Chorus Member Joined: 7/2/08
The poster is probably already on the wall.
I love me some great merch, but it's just all really tacky which tracks...perfectly,
Broadway Merch
Sutton Ross said: "I love me some great merch, but it's just all really tacky which tracks...perfectly,
Broadway Merch"
The hat is already sold out? Probably because they bought up the stock and gave them to the cast - everyone had one last night. (An observation - I don’t actually want one)
they'll have all this in bulk at Broadway flea market next year.
Sutton Ross said: "I love me some great merch, but it's just all really tacky which tracks...perfectly,
Broadway Merch"
I will NEVER understand why anyone would want to buy most of this stuff. I have a magnet from Chicago but I guess they decided people would be more interested in a scented candle as they don't seem to be available for Broadway.
Understudy Joined: 9/9/24
Have we ever read such unanimously negative reviews on this site for a new show in previews? It seems the tone of the show is the problem - not satiric like Legally Blonde, not tragedy like Gypsy, not a character study like Company, not a social commentary like Chicago. Maybe the off-Broadway revival of Baker's Wife might be Stephen's high point this season, certainly a wonderful romantic musical score. Broadway just cannot have more of these 30 million dollar busts. A lot of the touring shows, the movies made into generic musicals, are not doing well at the box office on the road for a similar reason: no point of view, no particular theme, no reason to be a musical. Even flawed shows like Love Life, Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tenderloin, or more recently Newsies and Scottsboro Boys had had a reason to be a musical and style. In those shows the musical score amplified characters, the theme, the style, or the world of the play even if the book might have been flawed.
I hope they can use the comments and the preview period to discover the key to the point of view and theme. Broadway needs a new musical hit this season since so few new shows are opening.
They've had since Boston to make those changes - and it sounds like they didn't "listen" then.
As we have seen time and time again, once a show is in performance on Broadway, the window for meaningful, substantial change has long been shut. You can tighten, you can trim, you can even swap out a song, but by this point, the show’s the show.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/26/16
Kad said: "As we have seen time and time again, once a show is in performance on Broadway, the window for meaningful, substantial change has long been shut. You can tighten, you can trim, you can even swap out a song, but by this point, the show’s the show."
When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews? I don’t see enough of them to know. Of musicals I have seen, I know Shuffle Along changed quite a bit during previews, replacing significant songs and choreography, but even that was basically the same show. Or was it? (I only saw it in previews.)
Understudy Joined: 4/27/24
bear88 said: "When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews?”
When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes out of town?
The system is broken.
What would Wicked be without their time in San Francisco?
“Pretty Wins” sung by Nina White as Victoria is now streaming on all platforms (along with Caviar Dreams, previously released).
https://queenofversailles.lnk.to/obcr
bear88 said: "[...] When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews? I don’t see enough of them to know. Of musicals I have seen,I knowShuffle Alongchanged quite a bit during previews, replacing significant songs and choreography, but even that was basically the same show. Or was it? (I only saw it in previews.)"
This might not be significant enough, but during previews, Maybe Happy Ending ditched an elaborate, two-story set with an enclosed motel room for the scenes surrounding "How to be Not Alone" and restaged it to its current form centered around the bed.
DiscoCrows said: "“Pretty Wins” sung by Nina White as Victoria is now streaming on all platforms (along with Caviar Dreams, previously released).
https://queenofversailles.lnk.to/obcr"
Heating this the other night, I was sure that this would be the song every 14 year old girl would be singing in their drama classes, now.
DiscoCrows said: "“Pretty Wins” sung by Nina White as Victoria is now streaming on all platforms (along with Caviar Dreams, previously released).
https://queenofversailles.lnk.to/obcr"
One of only a few genuine human moments in this show
I still don’t get how the creatives can’t see how bad this show is? Maybe they do and are just throwing their hands in the air?
if the average theatre goer and commentator on this board can see it, why can’t they????
why why whhhhhhhy?
EmceeHammer said: "bear88 said: "When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews?”
When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes out of town?"
SUFFS is kind of the poster child now, considering the amount of work that happened between the Public and Broadway. That show still wasn't 100% successful (I yearn to see how a different director would have guided the show), but the show at the Public would not have won two Tonys for writing.
NEXT TO NORMAL and BEETLEJUICE did a ton of work, too.
Some Broadway preview periods are getting shorter now. Q0V has a month between 1st preview and opening night (same with LOST BOYS and ROCKY HORROR and CHESS), but that's kind of a luxury for a musical nowadays. SCHMIGADOON will have 16 days, TWO STRANGERS will have 19 days, CATS will have 20 days. Subtract 3-4 days to freeze the show and have press performances, and you have very few working days. The most significant changes that can happen at that point are minor changes to script and staging, lighting changes, and costume alterations.
Producers these days don’t know how to produce. From these reports most of this should have been rewritten y Boston and here. The sad thing is Kristan chose this over say soap dish!
Broadway previews have never really been a time for huge changes- it's performing surgery on a conscious patient at that point. That should all be happening in readings, workshops, and tryouts.
But the development process is lengthy and drives up investment costs, yet all-too-often doesn't yield much, if any, of the changes a show may really need. The blame is probably diffuse but the buck has to stop with the lead producers.
bear88 said: "When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews? "
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown certainly changed a lot during previews, but that's only because it began performances weeks before it had any business being put before a paying audience. I saw the third preview and, despite some genuinely good moments, I've never seen anything so embarrassingly unready for a Broadway stage.
This musical spends too much time trying to convince us of something we already know - that Jackie Siegel is a vein and materialistic person. There’s nothing wrong with this as a character trait (as far as good musicals are concerned) but for this to effectively resonate with audiences, we need to see the impact that has on the lives of others beyond her truncated relationship with her daughter, who we also know from the second she steps on stage is on a different path from her mother.
This show could have offered such great and captivating commentary on wealth inequality in America through the lens of a glamorous Broadway musical, and yet all it boils down to is Jackie retorting to the same habitual lifestyle traits without actually being forced to reckon with the predatory, two-faced reality of the “American Dream” her and David spend the show arguing is just as equitable to them as it is to people like Sofia. The French Court subplot has no issue affirming this isn’t the case - if they want to hold that lens to Jackie’s story, they need to commit to the bit and use her story to accurately convey that reality. No wonder people feel so distorted watching this show - Jeff Bezos may as well have written it.
She is hurt after what happens at the end of the show, but she doesn’t actually grow an ounce as it pertains to the subject matter. And neither does the audience because of it.
kdogg36 said: "bear88 said: "When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews? "
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdowncertainly changed a lot during previews, but that's only because it began performances weeks before it had any business being put before a paying audience. I saw the third preview and, despite some genuinely good moments,I've never seen anything so embarrassingly unready for a Broadway stage."
They moved some numbers around and cut a few but it didn't fix that steamy hot mess of a show. What a shame.
Lempicka was the last show I remember them making big changes. Cutting songs, moving things around.
raddersons said: "Lempicka was the last show I remember them making big changes. Cutting songs, moving things around."
If only those changes had been GOOD changes (and also a casting change for the lead actress ;) )
Leading Actor Joined: 3/29/25
I always wonder after an out-of-town tryout if the creative team leaves with a realistic assessment of a show's strengths and flaws. Any time and resources available to work on improvements before Broadway can't be effectively used if they don't have a sufficient understanding of what needs to get better.
Updated On: 10/10/25 at 12:29 PM
rosscoe(au) said: "Producers these days don’t know how to produce."
Don't underestimate how obscenely out of touch many of them are, too. People who have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to throw at a Broadway musical aren't likely to have any meaningful understanding of wealth inequality.
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