THE LAST SHIP Reviews- Page 3
THE LAST SHIP Reviews
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/10/04
NYT#50
Posted: 10/28/14 at 3:30pmif this thing lasts past feb 1 i will be surprised. Its not making its nut now, those reviews were pretty "eh" i have no idea how it will last.
NYT#51
Posted: 10/28/14 at 3:52pm
mass--if they make it to 2/1 they will make it till the tonys. the question is surviving through the holidays.
how do you know it is not making it's nut? I'd think it is, but barely.
Joined: 12/31/69
NYT#52
Posted: 10/28/14 at 4:04pm
Think there are 3 possibilities
Jan. 4 Feb. 15 or May 3. It does n't have enough for people to love it and see it twice or Really recommend it to others.
Think they have the financial backing to go to Feb. 15 but will close Jan. 4, partly due to all the other great choices out there this season.
NYT#53
Posted: 10/28/14 at 4:42pmyour 2nd and 3rd dates make no sense. If it is flailing after the holidays, it will close then. Otherwise, on to the Tonys. And why would you run through the tony noms and then close? Utterly unfathomable. As I said above, the real question du jour is getting TO the holidays.
NYT#54
Posted: 10/28/14 at 4:43pm
"And why would you run through the tony noms and then close?"
If you don't get a Best Musical nod? Sort of like Bridges last season.
Updated On: 10/28/14 at 04:43 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
NYT#55
Posted: 10/28/14 at 4:45pmAs was said, there are a lot of seasoned producers working on this project. They know how to market it, and they'll know when to close it. This week's numbers don't mean much because of press nights and opening night. Opening night was not onsale to the public and therefore entirely comped.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
NYT#56
Posted: 10/28/14 at 5:19pmI think the reviews will set it over the edge for the people on the fence to see it. But I'm not sure word-of-mouth is strong enough to keep it going. When I saw it, everyone around me seemed to be very ho-hum about it. It's not the kind of show you leave just raving about. It's very middle of the road.
NYT#57
Posted: 10/28/14 at 6:05pmit is likely, as things now stand, to get a nom for best musical but most certainly for Sting, and that's why it would not close then. moreover, if it was shaky then it would already be closed long ago.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
NYT#58
Posted: 10/29/14 at 6:21pm
Got comped seats today front mezzanine.
The upstairs was pretty much full . Many of the seats appeared to be of the papered variety. The show was better than expected. The score and acting were first rate especially Fred Applegate. The book was good. Not a fan of minimalist sets like those on display here. The choreography is what you would expect.
No idea if it will make it as I gave up on getting behind shows after last season. I wish the cast luck.
NYT#59
Posted: 10/29/14 at 9:23pm
No matter what the fate of the show, Sting comes out a big winner. Praise and respect for the score just about everywhere.
Who would have expected to see Sting compared to Kurt Weill?
NYT#61
Posted: 10/30/14 at 9:56am
"No one who knows anything about music, imo."
What does that even mean?
No one?
NO one?
Really???
And that's something we need your opinion on?
NYT#62
Posted: 10/30/14 at 10:03amSaw the 10/29 matinee and people around me in the orchestra were extremely enthusiastic. It received well deserved, enthusiastic, sustained applause at the curtain.
NYT#63
Posted: 10/30/14 at 10:49amI was there at yesterday's matinee also and I'm in the I loved it camp. Very emotional, the music is absolutely beautiful. No doubt Sting will get a Tony nod. Conversation overheard leaving was extremely positive and many tissues were crumpled up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
NYT#64
Posted: 10/30/14 at 11:29am
I attended that matinee as well. It has moments that are rousing or touching, and the performances are uniformly top-notch. But there are dreary stretches as well that to me don't bode well for packing them in come the winter doldrum months. It's very darkly lit, too.
My mini-takes: Personally, I love the wistful, melancholy title song. I wish Aaron Lazar had more to do. I don't remember Michael Esper's singing voice from AMERICAN IDIOT. Did he always sound like Sting? Or was this either deliberate or unconscious imitation? Really curious.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
NYT#65
Posted: 10/30/14 at 11:39am
"I don't remember Michael Esper's singing voice from AMERICAN IDIOT. Did he always sound like Sting? Or was this either deliberate or unconscious imitation? Really curious. "
He isn't doing any sort of imitation. That's his actual singing voice.
NYT#66
Posted: 10/30/14 at 12:26pm
mamaleh--
I heard Esper's own voice in the singing. The similarity is not wholly imagined though. Certainly, it was an aspect of casting him, added to which you have the fact that he was obviously coached into an accent that is approaching Sting's.
NYT#67
Posted: 10/30/14 at 12:57pmHe's doing an accent from where Sting grew up, whilest singing Sting phrasings over Sting music, so he is certainly on a Sumnerian trajectory with all of that going on.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
NYT#68
Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:06pm
Apparently the reason the show we attended was papered was that Lord Brantley was in attendance. He apparently was out of town (maybe being knighted by the queen) and that was why Isherwood did the review
For some reason, the producers were naïve to believe that with a full house of happy customers, their reaction would be better and that Lord Brantley would look more favorably on the show. Naive is the word to assume this would influence Brantley in the slightest.
NYT#69
Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:14pmRoxy champions musical underdogs religiously. But not underdog sports teams.
NYT#70
Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:35pmOnly Roxy would find a way to be opposed to the reason he got free show tickets.
NYT#71
Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:51pmBut...Wildhorn!
NYT#72
Posted: 10/30/14 at 2:45pmRoxy is apparently unaware that papering a house during ALL press performances is extremely common practice.
NYT#73
Posted: 10/30/14 at 3:31pmNot too sure about sales but friends went Tues night and some on Weds Upstairs was virtually empty . Everyone was moved to the front. There were tickets for opening night on sunday. I got one way up in the mezzanine.They were limited in number though and only put on sale on the saturday.
NYT#74
Posted: 10/31/14 at 2:55am
Riedel's column says the reviews didn't affect the box office as much as they expected:
"The $14 million musical opened with less than $3 million in the bank. Monday, the day the reviews came out, sources say “The Last Ship” took in a little more than $100,000. On Broadway, the minimum threshold for a new musical’s opening day should be $250,000, maybe $350,000, given the high weekly running costs most shows have these days.
In previews, “The Last Ship” grossed a little more than $500,000 a week — which, I’m told, is a bit shy of the weekly overhead."
http://nypost.com/2014/10/30/stings-the-last-ship-needs-to-sell-more-tickets/
Videos
