Why people are really hating on it. It sounds like it would be right up my alley. It sounds like a choose your own adventure psycho melodrama. Perfect!!
Broadway Flash said: "Why people are really hating on it. It sounds like it would be right up my alley. It sounds like a choose your own adventure psycho melodrama. Perfect!!"
Of course, this would be up your alley. Bad Cinderella was "up your alley" too. Remember that complete flop?
The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes. -Harold Prince
I think Bad Cinderella, or at least Cinderella when I saw it lol, was so much better than this flop. Opening Night feels like a kind of Carrie-level flop without any of the redeeming qualities. In some ways it’s a must see because these don’t come around often. It’s not merely mediocre, it’s a disaster.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
I thought it needed a lot of work, but it did pull some pretty decent reviews (several 3 and 4 stars) when the online chatter suggested it would be uniformly massacred. It will be interesting to see how tickets sales and audiences respond moving forward.
JasonC3 said: "I thought it needed a lot of work, but it did pull some pretty decent reviews (several 3 and 4 stars) when the online chatter suggested it would be uniformly massacred. It will be interesting to see how tickets sales and audiences respond moving forward."
I had the sense that even the positive reviews were for Sheridan's performance - and not the play/musical itself - which is consistent with the message board postings I had seen.
BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Boy that Times review is a show killer"
This European critic the Times has in just a pretentious a-hole. He can't write and his opinions are ludicrous. With all the critics of color out there (and yes, the Times needed a diversity hire in this role) he is the worst!
I have an English friend who attends most London and UK theatre with me when I'm there. He's very sophisticated and knowledgeable about such things and was the first indication to me that the show wasn't the disaster the Brit boards were saying (he loved it). He called the show "marmite" as people feel extremes one way or the other about it and feels West End audiences do not like serious musicals as they do in the states. Producers know this, that is why it took fifteen years to get Next to Normal at only a subscription house! They love a musical comedy but unless its Les Miz, a musical has to be partially farcical.
Of course they can have that opinion, and I agree with the general sentiment that west end audiences are not as open to 'serious' musicals as they are in New York - And I LOVE a good serious New York musical. In fact, given everyone involved I was hoping it would be something complex and serious. But I just don't think this is it. This is not next to normal, Caroline, or change, Fun Home, A Strange Loop, Sunday in the Park with George or another 'serious' complex New York musical. The writing just isn't there in my opinion. The direction and acting does make it feel like it's meant to be taken seriously, but the words and notes on the page just don't in my opinion support this vision. I don't think this is just a case of west end people rejecting avant garde. Something was/is seriously wrong.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Broadway Flash said: "Does anyone think this will come to New York?"
Uh…Unless they’re just asking for more people to walk out halfway through the show and then be LAMBASTED by American Critics, I’d say HELL NO!
The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes. -Harold Prince
Did they have a tryout anywhere or did it open cold in the west end? Seems like this could’ve benefited with a few extra steps in its development process.
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I have no space on my trip to see this before it closes, but I am so curious about it: is it really a train wreck and, if so, in the soo bad it’s good way of just really f’ing bad?
This musical was a world premiere but Van Hove had adapted/director a very successful version of Opening Night several years ago (I believe it also played at BAM) that wasn't a musical. I'm surprised that this is such a horrible failure given how lovely I thought that version was. To be fair, the film Opening Night is somewhat incoherent itself.
Jordan Catalano said: "In a very unsurprising move, the show will now close May 18th."
Have you/will you see this show?
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000