Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Bat out of Hell | |
| Posted by: Leon_W 04:24 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| So this is so similar in production and tone and story elements to “We Will Rock You” that it’s like that musical decided to swap Queen songs for Jim Steinman and start swearing for a day. Having said that it is an incredibly well sung production that looks like it cost a fortune to mount with a top notch cast. If you want to hear the songs amazingly well sung and don’t care about the story then this is for you. The three young women right next to me talked none stop, waved their hands around, sang along to most songs, ate noisy candy and took photos. I think that’s pretty much all the bad behavior they could cram into their time there. I didn’t say anything to them because they were having such a great time in their own world where they could do anything they liked and I couldn’t face any nastiness or negative feeling. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Bat out of Hell and We Will Rock You | |
| Posted by: charles1055 10:34 am EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: Bat out of Hell - Leon_W 04:24 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| I saw We Will Rock You years ago but I remember it to be MUCH more coherent than Bat out of Hell. I agree that Bat was slick and well sung but the story made absolutely no sense and was super confusing. I still can't quite tell you why Falco and Lena Hall (who was excellent despite the material) were coupling and uncoupling and coupling and uncoupling. It's interesting to me that this show has been in development for so long and how many subsequent shows (We Will Rock You and American Idiot come to mind) have borrowed from it. I can't help but think that if it had a Broadway bow or Public showing in the 1970s that it would have been huge. City Center was empty on Saturday. I can't imagine that this is doing enough business to be a success. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Bat out of Hell and We Will Rock You | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 09:00 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Bat out of Hell and We Will Rock You - charles1055 10:34 am EDT 08/26/19 | |
|
|
|
| I remember when "Dance of the Vampires" was around everyone was talking about laughing hearing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in a musical but I had the same thought as you - had Steinman really been able to debut his music in musicals, "Total Eclipse" would have been a pretty radical showtune. But it's so weighted down with 80's nostalgia that it can't be taken seriously like that now. Same with the music in "Bat," (I haven't seen it onstage, though.) Steinman's out there, but he really can be quite clever in what he does. (And I love that he's out there.) | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| I hear your pain | |
| Posted by: dramedy 05:32 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| In reply to: Bat out of Hell - Leon_W 04:24 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| At a play that goes wrong in San Fran stop two weeks ago, the group in the second row behind me were obnoxious loud “i’m Loving this show and your performance and I want you to know I’m loving it”. My friend thought they were shills, But I didn’t think so and found a ticket stub from One of them for rush or student discount price. Really ruined the show for me and my friend but there is really nothing that can be done for loud obnoxious theater goers that aren’t talking during the show which is about the only time you can sush them. Over zealous laughter and clapping is really impossible to stop. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| audience behavior - The Cher Show | |
| Last Edit: mikem 05:19 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| Posted by: mikem 05:16 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| In reply to: Bat out of Hell - Leon_W 04:24 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| I had a similar experience with my audience neighbors at The Cher Show. The woman next to me literally said, "Oh my god" at least 15 times in the first 5 minutes of the show, including a run of "ohmygodohmygodohmygod" when Stephanie J Block first came on stage, interspersed with "I can't believe this," woo-woos, etc, etc. It was very annoying, but she was SO excited, and frankly the show didn't require a huge amount of concentration. When the lights went down, she was literally bobbing up and down in her seat in anticipation. I knew if I said something, it would probably embarrass her and ruin the experience for her. I got the feeling that this might have been her first Broadway show, and she just didn't know how the audience usually acts. Fortunately, she calmed down considerably after the first segment of the show, to a point where it was only mildly distracting. Then, during the finale "concert" segment, another neighbor, who had been silent throughout the show, sang "Believe" in an extremely off-key, loud voice along with Stephanie J Block. Since it was supposed to be a concert, it kind of added to the concert atmosphere. And she was also SO excited (and so silent for the first 95% of the show) that it didn't bother me that much. As for the show itself, I wonder how much it might have changed if it had had one more out-of-town run. I read that Teal Wicks's part got considerably smaller after the Chicago run, with Block taking over earlier in the show, and at least one of her songs being removed entirely ("After All," which is one of my personal favorite Cher songs). I didn't see much point in Wicks's role at all. It should have gone straight from "Baby" Cher to Block. The "three Cher" concept didn't really work for me, and making it two Chers in linear fashion would have been much better IMO. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: audience behavior - The Cher Show | |
| Posted by: palebutsolvent 01:09 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: audience behavior - The Cher Show - mikem 05:16 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| I had a recent appalling experience at Yiddish Fiddler. The gentleman sitting behind me clapped and sang along to the songs (in English no less) as though it was some sort of sing along. I had to move. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: audience behavior - The Cher Show | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:58 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| In reply to: audience behavior - The Cher Show - mikem 05:16 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| Since it was supposed to be a concert, it kind of added to the concert atmosphere. I think that for some people, jukebox musicals do seem like concerts - but in their entirety. So they behave more like they would at a concert. I can't speak to the behavior mentioned above at the Play That Goes Wrong. But for jukebox musicals, there really may be the mistaken impression that it can be treated more like a concert. I saw a production of A Chorus Line back that the beginning of August. After the tap sequence and where SPOILERS Paul falls and is taken off to the hospital (does anyone out here not know this?) When the music starts up again, it's the tune of "Who am I anyway/ Am I my resume" etc - and a guy sitting near me started to hum along. Well, nice for him, I suppose... |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: audience behavior - The Cher Show | |
| Posted by: bicoastal 04:27 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: audience behavior - The Cher Show - Chromolume 05:58 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| Some years ago in L.A. there was a very successful small production of HAIR that ran for quite a while. A friend and I went and there was a guy behind us singing out loud with every song. At intermission I said I didn't want to be rude but could he please stop singing since he wasn't in the show. He replied that he was "the HAIR chorus boy". I said there is no chorus boy in HAIR, so please don't be that. Then he said that at a lot of performances there were repeat visitors who treated the show like a sing-a-long and I guess it worked for the cast because it seemed to be a thing. I suggested that since there was only him, that maybe he could not sing during the second act and, happily, he complied. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: audience behavior - The Cher Show | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 08:36 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 08:33 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: audience behavior - The Cher Show - bicoastal 04:27 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
|
|
|
| I did a summer run of Forever Plaid some years back, and a number of times we could hear people in the audience trying to sing along. It could be very annoying. But the worst were 2 incidents where overzealous clapping (to the beat of a song) really became untenable. One was a kids' production of The Wizard Of Oz, where indeed the audience was invited to clap along with something like "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead," but we had one audience with a school group that then started clapping along with EVERYTHING. We got to "If I Only Had A Heart" and the poor kid singing couldn't compete, and I did something I still can't quite believe I did - I stopped the show. (The band was visible in front, just below the stage.) As gently as I could, I thanked the audience for their involvement, but spoke up for the actors who were working so hard onstage, and suggested that the clapping might be better AFTER the songs, instead of during them. That seemed to work. ;-) The other time was another school group situation, during "Reviewing The Situation" in Oliver. Whenever the uptempo parts kicked in, this one group just started clapping along. Which was not only disrespectful to the (adult) actor trying to sing the song, but with the tempo changes it was really hard to keep things together. But in this case I was down in the pit and couldn't do anything to stop or control it - we just had to soldier on. It was awful. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| The Cher Show in Chicago | |
| Posted by: PlazaBoy 05:34 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| In reply to: audience behavior - The Cher Show - mikem 05:16 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| Interesting to hear that Teal Wicks's part was reduced. She was my least favorite in the Chicago try out. I enjoyed the other two women but overall did not like the show. Did the first act still end (and second begin) with the French Revolutionary production number? That seemed to be the core of Teal's section of the show. I could be misremembering. The entire show was a flashy mess in my opinion. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: The Cher Show in Chicago | |
| Posted by: HadriansMall 07:32 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
| In reply to: The Cher Show in Chicago - PlazaBoy 05:34 pm EDT 08/25/19 | |
|
|
|
| Yes. The first act ends with Sonny and Cher arguing before the Napoleon number and the second act opens with the Napoleon number. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.035468 seconds.