I just want to respond to people's comments about "Lestat" after only 4 previews. Remember this is a pre Broadway run - they will be adjustments and the cast has to settle into their roles. Many of you referred to "Wicked" (which I saw many times) as the ideal musical. The first time "Wicked" was here - it ran over 3-1/2 hours - certain parts did not work while others did (luckily, they changed stuff when they went to Broadway) but in the meanwhile, the cast & crew worked extremely long hours to get it right.
I think it is important to the theatre scene here in the Bay Area to give "Lestat" the benefit of the doubt as well as the 2 weeks left to improve or "be set" before the January 8 premiere. Unfortunately, we have had 2 other shows ("Lennon" & "Mambo King") this year that haven't done well. If this continues, it will be even more difficult for new shows to want to come here first for pre-Broadway productions - look at "Ring of Fire" which is now skipping here and going directly to Broadway. We want to present ourselves to be at least encouraging and open minded audience; otherwise, there will be dark theatres (no shows).
So people need to give the "Lestat " cast time to work out the kinks - it is really different for the cast to perform in front of an audience versus rehearsals. Add to the mix, this show's built in Anne Rice/vampire fan base who seem very devoted to certain concepts but I respectfully suggest that you folks need to keep an open mind. Remember that the musical plot had to incorporate three pretty complicated books for the fans while allowing some way for a person new to the story lines to understand what is going on.
By the way on certain nights, the audiences really seems to like the show (especially at the end of "Crimson Kiss" (Act I) and "I want more" and "Sail me Away" (Act II). And the set and computer videos are fanastic - they keep scenes such as the numerous vampire feeding from being boring and contrite. I think the creative team is also trying to keep the atmosphere light in certain areas (Gabrielle tackling her first victim and Lestat saying he is an angel). This is good because it allows the musical not to become too morbid. So there have been changes (the ending last nite) and I assume that many of those may be because of feedback coming from this board. Those of you who have negative opinions may need to come back for a 2nd time.
The videos do not add to this show and really make it bizzare and distract from its message.There grose and seem to be a cheap out instead of being more creative.Seeing a fetus being eatien and a male figure raping a woman isnt entertainment,It's just grose and wrong.TY.
Take that crap outta the show and add quality to it and it would be a MUCH better show.I don't need spoon fed images to "try" to explain whats going on.
And yes for god sakes change the bizzare ending LOL.I felt like i was watching a reunion of the looneybin.
Kat, it seems like you missed the whole point of this thread, about allowing space to this show for it to change and grow. In fact, it's interesting that you have such a strong reaction to the video images...
Right on, sftheatrelover - there seems to be a rush to judgement and a LOT of contradictory reviews, some positive and some negative. In fact, often one person loves one thing and the next hates the same one (such as the video images), so it seems to me that the more artistically daring elements do need time to develop so that they will be more accessible to an audience.
Give it time to allow this wonderful creative work to fully come together
Well after shelling out big bucks to see this I do get some say you know.And I am a long time theater goer and actor.I guess it is the director in me that gets overcome with,,,Change this....thats not working ect.I am planning on seeing it maybe in jan with hopes they have changed it.
Yes. This is a "Pre-Broadway" run.
However, I do not believe that because the audience doesn't give support to a show, that does not mean that future pre-broadway shows will not run here.
San Francisco has notoriously harsh critics. They will freely point out the flaws of a play, a musical, an opera, a ballet. That just forces the company and the director to improve on the shows further.
Lennon and Mambo King might have closed. But look at the material. You think a "vanity musical" is going to be successful in San Francisco? Think again. Very few "vanity musicals" are successful -- Mama Mia and Movin' Out are probably the only ones. i would predict "Ring of Fire" to close in < 1 season on Broadway.
Solid shows that premiere in San Francisco... will receive the criticism from SF's critics, make the necessary changes... and then be better primed to survive in New York. Shows like "Take Me Out," "Wicked" are recent examples. Then there are shows like "Evita" and "Spiderwoman" that got their start in San Francisco or ran through SF before their Broadway launch. Not to mention the many many other shows pre-1970.
Lestat will do well after the changes.
I'm seeing the show on January 7th. That will be the show right before the Premiere. And it will be as near as ready, before the Broadway changes take effect.
But for now, seeing the complete mess "Elaborate Lives" was in Atlanta, before Disney fired the staff (ie - the current creative team of "Lestat") and reworked it into "Aida,"... I am VERY VERY apprehensive about this show.
Some first starts in SF - all 3 Neil Simon biographical plays ("Brighton Beach" (w/ a young Matthew Broderick, "Biloxi Blues", & "Broadway Bound") "Mamma Mia" (had its US premiere here), Boz Luhmann's La Boheme, Proof (think it was Pre-Broadway), WIcked, Lennon and Mambo Kings.
Kiss of the Spiderwoman was on post Broadway tour in 1994 or 1995 (?) and "Take me out" was also post Broadway in 2004.
So given the prohibitive costs of a pre-Broadway run overall (construction and movement of new sets, backstage crew, cast, publicity, etc), we want San Francisco to stay as an feasible option. We have some stiff competition for road shows: Chicago is taking alot of premiere pre Broadway shows (a pre- broadway Spamlot for example) or even after a show becomes a Broadway success, Las Vegas (which will has Avenue Q now and will have Spamlot for at least 5 years before it tours on the West Coast). Please understand that I am not advocating that SF audiences "ok" any shows that potentially will sink by themselves on Broadway.
I just want SF audiences to realize that improvements are possible and to give a show a chance during the preview phase before publicly condemning it.
If I'm not mistaken, "Spiderwoman" got its start in San Francisco, before it evolved into a full blown musical. It then returned on teh 1st National Tour. "Take Me Out" did start in San Francisco. It won the Tony the following year, and then returned to SF 2 season's ago. (I subscribe to the SF BoB Season.)
I do recognize that SF audiences realize that improvements are necessary to a show on a pre-Broadway run. ANd further changes will happen as it preps on Broadway.
I would love for San Francisco to get more pre-Broadway runs as well. We just need to understand that our critics are not pushovers, and the SF audience really expects a high quality show.... pre-broadway or not.
But as a long time theatre junkie, and one who experienced the "Elaborate Lives" debacle in Atlanta, in which the entire creative team was fired by Disney, I still remain apprehensive about "Lestat" because it uses virtually that entire creative team. It seems that this creative team depends too much on the technology. And the failed transforming pyramid in "Elaborate Lives" is a testament to that. "Aida," which was drastically scaled down worked extrememly well.
God forbid that anyone involved in the theater world should ever run into difficulty in their career. Even so, the repeated claim from bryesq that "the entire creative team" was previously fired is just not correct, and it's a canard that seems to come up from time to time, so let's put it in context:
The book writer, composer and lyricist for "Elaborate Lives" were not fired from the show that became "Aida", and this same writer and composer are now part of the creative team for Lestat. Lestat's lyricist and set/costume designers were not involved at all in "Lives". The only overlap is in the director and theatrical staging.
So, if you would now like to change tacks and pin it on just those two, then please also take into account that this same director and choreographer are also behind "Beauty and the Beast", now the sixth-longest-running show on Broadway. Personally, I don't think that "Aida" in its final incarnation was a fantastic show, and is much less successful than "Beauty" in its hit value, in that it ran for 4 years before it closed vs. "Beauty"'s near-12-years and still going strong.
In terms of technology, there haven't been any technology problems reported at all about Lestat that I have seen. The transforming pyramid in Atlanta was reliant on a special effects division of Disney, not the theatre division, that didn't deliver, and the technology in "Beauty" is much more complex than Lestat.
I happen to like Lestat, and saw it at its opening. I think it is a solid show, and completely different from "Beauty" or "Lives/ Aida" in depth and aspirations, and is a show that I think will become even better over time.
Each person can make up his or her own mind about Lestat, and it may not be to everyone's taste, but to rubbish its potential based on faulty historic information is just spuriously negative and misleading.
Please do keep an open mind right up until the Broadway opening, the true testing point.
