The Hype. Over and under.

This year I was very pleasantly surprised by 42nd Street, Young Frankenstein and Everybody's Talking About Jamie. The latter in particular was the closest to going into a show knowing nothing than I have done for years - the opening number had me absolutely hooked.
Biggest disappointments were Bat Out Of Hell and Pinocchio. I enjoyed BOOH much more out of the two but thought it was and utter mess, albeit an entertaining one.

Going back a few years, I think Matilda was the most overhyped for me - enjoyable yes, but not the second coming of musicals that it was hyped up to be by a long shot. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't gone in with such high expectations.
Likewise when Caroline Or Change was at the National - the reviews and word of mouth made it seem unmissable - I came away having admired both the show and the performances but I cant say I enjoyed it.

In terms of going to something with no real expectation and being blown away, the one that comes to mind is Memphis.

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 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. 

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!

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! 

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!)

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.

Bette?! Where did you see her? I am a big BM fan. How did I miss this?!

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.

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 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.

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.