REDWOOD Previews — Page 5

^ Yes, at the very least.

pagereynolds said: "It's 2 hours with no intermission?"

Ugh. I’m out.

I'm intrigued about the preview process as when I end up seeing US musicals in Australia they are for the most part set in stone apart from a few little variations. (as for Australian musicals, don't get me started how the beautiful Australian production of The Boy from Oz was gutted of some of it's best moments to add more Judy & Liza for an American audience).

Is there any recent examples of shows doing a massive overhaul of a show during previews? major cuts, changing songs etc? Is they any chance they will make some major changes to this one before it's locked?

Opening Night for the original 1964 Broadway production of FUNNY GIRL starring Barbra Streisand was postponed 5 times. There were 41 changes made to the finalé of the show before freezing it on Opening Night. Barbra was rehearsing the final version of the finalé behind the curtain as the audience was being seated.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Opening Night for the original 1964 Broadway production of FUNNY GIRL starring Barbra Streisand was postponed 5 times. There were 41 changes made to the finalé of the show before freezing it on Opening Night. Barbra was rehearsing the final version of the finalé behind the curtain as the audience was being seated."

Cool but that was 60 years ago and not relevant.

Cool but that was 60 years ago and not relevant.

My bad. I was simply responding to your mom's inquiry.

Technology does an awful lot for theater production, but one downside is that it makes changes very expensive. For every substantive change, about a zillion things have to be reprogrammed, so major overhauls in previews are cost-prohibitive. Alas.

Intriguing to hear that the show had more daring in its first iteration. I recall reading one review which made it seem so promising; fresh in all the right ways. It’s another chamber musical arriving at a time when larger and splashier seems to sell.

Any thoughts on whether the material is more or less satisfying than if/then, especially the score?

Kad said: "Since the rise of the workshop in the last twenty years, that’s where big changes happen, not during a production in performance."

Thanks. That makes sense. I mean I know Spring Awakening did a bunch of workshops over 7 years before getting to the Atlantic theatre, then Broadway.

This is also why strong directors such as Hal Prince or Michael Grief matter. Next to normal was shaped with Michael Grief, DEH score basically does not resemble at all what it was like before he went on board. Hal Prince will challenge composers to produce new songs if the existing ones don't work or are lame (e.g. Kiss of the Spider Woman).

Reflecting on the Swept Away closing where the Avett Brothers said they thought it would run for like 20 years...seems there are too many yes men around. It hurts, but someone needs to put their foot down and show leadership to help protect the show, actors, creatives, investors.

binau said: "This is also why strong directors such as Hal Prince or Michael Grief matter. Next to normal was shaped with Michael Grief, DEH score basically does not resemble at all what it was like before he went on board. Hal Prince will challenge composers to produce new songs if the existing ones don't work or are lame (e.g. Kiss of the Spider Woman).

Reflecting on the Swept Away closing where the Avett Brothers said they thought it would run for like 20 years...seems there are too many yes men around. It hurts, but someone needs to put their foot down and show leadership to help protect the show, actors, creatives, investors.

"

I fully agree and think I even said that the yes men involved with this one don't surprise me why it closed down so quickly.