Spring Awakening Reunion?- Page 7

[JasonC3]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 9:41pm

Given that these types of events happen fairly regularly, I'd love to know what faulty assumptions the organizers made that led to such a bad logistics experience. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 10:10pm

ColorTheHours048 said: "Intermission. This was worth every bit of frustration with buying tickets and getting in and finding a seat not too far from my actual seat. The cast sounds absolutely perfect and they’re even busting out the choreography. Jonathan Groff has never sold that “Mirror Blue Night” choreo better.

Damn, I love this show."

Did he show his tush at the end of Act I? 

[veronicamae]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 10:17pm

JasonC3 said: "Given that these types of events happen fairly regularly, I'd love to know what faulty assumptions the organizers made that led to such a bad logistics experience."

Right? A full Broadway show happens in that theater every night. Why on earth was this handled any differently? Was it due to the ticketing - i.e. it wasn't done through Telecharge? Were all tickets will call only? So confusing.

[steven22]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 10:51pm

Just left. That was easily one of the coolest and most fun I've had in a theater in a long time it not ever. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 11:01pm

Words can’t do it justice. I already can’t wait for the documentary. The whole evening transported me right back to high school and reminded me of just how wonderful this show, this score, and this cast really were. The original production remains one of my all-time favorites, and I’m sure I’ll remember tonight as vividly as the first time I saw it.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 11:04pm

blaxx said: "Did he show his tush at the end of Act I?"

He sure didn’t. But the man has been working out, and it shows. The dreamboat has only gotten dreamier.

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 11:08pm

How did people react to / treat Lea? A lot has happened as of late… curious the audience reception she received? 

Updated On: 11/16/21 at 11:08 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 11:14pm

Luminaire2 said: "How did people react to / treat Lea? A lot has happened as of late… curious her reception?"

They’re professionals and they acted professionally. What a silly question.

[blaxx]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 11:16pm

ColorTheHours048 said: "blaxx said: "Did he show his tush at the end of Act I?"

He sure didn’t. But the man has been working out, and it shows. The dreamboat has only gotten dreamier."

I also think he's a genuinely nice person.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 12:01am

veronicamae said: "JasonC3 said: "Given that these types of events happen fairly regularly, I'd love to know what faulty assumptions the organizers made that led to such a bad logistics experience."

Right? A full Broadway show happens in that theater every night. Why on earth was this handled any differently? Was it due to the ticketing - i.e. it wasn't done through Telecharge? Were all tickets will call only? So confusing."

No, they did not use Telecharge. Everything was will call.

[herewegoabc]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 12:05am

This was truly a magical evening, and I'm so thankful I was there. I feel bad for the box office at the Imperial. Actor's Fund messed up my tickets, gave my seats away, and then the box office had to figure out what went wrong. I believe it happened to several people. That was before the free for all in the mezz... 

Updated On: 11/17/21 at 12:05 AM

[smidge]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 12:06am

Luminaire2 said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "Luminaire2 said: "How did people react to / treat Lea? A lot has happened as of late… curious her reception?"

They’re professionals and they acted professionally. What a silly question."


Reception being the audience. I didn’t expect or think the cast would act any differently then expected or normal. Was just curious if there was any sense that anyone in the house cared, knew, or were more tepid then before the… controversy."

She received a good reception and was terrific. People were just overjoyed to see every member of the original cast. It was just a beautiful way to relive this production.

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 12:20am

smidge said: "Luminaire2 said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "Luminaire2 said: "How did people react to / treat Lea? A lot has happened as of late… curious her reception?"

They’re professionals and they acted professionally. What a silly question."


Reception being the audience. I didn’t expect or think the cast would act any differently then expected or normal. Was just curious if there was any sense that anyone in the house cared, knew, or were more tepid then before the… controversy."

She received a good reception and was terrific. People were just overjoyed to see every member of the original cast. It was just a beautiful way to relive this production."


That makes me very happy to hear 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 12:32am

Pre-show was absolutely nuts. I was in the mezzanine. Luckily people stayed....relatively calm. But some were doing a mad-dash, and others who arrived afterward were understandably furious about the situation. For the record, the seats in the mezz were NOT all priced the same. They ranged from $50 to $150 at least, maybe even more expensive. 

But anyway, the show was amazing. They did the full show, including the book. Staging was minimal, but they did have staging (it wasn't just them standing at mics in front of music stands).

 

In cast anyone is curious - there was some pretty close intimacy, but no nudity. "Totally F*CKed" was so exhilarating, and you could tell the actors were having the time of their life. You could tell they were taken back to another time in their lives, and were enjoying the nostalgia of their youth as much as we were. 

The whole cast was great. it was wild seeing every single one of them return to their roles. It was pretty strange having Krysta Rodriguez and Jenn Damiano (both stars in their own rites) singing backup with no featured moments at all. But it was faithful to the original casting! People did applaud for Lea - I agree that everyone in the audience seemed to just indulge in the joy of seeing the full original cast, her included. 

They were all in great voice, but as far as vocals go, I think Skylar Astin walked away with the evening. 

As far as acting goes - again, they were all really strong, but I think the standout was John Gallagher Jr. His final number+monologue was pretty transcendent. He played it totally differently from how he did it originally. It wasn't as angsty - it was a little lighter, more flippant, almost joyful. Like he was so far gone, and so ready to die, that he was almost happy - but still with that undercurrent of despair hidden underneath. A very layered, far more interesting interpretation of the scene. It was clear that we were watching an actor who had this role ruminating somewhere inside him for 15 years, and returned to it with smarter, more mature craft. 

[BroadwayNoob]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 1:00am

Absolutely incredible, unforgettable night. Ticketing was hell on earth - got to the line about 6:05 and didn't make it in until around 7:15. The waiting didn't bother me though, everyone was so friendly and chatty and I really enjoyed watching all the cars go next door for the Tick Tick Boom! premier. I'm pretending like I saw Andrew Garfield. 

I was handed a ticket not for the seat I bought, and when I got to my seat, someone was already sitting in it with EXACTLY the same ticket in her hand. Huh? Regardless, I had originally bought seat in the last row of the theater and my seat I ended up in was much better. I felt bad for others though who bought more expensive seats and ended up in worse. 

I stuck around afterward and saw them film on the tour bus for the HBO special. I wasn't expecting them to come out and I just kinda ended up against the barricade at the stage door after I exited the theater lol. Super, super cool

[mmh1019]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 1:45am

what an incredible night. truly. what a gift to have been there. to have the whole original cast AND original band? amazing they were able to make it happen. ticketing was definitely nuts, sounded like there may have been a printing issue? people weren't mad in the line, we were just confused because no one was updating us, we were just standing in the cold. anyway, everyone sounded incredible, I'll second the person who said Skylar's vocals, Touch Me was a WOW. they all so easily slipped back into their characters, Gideon & JBW were a highlight, as was John Gallagher Jr (I missed seeing him by 2 weeks in 2007). Jonathan committed FULLY, and his voice is just insane. and completely agree with the person who said the cast looked like they were having a blast doing Totally F&#ked. I said to my mom afterwards, I grew up with these kids, this was a show about something so many of us didn't know how to talk to our parents about, I certainly didn't. It was funnier (or maybe I just get the jokes now) and more poignant than I remember. 

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 2:18am

Did people whoop and scream after every other spoken/sung line, or did the audience remain at least somewhat contained?

[barneyschreibercpa]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 2:47am

The performance was absolutely fantastic. I saw the OBC when this first opened, as well as the Deaf West production a couple times, and have such love and nostalgia for this show. The entire cast – but especially the women – sounded phenomenal, and I enjoyed how much Jonathan and Lea incorporated the original staging into songs like “The Word of Your Body” and “I Believe.” (They were basically off book the entire time.) John and Lauren were the acting and vocal standouts for me, and I admittedly sobbed during “Touch Me,” “Left Behind” and yes, even “Totally F*CKed,” which was insanely fun and completely electric. Kudos to everyone involved for such a special night – and to the audience for being enthusiastic but respectful. 

As for the event itself, I’m not sure I’ve ever been to something this poorly managed. My boyfriend and I – as well as hundreds of other people – waited outside in the cold for well over an hour and a half to get in. We finally got to the doors of the theater around 8 pm, had our vaccinations checked, and then were told that mezzanine seating was general admission. There were no security checks, no checking physical tickets or confirmations on our phones – it was genuinely a mild stampede up the stairs to see who could get a seat first.

At that point, anybody – with or without a ticket – could've gotten into the theater. Again, aside from vax cards, nothing was looked at and there was no kind of will call to speak of. I bought tickets for center mezzanine, second to last row, but wound up to the far right of the mezz (and much closer up) because there were literally no other seats unoccupied. A perk of the chaos, I guess?

I ultimately had a great night, but can imagine dozens of people either didn’t get the seats they paid for or didn’t get inside the theater at all. An announcer before the show apologized for the disorder, citing reopening pains. But it’s been 3-4 months since venues started opening back up in the city, and every other Broadway theater I’ve been to so far has been seamlessly run and organized. Really bizarre.  

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 6:34am

I second what everyone is saying. The energy in that theatre was electric. Every song (and basically every time someone sang) garnered applause and cheers were deafening. They were all incredible, but Jonathan stood out for me. His voice was the purest I’ve ever heard it, and those breakdowns felt real. He was wearing a lot of emotions on his sleeves and they worked so well for his character. The man was also one of the producers and worked to get the evening together, so it very clearly meant a lot to him. You could see and hear it in his tears as he spoke after bows. I agree that while Skylar doesn’t get as many moments to shine, he reveled in every one he got.

The wait to get started at the beginning was because actors fund seemed completely disorganized on a night that they should’ve been ready for, but I’ll give them a pass because I’m sure their group has not had it easy over the last year and a half. If I didn’t get the seat I paid for, I might have a different take on it.

I really look forward to seeing what this documentary looks like - I’m expecting clips from the original, rehearsal footage from this week, and interviews with the cast and crew explaining how it feels to be back together (and maybe the hesitations some of them had about reuniting). Can’t wait!

[SAisLife]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 7:04am

I joined this message board with the hopes of getting a ticket to the reunion show.  While that didn't happen, I was able to kinda be there (from the seating mess to the electric performances) thanks to your descriptions of the evening.  Special shoutout to @JBroadway for your great writings about JGJ's evolution, and the way he played Moritz this time around.

I'm not a *huge* Broadway guy, but SA was the first show that I was drawn to, emotionally invested in, and still find exhilarating.  Every other show I've seen since has just been me trying to catch the same buzz that I felt when I left the theater after seeing it for the first time.  I haven't succeeded yet.  We've all got our junk indeed.

Not sure what the purpose of this rambling is other than to say thanks for bringing me back to a little OG SA magic.  Hopefully one day I'll be able to feel this way about another show...

Thanks again!

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 7:18am

They don't all hit you in that raw, emotional way - but when they do - it's priceless!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 7:51am

So, people bought tickets and then were told to sit anywhere in the mezz? If I had front mezz and wound up rear mezz in that barn, there would be a problem. How did they justify it?

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 8:09am

iluvtheatertrash said: "So, people bought tickets and then were told to sit anywhere in the mezz? If I had front mezz and wound up rear mezz in that barn, there would be a problem. How did they justify it?"

They didn’t justify it. They mentioned something about pains after being away from holding events for almost two years, but this level of disorganization is unacceptable. Especially considering they had two weeks to recognize they had a sold out house and apparently several double booked seats.

I’m willing to let it go only because I basically got the same price level seat in roughly the same area of the theater as I had actually purchased, because it’s a worthy organization, and because the show itself is now a cherished memory of mine. But I can imagine there were likely some folks who paid a LOT of money who didn’t get even close to their seat, and (hopefully not) who didn’t get in at all because there just weren’t any seats.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 8:20am

It was truly unforgettable and electric. 
 
THAT SAID, those fan girls have…not grown up one bit. Gasping for air and choking back tears to the point of shaking your entire row is overkill, to say the least.

The evening was so magical that it didn’t really matter. I expected it, but still. 

And the entry process was beyond disorganized, as others have mentioned. I’m not quite sure why they didn’t have a better process in place. They KNEW they were filing in 1,500 people who ALL had will call tickets, needed their bags checked, and had to show proof of vaccination…

Updated On: 11/16/21 at 08:20 AM

[iflip4musicals]

Posted: 11/16/21 at 9:20am

Not to add insult to injury, but I waited outside for almost two hours.  At one point one guy walked through and mumbled something and then there was a second line - never heard any other information about what it was for.  I should have asked someone because it turns out I was in the mezzanine line even though I had orchestra tickets.  Certainly not the longest or coldest line I’ve waited in to get my Spring Awakening tickets, but definitely the most frustrating.

That being said, that was one of my favorite nights in the theater ever.  It was so wonderful seeing old “friends” doing the show that was one of the biggest things in my life 15 years ago.