2024 Spring Preview Of Broadway Shows
January 28, 2024 7:02 PM Subscribe
Wondering what upcoming Broadway shows to see? Up next, our panel of opinionated theater experts tell us THEIR must-sees. CUNY TV THEATER: All the Moving Parts 2024 Spring Preview of Broadway Shows [~1h]
Living in eastern WA, nearly in Idaho, most of my life is "now I just have to get to NYC" about one matter or another.
posted by hippybear at 7:57 PM on January 28 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:57 PM on January 28 [2 favorites]
That's funny Hippybear... I've always wanted to see the hip Northwest myself.
posted by Czjewel at 8:51 PM on January 28
posted by Czjewel at 8:51 PM on January 28
It's so frustrating being a huge fan of musicals and knowing that 90% of them will come and go without anyone outside of New York having had a chance to see them. The shows need an audience. The audience wants the shows. Like 10% of the potential audience can even feasibly get to New York while they're on. This is a distribution problem, and as soon as it gets fixed I think the musical will have an enormous popular revival. But until then, I just can't get excited about shows coming up that I'll maybe get a chance to see in a roadshow revival in a decade or so if I'm incredibly lucky.
posted by MrVisible at 9:54 PM on January 28 [5 favorites]
posted by MrVisible at 9:54 PM on January 28 [5 favorites]
My daughter loves musical theater. Many touring shows come through Providence, RI, where she volunteers as a youth usher just so that she can see anything and everything. She knows not to be picky since only a portion of what's out there will ever come to town.
(Yes, Boston and New York are not far away but they require a grown up to drive and buy the tickets and maybe stay over.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:14 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]
(Yes, Boston and New York are not far away but they require a grown up to drive and buy the tickets and maybe stay over.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:14 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]
I think the musical will have an enormous popular revival.
Hasn't there already been an enormous popular revival of the musical with the success of Hamilton?
posted by pxe2000 at 6:30 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]
It's so frustrating being a huge fan of musicals and knowing that 90% of them will come and go without anyone outside of New York having had a chance to see them. The shows need an audience. The audience wants the shows.
One of the other issues is the absolute glut of musicals based on movie IPs; Our local Broadway series has gotten a TON of these over the last few years, some of which are actually pretty good (School of Rock, Moulin Rouge) and others that are...much less so. (Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman) These shows always bring in a huge audience, based purely on name recognition.
I get the impression that these kinds of shows (along with the ubiquitous Boomer/Gen X jukebox musicals) help subsidize the more artistically interesting original stuff like Hadestown or Girl From The North Country, both of which were noticeably under-attended when I saw them last year. But as a season ticket holder I've grown to kind of hate sitting through 3-4 uninspired musical adaptations of mainstream '80s/'90s comedies just to get to the actual good shit.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:21 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]
One of the other issues is the absolute glut of musicals based on movie IPs; Our local Broadway series has gotten a TON of these over the last few years, some of which are actually pretty good (School of Rock, Moulin Rouge) and others that are...much less so. (Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman) These shows always bring in a huge audience, based purely on name recognition.
I get the impression that these kinds of shows (along with the ubiquitous Boomer/Gen X jukebox musicals) help subsidize the more artistically interesting original stuff like Hadestown or Girl From The North Country, both of which were noticeably under-attended when I saw them last year. But as a season ticket holder I've grown to kind of hate sitting through 3-4 uninspired musical adaptations of mainstream '80s/'90s comedies just to get to the actual good shit.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:21 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]
It doesn't help that the shows have become so pricey. I would love to see Cabaret again, but prices in mid-three digits are not doable for most people.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:58 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:58 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]
We went to see "Ain't Too Proud" the other night. OK story, excellent vocalists.
In a serious scene, the actor playing the group's manager comes onstage with a telephone to deliver shocking news: "I just got a call: Doctor King has been shot."
Stunned, every actor falls silent. An audience member sitting in front of us gasps, as if hearing the news for the first time.
I had to smother a laugh: it was like she hadn't heard the news at any point in the previous fifty years, and was genuinely taken aback.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:45 PM on January 29
In a serious scene, the actor playing the group's manager comes onstage with a telephone to deliver shocking news: "I just got a call: Doctor King has been shot."
Stunned, every actor falls silent. An audience member sitting in front of us gasps, as if hearing the news for the first time.
I had to smother a laugh: it was like she hadn't heard the news at any point in the previous fifty years, and was genuinely taken aback.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:45 PM on January 29
I will say, the musical for Beetlejuice is entirely not what you are painting it to be. I mean, maybe you've seen it and have disliked what you saw there, but the story it tells, the focus that it has, and the way it ended up being executed as a musical are pretty much very different from the source material.
I will admit, a lot of musical sources are pretty derivative but that's always been the case. And yes, maybe more interesting shows aren't toured because they lose out to these shows with recognizable names that will fill the seats. Sadly, tours for shows that don't fill theaters don't happen.
I'm not seeing anything in this season that feels as earthshaking to me as A Strange Loop was a couple of seasons ago, but that's a rare event. And that closed did a few dates here and there but while it would be one of the easiest shows to tour with minimal cast, set, and band, it won't tour because of what it's about.
Musicals have been making steady inroads into popular culture after being in total exile for a long while. But we've had several musical films just in the past year, and the number of television shows that do a musical episode here or there have become legion.
Anyway, there is discussion here of non-musicals, too, including some really interesting things coming up as originals and revivals. The entire season sounds quite thrilling!
posted by hippybear at 8:05 PM on January 29
I will admit, a lot of musical sources are pretty derivative but that's always been the case. And yes, maybe more interesting shows aren't toured because they lose out to these shows with recognizable names that will fill the seats. Sadly, tours for shows that don't fill theaters don't happen.
I'm not seeing anything in this season that feels as earthshaking to me as A Strange Loop was a couple of seasons ago, but that's a rare event. And that closed did a few dates here and there but while it would be one of the easiest shows to tour with minimal cast, set, and band, it won't tour because of what it's about.
Musicals have been making steady inroads into popular culture after being in total exile for a long while. But we've had several musical films just in the past year, and the number of television shows that do a musical episode here or there have become legion.
Anyway, there is discussion here of non-musicals, too, including some really interesting things coming up as originals and revivals. The entire season sounds quite thrilling!
posted by hippybear at 8:05 PM on January 29
I will say, the musical for Beetlejuice is entirely not what you are painting it to be. I mean, maybe you've seen it and have disliked what you saw there, but the story it tells, the focus that it has, and the way it ended up being executed as a musical are pretty much very different from the source material.
I just saw Beetlejuice this past weekend so it was pretty fresh in my mind as a "disappointing movie-based musical." I agree, it's not a carbon copy of the movie and I'll give it credit for diverging from it in fairly radical structural ways.
But ultimately I just found it to be neither fish nor fowl in terms of translating the things that were good about the movie -- like the fact that the title character was only in 17 minutes of the film instead of a constant invasive, shrill presence -- to the stage. I'll admit, I do find it strange that I wanted less Beetlejuice in my Beetlejuice-ical, but the Broadway characterization (no fault to the touring actor, who was doing a version of Alex Brightman's take on the character) was a LOT to take for 3 hours.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:46 AM on January 30
I just saw Beetlejuice this past weekend so it was pretty fresh in my mind as a "disappointing movie-based musical." I agree, it's not a carbon copy of the movie and I'll give it credit for diverging from it in fairly radical structural ways.
But ultimately I just found it to be neither fish nor fowl in terms of translating the things that were good about the movie -- like the fact that the title character was only in 17 minutes of the film instead of a constant invasive, shrill presence -- to the stage. I'll admit, I do find it strange that I wanted less Beetlejuice in my Beetlejuice-ical, but the Broadway characterization (no fault to the touring actor, who was doing a version of Alex Brightman's take on the character) was a LOT to take for 3 hours.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:46 AM on January 30
« Older 100 Ballads | Won't Panic Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Czjewel at 7:55 PM on January 28