I'm seeing this at The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood - there are only 2 dates left – Saturday, February 18 at 12:55pm and Sunday, February 22 at 7:00pm. The rest of the engagement there is sold out. In my opinion, it's the best place and only way to see this if you are in LA : https://elcapitantheatre.com/event/1786/showtimes/2017-02-18
The darn camera keeps moving. All the time. I just want to see the show. Stop all the cuts and fancy camera work. Extremely distracting. The greatness of the show is the full stage with amazing dancing. That's what I want to see.
It's like the director is saying "watch me direct".
Just curious....is it $22 for everyone else or just the theatre I'm looking at in NJ? I think $22 is awfully high to see a movie, but, I haven't really been to the movies lately so maybe this is just the norm.
It's $20 in Ohio. Most irritating is the aspect ratio is wrong. Heads and feet are cut off in many shots and during the dance sequences. We're at intermission right now and the logo at the bottom of the screen is cut off, which proves my point. Management says its the feed they were provided with and there's nothing they can do.
"I'm seeing the LuPone in Key West later this week. I'm hoping for great vocals and some sort of insane breakdown..." - BenjaminNicholas2
At intermission also and wholeheartedly agree about the camera work. Dizzying and takes away from full cast numbers. Jeremy is giving it 110% (can't say enough about him and his performance) and Kara's song was pretty stellar too.
Aspect is fine at our theatre here outside Houston so it's probably not the feed. Sorry you're getting a bad experience.
sbflyfan said: "It's $20 in Ohio. Most irritating is the aspect ratio is wrong. Heads and feet are cut off in many shots and during the dance sequences. We're at intermission right now and the logo at the bottom of the screen is cut off, which proves my point. Management says its the feed they were provided with and there's nothing they can do.
That Jeremy Jordan. Can't imagine why he's not a bigger star. He sure shows some talent in this show. Great singing. Wonderful acting. And of course what a face!
this version certainly does highlight his talents.
Comden Green said: The darn camera keeps moving. All the time. I just want to see the show. Stop all the cuts and fancy camera work. Extremely distracting. The greatness of the show is the full stage with amazing dancing. That's what I want to see.
YES. THIS. I wanted way fewer camera movements, and I wanted more distance shots that lasted. Thank gourd they kept a distance shot for that incredible moment when the scaffolding moves downstage in "Once and For All" (though they added a looking-up-at-it angle towards the end of it, which I didn't love).
I wish they had let the set and the choreo be more of the stars that they are in the live show. That scaffolding, and the choreo in and on it, are some of my fave things. And one thing I love about the choreo is dancers doing the same move in sync, which was harder to see and appreciate here.
All that said -- I cried twice, I got chills twice, JEREMY JORDAN IS PHENOMENAL, and the whole thing was a huge balm and joy for my soul. It really was incredible. The acting seemed on a higher level than when I saw it on tour (though I was flying with happiness then too).
Comden Green said: "You should get a refund. The rest of us had a perfect picture.
They spent a few seconds about 10 minutes into Act 2 trying to re-adjust the image, but that didn't fix it. The manager was waiting outside afterwards and gave everyone a readmission pass to come back for one of the other screenings. She apologized and said they weren't sent the correct format.
Thought it was fantastic, otherwise.
"I'm seeing the LuPone in Key West later this week. I'm hoping for great vocals and some sort of insane breakdown..." - BenjaminNicholas2
I saw this in MA tonight. Really really enjoyed it. Saw the original cast on Broadway in the cheap seats so I really enjoyed the close-ups and catching all little stuff that I missed the first I saw it. Hoping for a Blu-ray release.
$18 here. Theatre about 1/2 full. I thought the camera moved a bit too much - but not that much. For the most part, the director/editor let the dancing be the star.
BUT, what I didn't like were the cutaways to the audience. As well as the primed audience to scream at any cartwheel or flip - it was like the Legally Blonde taping.
But, that Jeremy Jordan. The man has charisma. (Which somehow doesn't come through on Supergirl). I really enjoyed Kara Lindsay. Aisha De Haas reminded me a lot of Loretta Devine (and that's not a bad thing). And for a few moments, I thought Tom Hanks had snuck on as Governor Roosevelt.
Saw it in Sacramento. I loved it. I had seen it with the original cast sans Jeremy Jordan. We saw Corey Cott on Broadway who was great. But I feel so lucky to have gotten to see Jordan play this role. He was incredible. He should definitely be a bigger star. I thought Kara Lindsay was vocally much stronger than she was on Broadway. Her first act song Watch What Happens was fantastic. That was one of the times where I really appreciated the closeup as we got to see her expression change many times in the course of each line.
I agree with many here that the camera moved way too much in the dance scenes. Why do directors think they have to do that? We get it, you want to show off how you used all these cuts and close ups. But it would be so much better if you trusted your audience to decide where to look and just gave us a view of the whole stage for five whole seconds. Or even - gasp - ten! I did enjoy the overhead shots, but again would love to see them last longer.
However, in all the non dance scenes I really enjoyed all the close ups. Because of them I feel like I got to know many of the Newsies, although I know few of their names.
I hope they release a recording as I thought the vocals were all stronger than they are on the cast album, especially Lindsay.
All in all, I thought it was fabulous, an 8 out of 10, that easily could and should have been a 10.
I saw it tonight, also, and there was nothing wrong with the aspect ratio here. I work at a theatre and just by looking at the photo you took I can safely say that your theatre did not have their digital projector set for the proper aspect ratio ... it was definitely NOT the feed they received. And yes, Jeremy Jordan is fantastic!!! A shame that MISS SAIGON is only scheduled for a limited run on Broadway because I could definitely see him playing Chris at some point ... perhaps in the movie version they keep talking about?
Came back from this and I'm glad I'm not the only one who had issues with the frenetic direction. While the dance scenes weren't too stilted (although I was surprised just how often they refused to show the full range of the stage), the most egregarious part was the godawful tracking of the fight scene at the end of the first act. Onstage, quick cut shaky cam? Really?! Shaky cam?!?!
It may not be what the people came for, that being the dance numbers, but it's still a choerographed fight scene live on stage which is reduced to incoherent nothing diced up to audiences. Way to crap on all that work done.
Otherwise it's a servicable filming of a show that is strong on score and dance, a bit short on its book. The cast does a great job even if they are starting to look a bit too old to play these parts (Andrew especially)... not a fan of the cutting back on the Bottom Line scene, made the scene feel rushed, and the Crutchy song in Act 2 is wholly unnecessary even though I understand why they put it in there. And I swear Kevin as Roosevelt is an uncanny resemblance to what it would be like if Tom Hanks played the role. Kara and Jeremy are fantastic and good on Disney for bringing them back.
I imagine this is a strong capper for the remarkable six-year ROI on a box office bomb from the early 90s for the Mouse House. Now it goes straight to the community theaters but I wouldn't be surprised if this pulls a Beauty and the Beast-style revived national tour... the spectacle of the dancing will make people come out even in the existence of this pro-shot. While I watched it I even mused that this probably doesn't beat actually being there and seeing it in person. But for now, the DVD/streaming sales along with the inevitable Netflix release will line Disney's pockets for years to come.