definition of "PREVIEW"
definition of "PREVIEW"
definition of "PREVIEW"#0
Posted: 9/3/04 at 5:20pm
OK so I've attended plenty of Bwy previews, and been in LORTs and "chew and view" and stock myself, and i always thought PREVIEW meant performance w/ an audience, but prior to press.
I always thought press were not allowed into previews, or on the rare occaisions when they HAD to attend to preview due to scheduling etc, and got the producers permission, they had to hold off printing until after opening night and also state in the review that they had attended a preview.
Having said that, the negative (deservedly so) reviews are already out for WE WILL ROCK YOU -Las Vegas - and opening night is next wednesday.
not that it will be any better by then - I just thought that was protocal?
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#1
Posted: 9/3/04 at 5:23pmNot 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)
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#2
Posted: 9/3/04 at 5:27pmThe reviews for We Will Rock You are bad? Is there a link to them online? I hope this deters it ever going to Broadway.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#3
Posted: 9/3/04 at 8:39pm
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.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#4
Posted: 9/3/04 at 9:13pm
this is even sadder - the composer's response to this review.
>>>>>>>Looks like " Mike Weatherford " is actually about to be one of OUR worst enemies.
Young man, I have to tell you that the "fourth wall" bollocks was the first thing to be knocked down, after we got rid of our first London director. It's the whole point of our show - letting the audience in, to be part of the final discovery.
You want a fourth wall ? Go back to My Fair Lady. Cos you just don't get it !!! Do ya ?!!
Maybe someone around Vegas will tell him - the only thing that will bite the dust is his reputation. I'm not sure who the Review Journal are ... but maybe they need to find a more informed writer.<<<<<<<
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#5
Posted: 9/3/04 at 9:14pm
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
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#6
Posted: 9/3/04 at 9:21pm
yes, and having seen the show, this "young man" is an incredibly "informed writer". the script is way worse than he makes it out to be. Its embarassing, referring, by name, to the members of the band Queen as "freedom fighters". I wanted to crawl under my seat at that. In london they actually bring in a video screen and play the beginning of the Bohemian Rhapsody video as if its a religious artifact.
Its is brilliantly sung by an energetic young cast, as the reviewer states.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#7
Posted: 9/3/04 at 9:25pm
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.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#8
Posted: 9/3/04 at 9:28pm
and Tony Vincent is no Hugh Jackman.
BTW Monsieur le Vincent is also starring in this Vegas incarnation
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#9
Posted: 9/4/04 at 1:20am
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#10
Posted: 9/4/04 at 8:08am
Margo, I'd only add to that that the practice of 'early' reviews coming out even before opening curtain has become common and with the advent of the internet those critics who have press credentials from a website have also posted early.
I guess we are in a new age. Pretty soon, they will have hidden video cameras in rehearsals and audiences will be deciding whether they want to see the show before the actors ever set foot in front of a LIVE audience (I'm just kidding, I HOPE)
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#11
Posted: 9/4/04 at 11:32am
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.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#12
Posted: 9/4/04 at 1:00pmAre you serious? He called The Sound of Music "rubbish" and expects people to trust his taste? Woo, that's rich.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#13
Posted: 9/4/04 at 1:19pmHahaha, that's funny! This guy sounds like a loon.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#14
Posted: 9/4/04 at 1:48pm
OK here's his actual quote - the poll had Grease #1 and SoM #2
"""""
The bit when they got to "The Sound of Music" - yuck! Reminded me so clearly what we felt we stood AGAINST when we started off. That one, and so many of the others like it, makes my skin crawl!!!! Thank GOD for rock and roll!!!! Maybe significant that so many people voted for Grease - a show which bravely broke with the kind of syrupiness which most musicals of its day seemed to depend on. OK
""""""
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#15
Posted: 9/4/04 at 3:41pm
"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?
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#16
Posted: 9/4/04 at 7:26pm
I find Grease far more syrupy than ACL, but this guy has no excuse for the ignorant remarks. He is married to a fairly well-known West End musical theatre actress. Of course he praises anything he sees her in - she was playing Mama Morton at the time of the 100 Best Poll
"""
A MUSICAL ought to put the MUSIC first, right? Can't think of anything much in the West End for which that is true. Even Chicago, a jolly enough show in its way, and doing very well.......... songs?! ...... well, some good dancing and good performers save it though
"""
I believe he is implying there is no decent "music" in the stage version of Chicago.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#17
Posted: 9/4/04 at 7:50pmWho is this guy? I thought "We Will Rock You" had no new music.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#18
Posted: 9/4/04 at 7:57pm
there is no new music in WWRY. Its strictly a catalogue "musical".
but he did write alot of the music in it, about 30 yrs ago.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#19
Posted: 9/4/04 at 8:08pmThis 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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/15/04
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#20
Posted: 9/4/04 at 8:16pmThat reviewer can kiss my ass. This show is awsome. I havn't seen this production yet but still, he can kiss my ass for writing that about something Queen-related even if it is true.
re: definition of 'PREVIEW'#21
Posted: 9/4/04 at 10:29pm
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. 
Videos
