The Public Theater - Ethan Lipton’s “The Seat of Our Pants”- Page 2

[No Leg Room]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 11:59am

No way this would be a financial disaster if moved uptown.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 12:25pm

chrishuyen said: "I'm curious why you don't think it would fit a traditional space, since I didn't really think there was anything to be gained by having audience on both sides of the stage. A smaller venue might benefit it, and CITS would provide the intimacy, but it's a large cast and it would hard to justify the Broadway costs in a small venue. I suppose the main question would be what to do with the band, but I think they could still have a similar set up in a proscenium house."

It’s a large cast and an epic story, but it’s ultimately a pretty small show. Even the band doesn’t sound big; it sounds varied. If anything, the musical adaptation shrinks the play down and brings us closer to the family at its center. I think it comes down to intimacy and the ability to really look at the actors on stage.

The recent revival at the Beaumont felt appropriately big - the performances were huge and so everything was huge. By comparison, Lipton’s adaptation feels like a chamber piece exploding at the seams with other people trying to break through, and so the smaller scale and closeness feels right.

To be fair, I don’t think the audience on stage was played to enough, and therefore wondered about the effectiveness of it (I sat on the main side). So maybe there would be something gained by having more space to work with - who knows. I found Fun Home kind of meh in the Newman and revelatory at Circle in the Square, so perhaps I’m also just associating that memory.

Updated On: 10/27/25 at 12:25 PM

[inception]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 12:52pm

I think that basing predictions on the third preview of the first tyout of anything wouldn't exactly be fair.

Let's see how it is in a month.

I had reservations about how this would work as a musical, and I know the play.  I finally bought a ticket based on the cast. I'm not seeing it for another month.

In the meantime I would suggest that people unfamiliar with the original play read it.  It's an important work in the American theater/Broadway canon. 

[round2]

Posted: 10/28/25 at 10:37am

inception said: "It's sort of Our Town on poppers."

Can see this quote on a sign hanging below the marquee!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/28/25 at 10:41am

A handful of performances are on TDF. 

[Alessio2]

Posted: 10/29/25 at 5:30pm

Quite a few walkouts after Act 1.  I liked it, but definetely didn't love it.  Way too long, and it feels long.  There needs to be some serious cuts made and tightening up.  Some great music, but there were at least two songs that could have been cut.

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/29/25 at 5:45pm

inception said: "I think that basing predictions on the third preview of the first tyout of anything wouldn't exactly be fair.

In the meantime I would suggest that people unfamiliar with the original play read it. It's an important work in the American theater/Broadway canon."

Two things I disagree with here:

1) I know the Public Theatre is a great incubation space for new and potentially canon-altering shows. However, if you are charging $129 for all seats (which seems heinous for an untested show at the Public), then I find it to be fair game to judge as it seems fit. They are only scheduled to run until November 30th, so I’m not betting any money that there would be meaningful change made by opening. Even then, there are more preview performances (4 weeks) versus “frozen” performances (2 weeks). Are we not to pass judgment until more than 2 weeks from now?

2) While I agree that the play is important to the canon, I don’t like the concept of having to do homework before I go in to a show. I think it defeats the purpose of discovering, through fresh eyes, if the material can stand on its own two feet. (This is the same beef I have with STRANGER THINGS) 

[witchoftheeast2]

Posted: 10/29/25 at 5:47pm

quizking101 said: "inception said: "I think that basing predictions on the third preview of the first tyout of anything wouldn't exactly be fair.

In the meantime I would suggest that people unfamiliar with the original play read it. It's an important work in the American theater/Broadway canon."

Two things I disagree with here:

1) I know the Public Theatre is a great incubation space for new and potentially canon-altering shows. However, if you are charging $129 for all seats (which seems heinous for an untestedshow at the Public), then I find it to be fair game to judge as it seems fit. They are only scheduled to run until November 30th, so I’m not betting any money that there would be meaningful change made by opening. Even then, there are more preview performances (4 weeks) versus “frozen” performances (2 weeks). Are we not to pass judgment until more than 2 weeks from now?

2) While I agree that the play is important to the canon, I don’t like the concept of having to do homework before I go in to a show. I think it defeats the purpose of discovering, through fresh eyes,if the material can stand on its own two feet. (This is the same beef I have with STRANGER THINGS)"

Why do your ticket price determine whether or not you can judge previews? 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 10/29/25 at 5:52pm

To be fair, in the past preview tickets have been discounted because it's not necessarily a "polished product", and things like sound balance issues or tech holds wouldn't be surprising to have.  But now there seems to be virtually no price difference between previews and post-opening shows, and most of the general public doesn't seem to know there's a difference anyway so people will give their opinions on what they see.  

[inception]

Posted: 10/29/25 at 6:21pm

I think those are valid points, and was prepared to receive this rebuttal.  I don't have an answer.  I hope they can fix it.  But I'll be prepared if they can't. 

See I don't just post crappy jokes all day.  I even did a bit of work today.  I wrote two serious emails. And made a couple important phone calls.  And even left the office for about an hour to pick up some vital equipment.

Updated On: 10/29/25 at 06:21 PM

[oh-bwayhereicome]

Posted: 10/30/25 at 1:23am

Just saw the 10/29 7pm performance of The Seat of Our Pants at the Public and have to get some thoughts off my chest. Want to preface I’m a huge fan of the original Wilder play, especially the 2022 Lincoln Center revival.

 

Pros: They really have assembled a great cast, with particular shout-outs to Micaela Diamond and Ruthie Ann Miles. Diamond has a great 11 o’clock number and Miles is giving some heart-wrenching moments. Also shout-out to Ally Bonino as the fortune-teller in Act 2. Not a weak member of the cast at all. Also, the orchestrations are great, with some highlights being the incidental music between the second and third act. As for the actual songs…

 

Cons: Wow. This was not it. First of all, it felt lazy adaptation-wise by being 80% if not more of the original script. It felt they sometimes were relying on the absurdity of the text to get laughs, like winking at the audience to say “wow what I’m saying is so weird ain’t it funny,” but then no one laughs. And then when songs did come in, they did not move the plot and killed all the action. Most songs were also just repeating the same chorus over and over again. I can’t remember a single song, not saying we should be able to hum every melody but yikes they all felt so half-baked and pointless. Every time a song started I internally groaned, knowing it was prolonging the already 3-hour production and was definitely not going to add anything interesting. 

 

Overall, I walked out wishing I just saw the original play. And for some 20min stretches, I did bc there was a huge lack of new material to justify this adaptation existing. They have great performers giving great performances of lackluster material. There is potential, but I think it needs a lot more development and strong choices to make it stand on its own. And more lyrics. And songs that matter. Literally make any choices, whether plot or character, that makes it unique from the play. It’s very different but I think of Spring Awakening, the only other recent play to musical adaptation that comes to mind, and how they took an old work and gave it a new vibe, a new angle. Please find it for this show.

[lastmidnights]

Posted: 10/30/25 at 11:54pm

I saw this tonight and loved it. I agree with the comments about the pacing being tough. I hope this gets to run somewhere else so it can continue to be developed. I really think they have something here

[Melissa25]

Posted: 11/5/25 at 7:29pm

I have tickets to revisit this in a few weeks. In the meantime, I was so happy to hear my favorite song from this show again: Stuff it Down Inside at 8:30. Ally Bonino also performs The Future at 18:30 and Damon Daunno performs Cursed with Urges at 26:40.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/seat-of-our-pants-a-musical-adaptation-of-a-thornton-wilder-classic/

Updated On: 11/5/25 at 07:29 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/10/25 at 12:21am

im glad I saw this, and i suspect it was a faithful, quirky. clever adaptation of the absurd Wilder play. But without much familiarity with the original work, its just absurd, and at times painfully unfunny, and even more painfully slow.

the pacing issues aside, it springs to life thanks to its fun score and stacked cast. its overstuffed with ideas-- Andy Groteleuschen is excellent opening up the first and second acts, and then closing the show, but Micaela Diamond is also playing a meta-narrator role, stopping the show once in each act to break the 4th wall. This seemed totally unnecessary, and undercut the serious (glacially paced) speeches and odes to the text, particularly from Shuler Hensley at the end. Just very uneven, I guess.

But but but. Ruthie Ann Miles is ageless and timeless-- shes a ray of light, a bell clap of moral clarity throughout. Diamond is bizarre in the best way, and easily the most successful with the humor. They walk away with the show- though Damon Daunno springs to life in the last act, and Ally Bonino does have that great number (but still has to fight the music that drowns her out a bunch). I found myself delighted by so many of their moments, and then missing them when the show ground to a halt more than a few times. To its credit, the ending sequence was an almost perfect amalgamation of a great ensemble number with sheer absurdity all at the same time, so its ends on a high note (though I do have a question about the ending--if any one wants to DM me that thinks they have a handle on the show?)

the audience was not full, and i dont know why they sat 5 rows of us behind the stage, forcing the actors to rotate awkwardly at times. Michael Greif was there; I saw Amber Grey in the lobby. alot of older people in the audience (that i was staring at across the stage) were sound asleep. id be shocked if this transferred uptown but i would love to hear that someone is working on it still, and trimming it down, to better preserve the score.

[InTheBathroom1]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 10:48am

I’m definitely in the minority here, but I quite enjoyed this.  I think I was primed to like this—a casual fan of the play who enjoyed the LCT production a few years ago, but has no attachment to the source material.  It is certainly not perfect.  It’s a weird and quirky musical which we don’t see a lot of in this day and age. That combined with an exceptional score made this a win for me.  Having the orchestra on both sides of the stage really allowed me to get swept away in that luscious score (how often do you get a tuba in a musical?). Ruthie Ann Miles is incredible as always and it is always a delight to see her.  However, the real star of the show is Micaela Diamond.  I think she’s just such an interesting performer and this really makes use of her talents in an amazing way.  I know reviews on here have been pretty bad, but grab a TDF ticket and decide for yourself.

[rkade21]

Posted: 11/14/25 at 1:20pm

Didn’t see a review thread for this show but here is 100WordReview (disclaimer, I contribute to the account and wrote this one):

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRC2LyikeBO/

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 11/14/25 at 2:24pm

I took a glance through the review roundup, and it seems like most reviews are mixed, some skewing positive.  Generally strong praise for the actors and some of the music and more criticism for direction/pacing and tone.

https://playbill.com/article/what-are-the-reviews-for-the-world-premiere-of-the-seat-of-our-pants-off-broadway

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/14/25 at 2:55pm

dont see any coverage from Vulture, the NYT, or any NY-based papers, odd.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 11/14/25 at 3:50pm

‘The Seat of Our Pants’ Review: Songs for the World’s End

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/theater/seat-of-our-pants-review-public-theater.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E8.7mgt.MhiSYCiEi-kY&smid=nytcore-android-share

[MezzA101]

Posted: 11/16/25 at 6:23pm

Thornton Wilder Retailored: ‘The Seat of Our Pants’

https://www.vulture.com/article/thornton-wilder-retailored-the-seat-of-our-pants.html

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 11/19/25 at 12:34am

Huge fan of the play. After seeing this tonight, I understand why the estate let Lipton do this. He gets it and it’s pretty magical.

It’s too much to hope for a transfer when most audiences aren’t going to have the discipline or care to engage with what Wilder is going for. So my hope lies in a cast recording.