<p>Hi Audi (and others of course)...my daughter saw Spring Awakening when it was at the Atlantic. Yes, the boy you are talking about from Stagedoor Manor was in it then, as well as an earlier workshop of it at Lincoln Center. My daughter has been in many shows with him for many years (he is very talented) and they are very close friends and were together all the time last year as he was in CAP21 last year in her class and circle of buddies. We are happy for him for this opportunity. As well, Lea Michele also went to Stagedoor Manor during my D's years and they were in the cabaret together. I recall watching her in Side by Side by Sondheim too. She has been with the show for six years since its original workshop. She was lined up to go to CAP21 last fall but her involvement in professional theater took over. Another SDM alumna is the musical director, Kim Grigsby. And since your son goes to Brown with my other D, you may not know that the creator of the music for Spring Awakening, Duncan Sheik, went to Brown.</p>
<p>My D really liked Spring Awakening. I agree with AlwaysAMom (though I haven't seen it but have seen clips and know a bunch about it), that it might be a hard sell on Broadway with a wider audience, but we'll see.</p>
<p>Always-I know what you mean. Why do they decide to gamble with a success? Was wondering why that is sometimes done-I realize they stand to make more money but sometimes it doesn't always make the transition well. And can they go back to an off Broadway venue if it doesn't do well on Broadway?
I haven't been told very good things about High Fidelity at all. I believe that one is destined for closure.</p>
<p>We were in Manhattan for Thanksgiving too- we saw Spamalot and Drowsy Chaperone. I loved Chaperone...I think I am old fashioned, but I love the old style musical. My D saw High Fidelity and agreed that the cast was very good, but the show did not knock her socks off either. I am happy to report we stood in the rain and watched the Macy's parade. It was cold but a memory we will hold onto for a long time.</p>
<p>Audi, I don't know why they decide to gamble. I'm not a big risk taking individual so I'll never understand it! :) I think people get caught up in having success in an off-Broadway venue, maybe have an investor or two who is eager to get involved, and then it just snowballs. Very very few shows EVER make money off-Broadway. It just doesn't happen which is why most are limited run productions. When a show has some buzz behind it, sometimes the powers that be think it's worth the risk. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it does not. Sometimes it works beyond anyone's wildest dreams, as it did with Rent.</p>
<p>I'm sad that High Fidelity is struggling to find an audience. I think the source material was excellent but it just doesn't seem like the adaptation was written in a way that, not only made sense, but was conducive to it being a musical. This is a very tricky thing to do, especially with original source material which is familiar to the public. The cast is chock full of talented and experienced Broadway stars, one of whom, someone we know, left a lead role in a long-running show to take this job. Unfortunately for him.</p>
<p>Actually, locomom, most of the reviews were not good. My D was talking to a friend of the family who's in the show and they're very disappointed with the reviews, unfortunately. Things do not look good. The only one which they considered to be positive was the AP, and even at that, it wasn't effusive. The important ones were largely mixed to negative, and the most important, the NY Times, was typical Brantley, very harsh and a definite negative review. The other NY papers, the Sun and the Post, were both mixed to negative, as was the Star Ledger, and the NY Daily News and Variety were mostly negative. A few of the Broadway websites were mixed but, all in all, not a good feeling at the Imperial this weekend. :(</p>
<p>Yes. I bought tickets for this and was really dismayed at the Times review - VERY harsh. Brantley said it was one of the 5 top forgetable shows ever and he couldn't remember the others...He did acknowledge the talent - that was not the issue and he really liked the set...but he didn't think the play captured the essence of the book...</p>
<p>does anyone know anything about The Pirate Queen (?)-looks like a Riverdance kind of thing or a new musical called Curtains or Curtains Up (again, I apologize for not getting the exact titles) with David Hyde Pierce??</p>
<p>I saw Spring Awakening last Wednesday with my sister-in-law. She loved the score and staging, while I did not. The voices, however, ARE outstanding.</p>
<p>But anyone going to see this show should be aware that there is some nudity (tastefully done) and lots of deep themes (homosexuality, incest, teen suicide, abortion etc.). It is definitely a show that many people will not like and that others are too young for. (My mother-in-law would have been appalled.)</p>
<p>It officially opens this week; I am curious about what the reviews will be. </p>
<p>There is a commercial running here in NY on the radio that says "for anyone who has ever been 16" and claims it is about "second chances." Maybe the person who wrote that copy didn't see the show, because it was not about second chances as far as I could tell.</p>
<p>nytheatermom, you're right that people should be aware of the essence of the show prior to seeing it. It always amazes me that people don't think about this before shelling out $$ for theatre tickets but it happens all the time! When my D saw the show last week, she overheard a conversation of two 'older ladies', one of whom was tut-tutting over the content, and stating that 'plays like that weren't written in my day'. My D had to smile because this play actually was written in the 19th century. :) </p>
<p>Back to the content, though, SA and High Fidelity join Chicago as the musicals currently running which have a 'mature' advisory. Tonight's opening night so we'll know what the critics think very soon.</p>
<p>We were supposed to see it today, but didn't end up seeing it. I'm not sure if the show was cancelled for Sunday or if our plans were cancelled for another reason.</p>
<p>Opening night reviews are in for SA and are almost uniformly positive, including a love letter from the Times. So it's good news! Here's hoping that it translates to increased ticket sales. Big publicity promotion will begin this week.</p>
<p>"but I do want it to at least make a profit"</p>
<p>Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Chris. It took Drowsy Chaperone seven months to recoup its investment which is incredibly fast. If SA recoups, it will be great and probably close to miraculous, looking at it now. Drowsy won five Tonys and its timing helped it tremendously. We all hope for the best for SA but I don't think that anyone has any illusions about it winning five Tonys. :)</p>
<p>Yes I read about Drowsy on playbill.com last week, but the problem is I also read about Spring Awakening's attendance, which was at 44.7% for the past week, which was the second lowest attendance percentage for the week. </p>
<p>Where as Drowsy was at 88.5% attendance, which is tied for the fifth largest attendance of Broadway shows last week. </p>
<p>So, as of right now, the percentage of attendance is not looking very good, but hopefully that will change with these positive reviews.</p>
<p>Chris, I know that the attendance has been very poor. I think I'm the one who mentioned it here earlier. :) I'm hoping that ticket sales pick up, too, but this is a tough time of year, unfortunately. I was only replying to your comment about it making a profit. I was assuming you meant the show overall making a profit, not just one week! Thus, my comment about Drowsy.</p>