The Lightning Thief previews thread- Page 3

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 9/24/19 at 9:48am

I guess you did not like it - lol.

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/25/19 at 12:31am

My bad Whizzer. Someone mentioned health issues and thought it was you. It was a while back. Apologies for putting that out there. 

Glad to have you back!

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 9/25/19 at 12:35am

uncageg said: "My bad Whizzer. Someone mentioned health issues and thought it was you. It was a while back. Apologies for putting that out there.

Glad to have you back!"

I think you’re thinking of Dollypop. Luckily, he’s on the mend and just made a return to Broadway to see Sea Wall/A Life. 

[devonian.t]

Posted: 9/25/19 at 3:13am

Whizzer I hope you enjoyed your travels more than watching The Lightning Thief!

[clowchan]

Posted: 9/27/19 at 1:24am

Recently saw this show. I thought the first act was boring and the second act was better but barely. I felt like the costuming esp the Minotaur was very cheap looking. I actually sat there stunned. Like parts of the set looked like they were from a cheap set at an old folks home or a theatre gag on a TV sitcom. Yet I truly loved the costume designs for Chiron and Grover. I went into this blind so I had no expectations ( altho I did see the movie years ago and that was nothing to write home about)

As far as the acting goes, most were ok. Some of the leads play multiple characters and I didn't see that as an issue. It was fun linking parallels to characters each actor played. I think Chris is too old to be playing the lead. Jorrel Javier reminded me of George Salazar (and just found out the latter was in the original cast for the off Broadway production) but his enthusiasm is infectious! Standouts for me was Ryan Knowles (that bassy voice wow! I loved his take on Hades too!) and Jalynn Steele ( esp when she plays the mom and Charon). Both their acting and singing were phenomenal. Instant fan of both now.

Songs were a mix bag. DOA is its best song and I wish the rest were in a similar vain and energy. And that seems to be the whole issue with the show - certain aspects of this show is done either really well or really poorly and no in-between. They should have waited till next year to fine tune everything, design a better set and costumes, tweak the songs, and fix the pacing. This could be something that is incredibly camp but outstanding and that makes me very torn about it. The potential is there. At least it's a limited run because there was barely anyone up in the balcony. Can't speak for the rest of the sections but willing to bet there were seats open too.

I was very worried the crowds for this were going to be super annoying and rude like be more chill's. Surprisingly, they were great including the stagedoor. It was rather refreshing.

I think the ones who will enjoy this the most are older kids and teens. For me, if I do see this again it will be for just Jorrel, Ryan, and Talynn.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/27/19 at 10:10am

Saw it last night. Mostly disliked it, sometimes hated it. There were a few bright spots here and there, but overall it was just loud, screechy, with a mostly cringey book and mostly generic songs. I was in the mezzanine and just wanted to strangle the lighting designer for the distracting and often BLINDING lights being pointed directed at us. Though that said, it did help keep us awake, for those of us that stayed. I was in side mezzanine, and most of my side didn't come back for Act 2. 

To me it just felt like a first reading of Be More Chill, especially in that sidekick character that just screamed Michael in the Bathroom  - little did I realize the book and direction were by the same folks. Direction was painfully needed. It seem like they said, "We're in a Broadway theatre now, make sure your choices, and your voices, are so loud can be seen by audiences at the Kerr." It's a talented cast but some of them really need some guidance so that their mostly Broadway debuts don't seem so glaringly obvious.

Also, the running time is supposed to be 2hrs5mins, but I think it was at least 5-10 more minutes last night, and I don't recall curtain or intermission being unusually delayed.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/6/19 at 10:32am

Saw this last night. Got a rush ticket for $42 around 5 pm for the evening show. I think they were handing them out to anyone that asked as a guy in front of me also got a pair and someone behind me asked what a rush ticket was after I bought mine. We were all seated near each other in the front orchestra on the side(rows B & C). Overall it's a fun production with the cast giving it everything. But it's so easy to get lost in the show in what is really a show suited more for off-Broadway or even the college ranks. The theater looked empty, which for a Saturday night, isn't good. There's so much to take in and part of me just stopped caring what was going on by the end of Act 1. Act 2 is the better act, but I still didn't care. Outside of a few songs(Good Kid, My Grand Plan, D.O.A., The Last Day of Summer), this show is just completely scattered. Kudos to everyone in the cast for making their Broadway debuts in this. The show ran at just over 2 hours, which included a long intermission(20+ minutes?). This show could easily be cut down to a 100 minute, intermission-less production. The costumes are cheap, the set is cheap, the 5 piece band is cheap. Apparently, from talking to people at intermission, nothing changed from the tour to Broadway. They had one "brush-up" rehearsal before moving into the Longacre. That's unbelieveable.They had time to tweek things and they chose not to.

However, somehow the audience loved it, and just from judging from the orchestra, it was mostly families with young kids and what seemed like plenty of family & friends of the cast & crew there. I can't imagine this getting good reviews and I'd still be surprised to see this finish its entire 16-week run. I get the point on why they brought this to Broadway(see: Be More Chill), but this just feels so out of place on Broadway.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 10/6/19 at 11:13am

I know this board tends to not like shows like this, but the hate is really surprising to me. I genuinely enjoy listening to the score and think the production is imaginative and full of energy. I guess it’s not for everyone, but I’ve seen so many worse new musicals in the recent years.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/6/19 at 12:37pm

Trust me, I've seen a lot worse on Broadway(Disaster, Head Over Heels, Summer, just to name some recent ones). This just doesn't feel like it's meant for Broadway.

[IAMREADING]

Posted: 10/6/19 at 4:35pm

Just saw it! Totally agree that “Jorrel Javier reminded me of George Salazar.” I didn’t think it was bad. I was expecting it to be terrible and I thought it was fun and moved along quickly.

The standout star is Jalynn Steele and I loved her number “D.O.A.” The show’s use of confetti and such to throw into the audience had the crowd hyped. Mostly kids. Woman in front of me had fingers in her ears for the capture the flag song and even the child next to me said “jesus christ” when it began so i guess that number was not for everyone. The 4 rows in the back right orch were empty and I couldn’t see above.

Was Medusa supposed to pay tribute to Grey Gardens?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/6/19 at 4:53pm

Jorrel Javier is out this weekend, so you probably saw his understudy, Izzy Figueroa. Honestly, Figueroa was a standout last night along with Steele. The rest of the characters were forgettable.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/19 at 1:01am

I saw the show tonight. I’ve hated shows before but my hatred of this trash might just reach new levels. The kids in the audience had a good time but there was palpable anger from people old enough to drive when it was over, that they had just paid that much money to sit through something that amateurish. Even Off-Broadway this would have been crap but dear God, why would someone put up actual money to back something like this??

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/12/19 at 6:51pm

I saw this today. I felt like it was a middle school production of something. What a terrible decision. This belongs in regional theaters/middle schools only. Yikes. 

[10086sunset]

Posted: 10/27/19 at 10:23pm

After getting back from this tonight, I can't shake the feeling how there seemed to be no energy in the audience. There was no buzz, no juice, no excitement. Sat in the third row of the orchestra and maybe the entire theater was half filled. Even the staff seemed over it.

As for the show, it is what it is. I give the cast credit for trying to make it work. The production values, it's already been said here numerous times. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/27/19 at 10:40pm

There were so few people at the show today, they closed off the mezz and balcony. WHO IS PAYING TO KEEP THIS OPEN??

[LuPita2]

Posted: 10/27/19 at 10:48pm

Well, since you were there... you apparently?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/27/19 at 11:01pm

I was not there. So...no.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/27/19 at 11:42pm

Jordan Catalano said: "There were so few people at the show today, they closed off the mezz and balcony. WHO IS PAYING TO KEEP THIS OPEN??"

Some portion (take off the 1st and last and dig in) of:

 Martian Entertainment, Victoria Lang, Lisa Chanel, Jennifer Doyle & Roy Lennox, Van Dean/Meredith Lucio, O'Hara/Rae/Zurcher, Wei-Hwa Huang, Tosha Martin, Cara Talty, Fisher/Jacobs Baker/Masotti/Prince, SJGH Productions and TheaterWorksUSA