Sondheim and Ives' HERE WE ARE at The Shed- Page 22

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 10:55am

Can you imagine if everyone showed up to that first preview and it’s just a bunch of music stands. People would be LIVID. 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 10:57am

TaffyDavenport said: "I don't see any suggestion that this is going to look like a concert/reading/sitzprobe."

Ok, but will this space allow anything but a bare bone set? 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:00am

TaffyDavenport said: "I don't see any suggestion that this is going to look like a concert/reading/sitzprobe."

Agreed. Just based on the subject matter and the space, I definitely wouldn't expect it to be a mega musical. I think it'll be pretty small. But there is a full design team and a choreographer on the website. So, it definitely won't be a sitzprobe. It could be something more encores style. But, I think it'll be fully staged. 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:18am

gibsons2 said: "TaffyDavenport said: "I don't see any suggestion that this is going to look like a concert/reading/sitzprobe."

Ok, but will this space allow anything but a bare bone set?"

The space doesn't allow for massive design elements, but I highly doubt they would have bothered bringing in Tony-winning set, costume and lighting designers and a two-time Tony-winning director if the plan was just to have them sit around in a circle and sing through it. So it may be intimate, but there will definitely be some level of design and staging to it.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:18am

dramamama611 said: "I'm going to mention, not only was it not finished, it was abandoned. The last we had heard was that they shelved it - which means it wasn't working."

Was this even after Sondheim talked it up with Stephen Colbert? There have been so many twists and turns and vague reports on the show that I've had trouble keeping track!

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:19am

Tickets are now on TodayTix as well where you can choose your seats (with a $10 fee on the lowest price point), but if the APPLEPAY code works ($20 off when you use apple pay) it could shave a little bit off the price

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:28am

All of the secrecy surrounding this project is intriguing and rather baffling.  

[pethian]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:34am

Impeach2017 said: "All of the secrecy surrounding this project is intriguing and rather baffling."

I agree. Been wondering about this. Given that it is unfinished, might certain big decisions about the piece still be unmade at this point?

Updated On: 7/21/23 at 11:34 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 11:47am

kdogg36 said: "dramamama611 said: "I'm going to mention, not only was it not finished, it was abandoned. The last we had heard was that they shelved it - which means it wasn't working."

Was this even after Sondheim talked it up with Stephen Colbert? There have been so many twists and turns and vague reports on the show that I've had trouble keeping track!"

No, the Colbert interview was right after the workshop. They were actively working on the piece at the time of his death.

[yyys]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 12:00pm

Hoping this is not the next Cornelia Street...😁

[Ptero2]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 12:40pm

yyys said: "Hoping this is not the next Cornelia Street...😁"

Oh god. Don't remind me...

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 12:48pm

Let's not EVER bring that one up again!

 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 1:44pm

yyys said: "Hoping this is not the next Cornelia Street...😁"

For as much as some of these tickets are, though… big oof for some. (Me, I’m “some.&rdquo 😂 

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:03pm

gibsons2 said: "TaffyDavenport said: "I don't see any suggestion that this is going to look like a concert/reading/sitzprobe."

Ok, but will this space allow anything but a bare bone set?"

Where's Jamie Lloyd when you need him.

[binau]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:06pm

I personally don't care if there is no set and just a bunch of music stands. For me it really is just about hearing new Sondheim music. If it works within the context of a book/story/concept or whatever even better. The set has barely even crossed my mind. 

[PianoMann]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:29pm

As someone above said, why would they hire David Zinn – two-time Tony-winning scenic designer of the visual extravaganza SpongeBob and the simple but wonderfully rich bi-level apartment of The Humans – to design a concert-style production? Sight unseen, the suggestion makes no sense.

The skepticism/pessimism about this production since its announcement at The Shed has been greatly exaggerated. From the fretting about whether the show would go on at all because they didn't announce a cast or dates early enough, to wondering if The Shed had enough bandwidth to sell tickets online as if this was going to generate Taylor Swift-levels of traffic, to erroneously saying the material was abandoned, to thinking they brought on all of these top-tier performers to sing a new score on music stands for 15 weeks... I get that we little about the completeness of the score for Act II, but the lead producer on this is Tom Kirdahy. He knows what he's doing. I guess folks just want to temper their expectations since the prospect of a new Sondheim show seems too good to be true.

[binau]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:35pm

I'll give you all that EXCEPT the point about The Shed's website. Many of us were experiencing constant errors/crashes for the initial presale, which I think was partly caused by that fact that they didn't implement the line until there were greater presale numbers in further slots. Also, the website had frequent issues that only seemed to be solved by logging in and logging out. Ok, yes we got there and we got tickets but that was not a pleasant experience and The Shed could and should do better!!!!!!!!! That was much more stressful than it needed to be.

Updated On: 7/21/23 at 02:35 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:44pm

binau said: "I'll give you all that EXCEPT the point about The Shed's website. Many of us were experiencing constant errors/crashes for the initial presale"

Fair point, especially for the folks who paid the highest membership fees to get those tickets on the first day and had a frustrating experience. I'm more commenting on the total lack of faith that The Shed could bring a project like this to fruition.

 

[binau]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 2:44pm

While we're on their website, I wonder if that banner is actually hiding seats that people don't know about. E.g. look how the left has sold more than the right for the first preview lol. Also, I thought I couldn't lower myself to new depths in Sondheim obsession but I think commenting on the potential subtle effects of a website window on ticket sales for the first preview of Here We Are maybe should tell me I should do more with my life or something, lol. 
 



 

Updated On: 7/21/23 at 02:44 PM

[TarHeelAlan]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 3:23pm

binau said: "While we're on their website, I wonder if that banner is actually hiding seats that people don't know about. E.g. look how the left has sold more than the right for the first preview lol."

I don't know how it may be impacting right side vs left side sales, but at the very least it's one of the more user-unfriendly designs I've seen on a ticketing website in a while. It's right up there with a couple of sites I've run into where they show you the seating chart BEFORE they select your tickets for you. Then when you've been offered seats 1&2  in Row X, you don't know where they are because the seating chart has vanished and can't be accessed without giving up the seats you've been offered. 

 

 

[bear88]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 4:20pm

PianoMann said: "As someone above said, why would they hire David Zinn – two-time Tony-winning scenic designer of the visual extravaganza SpongeBob and the simple but wonderfully rich bi-level apartment ofThe Humans – to design a concert-style production? Sight unseen, the suggestion makes no sense.

The skepticism/pessimism about this production since its announcement at The Shed has been greatly exaggerated. From the fretting about whether the show would go on at all because they didn't announce a cast or dates early enough, to wondering if The Shed had enough bandwidth to sell tickets online as if this was going to generate Taylor Swift-levels of traffic, to erroneously saying the material was abandoned, to thinking they brought on all of these top-tier performers to sing a new score on music stands for 15 weeks... I get that we little about the completeness of the score for Act II, but the lead producer on this is Tom Kirdahy. He knows what he's doing. I guess folks just want to temper their expectations since the prospect of a new Sondheim show seems too good to be true."

I think tempered expectations are reasonable. We don’t know how much of the score was written when Sondheim died, and we do know he won’t be there to fix things, work with the cast, or write an entirely new song during previews.

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Here We Are, and that’s led to a focus on the many things we don’t know. And even with the list of actors and set designers and choreographers and lighting folks, all of whom are prominent in their field, there’s still a lot of unknowns.

But aside from the unfortunate reality of Sondheim’s passing, and the related questions concerning how much of the score is done, most of this is true for any new show. 

I’m approaching Here We Are as an unexpected opportunity to see a group of top-notch Broadway creatives do their best with what Sondheim left behind in a small venue. If it doesn’t work, I will get over it. If it does, even in parts or just a fine new song or two, I will be more than satisfied. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 6:06pm

At this point, it seems more unusual when a show with pent-up initial demand doesn't experience some sort of online technical challenges when ticket sales first start off, so The Shed certainly is not an aberration. 

Updated On: 7/21/23 at 06:06 PM

[inception]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 6:07pm

bear88 said: "
I’m approachingHere We Areas an unexpected opportunity to see a group of top-notch Broadway creatives do their best with what Sondheim left behind in a small venue. If it doesn’t work, I will get over it. If it does, even in parts or just a fine new song or two, I will be more than satisfied."

Well that really isn't in the spirit of BroadwayWorld.

[AnythingYouDo]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 8:40pm

Regarding the completeness (or lack thereof) of the score, I do think it is notable that both Nathan Lane's and David Ives's comments about the show following Sondheim's death imply that at least a draft of the show and score was finished, and no one else directly involved in the show has indicated otherwise. Cameron Mackintosh claimed to have heard what Sondheim wrote and said it was not complete, but I take his claims with a grain of salt given both who he is and the fact that he wasn't involved in the show.

Of course, during rehearsals and previews, Sondheim and Ives would have made changes, which would have included adding, cutting, and replacing songs. But in terms of what was complete and presentable, my best guess is that there is an entire score worth of material, and I don't believe the people involved would have proceeded if that was not the case.

[Robbie516]

Posted: 7/21/23 at 10:41pm

Is David Hyde Pierce the lead?