Prouvaire

Prouvaire, 8 months ago

This article also made me wonder which shows had the biggest overhauls after opening on Broadway or the West End? Not just minor tweaks, but major changes. Off-hand, I can think of a few candidates:

• Love Never Dies in London closed for a few days in 2010 to be reworked after poor reviews. The later 2011 Australian production (based substantially on the revised London text, although with an entirely different physical production) was somewhat better received and got a pro-shot.
• Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark was infamously troubled, and the show re-engineered with a new director and book writer brought in three months after the show started previewing on Broadway.
• Martin Guerre's book and score was continually reworked during the initial West End production (with a new lyricist being added to the creative team mid-run), and even more substantially overhauled for the subsequent UK tour. Comparing the original London cast recording and the UK tour cast recording reveals that there are very few lyrics that remained the same and entire songs were jettisoned and inserted.

Prouvaire, 8 months ago

Roller-skating stage musicals are practically a subgenre. There's the OG (?) of course: The Rink. I've never seen a production but I assume it features roller skating as it's about a roller skating rink. Then there's Starlight Express, Xanadu, The Little Mermaid and (technically not roller skating but I'm gonna include it anyway as roller skating was their fallback solution if they couldn't get the ice rink to work) Kimbery Akimbo.

A quick google also reveals a show called Skates the Musical, and this article lists a number of film musicals that featured roller skating.

Prouvaire, 8 months ago

Sound design is such a critical element in musical theatre I'm always shocked and disappointed when a show has sub-par sound. This has even happened at major productions, eg on Broadway.

I'm actually quite fond of Starlight Express and hope to catch this production next year. Sure it's basically just Cats on wheels, but it's one of the first musicals I ever saw.

Prouvaire, 8 months ago

Just because Covid has receded as a threat in most people's minds (including my own), doesn't mean it's still not out there. New variants like EG.5 and BA.2.86, against which the current crop of boosters are less effective, are circulating. That said, it's probably a mix of column A and column B.

Prouvaire, 8 months ago

Yeah, the Gershwin is pretty big (especially by Broadway standards). It's also one of the few Broadway theatres that has a decent sized foyer!

Both Chicago and The Lion King have been running longer than Wicked, but maybe it just came down to which show's publicity department had the idea and reached out to National Day Calendar people?