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Post by viserys on Jan 3, 2018 12:06:54 GMT
Personally I think Hamilton is a wonderful piece of work, but it's not a religious experience for me like it is some people...but I don't feel disappointed by it either if that makes sense? I think a lot of it comes down to how much one gets "involved" in the hype. I enjoyed Hamilton a lot on Broadway and knew I would be wanting to see it again once i came to London. But I consciously avoided most of the hype in-between, like the endless stream of Ham4Ham-Videos from Broadway, interviews, clips, the "mixtape" versions and the chatter about potential casting in London. I kinda pretended that the show didn't exist until it did finally open in London when I read the reviews and all the comments here on the forum and got really excited about my return visit instead of feeling "over" the show already. It was much easier to avoid hype back in the days of "Rent" when the internet was still very young and most people only had dial-up to pay by the minute (if that). So I knew that Rent was a huge success on Broadway and I loved the cast recording, but it was still super fresh when it arrived in London (and personally I was very very glad that at least some of the Broadway cast had come over and I got to see them live). At least Hamilton and Rent both are deserving of hype in my opinion, both for their innovation and topicality. I find it far more frustrating here in Germany where nonsense like Tanz der Vampire and the drippy Rebecca got hyped beyond belief for years. Seeing Bat out of Hell rekindled my love for Steinman though, so I've made a conscious decision to completely shut myself off from the tedious blather about the show here for months and will try and see it fresh in spring.
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4,048 posts
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Post by kathryn on Jan 3, 2018 12:33:49 GMT
I was only 16 when Rent came to the West End and seriously never even heard of it. I didn’t really know much about it until the early 2000s when it started to become parodied. I’ve never seen a professional production, only the below par film and an amateur production. It has a handful of good stand alone songs but as a musical I’m really underwhelmed by it as I generally disliked the characters. Maybe I need to see it properly on stage to appreciate it. I re-watched the film - which was my first proper encounter with the show - last night. Now that I know and love the musical the film really does look awful. The director didn’t get it at all!
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4,048 posts
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Post by kathryn on Jan 3, 2018 12:37:42 GMT
Hype is a funny thing. I saw quite a few films at the London Film Festival last year that are currently being hyped up on the awards circuit, and it’s a weird feeling. Most of them have sort of faded out of my brain by now and it’s strange to see them being talked about as exciting and new. I don’t know how actors do it - they must be so over their own films by the time they’re doing their hundredth interview about them, and they have to keep it up for months!
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Jan 3, 2018 12:52:03 GMT
Obviously it is hard for something to have quite a lot of hype, but it still to seem to exceed that (not just live up to it). For me such productions include 42nd Street, Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Opera North’s Ring Cycle and The Flick (to give examples of musical, dance, opera and play).
Lots of hype can lead to disappointment when I finally get to see something. Examples are Mosquitoes, Dreamgirls, Lazarus and Hamilton. The latter two I felt were fine, but way over-hyped. The former two I felt were actually not very good, so way below the hype given them.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 12:55:31 GMT
Personally I think Hamilton is a wonderful piece of work, but it's not a religious experience for me like it is some people...but I don't feel disappointed by it either if that makes sense? I think a lot of it comes down to how much one gets "involved" in the hype. I enjoyed Hamilton a lot on Broadway and knew I would be wanting to see it again once i came to London. But I consciously avoided most of the hype in-between, like the endless stream of Ham4Ham-Videos from Broadway, interviews, clips, the "mixtape" versions and the chatter about potential casting in London. I kinda pretended that the show didn't exist until it did finally open in London when I read the reviews and all the comments here on the forum and got really excited about my return visit instead of feeling "over" the show already. It was much easier to avoid hype back in the days of "Rent" when the internet was still very young and most people only had dial-up to pay by the minute (if that). So I knew that Rent was a huge success on Broadway and I loved the cast recording, but it was still super fresh when it arrived in London (and personally I was very very glad that at least some of the Broadway cast had come over and I got to see them live). At least Hamilton and Rent both are deserving of hype in my opinion, both for their innovation and topicality. I find it far more frustrating here in Germany where nonsense like Tanz der Vampire and the drippy Rebecca got hyped beyond belief for years. Seeing Bat out of Hell rekindled my love for Steinman though, so I've made a conscious decision to completely shut myself off from the tedious blather about the show here for months and will try and see it fresh in spring. It's true- I saw Hamilton in the November before the Tonys and before the BIG hype had taken hold so I was excited to see it/see what the fuss was about but hadn't been beaten over the head with it. I really enjoyed it and it was by far the best thing that trip, but in the coming months I became very very 'over it' through the constant hype. I'm now excited to see it in London, but equally was happy to wait until March to do so. Weirdly with Rent I missed the initial hype- was a bit too young and not into Musicals etc then, so by the time I 'discovered' it there wasn't such a fuss. And as you say it was 'another time' when it was easier to avoid!
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Post by profquatermass on Jan 3, 2018 12:57:56 GMT
Dirty Dancing had absolutely huge advance sales despite complete indifference from the critics. There was a lot of excitement about Book of Mormon. And people went crazy over The Producers once Nathan Lane was announced None had anywhere near the reach of Rent or Hamilton, students of the time that I had were indifferent to those but Rent (and now Hamilton) became a cultural phenomenon. As I say, it fizzled out within a year or so for Rent but you couldn’t escape it in media outside the usual theatre bubble and from people who would never usually know about a new musical. In comparison I think that Hamilton will have greater staying power. I was a theatre-going, internet-using adult (though older than student age) when Rent came out and I have absolutely no recollection of it having any more hype or interest around it than any other musical transfer. Certainly no more than Wicked or Book of Mormon. I certainly don't remember anyone I knew seeing it while I know lots of people who have seen all the ones I've listed. Did anyone over the age of 25 care about Rent? The difference about Hamilton and Book of Mormon is they appeal to grown ups too (BTW, I'm not talking about the quality of these shows, most of which I haven't seen)
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jan 3, 2018 13:22:35 GMT
None had anywhere near the reach of Rent or Hamilton, students of the time that I had were indifferent to those but Rent (and now Hamilton) became a cultural phenomenon. As I say, it fizzled out within a year or so for Rent but you couldn’t escape it in media outside the usual theatre bubble and from people who would never usually know about a new musical. In comparison I think that Hamilton will have greater staying power. I was a theatre-going, internet-using adult (though older than student age) when Rent came out and I have absolutely no recollection of it having any more hype or interest around it than any other musical transfer. Certainly no more than Wicked or Book of Mormon. I certainly don't remember anyone I knew seeing it while I know lots of people who have seen all the ones I've listed. Did anyone over the age of 25 care about Rent? The difference about Hamilton and Book of Mormon is they appeal to grown ups too (BTW, I'm not talking about the quality of these shows, most of which I haven't seen) I think Rent's reach was older than twenty five (I was in my thirties then) but definitely around London it was inescapable. Its eighteen month run suggests that the audience was initially energised but dwindled and didn't bring in the casual theatregoer to add to that. Book of Mormon is just another American transfer and hasn't had much cultural resonance even as it runs longer. Hamilton is of another order entirely, people who don't know theatre know about it (I have no idea how but that extends to my mother too!)
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4,631 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jan 3, 2018 13:44:53 GMT
The most underrated show of the year was La Strada at The Other Palace, which I thought was beautiful, the diminutive Audrey Brisson, who proved to be a real force of nature and in another high profile show she will become a star.
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494 posts
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Post by ellie1981 on Jan 3, 2018 14:21:46 GMT
Hype is a funny thing. I saw quite a few films at the London Film Festival last year that are currently being hyped up on the awards circuit, and it’s a weird feeling. Most of them have sort of faded out of my brain by now and it’s strange to see them being talked about as exciting and new. I don’t know how actors do it - they must be so over their own films by the time they’re doing their hundredth interview about them, and they have to keep it up for months! How true. I did the same for the LFF, although it’s equally disappointing when you see something great and then expect it to be huge, only for it to fizzle out without any fanfare at all.
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Post by profquatermass on Jan 3, 2018 14:34:56 GMT
Goodness. I was around London when Rent was on and vaguely remember it as another musical but it really made no impression on me at all except for knowing what it was about and a couple of lines from One Song Glory. Was it just me walking around in a daze or were others similarly oblivious?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 18:42:31 GMT
There was one thing that really lived up to all the hype for me last year. Her name is Bette Midler. Bette?! Where did you see her? I am a big BM fan. How did I miss this?!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 18:56:19 GMT
There was one thing that really lived up to all the hype for me last year. Her name is Bette Midler. Bette?! Where did you see her? I am a big BM fan. How did I miss this?! Hello, Dolly!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 19:02:46 GMT
For me An Octoroon didn’t live up to the hype and neither did Grimly Handsome. I wondered if the fact that both shows were big hits before they got to London skewed opinions about them. Both shows also made me wonder if Theatre audiences are so deprived of “spectacle” that when they get it it blows their minds. And I wondered (in the case of Grimly Handsome) if when people don’t understand something they think must be clever they say how wonderful it is because they don’t want to look stupid. In the case of An Octoroon the lead actor was amazing and did indeed exceed the hype. I quite enjoyed both shows but overall they did not live up to the hype for me.
The shows that for me were were lovely discoveries were Jam at the Finborough and Assata Taught Me at The Gate. I love to see the work of first time writers. Even though it is often flawed it can have an emotional intensity and rawness before the writer develops more “sophisticated” techniques. I think they both got OK reviews which were fair, I suppose.
For me Ferryman was a bit like being a middle aged woman who is completely bowled over by a man a third her age who professes to be in love with her. I saw it twice. The first time I thought it lived up to the hype. The second time I was immune to its attempts to charm me with its theatrical tricks and realised I had been somewhat hoodwinked the first time.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 19:09:39 GMT
For me Ferryman was a bit like being a middle aged woman who is completely bowled over by a man a third her age who professes to be in love with her. I saw it twice. The first time I thought it lived up to the hype. The second time I was immune to its attempts to charm me with its theatrical tricks and realised I had been somewhat hoodwinked the first time. ahaha this is my favourite review of The Ferryman! I love that analogy but it also echoes something of what I felt, you know when everyone thinks a guy or gal is the hottest most charming and you meet them and are like 'meh they're alright but nowt special' that's what I felt about it!
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Post by alece10 on Jan 3, 2018 19:10:25 GMT
The show that didn't live up to the hype for me was Dreamgirls. Apart from 3 or 4 decent songs the rest of the music was unmemorable and just a lot of flashing lights with ear bursting noise coming from the speakers. Amber Riley.... mehhhhh. ....
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jan 3, 2018 19:38:28 GMT
For me An Octoroon didn’t live up to the hype and neither did Grimly Handsome. I wondered if the fact that both shows were big hits before they got to London skewed opinions about them. Both shows also made me wonder if Theatre audiences are so deprived of “spectacle” that when they get it it blows their minds. And I wondered (in the case of Grimly Handsome) if when people don’t understand something they think must be clever they say how wonderful it is because they don’t want to look stupid. In the case of An Octoroon the lead actor was amazing and did indeed exceed the hype. I quite enjoyed both shows but overall they did not live up to the hype for me. The shows that for me were were lovely discoveries were Jam at the Finborough and Assata Taught Me at The Gate. I love to see the work of first time writers. Even though it is often flawed it can have an emotional intensity and rawness before the writer develops more “sophisticated” techniques. I think they both got OK reviews which were fair, I suppose. For me Ferryman was a bit like being a middle aged woman who is completely bowled over by a man a third her age who professes to be in love with her. I saw it twice. The first time I thought it lived up to the hype. The second time I da of was immune to its attempts to charm me with its theatrical tricks and realised I had been somewhat hoodwinked the first time. What was difficult about Grimly Handsome? Three scenes, one with men preying on a young woman, one about detectives and their immediate circle on what appeared to be the same case and a coda of animals, making the analogy clear as to the nature of the previous. If anything I was disappointed it was so clear, I’d been led to believe it was going to be ‘Lynchian’, someone whose surrealist and dream imagery is far more of a challenge. It was fine for what it was, I suppose.
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Post by peggs on Jan 3, 2018 19:39:28 GMT
I tend to feel happier going to something that has mixed reviews especially on here as i'm expecting less, quite often when everyone has raved over something it just can't live up to it all. I was worried harry potter wouldn't live up to it's hype and it did but I had deliberately avoided hearing anything much about it. I wasn't wowed by The Glass Menagerie having gone after mass praise on her but I think I probably picked the wrong seat, the floor of the production certainly was not as amazing as i'd imagined. It's a while back but was disappointed by the Barbican last Hamlet.
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Post by profquatermass on Jan 3, 2018 19:55:21 GMT
I tend to feel happier going to something that has mixed reviews especially on here as i'm expecting less, quite often when everyone has raved over something it just can't live up to it all. I was worried harry potter wouldn't live up to it's hype and it did but I had deliberately avoided hearing anything much about it. I wasn't wowed by The Glass Menagerie having gone after mass praise on her but I think I probably picked the wrong seat, the floor of the production certainly was not as amazing as i'd imagined. It's a while back but was disappointed by the Barbican last Hamlet. If that was Cumberbatch, I think plenty of people were disappointed by it. Also Glenda's Lear.
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Post by kathryn on Jan 3, 2018 20:17:12 GMT
I tend to feel happier going to something that has mixed reviews especially on here as i'm expecting less, quite often when everyone has raved over something it just can't live up to it all. I was worried harry potter wouldn't live up to it's hype and it did but I had deliberately avoided hearing anything much about it. I wasn't wowed by The Glass Menagerie having gone after mass praise on her but I think I probably picked the wrong seat, the floor of the production certainly was not as amazing as i'd imagined. It's a while back but was disappointed by the Barbican last Hamlet. If that was Cumberbatch, I think plenty of people were disappointed by it. Also Glenda's Lear. Glenda’s Lear had me genuinely wondering if the critics had seen the same production! At least with Cumberbatch there was general consensus that it wasn’t all that good.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 3, 2018 20:46:19 GMT
I wouldn't exactly say 42nd Street didn't live up to the hype, because I saw it early in previews before there was much hype, but I came out of it thinking "Great production of a so-so show" & then found almost everyone but me raving about it on the board. It makes me feel guilty for not loving it like may people do but, having revisited twice, I still feel it lacks the depth of characters for me to really love it.
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Post by ellie1981 on Jan 3, 2018 21:10:51 GMT
The show that didn't live up to the hype for me was Dreamgirls. Apart from 3 or 4 decent songs the rest of the music was unmemorable and just a lot of flashing lights with ear bursting noise coming from the speakers. Amber Riley.... mehhhhh. .... I was actually prepared for that with Dreamgirls because I loathed the movie. The stage show exceeded my expectations because despite the fact that a few of the really weak songs remained, there were other aspects that were done so much better (e.g. everything involving the Jimmy character).
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Post by peggs on Jan 3, 2018 21:18:12 GMT
I tend to feel happier going to something that has mixed reviews especially on here as i'm expecting less, quite often when everyone has raved over something it just can't live up to it all. I was worried harry potter wouldn't live up to it's hype and it did but I had deliberately avoided hearing anything much about it. I wasn't wowed by The Glass Menagerie having gone after mass praise on her but I think I probably picked the wrong seat, the floor of the production certainly was not as amazing as i'd imagined. It's a while back but was disappointed by the Barbican last Hamlet. If that was Cumberbatch, I think plenty of people were disappointed by it. Also Glenda's Lear. That's the one. Yes I suppose I meant more the build up hype rather than reviews though I did work with someone at the time who would not stop going on about how marvellous it was or rather BC was as she said everyone else was bad (I rather thought this due to her determination to think him brilliant having seen him on tv).
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jan 3, 2018 21:27:45 GMT
I wouldn't exactly say 42nd Street didn't live up to the hype, because I saw it early in previews before there was much hype, but I came out of it thinking "Great production of a so-so show" & then found almost everyone but me raving about it on the board. It makes me feel guilty for not loving it like may people do but, having revisited twice, I still feel it lacks the depth of characters for me to really love it. I went back again too, having seen it earlier in the run, thinking it may have improved but it hadn’t changed. Plus part of the set fell off. I was at least glad that one of the most irritating performers fell over when he bounded onstage at the start of a number and had to be replaced. Small mercies and all that...
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Post by kathryn on Jan 3, 2018 22:14:41 GMT
If that was Cumberbatch, I think plenty of people were disappointed by it. Also Glenda's Lear. That's the one. Yes I suppose I meant more the build up hype rather than reviews though I did work with someone at the time who would not stop going on about how marvellous it was or rather BC was as she said everyone else was bad (I rather thought this due to her determination to think him brilliant having seen him on tv). I did think he was the best thing about it, to be fair, but he’s certainly not a natural Shakespearean, so I wouldn’t call it high praise.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 22:19:10 GMT
Love how we are all so different in what surprised and disspaointed us - I am personally in the camp that was so very underwhelmed by Follies and incredibly overwhelmed by 42nd St and Young Frankenstein. Follies for me was more about the disappointing score, book and story - I felt like compared with, say, WSS, it certainly isn’t his best work. Young Frankenstein isnt high art - but it doesn’t claim to be. It’s fun, saucy and really well executed. Loved it because it didn’t proport itself to be anything more than it was and everyone had a lot of fun, audience and cast. I wonder if Follies is dated and if it had more impact when it was first produced because the histories it depicts weren't as far away as they are no, so that some of us have no reference points to them. That said, I absolutely loved it. I sat entranced all the way through. I don't usually watch musicals and only saw Follies because it was at the National. I suspect that those of you who see a lot of musicals were more disappointed than people like me.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 22:23:21 GMT
For me it's plays that I have found overrated. I have seen them because they have really great reviews but I just don't like them and this has happened with The Flick,The Glass Menagerie and Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf. I just found all of these really boring and did not get why they were so rated and Virginia Woolf just felt it very dated and stale. Also recently I thought Girl from the North Country was a bit bland as well as the story was just not great and it didn't really go anywhere and I didn't really like the portable of dementia , yes the music wasn't great but I like a show with a good story and I did want to love it but just did not. All these shows I wanted to like but just didn't . The Flick! I felt exactly the same. And the worst thing was that the very things I didn't like - the extremely long pauses, for example - were the very things that supposedly made it innovative theatre and which everybody else loved.
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Post by wickedgrin on Jan 3, 2018 22:23:52 GMT
Theatre hype is nothing compared to the hype films get. Films have a HUGE marketing budget and barely a week goes by without the stars on all the chat shows plugging their latest release. Lots of positive press articles pandering to the advertising power of the studios. All geared to make you feel that you live in a cave if you have not seen this weeks release. Rarely does a film match the hype.
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Post by peggs on Jan 3, 2018 22:28:12 GMT
Theatre hype is nothing compared to the hype films get. Films have a HUGE marketing budget and barely a week goes by without the stars on all the chat shows plugging their latest release. Lots of positive press articles pandering to the advertising power of the studios. All geared to make you feel that you live in a cave if you have not seen this weeks release. Rarely does a film match the hype. True, I finally watched the Revenant the other night, couldn't see what the fuss was over.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 22:31:55 GMT
For me An Octoroon didn’t live up to the hype and neither did Grimly Handsome. I wondered if the fact that both shows were big hits before they got to London skewed opinions about them. Both shows also made me wonder if Theatre audiences are so deprived of “spectacle” that when they get it it blows their minds. And I wondered (in the case of Grimly Handsome) if when people don’t understand something they think must be clever they say how wonderful it is because they don’t want to look stupid. In the case of An Octoroon the lead actor was amazing and did indeed exceed the hype. I quite enjoyed both shows but overall they did not live up to the hype for me. The shows that for me were were lovely discoveries were Jam at the Finborough and Assata Taught Me at The Gate. I love to see the work of first time writers. Even though it is often flawed it can have an emotional intensity and rawness before the writer develops more “sophisticated” techniques. I think they both got OK reviews which were fair, I suppose. For me Ferryman was a bit like being a middle aged woman who is completely bowled over by a man a third her age who professes to be in love with her. I saw it twice. The first time I thought it lived up to the hype. The second time I was immune to its attempts to charm me with its theatrical tricks and realised I had been somewhat hoodwinked the first time. What was difficult about Grimly Handsome? Three scenes, one with men preying on a young woman, one about detectives and their immediate circle on what appeared to be the same case and a coda of animals, making the analogy clear as to the nature of the previous. If anything I was disappointed it was so clear, I’d been led to believe it was going to be ‘Lynchian’, someone whose surrealist and dream imagery is far more of a challenge. It was fine for what it was, I suppose. I didn't find it difficult at all and - like you - was expecting something more challenging
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Post by TallPaul on Jan 4, 2018 13:52:42 GMT
Bette?! Where did you see her? I am a big BM fan. How did I miss this?! Hello, Dolly! Why are you calling Cleopatra Dolly? My two biggest disappointments of 2017 were An American in Paris, with all those 5* reviews, and the tour of Rent. Sorry, @emicardiff!
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