Out of town tryouts - are they as useful as they used to be?- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 9:49am

Hairspray and The Producers made very few changes following their try-outs- it was more tightening the material than fixing it.

But Big Fish had been in development for years, yet the problems with it were so obvious.

Next To Normal was significantly overhauled after its initial debut as Feeling Electric at the Cutting Room and NYMF, and then moreso when it had full productions.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 10:45am

"There are a handful of shows right now doing pre-Broadway tryouts in one way or another:
The Last Ship -Chicago
The County House - LA
This Is Our Youth - Chicago"

This Is Our Youth is a revival of an 18-year-old play; can it really be called an "out of town tryout," I wonder? Even if Lonergan does some minor re-writes?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 11:14am

Kad, with the exception of casting and puppetry... I believe SHREK was the same way (?)

[Kad]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 12:16pm

The only major difference, I think, for Shrek was the dragon number. Not very substantial in the big scheme.

But things like Addams Family, Big Fish, and Shrek already scheduled their Broadway debuts when they opened out-of-town. They were unable to really make substantial changes. Those shows were put on a track and had money poured into them.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 1:26pm

In that case then it is more like the old out of town 3 city tryouts--they would have a fixed Broadway date as well. In a way the current way that many shows play regionally first, then the production closes, they make changes (or don't) etc is a bit more like combining the old try-outs with a workshop.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 8:49pm

"9 TO 5 was MUCH better in Los Angeles." Wow, having only seen it in LA, God help the poor audiences in NYC who had to endure an even WORSE evening.

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/20/14 at 2:26am

A new trend that, as an Australian, I'm enjoying, is using Australia as a big-scale out of town tryout, as was the case with King Kong and Love Never Dies (which the US will hopefully see) as well as shows like Dr Zhivago and Moonshadow (which I doubt you'll see - although Zhivago was doing a Korean season). I think it allows the creatives to work out the kinks in the show and to see audiences' reactions (I've heard that Melbourne and New York theatre audiences are quite similar - no idea how true that is), but also allows producers to turn a bit more of a profit than for a tryout in Chicago or DC or San Francisco. Plus, they can also access bigger theatres, which is needed for large-scale productions. For example, I don't see how a short King Kong tryout could possibly have worked, but the Melbourne season was perfect.

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 6/20/14 at 4:40pm

An earlier poster indicated Lestat was better in SF. I saw it in SF and for once I can honestly say it was a TOTAL waste of my time and hard earned money.