When I started going to the theatre...- Page 4

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 12:41am

"Give it a shot."

 

I have. I think I'll leave it to Popeye.

 

I didn't fancy mac and cheese back then. I guess I missed out on a good thing.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:27am

One thing that's surprised me from being on these forums is that Broadway audiences not only drink in theaters, but eat, and apparently to great excess. I've never been further East than Toronto, and I've never seen a bigger show than the Matilda tour, but I grew up going to ballets and symphonies, which was always a big, exciting to-do. I still remember my mom hurriedly finishing the little plastic cup of cheap wine at intermission because taking it back inside was, as far as my ten-year-old self could figure, tantamount to armed robbery.

It's kind of a bummer to think that I might save up for months to go see a show and have the entire night infringed upon by someone eating a value meal.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 8:38am

Eight and I were discussing eating before the show and not during.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 8:44am

I know you were, Mr. R.

I still can't bring myself to eat or drink in a legitimate theater. I don't care what the concession rules are; it just feels wrong.

(This is not a judgment on the conduct of others. If the theater allows what they do, then I have to put up with it.)

Updated On: 5/10/16 at 08:44 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 8:54am

No problem

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 8:56am

Where was the Automat anyway? I remember going, but not the cross-street.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:03am

Great posts! Remember interim bookings? dramas that had open ended runs - and ran? one performance flops? six daily newspapers? running from theater to theater to get a ticket to a show that wasn't sold out? civility/quiet once a show started? house curtains? show curtains? 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:06am

How about 1 performance musicals like Home,Sweet Homer,Here's Where I Belong & Gantry?

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:09am

Jarethan, what a great post!

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:10am

^

And don't forget  La Strada. It had a wonderful score, and Bernadette Peters!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:13am

Which score? Certainly not the Lionel Bart one as I read somewhere only about 3 songs from his original score made it to opening night and the rest of it was ghostwritten by someone else.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:14am

I saw Gantry, La Strada, and Homer. I would have killed to see Here's Where I Belong and Billy!

You had to be quick in those days. 

 

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:18am

" Remember interim bookings?"

I do. If the show was a success, it had to move to another theatre.

 

"dramas that had open ended runs - and ran?"

Yes. Imagine that!

 

"six daily newspapers?"

Seven, when I was going.

 

"civility/quiet once a show started?"

"Try to remember the kind of September..."

 

"house curtains? show curtains?""

The scrims that appeared during the overtures to musicals were the best. I so looked forward to them! My favorite was Dear World's, which provided a fanciful depiction of Paris. When that wonderful overture played before that delightful scrim, I was in paradise.

 

 

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:20am

Did not see La Strada. Would have killed to see Belong.I have an alleged signed Playbill of Homer by Yul. You did not see him sign it. You mailed a Playbill to an address and it came back signed. I should have it authenticated someday as it may be worth something if it is really his.

 

Than again, I saw shows that should have closed opening night and saved everyone the trouble like Via Galactica. I also saw Rockabye Hamlet and my God was that a trip. I also saw Rachel Lilly which mercifully closed in previews I believe.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:41am

"Which score? Certainly not the Lionel Bart one as I read somewhere only about 3 songs from his original score made it to opening night and the rest of it was ghostwritten by someone else."

 

Yes. And all of it was wonderful.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:53am

I have the CD. I must pull it out and listen to it.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 10:06am

The Bart songs in La Strada are petty awful. That is the cd , I believe, you have. It was pulled and Eddie Lawrence and Martin Charnin wrote a new score, which included a couple of Bart leftovers, and that score is not bad at all. Hardly Golden Age quality, but in comparison....

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 10:07am

Remember when stars like Martin, Merman, Verdon, Mostel and Preston signed TWO YEAR contracts, not two months?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 10:31am

Remember when stars like Merman etc did 8 a week when todays younger counterparts feel it is to much for them

[Demitri2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 11:20am

Back in the sixties I only remember three stars not doing matinees. They were Barbara Harris in THE APPLE TREE whose role was performed by Phyllis Newman on matinee days. And Carol Lawrence and Gordon McRae who subbed for Mary Martin and Robert Preston in I DO! I Do!. Were there any others? And besides Gwen Verdon cutting out numbers on matinee days, did anyone else follow suit?

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 11:24am

JayG 2 said: "I saw Gantry, La Strada, and Homer. I would have killed to see Here's Where I Belong and Billy!

You had to be quick in those days. 

Were any of them actually tolerable?

Re super-flops, most of the ones I saw deserved to be. I saw The Yearling and Her First Roman and Rex, which were pretty boring, although HFR had great sets and costumes.  I saw Ray Bolger in Come Summer!, which was painfully boring, although It too had great sets.  And Copperfield...OMG, that felt longer than reading he book; and The Ambassador at the Lunt Fontanne...a perfect fit, per another thread, since the sets felt like an extension of the gorgeous theatre, but what a bore.  I am so happy that I got to see Look to the Lilies, because it was the only time I saw Shirley Booth on stage, but I prety much deserved its very short run.  

On the other hand, I saw Drat The Cat!, which I loved from beginning to end, and remember in more detail than Some shows that I have seen in the past few years; and Darling of the Day, which ran a little longer than the rest -- 4 whole weeks -- and enjoyed it more than all of the Tony nominees for Best Musical that year.  Of course, that may have been the only season where the winner for best musical, Hallelujah Baby, had already closed (I absolutely loved that show...it wasn't perfect, but the score was terrific, the two Tony winning performances were deserving of the award, and it had a point to make.  Should have run longer than it did.

I also loved the fact  that every season would bring several silly, and thoroughly enjoyable comedies, always one by Neil Simon -- all of them funny in their day, most of them very dated I suspect, and more frequent mysteries.  

I remember seeing The Apple Tree one time -- also, per another thread, I snuck into that show 4 or 5 times after Act 1 -- and turned around to see Barbara Harris waiting to go down the aisle as Passionella.  I remember that we made eye contact and she seemed to be embarrassed standing there.  Amazing, since it is to this day one of the four or five best musical comedy performance I have ever seen, a total tour de force in which she was pretty much off-stage only to change costumes.  And she did it 8 times a week!

 

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 11:37am

Gantry was not bad. Robert Shaw & Rita Moreno starred. It had a number on Ed Sullivan before it opened. It was another, they thought, sure hit, The cast album was planned & RCA already had the album cover designed & printed.  It flopped and  the critics were miffed at a supposed slight so they took it out on the show. 

[hork]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 11:55am

Charley Kringas Inc said: "One thing that's surprised me from being on these forums is that Broadway audiences not only drink in theaters, but eat, and apparently to great excess. I've never been further East than Toronto, and I've never seen a bigger show than the Matilda tour, but I grew up going to ballets and symphonies, which was always a big, exciting to-do. I still remember my mom hurriedly finishing the little plastic cup of cheap wine at intermission because taking it back inside was, as far as my ten-year-old self could figure, tantamount to armed robbery.

It's kind of a bummer to think that I might save up for months to go see a show and have the entire night infringed upon by someone eating a value meal.

 

I've been to 15 Broadway shows and don't ever remember seeing anyone eating. Didn't even know it was allowed until I started reading posts here. So I don't think it's quite the epidemic that you would think from reading these boards. Either that, or I'm just that oblivious and/or the people around me ate very inconspicuously.

 

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 12:56pm

Excellent post and I do miss those days. The way people dress today at shows makes me shake my head.  It used to be a special event going to a Broadway show and it was nice seeing people dressed up unlike today where you see people wearing shorts to a show. Broadway theaters are too blame but I liked it much better when you did not bring food and drinks into the theater. I have read many times from people on this board how people eating/drinking have disturbed them watching the show.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:25pm

Jareathan, I envy your seeing Drat! The Cat! I love the score.The lyrics are wonderful. Listening to the bootleg copy and hearing the audience in constant state of hysterical laughter makes me wish I had seen it. (Do I need to say that the logo is one of my favorites?)

Gantry has an okay score, but it was up and down. Shaw was very charasmatic. Homer was a hoot. It was fun, but horrible. La Strada was okay, I thought. Peters was terrific and the score, as I said, was fine. Choreography was terrific. I still remember the last ballet dramatically bringing down the final curtain.

Ambassador put me to sleep.

Dude was incomprehensible.

Agree that I, too, was glad to have seen Look to the Lilies for Shirley Booth, but the show was dull, with Styne's score lousy  (and he is probably my favorite Golden Age composer).

Passed up Copperfield to see a ghastly revival of Can Can at the Minkskoff. I left that at intermission, rushed a few blocks north to try to sneak into act two of Copperfield, but no luck.

Passed up Carmelins to see Break a Leg with Julie Harris. A mistake, I guess. Although seeing a national treasure, even in a truly unfunny flop, is not something you can easily pass up.