I haven't read all of the comments on here because I'm sure most of you don't know how something like this works. I'm not claiming to know everything either, but I can at least be supportive. Yes of course you can offer your opinion. But an incredibly rude blanket statement like "they deserved to tank!" is incredibly unnecessary, rude and insulting. This was not a disrespect to Larson's memory or the legacy of the show. This was N)OT by any means meant to be a carbon copy of any Rent production anyone had seen before this aired.
I understand where people are coming from when they say that they should have hired an understudy. However, that is one option. That is not the ONLY option. How many names in this production did people know before? The only two I personally knew were Vanessa Hudgens (HSM) and Brandon Victor Dixon (he was Burr when I saw Hamilton)/. Each actor brought their own spin to the roles. To say they weren't doing them justice? Well, that's your opinion. If you didn't like a part and you were thinking "ugh this is awful" why didn't you just change the channel? Why didn't you just watch something else? I'm sure there are a lot of people who are fans who actually enjoyed it and didn't just watch it because they wanted to complain about it.
Actually, there was one thing I wasn't thrilled about--I can understand why they wanted to have the live audience, but I would've liked to hear what the actors were saying instead of being almost unable to hear them because of the cheers. They also could have just put them offstage, like with a regular musical, but that was my only problem with the audience aspect.
I was pleasantly surprised by Vanessa Hudgens.
I KNEW Brandon Victor Dixon would do amazing things in the role of Collins. I love him so much.
Question: why would you accuse someone of not doing their best? Would say that about people in previews on Broadway? That they save their best performances for opening night/after opening? That's incredibly insulting to the actors. So nice on that.
This was not insulting to Larson's memory. There is only so much language you can allow on TV. There are many words you just can't say on TV. According to a different post I read about this, on some tours and in some productions of the show, "dildos" is changed to latex. It's censorship. Is it unfortunate? Yes. But if you let that ruin your experience of the show, I'd rethink watching with SUCH a critical eye. I'm not saying ignore it, I'm just saying maybe let some things go that are also changed in other productions. Not everyone has seen the Broadway production (I was taken to see Chicago because my Dad didn't think I'd want to see the show, so I've only worked on a high school production and let me tell you, that was heavily edited, but I still came away loving the show. Was I deprived of anything? NO. Was the audience? No).
The nitpicking I see of this show really makes me sad. If you were watching this as someone who had previously seen a production, and were like "but it's misleading to call it 'live' when what we saw wasn't", it's not like they PLANNED to show footage from the dress rehearsal. They specifically recorded the dress rehearsal in case something happened. Could they have hired an understudy-sure. Should we kvetch about that instead of appreciating what we got? No.
Of course you can be critical. But be specific about things you don't like. Instead of saying "this sucked" what didn't you like? "Jonathan Larson is rolling in his grave" to be honest-I don't think he could have imagined the impact his show would have on so many people. And it has. And THAT is what's important. I'm not saying if you think it was a bad production overall that your opinion isn't valid, I'm just saying see the wider perspective: See what this has done for people who are being exposed to a show they might not have been able to see otherwise.
Jonathan Larson would be PROUD.
Don't @ me.
