What shows do you like but feel they are too long?- Page 2
What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
#25re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 1:48pm
"Ragtime fo' sho'. Amazing show...waaaay too long."
How long is it?
sparkleplenty
Stand-by Joined: 9/4/07
#26re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 4:13pmI feel that "Ragtime" seems weighty enough to deserve its length, but so-called "light-hearted" shows that go on and on, with me, wear out their welcome - Wicked, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, come to mind.
#27re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 4:16pmAs much as I loved it... Young Frankenstein. I thought there were about 12 places it could have ended before it did.
#28re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 4:19pm
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
The first act is kinda long
#29re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:24pmsweeney and POTO
#30re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:36pm
Yeah, the first thing I thought when I saw this thread was Ragtime.
I see what you're saying sparkle but even the creators admitted they wrote moments like "Sarah Brown Eyes" just so they had more for Audra McDonald to do.
I just feel like there a few of those moments in that show, where with so much brilliance to go around, with just a few more cuts, it could have been EVEN better.
I also remember feeling that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was SUPER long, even though I absolutely loved it, I just kind of wante dthem to get to the point.
And at a recent production of Cabaret I saw the first act was an hour and forty minutes. Thats LONG for one act.
#31re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:39pm
I agree with Sunday
also, although I love it, Gypsy...
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
#32re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:48pmAlthough I have crazy love for both of them, I agree, Sweeney and Ragtime. And I would have to add Marie Christine to the list as well. Some absolutely stunning moments, but a snooze for me in others...I did actually fall asleep the first time I saw it!
#33re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 6:11pm
FIDDLER ON THE EFFING ROOF! i think its beautiful especially towards the end, but god could i shoot myself during the some of those scenes. I just ushered a theatre where it played for a few weeks, and that first act is pushing 2 hours, with another hour and something after intermission. L'haim (sp?) could be a lot shorter. That wedding was like, what? an entire half an hour? ...please
also any rogers and hammerstein. though maybe im bias cause im just not a fan of r&h.
but i, for one, never think les miz drags. I think it is at the perfect equillibrium where everything in the show is important, and they move on at the just the right time before i get bored.
Updated On: 3/27/08 at 06:11 PM
#34re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 6:17pm
For me South Pacific was long in certain parts, as well as Sunday in the Park with George.
With Sunday, I was there last wednesday (3/19) in the 2nd to last row when a woman fainted because of how hot it was and this was during the first act when I was thinking that a break would be nice right about now. They called an ambulance and had to wheel her out. I believe that it distracted everyone in the last 4 rows of the orchestra.
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#35re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 6:40pmGuys, you have to remember that Les Mis was adapted from a 1500 page novel.
#36re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 6:43pmParade. I had no problem with Les Mis.
#37re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 6:43pmParade. I had no problem with Les Mis.
#38re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 7:10pmI agree with amalou, CATS has a few numbers that it could stand to cut.
#39re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/27/08 at 10:47pmCouldn't agree more with Grey Gardens. That show was interminable.
#40re: What shows do you like but feel they are too long?
Posted: 3/28/08 at 4:05pm
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.
At the Toronto premiere most of the reviewers (myself included) felt the first act was bloated. It still is. There are a few scenes there that could be dropped entirely without in any way harming the narrative.
This was really driven home recently when a community group did a rather lethargic staging devoid of any tension. The leads were fantastic but the show didn't play well at all.
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Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
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