Piazza Tour?

[hen88]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 4:35pm

I honestly did a search and couldn't find anything. I swear.

So - do you think it will tour? I think it could do well if it limited itself to twenty cities or so. I hope it happens because I don't know if I'll be able to go to NYC to see it before late summer. I might have to save some money.

If you think it will tour, who do you think they will cast?

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 4:41pm

http://awatouringservices.com/show19.asp

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 5:45pm

I confused about that website. Does that mean there will be a tour?

[jv92]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 5:51pm

Piazza is too good to tour. No one outside of New York or who hasn't listened to the recording or who isn't a fan of Broadway would like it, at least in my opinion.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 5:58pm

I may be wrong, but I think that website means that a touring agency is in place to represent the show. That does not necessarily mean that a tour has been planned, only that representation is in place to plan one. I personally doubt it will tour. I'd rather see if finish it's New York run, then get picked up by regional theaters and opera companies in new productions all around the country.

[boxers7]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:00pm

My fear of the tour is that it will be compromised. The show fits so beautifully into the Beaumont that I don't know if it could play Anytown, USA. Just little things that make Piazza, Piazza like the little stairwells that run into the audience and the open back wall for Clara's Interlude. Would we really want to see this set scaled down for the sake of touring? I wouldn't.

[freeadmission]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:01pm

Bull. So you're saying that, unless you live in New York, you have to have listened to the recording in order to like it? That's complete bull. Perhaps those who have heard the recording are more likely to GO, but that doesn't automatically disqualify the millions who HAVEN'T heard it from liking it before they've had the CHANCE to hear it. Maybe some of these will go to the show and be blown away. Ya never know.

I think it has as good a chance as any on tour -- especially if they bill the composer as the grandson of Richard Rogers.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:08pm

very nicely put

[jv92]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:14pm

Wow, you're nice.
I meant that maybe it'll appeal to some, but to the masses from Hicktown, USA, I don't think so,

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:19pm

Not to mention the fact that many cities will present the tour as part of a series, most of which have very solid subscriber bases. Individual ticket sales are hardly an issue when the subscribers keep the shows sold out anyway.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:19pm

I don't think the problem is billing or even filling the theaters, as subscription bases to the national tour venues tend to take care of that pretty well. My main concern (like boxers7's) is that the design and staging, done so beautifully at the Vivian Beaumont, would be compromised to fit the show into the sometimes cavernous proscenium houses around the country. The show can work in those venues, but it would require a some big changes, some of which I think would be step backward for this particular production. I was able to see some of the early, out-of-town tryouts of this show, and I think what they settled on in New York is worlds better than the other incarnations.

I have nothing against anyone wanting to take this show on the road, and of course I'd support it every night if it came to my city, but I continue to think of the things Adam Guettel said when producers were trying to get a New York production together. He wanted so badly to have a Broadway hit, but he wouldn't consent for the show to go in just anywhere or under less than ideal circumstances. After all, he worked on the dang thing for half a decade! I would be greatly surprised to see him change his tune now.

And I know that regional theaters and light opera companies are just chomping at the bit to get their hands on a beautiful, viable new property. So why not open the rights to all of them at once and let the show splash across the country in multiple productions, instead of making people wait for a single scaled-back tour to come to town?

[tourboi]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:23pm

Too good to tour? No one outside NYC will like it?

Just because folks don't live in NYC doesn't mean they won't appreciate Piazza for the wonderful piece of theatre it is. Having lived in many North American cities I can tell you your comments are not only wrong, but offensive.

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:29pm

I would die of happiness if this came to Boston. I am in love with the recording... I can't go a day without listening to it.

[Danielm]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:30pm

I would love to see it tour. If there is a problem I don't think it will be with audiences not getting it--I think it will be the venues it's booked in to. In LA these shows are usually booked into one of two huge barns-- The Ahmanson downtown or The Wilshire. The other possible place would be The Pantages which, while still a barn, doesn't seem quite as big. I loved the staging at the Beaumont, the thrust stage adds so much to the intimacy of the show.

[insomniak]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:31pm

So the rest of America is too stupid to apreciate high art? Well, THAT makes sense because it's not like any New Yorker is bad enough to only like WICKED and no midwesterner could possibly have heard the likes of Sondheim.

Take a trip outside your F*CKing fantasy world. I find that terribly insulting.

"Anytown" USA might also be the home of the most beautiful, antique theatres you've ever seen. I've been thoroughly unimpressed by all of the broadway theatre interior photos I've seen when I compare them to the stunning opulence of the Ohio Theatre.

ETA- And furthermore, New York is the city that can't keep a show open without a C-list hollywood actor. People actually GO to plays and artistically meaningful shows around here because we're not overwhelmed with things like Brooklyn, Wicked, Phantom, ect. Updated On: 12/21/05 at 06:31 PM

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:35pm

I think that this show will appeal to the older audiences who don't really enjoy the teeny-bopper shows like Wicked and Hairspray and Thoroughly Modern Millie. This is really a beautiful production that if done right on tour could be a hit.

[insomniak]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:37pm

I'm a teenager and Piazza is the only show that opened last season that I care about. Quite a few teens have soft spots for the old-fashioned shows and I do agree that billing it as Rodger's protege's work will help it.

And everyone loves a good romance.

PLEASE, let this tour!

[Horton]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:41pm

For those of you that think it cannot tour, what about the tour of Contact which was coreographed with that stage in mind. What they did is Ms. Susan Stroman just re-did it for other types of venues and then just booked venues with those equiptions.

[Danielm]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:43pm

I think it can tour, but I don't think Contact was as good in the great big procenium barns either.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:57pm

Michael Yeargen is quite a capable designer, as he has proven over and over again. A majority of his work has been in proscenium theatres. I am sure he will have NO problem adapted these sets for a tour and still retaining most of their beauty. The reason the set fits so beautifully in the Lincoln Centre is because he designed it specifically for that space. He is quite capable of redesigning it ina slightly different configuration and still retaining the same feeling, if not the exact details.

And as for the notion that New Yorkers are more sophisticated and theatre literate than the rest of the country...its not even worth my time to argue against.

Akiva

[jv92]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 6:59pm

Wow, everyone's offened.
Sorry, I'm not gonna get out of my "F*CKing" fantasy world. I'm thinking here for the commercial side.
Mass amounts of people are not going to like "Piazza." Most people, especially younger people, do not care for opera or musicals. I mean MOST, not ALL, let's get that straight.
Most younger people or "hip, up to date" person are not going to like the quiet, string orchestration. Most people are used to musicals being LOUD and OVER AMPED.
So, I'm sorry if you're offened.
I understand plenty of literate and savy people are from smaller towns, but look at some of your youth. Rap or Operetta? What do you think they'll choose?





Updated On: 12/21/05 at 06:59 PM

[aegeusrocks]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 7:05pm

jv - The problem that most of us had is that our cities, for those of us outside New York, are filled with people who thoroughly enjoy artistic creativity that presents itself in shows like Piazza. These people aren't always tourists and may not always go to see theater in New York if they ever go there, because, let's face it, not only is New York theater expensive to attend, the whole city basically is. You're generalizing about populations that you aren't all too familiar with, and the outside-of-New Yorkers, including me, responded to your comments accordingly. I live in the Chicago area, and I dare say that I do not consider my city anything close to "Hickstown, USA" and neither are any of the cities that most of the tours visit.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 7:07pm

"I meant that maybe it'll appeal to some, but to the masses from Hicktown, USA, I don't think so"

Um, well most tours go to places like Chicago...hardly hicktown, usa....


I desparately hope it does!! It needs too...I haven't seen it, and it's the only cd I listen to!

[jv92]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 7:08pm

God, I'm done with this topic. No one gets me huh?

[freeadmission]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 7:09pm

jv, I LIVE in Hicktown, USA. I'm engaged to a man whose neck is about as red as they come. He LOVES the show (well, the music at least, niether of us have acutally seen it). And there are plenty of musical-lovers in the area, just not musical-lovers with the means to travel 600+ miles to NYC to see a show. So we rely on tours and regional productions. Just because this is Hicksville doesn't mean we're uneducated . . . just remote.

Piazza would be well-recieved in North Carolina.

And I can't believe I'm defending this place. LOL