FInal preview went flawlessly. The show is down to its, err, "fighting weight" now, running about 2 hours, 20 minutes. I read some of the initial preview reviews, and can't see anything big or obvious that was cut.
I watched the movie last night, and it is pretty remarkable how closely the story line/scenes/dialogue is nearly identical. It is a small story with a big setting, so that is a delicate balance, but I thought it was handled well.
As I'm not a huge fan of the movie, it did seem odd how much people applaud for egg drinking, beef hitting, and stair climbing, but I guess a 38-year-old movie that is still a cultural touchstone is allowed to have some iconography.
I've rarely ever left a theater with songs in my head, so I can't say whether the score is great or not. I don't recall ever thinking, why is this a song?! One could argue why it's a musical, but that seems like needless folly with people singing onstage. We're the audience at this point, not an early focus group.
I was seated in the Golden Circle, and quickly found out how the lottery people could be seated in the first two rows, when I had purchased first row tickets way back on day one. Row A is the first row onsale online, but the third row in the orchestra, so that solves that.
As one of the cattle being herded onto the stage, I can't speak to how that time is accounted for for people sitting elsewhere. And people wondering about side orchestra having to stand, the cast was actively encouraging the first few rows of the aide orchestras to stand up. So, if you want to stand, you'll have no problem with the cast goading you on.... if you want to sit, oh well...
I don't feel I missed anything during the fight, but do understand people's concern. The people calling the fight are suspended above the ring, and Adrian comes out once above the stage, too. During the fight itself, people have said you'd miss stuff in Golden Circle, and I didn't understand why. Now I see that many of the scenes between rounds, when Rocky and Apollo are in their respective corners, those are being shown live on the monitors. So, it's not that they are facing away from the Golden Circle or anything like that, just that the scenes aren't played to the house at all, but to the cameras. That said, it doesn't seem like it would take much to hang a monitor on the back of the thing the sportscasters are standing on, unless the issue is a monitor throwing undesired light.
But, honestly, I felt I followed the whole thing perfectly without the monitors. Then again, I have a natural aversion to monitors at live events, I'll always look at the band live and smaller than them close-up on the monitors, thinking I didn't come here to watch TV.
The show is definitely a crowd pleaser, and the cast and creative have certainly put a ton of work into bringing this classic to a new medium. I'd be rather amused if best choreography this year went to a fight scene, but also think it was well earned.
It's not a deep show. It's not a challenging show. But it's fun, exciting, and leaves the audience smiling and saying they had a great night out. Can't fault anyone for wanting that (I'd just not want a steady diet of only that).
Now t/d/b/a haterobics on here.
