definition of "PREVIEW"

Not sure about Vegas protocol (since not a lot of legit shows open there), but in New York, critics attend a designated press preview, typically one of the last previews, two or three days prior to opening. Protocol normally dictates that reviews will not appear online before the opening night curtain goes up (and the vast majority of the press here follows that practice), however Newsday and the AP have decided editorially to ignore this and often post reviews online hours before the curtain (of course no reviews appear in the actual newspaper until the day after opening night)

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Updated On: 9/3/04 at 05:23 PM

Here ya go love.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Sep-03-Fri-2004/weekly/24665525.html

I think this guy sounds unbelievably intelligent. When i saw the show in london yrs ago, my main complaint was that "they pass off name-dropping for humor". this guy feels the same way. Seems the re-vamped "american version" script didn't fix this problem.

BTW it was DeNiro himself who nixed the Bwy gig. There are videos of him watching rehearsels and not cracking a smile - the cast remarked "he just doesn't get Brit humor". uh huh.

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That's hilarious. In a really sad way.

Knocking down the fourth wall isn't some mind-blowing artistic advance. It's something that's been done since the beginnings of theater. Greek choruses, anyone?

If you're going to speak to the audience, it's all in how you do it. If you're just using it for the old ironic wink-wink-nudge-nudge, it's pretty much artistically invalid. IMHO.

Updated On: 9/3/04 at 09:14 PM

Ah, that "crawl under your seat" feeling. I haven't felt that since my brother's elementary school musical was the extremely unfortunate "Schoolhouse Rock." The last time I felt it in a professional production was in the "Peter and Liza fall in love" scene of The Boy From Oz. It was then that I developed the distancing technique of staring at Hugh Jackman. :P

Unfortunately, Mr. Jackman wasn't in this show, was he? I feel for you, Chevstriss.

Knocking down the fourth wall isn't some mind-blowing artistic advance. It's something that's been done since the beginnings of theater. Greek choruses, anyone?

In fact, the idea of a "fourth wall" is relatively new, solidified by the movement towards realism in the 19th century. The vast majority of early western drama had no concept of a fourth wall. Even early modern drama (ie. Shakespeare), which seems to have employed some of the fourth wall concept, actually didn't; it's our perception and staging of these works that put it in.

But back to We Will Rock You: Mike Weatherford isn't the only critic the creative team will be hating. The word on the street is that this is one stinker of a show.

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and what the heck does the composer mean by "the final discovery"? there is 'virtually' nothing to be learned from this cyber-show.

does anyone remember about 1 yr ago when Brit TV did a poll on the 100 best musicals? being a TV show/internet poll, most who voted listed Movie musicals. well, Sound of Music came out #1.
This same composer blogged about what rubbish and fluff SoM was compared to his meaningful NEW MODERN musical

hmmmmmm
1 show is the hypothetical events of pre-fab technopop music taking over the world.

1 show is the historical events of the Nazi take over of Austria.

which is fluff?

somehow I feel that the damage done by the 3rd Reich might be a bit more substantial than the damage done by boy-bands.

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Hahaha, that's funny! This guy sounds like a loon.

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"a show which bravely broke with the kind of syrupiness which most musicals of its day seemed to depend on."

So, does this guy think that most musicals in the 70's were "syrupy"? (so I guess he never heard ACL, The Wiz, JCS, Chicago, Godspell, Pippin, Purlie, The Me Nobody Knows, Raisin, Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope, Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural Death, Shenandoah, I Love My Wife, Runaways et al)

Or is he a complete and utter idiot and thinks that "Grease" was written in the 50's?

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Who is this guy? I thought "We Will Rock You" had no new music.

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This guy is a songwriter who feels it qualifies him to comment on musical theatre scoring, which is entirely different. He did not write a series of songs to conform to a story. He wrote unrelated rock songs that were later strung together for which a story was shoehorned around them. His contribution of songwriting was finished 25-30 years ago. His contribution to actually scoring a musical is actually nil.

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Margo- not even all the shows in the 50's were that syrupy. West Side Story, anyone? But I think the weirdness of his statement has been pretty well-established.