Will HADESTOWN end up like THE GREAT COMET??- Page 2

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 12:32am

I hope it is like a Comet, a brilliant experience the likes of which I never saw before (nor will again), that makes you fall in love with the musical and its potential all over again.

Will it sell tickets? Who knows?

[CedricOates]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 12:33am

HogansHero said: "Valentina3 said: "HogansHero said: "Please, people, think a little. Just a little."

Are you ever not obnoxious?"

Yes, all the time. But in this case, if you consider what I wrote "obnoxious," then ask yourself what makes it obnoxious. Surely you don't think asking people to put a little thought in their postsis obnoxious, do you? To me, if anything is obnoxious, it's interrupting a thread to make a personal comment that's basically 100% off-topic. But there you go.

Your “Please think a little.” comment was 100% off topic as well but whatever right 

 

Updated On: 9/13/18 at 12:33 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 12:44am

CedricOates said: "Your “Please think a little.” comment was 100% off topic as well but whatever right "

How can if be off-topic to question whether the original post makes any sense?!

Ultimately, the point is no one knows. You can compare it to Comet and question its failure, but you could just as easily compare it to a Band's Visit, Come From Away, or Gentleman's Guide, where a show found enough of an audience to stay in business, recoup, and carve out a space for itself.

And both comparisons would be just onanistic pursuits.

The fate of Hadestown will be its own path. It will find an audience, or not. Book a name, or not. Operate smartly and cheaply, or not. Win over audiences, or not. Stay open, or not.

Some people who love Comet will see it, but obviously that isn't enough people to keep a show open.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 1:25am

dramamama611 said: "Your disdain for everyone that posts here is obnoxious. We/they are fans, not experts. They are talking from their hearts with whatever knowledge think they have.

No one needs to be shat upon for not being a professional in the field."

First of all, I don't have disdain for anyone. Second of all, I have great respect for many people who post here, and the ideas they discuss. Third, nothing that I said in this post (or any other one that I recall) puts down fans as opposed to experts or professionals. You don't need any special expertise to figure out if something makes sense, just the patience to think for a second before typing. Talking from the heart is not an excuse for not making sense. Experts can be lazy; fans don't need to be. So let's not misinterpret. Go back and read this thread, at least as far down as my first post. Then I think you will see that you are off-base. Expecting people in a public forum to make sense and calling them out when they are not is not obnoxious. You have made some terrific contributions to this board, but this one is not one of them. In fact, it too is off-topic, and I am not too keen on wasting my time chatting about myself. I am not a topic here.

[bear88]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 1:33am

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Great Comet is a fantastic musical, but the average person would have no interest in seeing it without a celebrity in it. It’s really for theater and opera buffs only.

Hadestown however, might seem “cooler” to mainstream audiences because of the title. Everyone knows that Hades is the Greek equivalent of the devil. Also, most people know the gist of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. No one has read War and Peace.

It is probably also much cheaper to produce than Great Comet. They should wait til Circle in the Square becomes available, and it will run about a year and make at least most of its money back.

If it does well in London, add in the “London hit” prestige factor, and even better."

I'm not an expert on the business side of things, but I agree with most of this. The only thing I disagree with is the idea that "most people," or even a good-sized minority, know squat about Orpheus and Eurydice. 

One question, though: I realize that it has the same director as Great Comet, and one of its stars, but why are there so many comparisons? I'm curious about it, but mainly because I've read positive things.

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 2:49am

GVS2 said: "Hadestown is one of my favorite shows ever. I flew to Edmonton to see it last December. The changes that were made only improved the show from the NYTW show from 2016. I am flying to London to see it this November and can't wait to see what additional improvements were made. Simply put, it will draw people in on word of mouth alone when it opens on Broadway!"

Funny, I felt the opposite. It didn't need to be a bigger show. I'll miss the dark, edgy show it was at NYTW. 

[macnyc]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 6:28am

I think Hadestown will do very well in London. First off, it's a limited run, only three months. Second, prices are way cheaper there than Broadway. Third, many Brits will be familiar with the Greek legend. I think the education there tends to be more geared toward the classics than ours here. That's just my impression. 

For these reasons, I think opening first on London is a very smart move. 

I love the show and love the score, and I really hope it does well on Broadway. But I think the business environment will be a challenge.

Updated On: 9/13/18 at 06:28 AM

[raddersons]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 8:45am

I think comparison's are really due to Rachel Chavkin's directing style, who helped develop both from the ground up.

And I don't think it will end up like The Great Comet because the producers actually know what they're doing instead of just producing passion projects.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 9:31am

Wick3 said: "Oh I didn’t know. I obviously didn’t watch it when it was on off-bway. Did it do well back then? Is the current production in the west end very different from the off bway production?"

 

It did well at NYTW! I'm not sure if the West End production has changed or not (besides most of the cast being different).

[freewilma]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 10:04am

I haven't seen Hadestown, but have listened to the cast recording and saw Comet. I found the direction from Chavkin to be exceptional....but the music, not so much.   I think the music of Hadestown is MUCH more approachable for the general theatre-going public than Comet.  

[Rainah]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 1:13pm

I genuinely think Hadestown is much more commercially viable than Comet

Hadestown is significantly cheaper to run, week to week. Literally less than half the cast of Comet, they don't give out food/shakers/etc, and I'm pretty sure they don't intend to renovate a theatre to accommodate the show (and then change it back). 

It's also a lot more accessible. I love Comet, but Comet is weird. It's weird and wild and sometimes deliberately offputing. it's a sensory explosion that often makes you go "What the f***". The opening number has to literally tell you to look in your playbills if you're confused, we added a full summary of what's going on and a genogram so you know who's related to who. 

Hadestown is a much simpler story with much simpler staging. If you don't pick up on the whole 'capitalism is death' thing, it doesn't interfere with the plot. The fun, jazzy score is much closer to the conventional than songs like "The Opera" or "The private and most intimate life of the house". 

 

Comet is probably one of the most outside of the box, risky things that's been done on broadway. It was very polarizing - people either loved it or hated it. But it was also risky in the sense that the mounting costs and running costs especially were both very high. It was also really poorly marketed.

Hadestown does take some risks and does have plenty of daring things to say, but it's not nearly as offputting as Comet. The appeal is much broader, and the costs are lower. I personally think it's going to be a huge hit, but even if it's not it should do fine.

(Also FWIW, more than half the run in london is either sold out or 'limited availability' already and we're still months out)

Updated On: 9/13/18 at 01:13 PM

[Rainah]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 1:18pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "Hadestown however, might seem “cooler” to mainstream audiences because of the title. Everyone knows that Hades is the Greek equivalent of the devil. Also, most people know the gist of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. No one has read War and Peace."

This is also true. "It's based off a greek myth, and Hades and Persephone" would get me interested. "It's based off War and Peace" would make me want to excuse myself before I started yawning. Topic wise, Hadestown is a much easier sell.

"It's a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, plus Hades and Persephone are major characters, but set in 1930s New Orleans" is pretty darn cool.

"It's an electropop opera dinner theatre about war and peace. but not all of war and peace, just 70 pages out of the middle" sounds like I hit the button on a random word generator. 

(Which sounds like I'm basing Comet, I'm not. I absolutely adore Comet. The fact is that it's a polarizing show, and Hadestown is much easier to market to the masses)

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 1:29pm

Rainah said: "This is also true. "It's based off a greek myth, and Hades and Persephone" would get me interested. "It's based off War and Peace" would make me want to excuse myself before I started yawning. Topic wise, Hadestown is a much easier sell."

I'm not sure that to the average theatergoer a re-telling of a Greek myth is an easier sell than a Tolstoy musical.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 2:20pm

haterobics said: "I'm not sure that to the average theatergoer a re-telling of a Greek myth is an easier sell than a Tolstoy musical."

In theory that may well be true but let's not forget that, at the time, there was a lot of criticism of how Comet was and was not sold. The advertising marketing and promotion did not do a good job of conveying the unique theatrical experience, and thus the excitement, of the show. I also do not think the producers understood who their big name (Groban) was, and how to market that effectively, but that's a separate matter. (Remember the famous back-to-the-camera ad?)

 

[Rainah]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 2:47pm

I've found about 50% of the people I've spoken to at least recognize the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Which honestly surprised me, I'd never heard of it before this. And everyone's heard of Hades.

Beyond that, the world is full of adaptions of Greek myths and many of them are fun. Those who grew up on things like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Class of the Titans, etc. They're interesting, offbeat, and not stuffy. There are a million different adaptions, from comedy to high drama I feel like most people have seen at least one greek myth retelling they like.

How many people have seen a war and peace adaption they like? 

 

And yeah the marketing for Comet sucked. Can't say if the marketing for Hadestown will be any good, but small mercies. They can't bill it as "The Josh Groban show".

 

 

[Impossible2]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 2:58pm

It was an extremely hard sell for Comet to get me into the theatre. I first read reviews of it at Ars Nova and it sounded like a pretentious borefest. When the tent appeared on Broadway I was intrigued, but once I realised what it was I turned my nose up at it again. When it moved to the Imperial and I saw the name Josh Groban on the marquee I thought wtf, then I realised what it was again and thought gees they are really desperate to make this thing happen aren't they. When I did eventually give in because I'd seen everything else I was intrigued from the minute I walked into the bomb shelter foyer, dazzled once I got inside and then entertained like I never had been before in a theatre once the show began. Now it is my favourite theatrical experience ever, but it literally took being in the situation where there was nothing else left for me to see to get me in there. 

Personally I think it will do MUCH better in London then it did on Broadway and I am really hoping that Hadestown is being used as a springboard for it to come here next year. I still don't know about Josh in the lead here though. I personally loved him in the role, but I think it's a hard sell to get younger audiences into a new hip musical with a star of his type on the marquee.

Updated On: 9/13/18 at 02:58 PM

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 9/13/18 at 3:07pm

I don't think Hadestown needs a "name" to sell, but if it did, I'm not sure where they'd put one. Patrick Page and Amber Gray have been with the show for years, and to generally high acclaim, so I can't see either of them being replaced. Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney each have a following and are more bankable than their predecessors, so while neither is a superstar with a ton of box office power, I think the producers have already tried to upgrade there as much as they can without sacrificing the property with singers who can't handle the show's vocal demands (particularly for Orpheus). That really only leaves Hermes, and unless Chris Sullivan becomes available again and can cash in on his minor TV fame, I don't see them replacing a genuine Broadway legend like Andre De Shields. I, for one, hope the producers trust that the property they're working with is really solid and continue to put their energy into letting the show be what it is. From what I've seen so far, I think they're on the right track.