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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Last Edit: writerkev 10:02 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
| Posted by: writerkev 10:01 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - ablankpage 08:12 am EDT 04/10/21 | |
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| To me, it makes sense that the official count is only the number of performances post-opening. Sometimes that number is an indication of the effect of reviews. Many shows have pushed off their preview periods as long as possible to avoid reviews. You have shows like “Nick and Nora” and too many others to cite that have two months of previews, then they close a week after bad reviews. And shows that close on opening night should clearly be known to have had a single “real” performance, not the six weeks of previews. Previews are previews, for whatever reason the production deems them so. The count starts after opening. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 10:38 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - writerkev 10:01 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
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| I absolutely disagree. If "previews are previews" and don't count, then tickets should be sold at half-price at most. Previews are full price, full performances, and fully count. Reviews also aren't influential the way they were... maybe performances should only count based on how long the show's marketing campaign has been out there and might have had effect... or when word of mouth can start, so say after week 2 of previews? I mean... it's silly. Secret Garden changed the show after opening, does that mean the previews and weeks before new changes went in invalidate those performances and their run doesn't start until the show is actually frozen for the last time? If we are counting how many performances a show had on broadway, it starts at the first performance on broadway, because that is the first performance on broadway. |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: writerkev 03:12 pm EDT 04/11/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - Chazwaza 10:38 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
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| That’s a fine opinion, but it’s not the way it’s done. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 02:50 pm EDT 04/12/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - writerkev 03:12 pm EDT 04/11/21 | |
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| Be that as it may, that is confounding and without logic or relevance for the point of the stat in the first place. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: writerkev 03:31 pm EDT 04/12/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - Chazwaza 02:50 pm EDT 04/12/21 | |
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| I tried to offer some logic above. I understand you don't agree with it, but that doesn't mean there is no logic. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:44 pm EDT 04/12/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - writerkev 03:31 pm EDT 04/12/21 | |
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| I grant that, but I don't think the logic is useful or applicable especially for a conversation or documentation of the actual length of a broadway production's run. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Posted by: Billhaven 11:28 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - Chazwaza 10:38 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
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| I'm with you. It's not a rehearsal, it's a performance. On Broadway. Most of the audience will only see one performance. They won't know that a song they hear may be dropped in a week. Or that a performer may be replaced. Or that next year a mostly new group of performers will be performing this same show on this stage. | |
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| re: Sondheim's Broadway career | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 01:16 pm EDT 04/11/21 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:14 pm EDT 04/11/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Sondheim's Broadway career - Billhaven 11:28 am EDT 04/11/21 | |
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| Exactly. And you mentioned major changes... the vast majority of shows preview periods don't have changes anywhere near as notable as a dropped or replaced song or a cut role or replaced performer. The show is largely the same... in middle cases, dialogue and lyrics will change, scenes may be moved around or cut, the design elements and cues will change or improv, some staging may change, buttons of songs or scenes might change or come to being... timing of acting and performance depth will change. But most shows, especially in the last 20 years, don't really change THAT notably during previews. Most shows have 3 weeks of previews, if i recall, and 1 whole week of that is after the show is frozen. Certainly some new shows have a lot of growing pains and will make big changes or make changes often during previews... and of course, how previews work in the last 20 years isn't that relevant to how they worked in the decades prior when Sondheim's show premiered. But I still really think especially for his shows in the 80s and 90s, the previews counted 100% as a performance of the musical on Broadway that audiences paid full or near-full prices for, and especially doing 30-55 previews... I mean that's almost half the run of most Roundabout shows! Come on. |
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