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Post by partytentdown on Nov 1, 2023 14:15:28 GMT
Thinking about this overnight, I think what has made me cross about this is that there just didn't seem to be any love or care involved - I don't mean that the cast and band etc weren't giving it their all, but what was the point of this? It looked cheaply thrown together, it was badly staged in terms of the sound and lighting, it was clearly under rehearsed, and yet they were trying to charge £100+ for some tickets. There were no programmes or cast lists. The whole thing had an air of laziness. Artistically, there didn't seem to be any purpose in terms of developing the piece from the writers' perspective - it wasn't some kind of workshop for a future production, in fact they reverted most of the changes made in the last major staging. It didn't seem to be some kind of passion piece for anyone involved. It's not a particularly rare piece that people have been desperate to see reimagined for years. It just happened to be Halloween and the Palladium was available. Why? Why would a producer care about doing this show, now, in this format? I guess it can only come down to one thing - they did the sums and realised they could make a quick £. Passion project. sorry? |
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Nov 1, 2023 14:40:54 GMT
Thinking about this overnight, I think what has made me cross about this is that there just didn't seem to be any love or care involved - I don't mean that the cast and band etc weren't giving it their all, but what was the point of this? It looked cheaply thrown together, it was badly staged in terms of the sound and lighting, it was clearly under rehearsed, and yet they were trying to charge £100+ for some tickets. There were no programmes or cast lists. The whole thing had an air of laziness. Artistically, there didn't seem to be any purpose in terms of developing the piece from the writers' perspective - it wasn't some kind of workshop for a future production, in fact they reverted most of the changes made in the last major staging. It didn't seem to be some kind of passion piece for anyone involved. It's not a particularly rare piece that people have been desperate to see reimagined for years. It just happened to be Halloween and the Palladium was available. Why? Why would a producer care about doing this show, now, in this format? I guess it can only come down to one thing - they did the sums and realised they could make a quick £. I think that the proliferation of these concert performances is very much based on the point in your last sentence. They are relatively cheap to stage and so low risk financially. I have very little understanding of the workings of show business but this is how it seems to me as a simple punter Apply for rights, book, partly cast, and announce a concert performance, start with high ticket prices and sell what you can. If the show is selling well add a second performance. When sales slow and the performance date(s) approaches, reduce the prices on the website and also do a 24 hour promotion with an agency at even lower prices (that's when I booked, paid £35 for Bat Boy, seat was originally £95) . Next make it part of a seat filling "service" but at a price of £10- £15, which is more than just an admin fee so the promoter/venue probably gets some of the revenue from that. There may also be more secret seat filling services to use. I was chatting to a man recently whose employer/occupation I won't name but he told me of their access to VERY cheap seats for some shows. All that plus skilful use of social media and you're on track for a far quicker and safer return on investment than from a full run. Compare Evita and Love Never Dies concerts with Aspects Of Love or Bat Boy with Ain't Too Proud. Almost certainly profitable concerts but loss-making full productions. My apologies if I've got the procedure completely wrong, it's just a layman's view. I will continue to attend and enjoy the majority of concert musicals and am grateful to get the chance to see shows like Bat Boy for the first and possibly only time. |
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Post by zahidf on Nov 1, 2023 14:44:28 GMT
I remember enjoying it in its original london run and then at Southwark. I dont really see it succeeding in anything bigger than a fringe theatre
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Post by Matt on Nov 1, 2023 15:23:03 GMT
sorry I was meant to delete the majority of your post. You asked why the director put this on, I think it was just a passion project of a show he really wanted to put on regardless of the outcome. |
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Post by dlevi on Nov 1, 2023 16:33:05 GMT
I was happy to see how this scrappy less-than-successful off-bway and very unsuccessful west end musical play to capacity crowd at the Palladium. Unfortunately, the truly awful sound, the under-rehearsed cast and edits to the book were all misjudgments which made the evening more "meh" than it should've beenFrom what I gather the sound is always a problem at these one night things so I'm going to take a pass on the forthcoming events.
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Post by BVM on Nov 1, 2023 16:48:13 GMT
The sound isn't always bad at the concerts.
Was crystal clear at Chess, Evita and Love Never Dies. Maybe it helps when the concerts are in venues where a musical is already playing. I guess those three made full use of the Frozen sound system!
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Post by darreno on Nov 1, 2023 17:44:50 GMT
I enjoyed my night at the Palladium. Felt like an exciting event and the hype around the place is nice to be a part of.
Sound was poor, didn't do the performers or material justice.
Was cool to see Jodie Steele as she's a big part of the development of several characters that I love.
VHB is just ridiculous. Absolutely brilliant. She just gets EVERYTHING that's great about musical theatre. Having seen her in Hex and Cinderella, I was looking forward to her performance and she exceeded my expectations.
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