WILL BROOKLYN SUCCEED ON BROADWAY?? — Page 4

Just saw BKLYN on Sat. 9/25 and let me jut say WOW! I went in with mixed expectations. The cd sampler disappointed me a bit- Once Upon a Time was the only song I liked. Totally different story now. I have to say it was some of the best vocals I have ever heard in a B'way show, and I see a lot of shows. Sure there are elements that had me rolling my eyes- but it just started previewing. The performances are SO strong they blew me away. The audience burst into applause in the middle of the songs- something very rare, and they got an instant standing ovation from the entire theatre. Whether or not the critics care for it, it's a huge audience hit.

It made me realize that shows like Bombay Dreams and Mamma Mia are third-rate and don't deserve to remain open. (In my opinion.)

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Hardly. It's not rude -- just the opposite. It's called a showstopper -- a musical number that can make a performer, a song and a show legendary. Performers dream of getting to do a song that will elicit enough audience response to stop the show and people like Merman, Verdon, Kiley, Rivera, Stritch et al became famous for being able to deliver the goods night after night.

I cannot speak for the audience reaction in "Brooklyn" as I have not seen the show yet, but one of the great musical theatre performances of the last 30 years or more was Jennifer Holliday's in "Dreamgirls." It was a regular occurrence that halfway through her performance of the show-stopper "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" the audience would spontaneously break into applause and give her a standing ovation -- before the number was even over, the audience was stamping their feet and cheering and carrying on, some from on top of their seats..... sheer pandemonium broke out nightly. The number made Holliday a star overnight and to be sure neither she, nor the composers, nor the producers, nor Michael Bennett (the director/choreographer), nor anyone else affiliated with the production thought the audience behavior rude -- they were all absolutely ecstatic because they knew they had a hit on their hands and were part of a piece of Broadway history. I saw "Dreamgirls" many many times and nothing else I've ever seen matches that experience.

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Updated On: 9/27/04 at 05:53 PM

Tugboat!
Tugboat!
Tugboat!

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If Bright Lights Big City, Taboo, The Life, Tick, Tick, Boom, and The Wild Party are any indication, theatergoers don't really give a poo about urban bohemians, despite Rent's success.

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If a singer is given a "money note" and sings it out for all it's worth, it can prompt applause in the middle of a song. When I went to Chicago in August, Marti Pellow, who didn't exactly have a powerhouse voice, got some spontaneous applause for really holding that long note in "They Both Reached For the Gun."

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Updated On: 9/27/04 at 10:16 PM

"a first week of previews"

NO!!
THATS ONLY FOR 4 PREVIEWS!!

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Hey Tiny Toon, 60% is 60%. whether its for 4 preview or 8 won't matter. still the total seats filled divided by the total available times 100. SO CALM DOWN!

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"Mega stars are being born in this one folks."

Really? Are you talking like Gavin Creel and David Burtka level mega stars???????

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Oh. Right. But DirectorGP can dream, right?

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It depends. Mega-hits like Wicked and The Producers were already selling out (or very close to it) from the very beginning of previews. Hairspray was in the 80s and 90s in previews, but became a sellout hit as soon as the reviews came out. Other shows take much longer to find an audience (if they ever do it at all). Good word of mouth can help.

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"So Brooklyns grosses show a 60% attendance level, kind of disappointing for a first week of previews, so definitely not selling out with those numbers."

But I thought tickets were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard to get! What happened, guys? Could it have been you were lying?

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this season is off to weak start..