Posted: 3/28/26 at 10:39am
Sorry but this is simply not true. As someone who works backstage on Broadway, several of the shows I’ve worked on have not gotten a run through in until first preview
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:34am
Despite the music, we're excited to see all of Broadway.The film is a classic in our nerdyhome. Goodness."
How about you dump all the negativity you have about shows you hate, but haven’t seen, on your husband and leave us out of it? You intentionally try and derail conversations about shows that don’t speak to you. So keep those conversations in your “nerdy home.”
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:37am
Oh I forgot to add -
DO NOT leave before the end of the curtain call. This show features what I’m assuming is Broadway’s very first “post credits scene”.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:43am
Jordan Catalano said: "Oh I forgot to add -
DO NOT leave before the end of the curtain call. This show features what I’m assuming is Broadway’s very first “post credits scene”."
Didn't Sunset Boulevard have one?? Or am I misremembering?
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:44am
No. Sunset had the screen come down and show the production credits. But there’s a whole (camp as tits) scene at the end.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:45am
broadwayfan_7214 said: "Sorry but this is simply not true. As someone who works backstage on Broadway, several of the shows I’ve worked on have not gotten a run through in until first preview"
This. Every show WANTS to have multiple run throughs without stops before a show reaches a paying audience. But sometimes that’s just not possible. Tech takes more time than anticipated, there’s a tech malfunction, changes are happening, someone gets sick, etc.
I do wish there was a little better education to the general public about the nature of early previews. WE all know what it means but many people from the general public do not. And it’s tough to educate when in opera, amateur theater, and some regionals, the very first performance in front of a paying audience is Opening Night.
Updated On: 3/28/26 at 11:45 AM
Posted: 3/28/26 at 12:03pm
I'd say maybe they should start calling the first week of previews Sneak Peek Rehearsals or something, but god knows they'd find a way to charge even more premiums for the ~insider privilege~
Posted: 3/28/26 at 2:28pm
I always appreciate Jordan's first take, because he gets inside the early the experience of a show with such precision. Uncannily, he knows what we want to know, out of the gate. I found myself able to see the distinctions in the two acts, and understand how those wild shifts in tone can be distancing rather than enabling sustained access. (Am i crazy, I know the movie but never expected a patina of camp. It's a story with such pronounced sexual undertones, as all vampire tales posses, camp seemingly would flatten the heat in so many hungry mouths on young faces)
The score being ballad heavy is the shock here. I can think of movie adaptations in particular that fell into that trap, starting with Ghost, which forced the protagonist to sing about grief for two-thirds of the running time. Every number became a fresh rumination on loss, and it left the audience disconnected and engulfed in one emotion for too long. Here, it's a surprise, since the subject matter and setting invite a certain .. brio, invitation to high energy that matches the perpetual youth of the titular characters. It's a show that seemed destined for a pulse. The power ballad has wrongly weighted too many musicals, but it's one issue that should be decided at the workshop stage.
Any other thoughts on this score and that very issue? Generic lyrics, also noted, are no help.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 2:39pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Oh I forgot to add -
DO NOT leave before the end of the curtain call. This show features what I’m assuming is Broadway’s very first “post credits scene”."
Are the vampires going to be appearing in Avengers: the Musical?
Posted: 3/28/26 at 3:10pm
It's important to take every message with a grain of salt. These days, influencers are paid to come on here and say nice things.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 3:13pm
There was a post show scene for Curios Incident where the boy solved this large equation on the back of the stage wall. It was pretty neat.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 3:20pm
pagereynolds said: "It's important to take every message with a grain of salt. These days, influencers are paid to come on here and say nice things."
Yes - I find it very hard to trust the Theatre-Tok crowd.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 3:25pm
The board has a damned good track record with recent seasons, nailing the troubled shows in early previews. The handful of people here who attend early have honed perceptions, and express them well. But even when considering commentary deeper into the preview period, I haven't seen the consensus here find a wrong verdict for a major show in a while. Yes the initial Chess reports were at times brutal. But go back and look at the reviews; the problems - the new (but not nearly new enough) Strong book, with the Catskills-quipping Arbiter - got skewered in most reviews. The rave sections of positive reviews, about the banger songs and their execution by the trio of stars, didn't sidestep how utterly indefensible the book remains. Ditto with The Queen. I've been dipping in here since 2003, and I pretty much trust early reports.
Updated On: 3/28/26 at 03:25 PM
Posted: 3/28/26 at 3:39pm
JayVenclaw said: "There was a post show scene for Curios Incident where the boy solved this large equation on the back of the stage wall. It was pretty neat."
Didn’t Curious Incident have something similar to this?
Posted: 3/28/26 at 7:40pm
Ensemble1698878795 said: "
Despite the music, we're excited to see all of Broadway.The film is a classic in our nerdyhome. Goodness."
How about you dump all the negativity you have about shows you hate, but haven’t seen, on your husband and leave us out of it?You intentionally try and derail conversations about showsthat don’t speak to you. So keep those conversations in your “nerdy home.”"
Hateful. This board has become so unfortunately narrow minded.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 8:21pm
CoffeeBreak said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "
Despite the music, we're excited to see all of Broadway.The film is a classic in our nerdyhome. Goodness."
How about you dump all the negativity you have about shows you hate, but haven’t seen, on your husband and leave us out of it?You intentionally try and derail conversations about showsthat don’t speak to you. So keep those conversations in your “nerdy home.”"
Hateful. This board has become so unfortunately narrow minded."
You come on this board everyday to hate on art you’ve yet to see.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 9:14pm
not true. I've seen almost everything this season (albeit a remaining 6). and create art. get real (and a real screen name, Ensemble1698878795 & Ensemble1665759202)
you're on here to troll & hate on others who disagree with your opinion. be done.
Updated On: 3/28/26 at 09:14 PM
Posted: 3/28/26 at 10:02pm
Remember when this board had moderators who would delete comments not related to the topic in the thread and help keep discussion going?
Good times….
Posted: 3/28/26 at 10:46pm
CoffeeBreak said: "not true. I've seen almost everything this season (albeit a remaining 6). and create art. get real (and a real screen name, Ensemble1698878795 & Ensemble1665759202)
you're on here to troll & hate on others who disagree with your opinion. be done."
I don’t have an opinion bc I haven’t seen LB yet. Unlike you, who tries to convince everyone to hate shows bc “your friends” have opinions of early previews. I’m not here to troll, babe. I just can’t tolerate stupidity. Also for the last time, I have one screen name. It only takes one to keep you in line.
Posted: 3/28/26 at 11:01pm
I do have friends that saw the first and now second previews. People talk. They did have opinions that ran the gamut. I have seen the photos, heard the songs and attended a presentation and the show show soon.
You are keeping no one "in line". Now stop. You've held up the boards long enough, yes - trolling. Stop, please.
Updated On: 3/28/26 at 11:01 PM
Posted: 3/29/26 at 12:23am
3 hours, long intermission, no stops. I have never seen the movie.
From a production standpoint, it’s a beast. Major kudos to the design team and Arden. The staging is genuinely impressive, super cinematic, visually striking, and technically dialed in. There are moments that feel big and bold in the best way.
But the show itself… all over the place.
The tone swings wildly. It starts dark and sinister, then drifts into a very Lifetime movie–style family trauma lane that feels cheesy, generic, and a bit rote. From there, it veers into an almost slapstick, gumshoe-style stretch, before landing in a big, inspirational, feel-good “the sun’ll come up tomorrow” ending. None of those shifts really connect, so the final turn doesn’t feel earned. It ends up feeling like a few different shows stitched together rather than one cohesive story.
The score doesn’t help. Pretty bland overall, and none of the numbers really move the story forward. Nothing that sticks with you walking out.
Performances are strong for what they’re given. I wish there were more numbers centered around Ali Louis, who was super fun to watch and a total star. Shosh and Paul get to belt their faces off on a seesaw, which was weirdly thrilling.
Not sure if it was the writing, the performance, or some chaotic cocktail of both, but the younger brother absolutely drove me up a wall. I get what the character is meant to represent, and I respect the intent, but wow. At times the dialogue and delivery felt so grating it yanked me right out of the show, like he’d wandered in from an entirely different production and refused to leave.
Overall: incredible to look at, but the tone, storytelling, and score never quite come together.
Updated On: 3/29/26 at 12:23 AM
Posted: 3/29/26 at 1:29am
surferbro24 said: "…But the show itself… all over the place.
…the tone, storytelling, and score never quite come together."
This review is dead-on. The show sadly isn’t the big Best Musical front-runner we’ve been waiting for. It can’t decide what it is actually about after going in 5 different directions. The music is bland, they needed major song cuts and rewrites. Two songs standout that made me see potential of what the show could have been (“Belong to Someone” and Shoshana and Paul’s wonderful “Wild”)…
The flying needs work, and the pyrotechnics at the end lack “magic” .. Stranger Things’ does it much better.
Excellent set design though, very impressive and fluid shifting between locations.
Ali Louis, LJ Benet and Shoshana are outstanding. The two guys really are stars. Other cast members don’t fare as well..
There is so much going on here, I wish it went out of town! Too much that needs to be fixed and not enough time.
Posted: 3/29/26 at 2:20am
daniellesf said: "surferbro24 said: "…But the show itself… all over the place.
…the tone, storytelling, and score never quite come together."
This review is dead-on. The show sadly isn’t the big Best Musical front-runner we’ve been waiting for. It can’t decide what it is actually about after going in 5 different directions. The music is bland, they needed major song cuts and rewrites. Two songs standout that made me see potential of what the show could have been (“Belong to Someone” and Shoshana and Paul’s wonderful “Wild”)…
The flying needs work, and the pyrotechnics at the end lack “magic” .. Stranger Things’ does it much better.
Excellent set design though, very impressive and fluid shifting between locations.
Ali Louis, LJ Benet and Shoshana are outstanding. The two guys really are stars. Other cast members don’t fare as well..
There is so much going on here, I wish it went out of town! Too much that needs to be fixed and not enough time.
"
In your opinion having seen this, what show would you say is the Best Musical front runner?
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