London Production Of 'Spring Awakening' To Close Early- Page 2

[Scripps2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:40pm

"Too bad the British have no taste."

Very possibly true.

But at least we're smart enough not to rise to that bait.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:41pm

Ignore him, it?, its just a Wanna Be

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:45pm

Oh, jeez. I apologize if that came off as insulting. That wasn't my intention. I wasn't referring to you guys. I meant the general public who attend the theatre in Britain. The musicals that "sell" and succeed tend to be the big splashy mindless and/or jukebox-oriented shows.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:50pm

Les Miserables
Phantom Of The opera
Miss Saigon
Evita
..when did they become juke box musicals?

Blithe Spirit
The Norman Conquests
,,,,endless productions from the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespear Company all grace your stages very often.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:54pm

I said MUSICALS.

And LES MIS, PHANTOM, MISS SAIGON, and EVITA are big, splashy musicals.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:55pm

Oh please dont let "wanna be relevant" get to you, hes not said anything decent in years.

The british public who are seeing the show are loving the show abd the critics gave rave reviews, but for some reason it just hasnt found an audience, i dont think the advertising was the best either.

Its Hamersmith run was a HUGE hit, i think it moved in to London far to quick and didnt allow word of mouth to build.

As for insulting the british taste, please remember its a british musical that is probably going to win Best Musical this year at the Tonys.

Also whilst i agree the West End is all about the fluff at the moment, with the exception of Dirty Dancing (shudders) its well done fluff Like Priscilla, Sister Act and La Cage Aux Folles.

Also maybe the british public just decided SA was not for them, i mean not everyone can like emo musicals lol

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:57pm

This is your quote- no mention of JUST MUSICALS there!

'What a shame. Such a wonderful show. Too bad the British have no taste'

Updated On: 5/12/09 at 03:57 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:04pm

Oh and with the exception of Next to Normal and In The Heights its not like Broadway is filled with great new shows that are not big and splashy or revivals.

9 to 5 (based on a film)
Avenue Q (inovative when it 1st opened)
Billy Elliot (British)
Chicago (Rent a Celeb)
Guys and Dolls (terrible revival, the brits did a better job at reviving an American classic)
Hair (Revival)
Jersey Boys (Jukebox musical)
Mary Poppins (British)
Mamma Mia (British and Jukebox musical)
Rock Of Ages (Jukebox Musical)
Shrek (Based on a film and crap)
Lion King (Disney Spectacle)
Little Mermaid (Dreadful show)
Phantom (British)
West Side Story (Average revival)
Wicked (Less said the better)

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:14pm

We could just agree that Foster is the one that has no taste.


I happened to have found this to be a disgusting musical, but even with that I hate seeing shows close... weren't they originally in a smaller theatre? They should have stayed there...

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:18pm

Yeah the Hammermith Lyric holds 550 whilst the Novello holds 1100

Desperatly Seeking Susan, Drowsy, Eurobeat and now SA have all failed at the theatre recently.

[boyfromoz2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:19pm

They were at the Lyric Hammersmith, which is about 30 mins west of Central London. It only has short runs of shows, and had other productions already planned that replaced SA.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:32pm

The international hit, 'Noises Off', came from Hammersmith- they don't come bigger than that one!

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:44pm

To say the British have no taste when it comes to theater--musical or not--is one of the most ridiculous statements of all time.

Perhaps it's true that Broadway and West End tastes don't always coincide (and why should they?; we're two different countries), but both are richer for the other's influence.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:54pm

[Scripps2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:06pm

"but both are richer for the other's influence."

Absolutely, Reggie!

PS it's theatre not theater.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:15pm

"PS it's theatre not theater. "

lol thats always made me laugh

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:20pm

The other one that gets me is 'movie theatre'!
It's not a theatre its a cinema!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:27pm

I do sadness.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:50pm

Theatre:Theater = Grey:Gray

all is good.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 6:58pm

Even if WannaBeaFoster's comment may have come off the wrong way to some, he does have a point about the successful musicals on the West End. I don't know if it has to do with the British or what, but really West End shows are generally much worse than what's on Broadway.
Now, they do fascinating stuff with plays over on the West End and most great plays on Broadway at the moment are directed by British directors which is interesting. What's also interesting is that the Donmar, British-directed/produced/mostly-cast production of GUYS & DOLLS (one of the best American musicals) was a gazillion times better than the piece of crap running on Broadway at the time.
But it's hard to defend West End taste for musicals when DROWSY CHAPERONE and SPRING AWAKENING die a quick death there and DIRTY DANCING and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER are considered hits.
And WishingOnlyWounds, your comment was completely unnecessary.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 7:09pm

I have WAY too many issues with Spring Awakening but it's still sad to see a show close. Hope the actors can find more work quickly.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 7:19pm

And WishingOnlyWounds, your comment was completely unnecessary.

Not really.

My comment about Foster, let's just say... He had it coming.

As for the rest, that is merely an opinion.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 7:27pm

Just because shows like Drowsy and SA dont fly here does not mean that west end shows are much worse.

SA is a show that divided many people in NY but you have a lot more theatre 'kids' that will keep shows like that open there than we have in the UK, our audiences are a little older.

Saturday Night Fever (awful show) was not considered any bigger hit here in the UK than it was on Broadway. Critics here pretty much dismissed it and it ran for under 2 years and won zero awards, the last 6 months of it run in the UK also was playing to a half empty house. The Broadway production ran for over 500 performances, not much more than the West End production.

Wicked (dreadful)on Broadway will also out run the London production.

The funny thing is that the reason so many new UK musicals fail is because of the American musicals like Wicked and Hairspray which do big business here.

I dont think that the West End musical scene is as strong as it once were (though i think our productions are far better) but its play output is fantastic.

The West End has had a run of bad luck with new musicals over the past few years with Imagine This (heart in the right place but went wrong), Gone With The Wind (snooze fest), Bad Girls (Brilliant and should have run longer), Desperatly Seeking Susan (jukebox musical) etc all failing, yet the revivals its producing far exceed many of the recent misjudged Broadway revivals. The West End has recently produced Sweeney Todd (Went To Broadway), Sunday In The Park (Went To Broadway), La Cage (Plans for Broadway) and so on and so on.

I also think many more musical writers exist in the states whilst many of the theatre writers here in the UK are play orientated.

Like i said earlier, looking at Broadways current line up and the West Ends current line up, neither are glowing.

West End
Ave Q (Broadway Transfer)
Billy Elliot (British Musical)
Calender Girls (British)
Blood Brothers (British Long Running)
Chicago (Broadway Transfer)
Dirty Dancing (Australian naff show)
Grease (American Musical)
Hairspray (American Musical)
Jersey Boys (American Musical)
Joseph (revival)
King and I (Revival)
La Cage (Stunning Revival)
Les Mis (Long Running British Show)
Lion King (American)
Little Night Music (Stunning revival)
Mamma Mia (Urgh)
Oliver (Revival)
Phantom (Long Running)
Priscilla (Oz import)
Sister Act (new musical)
Spring Awakening (flop transfer)
Sunset Blvd (stunning revival)
Thriller (hen night trash)
Tick Tick Boom (nw production)
We Will Rock You (British Jukebox show)
Wicked (the anti christ)

Broadway
9 to 5 (based on a film)
Avenue Q (inovative when it 1st opened)
Billy Elliot (British)
Chicago (Rent a Celeb)
Guys and Dolls (terrible revival, the brits did a better job at reviving an American classic)
Hair (Revival)
Jersey Boys (Jukebox musical)
Mary Poppins (British)
Mamma Mia (British and Jukebox musical)
Rock Of Ages (Jukebox Musical)
Shrek (Based on a film and crap)
Lion King (Disney Spectacle)
Little Mermaid (Dreadful show)
Phantom (British)
West Side Story (Average revival)
Wicked (Less said the better)

In fact looking at the 2 lists i would say that London has more variety right now, even though much of the variety is non UK written

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 7:35pm

That is unfortunate. I really liked the show when I saw it on tour. Also, songanddanceman2, you are correct that the list of shows on Broadway you posted is pretty lackluster... but that's because you left out the best show currently running: Next to Normal.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/12/09 at 7:38pm

Oh i did mention Next To Normal earlier when i posted the same list thats why its not on there.
And you are right Next To Normal is stunning, whats more important is how long will this great show run in NY, i dont see it running very long (i pray it does) but if it doesnt will that mean that the American audience are silly for letting such a great show die???