Waning Adoration

Have any of you found yourself less enamoured of a show as time passed?

Example 1: I LOVED Wicked the first time I saw it: way back with the origianl cast before the Tonys but had no desire to see it again. Just last month, my kids were old enough to take it in and so we did. I came out thinking, meh.

Example 2: I saw Billy Elliot at Christmas time, from one of the rear mezz seats. I left feeling euphoric and plotting my return both for better seats for different perspective and to, perchance, to catch a different Billy. That has not happened, and I have found my opinion has softened and I continue to become less enchanted with it and have more perspective in my criticisms. I am going in August...but more because those I'm spending time really want to see it.

So, I was thinking. Now that so many of "us" become repeat customers at the shows we love, is that what keeps us so attached? Is that what's behind the harsh attacks on each other when someone else doesn't LIKE our "crush"? Because we have more invested with our time and money?

I tell you: theater is SO like crack. I don't want to admit to how many times I saw SA....but when I took a break from the show from August until it closed in Jan.....I only "missed" it for a brief time; and when I did see it again I was not "attached" even though it was the final performance. So is it the fix we love and not truly the show?

Thoughts?

Maybe we all need TGA -- Theatre Goers Anonymous. After all, the first step is admiting you have a problem.

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Now that so many of "us" become repeat customers at the shows we love, is that what keeps us so attached?

I don't understand what you're asking. Are you saying you think it's not the show, but just the addiction itself that's what keeps people interested?

The show I saw the most times while it was on Broadway was the revival of Company. (There's actually a possibility I saw Rent more times, but I lost count, and it was over many years, instead of in fairly rapid succession, so it's different.) I never once got tired of it. I remember one performance that was very off, and one scene that I occasionally got tired of, but overall, every time I saw the show, it was still the emotional experience with which I fell in love in the first place -- even though I knew the show like the back of my hand. I often worried about reaching over-saturation, but I promised myself that if I ever did, that was when I should stop. That was when it wasn't right anymore. But it was one of the great loves of my life, and I'm still as deeply in love with it now as I ever was. Maybe it depends on the show -- certain things have more capacity to get stale. Maybe it's the theatrical equivalent of mixing up love with lust -- you see something and in the moment, think it's greater than it really is, only to realize there's not enough in it to sustain a long relationship, so to speak. And shows change. They lose their spark, especially the ones that run a long time. It's not all us, it goes two ways.

There are a handful of shows I've seen more times than I can count on one hand, but I don't think I've ever gotten bored, or fallen out of love; it was always because I wanted to be there, not just going for its own sake. I don't understand people who do that. For me, why go if the show doesn't impact you anymore? Sure, things will soften over time if you know a show well enough to perform it in your sleep, but I don't believe in the addictive habit of going just for the sake of going.

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Updated On: 5/11/09 at 10:27 AM

Maybe there's more magic when you just see something once.

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I'm not saying any of us are crazy....just wondering if the defensiveness and adoration come from the attachment, that the attachment is the rush MORE than the actual show.

I'm also not saying anything is wrong about seeing a show more than once...just wondering about the effect as to our objectivity..

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My absolute favourite show is Rent (I've seen it 37 times) and I think what kept me so attached was the way it "spoke" to me. I was 18 the first time I decided I loved it (which was actually on the second viewing, but that's another story) and I was going through all the usual teenage anger and angst. I was also very shy, though, so couldn't express all that. And suddenly I found a musical that expressed it for me. It made the Rent experience pretty intense and I got swept up with the characters and the songs in a way I never had before, which was why I kept going back.

10 years later, and I still love Rent but nowhere near as much as I did when I was 18. I think that's why people become less enamoured of shows as time goes on: We move on, our lives move on, and we become different people.

Updated On: 5/11/09 at 04:23 PM

I saw "Wicked" 4 times, and each time there was something new about it. My buzz soon crashed through the floor, though. Frankly, I think it happened only because Eden Espinosa (who I went out of my way to see in the role) and Shoshana Bean were both quite underwhelming compared to Idina in the role. I saw Idina in November 2004 and had a ticket for her final performance. My mom and I went to that ill-fated January 9, 2005 performance. After something like that, it's almost impossible to recapture the buzz.

I saw "Gypsy" 5 times (including at the City Center) and each time it was MAGNIFICENT, including the 4th time sitting front row and 5th time at the final show. Each time it felt different as well. Patti's performance evolved (she was most exciting at City Center, though, I must admit, but I was a "Gypsy" virgin at that point so that may cloud my judgment), she and Boyd had further chemistry, and, for the 4th time I saw the show, with my father, Laura was out sick and her understudy went on. Truth be told she wasn't as wonderful as Laura, nor as sexy, but she brought something entirely her own to the role. I am glad I saw her in the part.

I saw "Deuce" 3 times and "Blithe Spirit" 2 times so far. There is no such thing, in my vocabulary, as overdosing on Angela Lansbury.

I also saw "Brooklyn the Musical" 5 times, 3 of them rush and 1 of them free when a friend of mine sent me when he won tickets but could not make it. It holds SUCH a special memory in my heart. It appalls me that people bludgeoned this show. It had so much heart, substance and class. It was beautiful. Ramona Keller ALONE made the show worth seeing. Sitting front row center at that with my father was a moment I'll never forget, as Ramona chose one audience member (must be a gentleman of a certain age) to berate per performance and she chose my father. That was a lot of fun. I wish so much that Ramona was still around. WHERE DID SHE GO?

Overall, I suppose, that would put as having obsessed over "Brooklyn the Musical," "Gypsy" with Patti, "Deuce" and "Wicked," with only Wicked having truly lost my adoration. So I suppose that, for me at least, the difference can be made by a change from the original principle(s) in the cast.

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Updated On: 5/11/09 at 04:58 PM

I don't mean to get off the topic, but Rudy, have you gotten my PM?

^ To me, it really tugged at the heart. Its central message, at least to me, was that goodness is still beautiful and worthwhile, even in a world where it simply cannot flourish. "Heart Behind These Hands" and "Raven" were spectacular numbers, very rousing and full of emotion and sincerity.

I don't know how people weren't entertained by the struggle between good and evil. In the end, evil won out. In that, I felt the show reflected reality. Also, evil wasn't one-dimensionalized ("Raven"), so it wasn't a dumbed-down story, either. I don't see how the three Paradice numbers - "Superlover," "Raven" and "Love Me Where I Live," could not make people enthusiastic - and want to come back again, again and again. I long to see this show again so badly. I can only be thankful I got to see it as many times as I did. The cast recording only captures 1/2 the magic. Don't forget the song "Streetsinger," either, oh boy.

I have to say, though, that it took my 2nd time seeing it to really appreciate it.

I think it's the only time I've attended the theater where I was both thoroughly entertained, as I would want to be at a pop music concert, but also came away feeling uplifted, with humanity - that of myself and others - confirmed. Four years later and these feelings still linger...

I only found out later that my grandmother's niece (my "aunt") saw the show an enthusiastic 4 times as well.

So yeah, "Brooklyn the Musical." :)

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Sorry, I was just thinking that this is about WANING adoration, although I was implored - sort of - to explain myself. :)

So yeah, my adoration for "Wicked" waned as well

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