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Post by mrnutz on Mar 20, 2023 20:08:08 GMT
If you had the option to see one on a show's closing day, which would you choose?
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Post by Mark on Mar 21, 2023 9:34:57 GMT
Absolutely the final performance. Closing night is always special.
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Post by alece10 on Mar 21, 2023 10:37:57 GMT
Final performance for me too although, in an ideal world, I'd like to do both.
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Post by southstreet on Mar 22, 2023 9:44:15 GMT
If I could only see one, then the final performance for sure, but for shows I love I would always try and see both cos I do love a muck-up matinee. And yes, I totally understand and appreciate that they can be super irritating for unsuspecting audiences but I personally love them if they are well done.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2023 9:49:14 GMT
I'll be in the minority here, but I would rather be almost anywhere rather than among the hyper-enthusiastic, overly verbal crowds at closing performances of musicals. Less of a problem at plays I've found unless they are comedies and then all bets are off.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 22, 2023 12:04:52 GMT
I think muck ups should be BANNED 🙂.
Totally self indulgent.
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Post by marob on Mar 22, 2023 12:41:29 GMT
Same. Pretty disrespectful to the audience.
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Post by adrianics on Mar 22, 2023 20:04:34 GMT
I think muck ups should be BANNED 🙂. Totally self indulgent. 100%. I'd be raging if I'd spent £50+ on a ticket only to find the actors arseing around trying to make each other laugh |
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Post by sfsusan on Mar 22, 2023 22:37:21 GMT
>>Muck-Up Matinee...<<
I'd never heard of this. Is it done in the US, too, or just a London theater thing?
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Post by fiyerorocher on Mar 23, 2023 2:07:52 GMT
I haven't been to one in a long time, but I think unofficial muck up matinee rules used to be that you could only do things that someone watching the show for the first time wouldn't find out of place, but long-time fans might pick up on. That was always quite nice. It's definitely been taken too far at times, though.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 23, 2023 10:03:39 GMT
I don’t see why they can’t just have a party after the show. Nobody wants to stop them celebrating the final day but there’s no need to trouble the audience with it surely? Where did the tradition originate from? Do we know?
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Post by fiyerorocher on Mar 23, 2023 11:43:06 GMT
It's always felt like it's for the audience too. The long-time fans who are very familiar with the shoe have, in my experience, enjoyed being able to spot the subtle 'muck ups'. It's when people take it too far that it loses its appeal. I've only ever been to the ones of shows I know like the back of my hand but the Les Mis ones back in the day used to be very entertaining, but if you were new to or even less familiar with the show, you wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. That seems to me to be the correct spirit of things.
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Post by PhantomNcl on Mar 23, 2023 15:15:26 GMT
If muck up matinées are done well, they can be really good fun - as long as the 'normal' theatregoer doesn't realise that there's something different or unusual happening on stage. It's when the die-hard fans come along though, are poised waiting for something to happen, and react with screams of over the top laughter that it spoils it for the rest of the audience who are sat wondering what's going on and if they've missed something.
We had a beautiful moment in the German production of Phantom when it was our lead Phantom's last matinée. During the transition from Point of No Return to Down Once More our Christine was switched in the boat for the stage manager - he had the cloak on from All I Ask of You with the hood up, and his back to the audience so they didn't have a clue. The lights went up, the Phantom looked down, and saw a very heavily bearded Christine smiling back at him
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Post by alece10 on Mar 23, 2023 16:22:09 GMT
I know it's not muck up but have you heard the story Judi Dench tells when she was in a play next door to Les Mis and had a long period during the play when she wasn't on stage. One night she nipped next door, got into costume and appeared in the barricade scene without the audience noticing. Changed and went back to carry on in her own play. Bloody brilliant!
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