted to go back to those again. I think for me it was a 'making lemonade out of lemons' thing, trying to make the best of the fact that i already lost that time anyway and looking for a bright side. But I have never gone back to revisit those, and I'm curious about the motivation. Maybe it is its own form of real enjoyment. :)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:16pm

Adam, do you not understand the appeal of camp, either? :P (Careful though, Grease 2 is brilliant! )

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:16pm

hermajesty, it's not about supporting Broadway over West End shows or vice versa. Not every show that comes out is gold, some of it is complete crappy. I am 100% sure that there have been plenty of West End shows that have been of extremely low quality, those are the shows that don't get an audience, those are the shows that close and new (and hopefully better shows) replace them. We can support Broadway (and you the West End) while still not supporting every show. Part of support is keeping the quality at a high level, so when we leave shows early or don't buy tickets, or give it bad word of mouth, that is our way of affecting the quality of art that is presented on Broadway. In sports, people support teams, but they don't necessarily support every member of the team. There can be weak links and they should be taken off the team (on Broadway, close).

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:23pm

"So tell me more about this 'so bad I saw it more than once' thing - is that a regular habit of being fascinated by how awful something is so that you want to go back again to dissect its badness even more, and appreciate even more details of badness that you might have missed on a first viewing, sort of as an intellectual experience?"

I overstated that a little, perhaps, but yes, it was a bit of an intellectual exercise, and no, it isn't a regular habit of mine. I saw HIGH when it premiered in Hartford. I paid for the first preview, and saw the final performance as well because I was gifted a ticket. I had been told it had been drastically re-written - and it had been, but not for the better. Thus began the fascination.

By the time it came to Broadway, it had been overhauled drastically and undergone a cast change. Again I saw the first preview, and again almost every change was for the worse. Miss Turner had been allowed free rein, and it had become a badly-written vanity piece, poorly directed. It was like a train wreck. I couldn't stop finding flaws in it - and there were many. If you search for it here, I wrote about it at length, a thing I've never done before of since. Just a strange little anomaly.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:34pm

####hermajesty, it's not about supporting Broadway over West End shows or vice versa. Not every show that comes out is gold, some of it is complete crappy. I am 100% sure that there have been plenty of West End shows that have been of extremely low quality, those are the shows that don't get an audience, those are the shows that close and new (and hopefully better shows) replace them. We can support Broadway (and you the West End) while still not supporting every show. Part of support is keeping the quality at a high level, so when we leave shows early or don't buy tickets, or give it bad word of mouth, that is our way of affecting the quality of art that is presented on Broadway. In sports, people support teams, but they don't necessarily support every member of the team. There can be weak links and they should be taken off the team (on Broadway, close)###.

I understand what you are saying but I have been going to theatre for some 70 years now and have seen countless productions, I have lost count. The only one I can think of that I so disliked was a play about a plant growing and eating the lead player but I can't recall what the play was called! I think the lead lady was called Audry But I didn't walk out or criticise it. The actors were doing their best and the direction was good, it was just me and my opinion.
Others came out raving. I didn't go around telling everyone it was naff as I didn't wish to put people off. I am just saying, keep supporting the theatres or eventually they will die

Updated On: 7/11/12 at 07:34 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:36pm

and Matt, people don't invest in something they don't believe will be a hit. It's the public that eventually decides if a production closes early or not. I say look after Broadway and support it or you will lose it.

First of all, there are LOADS of investors who don't know the business and don't care. Then there are those who believe so strongly in a project, they are blind to criticism. Terrible shows get produced on Broadway and in the West End all the time just like terrible movies get produced in Hollywood all the time. Just because a film was produced by a HOLLYWOOD STUDIO doesn't make it "the best" or even good. "Broadway" is a place and the name is used as a brand, but it is not indicative of quality. This was brilliantly illustrated by the pre-Broadway and Broadway productions of Jekyll and Hyde.

A return on the investment is indicative of popularity while critics and academics squabble to define quality. Looking after Broadway means buying a ticket. Leaving early during a show you don't like has nothing to do with supporting Broadway nor its demise. You can support Broadway and still see a show you don't like. They are not mutually exclusive. There is no betrayal involved unless you believe people should not be allowed to form opinions. Blaming the audience for not enjoying a show sounds exactly like something a really BAD director, actor or producer would do. It's an egotistical and delusional excuse.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:37pm

I'm not a fan of Elena, but I find it ridiculous when people complain about her accent/diction and then proclaim Patti to be the best. Patti was far superior vocally, but her diction was even worse than Elena's.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 7:54pm

This entire thread gives me a headache. Can't we all just get along?

[Jim3]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:03pm

So disappointed in the show. Yes, I left at intermission. The third time in over thirty years of theater attending in NYC. Seats were in the sixth row of the orchestra.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:14pm

Hermajesty -- you still haven't addressed how leaving at intermission will lead to the downfall of Broadway.

1 they already have my money and

2. They've made a bad impression so that I wont be encouraging people to see it regardless if I stay or leave.

How does leaving affect the future?

[hermajesty]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:19pm

as I've said, word of mouth

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:28pm

Then you would expect me to tell people that shows are good regardless of what I thought? Poppycock.

I'm going to have the same opinion whether I leave or stay. I wouldn't want to subject my friends and students to theater I don't think they will enjoy. I have, however, told people that i know well that they might enjoy something I do not -- assuming I know their tastes well enough.

I don't pretend that my opinion is "right", just that its mine and I'll share. When asked.

[GatorNY]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:28pm

I did have a terrible headache when I left today, but I don't blame the show.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:28pm

If someone hates it and stays, I imagine they'd give the same word-of-mouth impression of the show.

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:50pm

Even if I hate a show, I would never leave during intermission except for an emergency.

[wicked1492]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 9:04pm

"I did have a terrible headache when I left today, but I don't blame the show."

I do. One can only take so much shrill muddled English and winking, grinning and hand gestures.

[JakePinckes]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 9:08pm

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 11:57pm

People have been walking out of plays since Aeschylus.

The theater survives.

And I think it was Euripedes who said, "Just because it being done at Epidaurus, that doesn't necessarily mean it's any GOOD."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 12:16am

^^^ Ha ha!

I've left a few things in my day. I didn't make a big production or yell "I'm leaving!" or anything. I just left.

I recently saw a production of Long Day's Journey Into Night and there were quite a few empty seats that had been filled before the intermission. They left. The show went on. So what?

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:32am

...And I still can't understand why someone would leave because of Elena Roger and not because of Ricky Martin. It's ridiculous how much bashing there has been of the former, with hardly anything said about the seriously deficient acting of the latter.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 6:20am

Scorpion, it's been said -- it's just not relevant to this thread.