SING STREET begins previews tonight in Boston

Absolutely adored this at NYTW. Excited it is getting a future life after its Broadway run was nixed due to the pandemic.

Curious to hear about production value/ staging and if anything has changed since off-Broadway. (I know you didn't see the show off Broadway, but I more so mean like by Googling pics, etc, has the production changed or just been tweaked).

Add me to the list of people curious to hear what changes were made. I enjoyed it at NYTW but didn’t love it, hopefully they’ve been working on it!

Excited to see this later in September! Would this be considered a jukebox musical?

RippedMan said: "Curious to hear about production value/ staging and if anything has changed since off-Broadway. (I know you didn't see the show off Broadway, but I more so mean like by Googling pics, etc, has the production changed or just been tweaked)."

So unfortunately I couldn't find many wide shots of the off Broadway production (or many shots at all for that matter), so I'll just share some of my impressions...

Heavy use of projections in the show. Starts off with like tv static over the whole stage. All the band performances had the live version of what was being recorded on the camera up on the screen, with some mix of other visuals being projected. Obviously Duran Duran, etc. was shown on screen as Brendan watched and talked about them.

The stage/set otherwise was pretty bare except for essentially like bleachers facing in on each side of the stage, with racks of guitars hung up on each side too. From one pic I found it looks like this is the same as before. Often, the rest of the cast would be standing on the sides as a scene was happening center stage, sometimes playing instruments, sometimes doing little choreographed movements (forgive my lackluster description lol, but I wasn't the biggest fan of this choice).

All the set pieces (couch, other furniture, phone booth, instruments, etc.) were essentially rolled on/off and around the stage from scene to scene. This worked for me sometimes and others not so much. Sometimes I felt like there was not enough distinction between scenes so I got confused as someone who wasn't familiar with the story at all... I'll be curious to see how I feel when I go back.

Sitting up close, the lighting was a highlight for me. I especially loved how it worked with the phone booth for Raphina's entrance (and other scenes) and helped you to really be introduced to her from Connor's perspective seeing her for the first time.

From what I'm seeing in the few existing off Broadway pictures, I have to say I'm a much bigger fan of the costumes I saw last night. In terms of production value, I do feel like they're a big improvement, especially for Raphina but really for all the kids too. In the band performances and even the school uniforms.

One last note... I saw the picture in this article that stood out to me because this was not in the production now (the t-shirts or the hanging sheet in the back)

Thanks for taking to review this.

Glad you enjoyed the show. What was the running time and did you see any cool merch? Thank you!

incomesabby said: "One last note... I saw the picture in this articlethat stood out to me because this was not in the production now (the t-shirts or the hanging sheet in the back)"



Oh! This reminds me of the biggest question I had!

What did they do during the song "Drive it Like You Stole it"? In the movie, it's a huge dream sequence production number - very theatrical in nature. So when I saw it at Off-Broadway, I was really disappointed that they didn't do ANYTHING for that number. They literally just sang it. Did they re-imagine that number at all?

Also, to the person who asked if this was a jukebox musical - no it's not. Assuming the song breakdown is roughly similar to the NYTW production, then a majority of the songs originated in the movie, with a couple of new songs, and only 2 or 3 real-life popular songs from the era. So while it wouldn't be eligible for Score at the Tonys (unless they added more new songs), it's also not a jukebox musical. Basically the same situation as the Once musical (fittingly, as they're both based on films by the same filmmaker).

JBroadway said: "What did they do during the song "Drive it Like You Stole it"? In the movie, it's a huge dream sequence production number - very theatrical in nature. So when I saw it at Off-Broadway, I was really disappointed that they didn't do ANYTHING for that number. They literally just sang it. Did they re-imagine that number at all?"

Haha funny you ask! My brother is a HUGE fan of the movie and the album and this was his biggest question for me last night too.

Ultimately I liked how it was done in the show (like I REALLY enjoyed the song, maybe my favorite of the band performances) but when I talked to him about it afterwards I did end up feeling like I had been cheated out of what could’ve been a much more exciting scene overall.

Short answer: Yes, they pretty much just sang it :/

Long answer:

You can see a bit of the song & costumes on the @huntingtontheatre instagram (as Taffy linked - thanks!). I must admit that in the moment I did wonder where the kids got the money for these nice coordinated outfits lol. So that didn’t really make sense without the dream sequence but I just let it go.

Based on what my brother told me, I think the dream sequence nature of it all was instead sort of utilized in “Dream for you”, where they briefly showed the family all happy and getting along before going back to reality. But I was kind of meh on the execution there

Updated On: 8/27/22 at 03:10 PM

Thanks for those breakdowns!

Regarding the video of "Drive it Like You Stole it" - I don't know if it's just this number, or the whole show, but the use of projections seems REALLY different, and WAY more prominent. The lighting also seems more colorful and more warm. Seems like it might have lost a bit of the "grit" (such as it was) that it had at NYTW. But again, maybe it's just this number.

Regarding "Girls" - at NYTW, they sang the song as a band performance, but in the background, the sister had a whole movement/dance solo; she sort of had an angry breakdown, started throwing her books, and dancing aggressively. I thought it was quite beautiful, and arguably more potent and more powerful than just having her sing about her frustrations. But many people felt like it wasn't enough for the character, who otherwise didn't have much to do.

RUkiddingme said: "I find myself laughing at some of these comments comparing the NYTW production.

Its shocking anyone remembers anything at all! The show is so forgettable.”


You’re laughing at me for enjoying the show more than you, and having a better memory than you? Cool…go off I guess…

Updated On: 8/28/22 at 02:24 PM