A few years ago, I went to New York to see a show in previews.
The show was a total disaster.
Actors were searching for lines, which meant the pacing was horrible. The direction was non-existent (and I don't mean that in a positive way). Funnily enough, however, the technical side of things was fine.
After the preview, the show opened and got rave reviews.
A friend said that I shouldn't have expected much. After all, it was a preview. They got the show in shape by the time it opened.
I responded with--"Well, gee, good thing I didn't pay seventy dollars for the ticket then."
Look, I know when you see a show in previews, changes might be made, but those changes shouldn't involve the actors learning their lines or the director finally deciding to put some effort in.
It seems like a lot of people now work a show up to press night, aim for a good review, and then coast on that until the end of the run.
One of my friends went to New York recently and saw a show that's been running for a year. She said the energy was low, and when she asked someone else who had seen it, they said it was the same way, but "what do you expect? They've been running for so long now."
Is this how we're going to get people to the theater? By telling them if they can't make it to the three shows around press time that are actually worth seeing they're just screwed?
I saw a limited run last year that was only going to run six weeks, and I was told not to see it within the first two weeks because things were still shaky, but also not to go the last two weeks because then by then the actors would be tired of it.
So basically, they did a two-week run.
And nobody seemed to be ashamed of that at all.
. . . . .
One of the things I love about blogging is that it allows everyday people to express opinions about things, and people are expressing opinions about are movies, tv shows, and theater.
It's no longer good enough to just please the critic at the New York Times, and honestly, it never should have been.
We say that critics don't matter, but they do. But what we also need to be saying is that every audience member is a critic.
Word of mouth has been known to do amazing things for some theaters, and other theaters just want a quote they can use once the show is up and running.
The fact of the matter is that in ten years nobody's going to remember which critic liked your show and which didn't--aside from you. What people will remember is a production that really impressed them regardless of if they saw it early in the run, late in the run, on a rainy Friday, or a Wednesday afternoon.
Strive to have it be just as good every time, because everybody's paying hard-earned money to see it.
Just a thought.
The show was a total disaster.
Actors were searching for lines, which meant the pacing was horrible. The direction was non-existent (and I don't mean that in a positive way). Funnily enough, however, the technical side of things was fine.
After the preview, the show opened and got rave reviews.
A friend said that I shouldn't have expected much. After all, it was a preview. They got the show in shape by the time it opened.
I responded with--"Well, gee, good thing I didn't pay seventy dollars for the ticket then."
Look, I know when you see a show in previews, changes might be made, but those changes shouldn't involve the actors learning their lines or the director finally deciding to put some effort in.
It seems like a lot of people now work a show up to press night, aim for a good review, and then coast on that until the end of the run.
One of my friends went to New York recently and saw a show that's been running for a year. She said the energy was low, and when she asked someone else who had seen it, they said it was the same way, but "what do you expect? They've been running for so long now."
Is this how we're going to get people to the theater? By telling them if they can't make it to the three shows around press time that are actually worth seeing they're just screwed?
I saw a limited run last year that was only going to run six weeks, and I was told not to see it within the first two weeks because things were still shaky, but also not to go the last two weeks because then by then the actors would be tired of it.
So basically, they did a two-week run.
And nobody seemed to be ashamed of that at all.
. . . . .
One of the things I love about blogging is that it allows everyday people to express opinions about things, and people are expressing opinions about are movies, tv shows, and theater.
It's no longer good enough to just please the critic at the New York Times, and honestly, it never should have been.
We say that critics don't matter, but they do. But what we also need to be saying is that every audience member is a critic.
Word of mouth has been known to do amazing things for some theaters, and other theaters just want a quote they can use once the show is up and running.
The fact of the matter is that in ten years nobody's going to remember which critic liked your show and which didn't--aside from you. What people will remember is a production that really impressed them regardless of if they saw it early in the run, late in the run, on a rainy Friday, or a Wednesday afternoon.
Strive to have it be just as good every time, because everybody's paying hard-earned money to see it.
Just a thought.
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