Riedel on The Great Comet off stage battle — Page 2

theatregoer3 said: "dramamama611 said: "So what, exactly have you heard that sounds dull? The part about it being a sliver of War & Peace? In that case, Les Miz must have sounded dreadful too."

I just saw it myself and found it to be dull. So did the many people in the mezz who didn't return after intermission.

If he thinks it sounded dull, then let him have his opinion."

Going to see it this weekend and when I tell my friends here in Chicago I'm going to see "Natasha Pierre and the Great comet of 1812", it sounds dreadful (not knowing anything else about it). It's a long and boring title and that makes one think it would be a long and boring show. I don't generally like period pieces (1812), could care less about comets and don't think the connection to War and Peace does it any favors. The only thing I can look forward to is Josh Groban and the staging.



And yes, Les Miserables is a dreadful title. Great show when word of mouth/press gets around, but not something that immediately piques my interest



Just my opinion

the title was fine downtown, but on Broadway it has to overcome the hordes who think it is about Rocky and Bullwinkle.

It's a long and boring title and that makes one think it would be a long and boring show.

Personally, my reaction when I first heard about the show was the opposite. I found the title to be intriguing and instantly made me curious about the show.

And Les Miserables was the title of an iconic novel, so it makes perfect sense to keep it. I don't understand why that is "dreadful" and it clearly did not negatively impact the show whatsoever.

I hope this is resolved amicably and that Ars Nova receives the billing they deserve. The show would not exist without them- it was commissioned and developed by the company and the production still retains the vision as it was presented initially there.

Updated On: 10/19/16 at 12:55 PM

I'm not convinced The Bandstand will be more effective branding. The most interesting thing about the title is that it could be confused with "American Bandstand" if you're old enough to remember it and even then, you'd have to have been a fan to care. The artwork on their mostly empty website is pretty generic and the only names on it that they are leveraging are Blankenbuehler and Osnes, so I don't see anything really effective yet. It's certainly not the title alone that makes branding effective. Look at what happened to Lennon.

RippedMan said: "So this title sucks but "The Bandstand" is an exciting title? Or "Cats?" Or "Hamilton?"

Schikaneder ?