NEW YORK, NEW YORK On Broadway - Reviews Thread — Page 12

Sutton Ross said: "pagereynolds said: "I feel like there's a huge discrepancy right now between what people are posting here and the folks on ATC who mostly seem to have really disliked it.

Do you mean an opinion?

"

No offense, I don't think anyone here takes your reviews seriously.

Dylan Smith4 said: "I have a question here. Are the Balcony seats ok in the St. James? I've only sat in the Orchestra before, but the tickets are not in my price range. I looked at A View From My Seat, and they look pretty high up. Are they decent?"

I've sat in the first 3 rows of the balcony of the St. James at different shows over the years. They're high up for sure. But, you see everything perfectly fine. I can't speak for the further back rows.

Dylan Smith4 said: "I have a question here. Are the Balcony seats ok in the St. James? I've only sat in the Orchestra before, but the tickets are not in my price range. I looked at A View From My Seat, and they look pretty high up. Are they decent?"

Here's a great visual of the St. James. Never sat up in the balcony before.

Dylan Smith4 said: "I have a question here. Are the Balcony seats ok in the St. James? I've only sat in the Orchestra before, but the tickets are not in my price range. I looked at A View From My Seat, and they look pretty high up. Are they decent?"

Saw Into the Woods from first row balcony and we were higher than Rapunzel's tower. 77 steps up with no elevator. If you can make the climb, the view was unobstructed, and the seats were a (relative) bargain.

Anyone going to a first preview is going to be primed to be overly enthusiastic. The overtly negative reviews over at ATC seem to portend that this isn't nearly as good as people think.

Remind me again why so many people seem to be slicking their glans for this to be terrible?

ATC is always interesting to read compared to here. They have a smaller pool of people who post and an even smaller pool who post critiques of shows, particularly early in the run.

They also just don't seem to have a lot of people who jump on to post a rave or a lot of praise for a show, something that happens with much greater regularity here.

BCfitasafiddle said: "Dylan Smith4 said: "I have a question here. Are the Balcony seats ok in the St. James? I've only sat in the Orchestra before, but the tickets are not in my price range. I looked at A View From My Seat, and they look pretty high up. Are they decent?"

I've sat in the first 3 rows of the balcony of the St. James at different shows over the years. They're high up for sure. But, you see everything perfectly fine. I can't speak for the further back rows."

Perfect. TodayTix is offering Front Balcony seats for under $100, which is a good deal. Just wanna make sure they're worth it.

EAPEAPMO said: "Strange Lupone said: "pagereynolds said: "I feel like there's a huge discrepancy right now between what people are posting here and the folks on ATC who mostly seem to have really disliked it.

Also interested in hearing the actual run time -- ATC says over 3 hours with a 1 hour 40 minute first act."

I lurk at ATC, though infrequently. I prefer the folks and opinions over here. The folks at ATC like to find what’s wrong with something — here, the folks seem to celebrate what’s right. ATC is much harder to please (except a lot of the posters there are pleased with themselves). It’s a generalization, but one I’ve found to be true. Generally.


"

The people over there seem to be extremely critical of pretty small elements and without a focus of what the show is about. The first act was slightly too long and there was one character that could easily be cut without negatively impacting the story (although he is an amazing singer, wow!)... yet, they act like that was all they could focus on. What a bunch of crabs! Some of them are panning it without having even seen it, notably (the one that is ciritcal of Susan Stroman without even watching the show really is impressive, when this is some of her best work ever). The music was superb, you could hear and feel Lin-Manuel's influence, the dance numbers were thoroughly entertaining, the set was goregous, and Anna Uzele is a complete superstar. Yes, it has flaws. It's not perfect - I didn't like that Polish kid who was completely pointless! But it's also the first preview and with some SMALL tweaks, it'll be a show that can win tons of awards (if not already there, flaws and all).

"

I mean it also probably depends on what you like/dislike in the theatre. At 1 hour 40 minutes, (which has been reported by several people, so I don't think the 90 minutes reported here is correct), the first act is not slightly too long. You have to have a VERY engaging first act to be anywhere over 1:20.

Bette's Turban said: "I just remember that the night of the first preview of Funny Girl; one or two of you posting here.. whom I do listen to and who's opinion I respect.. got caught up in the over enthusiastic first night crowd and "LOVED IT AND HER".. only to change your tune when things sunk in. Not to take anything away from the fun you had last night.. But I have learned to wait a little before trying to get a feel for if something is good before deciding to spend my money. Especially with things coming out of this board. But so nice to hear you all had a good time."

The comment thread directly after the first preview of Funny Girl will go down in history as one of the most twilight zone moments of this board. First night reports shouldn't be a barometer of any kind. But boy; if I lived in the city I would certainly attend those nights. I love electricity in a theater.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Watch-Eric-Adams-Proclaim-John-Kander-Day-Unveil-Kander-and-Ebb-Way-with-Lin-Manuel-Miranda-20230325

Just watched. I wanna see that street sign IRL! Kander is too cute.

Sutton Ross said: "Dylan Smith4 said: "BCfitasafiddle said: "Dylan Smith4 said: "I have a question here. Are the Balcony seats ok in the St. James? I've only sat in the Orchestra before, but the tickets are not in my price range. I looked at A View From My Seat, and they look pretty high up. Are they decent?"

I've sat in the first 3 rows of the balcony of the St. James at different shows over the years. They're high up for sure. But, you see everything perfectly fine. I can't speak for the further back rows."

Perfect. TodayTix is offering Front Balcony seats for under $100, which is a good deal. Just wanna make sure they're worth it."

Dylan, make sure it’s open for the dates you want. I was looking at a matinee in May on Wednesday and the balcony was all greyed out. I doubt they sold out that particular day so just be aware of that, they might close the balcony on slower days. Have fun! ❤️"

Thanks, Sutton! I only go on Weekends anyway, so I will have better luck then. I definitely wanna book this before opening night because the critics might be raving about this, plus Tony nods are just around the corner too! From what people are saying on here, this is definitely gonna get a bunch of nods!

Glad you enjoyed it so much, as did so many others. I'm going in the negative column. I felt the same way about "Almost Famous" this season. Everyone was crazy about it during previews, but I thought the show was a total dud. I don't think this is a dud, but it's no "Kimberly Akimbo." This is a musical using every possible plotline that's almost ever been used in musicals before. Someone posted that maybe the point is that there are millions of stories in New York so they are trying to capture that energy. I just found the whole thing muddled and in desperate need of cuts. There are so many obvious cuts that can be made immediately, but I worry their gorgeous sets and lighting will prevent them from being truly surgical, which it needs. It will certainly get shorter, scenes went on too long. But it needs more than scene trimming. We do get our money's worth when the title song is finally knocked out of the park by the lead. She's great, as is Colton. But I also felt they were really generic. Yes, the construction tap scene is amazing and will be performed on the Tony's when this probably fills the fifth slot for Best Musical. But I did not enjoy this as much as "Shucked," "Kimberly..." and "& Juliet." I would say this is on par with "Some Like it Hot" - incredibly polished and competent but lacking in originality. Those are the five musicals I believe are locked in now for the Tony Awards.

Updated On: 3/25/23 at 05:22 PM