Shuffle Along previews — Page 4

PianoMann said: "Wow, I'm surprised (but also not) at how many people were there before the box office opened for the first preview."



I think it may have to do with the fact that they announced it last night? In my experience (though of course it's not always the case), many shows will start selling rush right away for the first preview, but they won't always have announced the rush policy before 10am that day. I've known lots of shows to take a day or 2 to announce their policy even though it's already in effect.

JBroadway said: I think it may have to do with the fact that they announced it last night? In my experience (though of course it's not always the case), many shows will start selling rush right away for the first preview, but they won't always have announced the rush policy before 10am that day. I've known lots of shows to take a day or 2 to announce their policy even though it's already in effect."



That's a good point - they did give a whole day's notice, while some shows announce rush on the first day of previews.

I'm sure they're well aware of how long the show ran last night & are actively making cuts right now. I'd say within a week the show will be down to under 3 hours.

sing_dance_love said: " There was signage at the ticket counter that said all rush tickets would be partial view, though it isn't printed on my ticket like I feel like it usually is."



It's funny you should mention that. After you left, the woman who was running the box office realized the tickets had not been stamped partial view, and had to take a second to actually look for the stamp in the box office. It was kind of funny, actually.

Looking forward to all the reports! And again it may be worth mentioning that Theatremania has a code for rear mezz for $55. They are full view seats and only fifteen dollars more than rush- so may be a good option for people who want to plan ahead and not line up the day of.

The Playbills come with a leaflet/mock replica of the original SHUFFLE ALONG program. Gorgeous curtain. Great view in orchestra center! Sitting in row F.

jacobsnchz14 said: "No merch or windowcards being sold, unfortunately.



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and like i said don't be expecting anything for awhile.

End of Act One. Holy $#!+... The cast and audience energy is ever present. Expect a lot of Tony noms for this. Just based on structure, I think this is a new musical weaving the score of the original SHUFFLE ALONG. That's just a first impression without knowing the original 1920 version.

PS Despite my avatar I have no bias whatsoever. Lol.

Updated On: 3/15/16 at 09:43 PM

Just got out. Unsure what to think. A definite work in progress with some truly great parts, but It did not truly click for me. Going back in a few weeks to check it out again.

It's interesting that they are taking an entire week of performances off next month. Anyone know why?

Clocked in about 3 1/2 hours. Funniest moment of the evening: an audience member comparing this to The Iceman Cometh.

Well, that was a mess. Sometimes a glorious mess, but badly in need of editing and focus. This was my most anticipated show of the spring, and yes Audra was manages to be perfection and the talented cast works hard, but the structure and story-telling often given them an uphill battle.



First of all, this is in no way, shape or form a revival of Shuffle Along. It's not even just the story of the making of Shuffle Along as they have somewhat marketed the show. This production is a bio-musical a la Beautiful about the four creators of Shuffle Along (as well as a few of the stars of the original production).



For a better comparison, imagine if you will Everything Was Possible: The Musical. The real story is the creation of Follies; even though you would naturally get to hear little snippets of the songs, there would be no time to hear full length performances of Waiting For The Girls Upstairs or Who's That Woman. There wouldn't even be much, if any, time to explain who all the characters are, their relationships or the events of the evening. Luckily for most members on this board we could all put on a one man or woman show of Follies in our living rooms, making it very easy for us to fill in the blanks and enjoy the creative process. The problem with Shuffle Along is that no one really is familiar with the original 1921 production of Shuffle Along and this production shows us precious little of the actual show.



To make matters even more confounding, the entire first act takes us through the meeting of the four creators, the inception of the idea, the securing of the funds, the myriad of out of town try-outs and the opening of the show on Broadway. This all in act one! Add an intermission and you already have a complete "Everything Was Possible" show. Act Two then covers everything that happened to the creators after Shuffle Along until their deaths. So in this example in Act Two we would see Sondheim and Prince create Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd- the whole damn lot. After Merrily Steve could have his own track of writing Sunday in the Park while Hal falls on tough times with A Doll's Life and Grind and Roza and (we're here all night folks! literally!). Well, you get the point.



This structure creates four lead characters out of Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter (the team that wrote the book) and Josh Henry and Brandon Victor Dixon (responsible for the lyrics and music respectively). Audra plays the leading lady, Lottie, who also has an affair with Eubie (Dixon). The leads often narrate directly to the audience, telling us now we went to Philadelphia were we added this number and fired this actor. Sometimes a song would start to take off only to be constantly interrupted by narration. For example, during Dixon's first flirtation with McDonald they barely can sing a chorus of Honeysuckle Time without breaking into chatter. They have nice chemistry and the dialogue is funny, but I just wish I could have heard them sing the song.



Whenever the (VERY hardworking) ensemble came on to do a big tap number, usually transitioning from one scene to the next, the show really caught on fire. Porter has a big And I'm Telling You moment in act two that went over well. The act one finale, one of the few, if only, full out numbers presented as the original Shuffle Along was amazing. It's too bad we didn't have Encores put on a production of Shuffle Along so we could all acquaint ourselves with the piece before seeing the making of musical.



I have similar feelings to Shuffle Along as I did after the first preview of Women on the Verge. This isn't near the disaster that first preview was, but I was equally as excited about that all-star cast only to be mystified by some of what was happening onstage. With a runtime of 3.5 hours this really could have used an out of town try-out and at this stage of the game some serious cutting. Like a good hour of cuts.



Even with all of these criticisms it's still worth it for Audra alone, which shows the immense power show can have over a show and the absolute unending brilliance of her talent.



I hope they use the preview period well. I'll be back to see what changes they make and wish them the best.