2,702 posts
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Post by viserys on Mar 12, 2019 8:41:31 GMT
Rent is an odd one - I saw it a grand total of 8 times, but I really only count 5 times: The original version 3x in London and 1x in New York, plus the recent UK tour at the Other Palace.
The "foreign" versions I saw were all weird and only the Swedish one in Stockholm pretty well-done - they even had the guts to kill Mimi at the end. The German version was the "original version" but the usual cack-handed mess of a godawful translation and incomprehensible foreign performers and the less said about the godawful turd Ivo van Hove produced in the Netherlands many years ago, the better.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 8:43:48 GMT
Rent is an odd one - I saw it a grand total of 8 times, but I really only count 5 times: The original version 3x in London and 1x in New York, plus the recent UK tour at the Other Palace. The "foreign" versions I saw were all weird and only the Swedish one in Stockholm pretty well-done - they even had the guts to kill Mimi at the end. The German version was the "original version" but the usual cack-handed mess of a godawful translation and incomprehensible foreign performers and the less said about the godawful turd Ivo van Hove produced in the Netherlands many years ago, the better. Oh wait...I've seen it a half time extra...I left the Welsh language version I saw because it was, well awful. |
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2,702 posts
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Post by viserys on Mar 12, 2019 8:47:24 GMT
Rent is an odd one - I saw it a grand total of 8 times, but I really only count 5 times: The original version 3x in London and 1x in New York, plus the recent UK tour at the Other Palace. The "foreign" versions I saw were all weird and only the Swedish one in Stockholm pretty well-done - they even had the guts to kill Mimi at the end. The German version was the "original version" but the usual cack-handed mess of a godawful translation and incomprehensible foreign performers and the less said about the godawful turd Ivo van Hove produced in the Netherlands many years ago, the better. Oh wait...I've seen it a half time extra...I left the Welsh language version I saw because it was, well awful. I would have left the Dutch Rent at half time too, if it wasn't for my mother who was with me. I had been looking forward to "show her" my favorite show of the time and then we got that awful mess, but I still hoped it would improve in the second act (it didn't). |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 9:16:10 GMT
Angels I've seen 7 times (both parts) and a stay Millennium in 2007....of course I did see it twice in one week (both parts) which all told is what, over 60 hours of it? I think this is the only play in this thread with what I think of as a ‘musical level’ of repeat visits :-) I’ve been wondering, do we have any other examples of plays that inspire the same sort of fandom? What is it about musicals that keeps people coming back? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 9:25:20 GMT
I've seen The Woman In Black more than Emily's seen Angels In America (though it's a lot shorter and has been running constantly for longer than I've been a theatregoer so that's not exactly hard). Sometimes the casting is too good to pass up, sometimes the tour comes unexpectedly close to you, and sometimes you've got a Ticketmaster gift-card expiring in a couple of hours and that's the only show that you fancy buying because Ticketmaster is a hell site.
I'm also something of an immersive theatre fan, now THAT inspires repeat visits *way* more than musicals could. I saw The Drowned Man nearly 30 times, I make sure to see Sleep No More at least three times whenever I go to New York, and I die a little more every day waiting for a new show in the UK. Even if the cast remains resolutely the same for the entire run, it's still impossible to see the entire show in a single trip, and while some people are totally okay with having their own special unique journey through the show, others of us get far more involved, so you end up going dozens of times so you can make sure you've followed every character for the entire length of their story, had some time to explore the space, experienced how different actors change the characters, experienced how the same actor playing the same character develops throughout the run, and the less said about the one-to-ones, the better. Man I hope there's a new show coming at some point before I die...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 9:48:01 GMT
I agree on the immersive, in fact I’m grateful @baemax only wore me down towards the end of The Drowned Man otherwise I’d have bankrupted myself. (Just 3 visits in the end)
There is a lot of emerging academic work on shows and fans (cough including my own cough) but it really varies from person to person and show to show. Some it’s the “Pokemon” style of “gotta collect them all” be it cast members or versions of the same show. For others it’s a “happy place” type thing where you go back to something familiar time and time again because it makes you happy. For others it’s an association with a time in your life (Rent is a strong one for this, and Wicked for fans who discover it young) for others it’s wanting to unpick the show, discover new layers etc.
And sometimes it’s just good for a giggle. See my compulsive need to see Footloose the musical every time it comes around. I judge me.
Also for interest my two ushered shows I saw the most were Pricilla (5 times over a long weekend, god have mercy) and Peter Pan (19 times in 4 weeks) I luckily left the WMC before they started getting sit down tours, a few friends slightly lost their sanity by the end of the first Wicked tour.
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Post by schuttep on Mar 12, 2019 11:39:57 GMT
I've been to 88 different shows 4 times or more, although these days I'm only seeing "no-brainer" repeats as there are so many good new shows out there.
Top 10 (all musicals; plays don't start to appear until seeing shows 9 times):
Godspell - 16 (the second show I ever saw and still one of my "no-brainers")
The Rocky Horror Show - 16 (and it would have been 17 this year if they hadn't cancelled the November 2019 Richmond dates)
Rent - 13 (I first saw it soon after it opened on Broadway and it took me until the middle of the first song before I realised I LOVED it)
The Phantom of the Opera - 13 (I saw the original London cast and have seen it on Broadway, and in Hamburg and Bristol)
Evita -12 (I saw Elaine Paige twice and her replacement Marti Webb and have also seen it in Birmingham, High Wycombe, Wimbledon and Melbourne. I should have seen it while I was in Buenos Aires but my partner wouldn't go)
Blood Brothers - 12 (Nottingham, London, New York - with Petula Clark and David and Sean Cassidy - Birmingham, Bristol, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Wimbledon)
Starlight Express - 11 (again saw the original London cast plus the tour in Oxford, Wimbledon, New York and at the specially built Starlighthalle in Bochum)
Miss Saigon - 11 (original cast and on Broadway and in Birmingham and Woking)
Les Miserables - 11 (transfer cast at the Palace as well as Broadway and the new touring version when it revisited the Barbican in 2010)
Jesus Christ Superstar - 11 (London, Stafford, Birmingham, Woking and Munich).
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 12, 2019 17:42:18 GMT
Angels I've seen 7 times (both parts) and a stay Millennium in 2007....of course I did see it twice in one week (both parts) which all told is what, over 60 hours of it? I think this is the only play in this thread with what I think of as a ‘musical level’ of repeat visits :-) I’ve been wondering, do we have any other examples of plays that inspire the same sort of fandom? What is it about musicals that keeps people coming back? If you look again at the first page you'll see that I stated that I have seen The 39 Steps 8 times. I didn't give a break-down of my Mischief viewing by show but given I said that my total was 169 I would think it'd be apparent that I've seen each play many times (TPTGW 33, PPGW 15 & TCAABR 67 to be precise).
I'm sure that some of those board members who are keen Shakespeare viewers will have seen the more common plays many times. I'm not a great Shakespeare viewer myself but I've seen my favourite, Much Ado About Nothing, 6 times (plus an operatic version).
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Post by lynette on Mar 12, 2019 18:09:46 GMT
I never think of seeing Hamlet as a repeat, everyone is different. I have seen a couple of productions twice, one being Othello, the Hytner one at the NT. I saw The Way of the World twice recently at the Donmar because it isn’t on much and it was a spectacular production. And I’ve seen The Play that goes Wrong twice because I took people the second time. Many times I’ve left the theatre saying I could sit though it all again, just very recently The Price with David Suchet. But cost and time and other stuff coming along means I don’t book again. I think Theatre is ephemeral whereas movies, not the same at all. I’m the family joke because if asked my choice at Xmas I go for All the President's Men every time and then Radio Days. When Harry Met Sally is usually the consensus!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 18:41:13 GMT
The Shakespeare play I've seen most is either Hamlet or Henry V (they take it in turns to be number 1), and the Shakespeare production I've seen most is Greg Doran's 2007 production of Hamlet (4 times, twice with David Tennant and twice with Ed Bennett). Unless we want to count Sleep No More as Macbeth, in which case my six trips to that probably push it to the top as my most seen production *and* most seen play.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 18:47:50 GMT
I mean even 'accidentally' it's easy to see the 'big boys' of Shakespeare many times. Indeed I've just offered my Mum my plus one reviewing the Scottish Play next week (NT Production, pray for me) and she politely declined having seen enough Maccers for now. Equally i managed 3 Romeo and Juliets in one summer 2 years ago and have declared a halt on that one for the foreseeable.
And also while I agree each one is different, and each Hamlet is different I'm also declaring Hamlet dead to me for at least 5 years unless *picks name out of the air* Shaun Evans decides to do it.
It's hard to be the Bard as the song goes...
Interestingly nobody has mentioned dance or ballet. Being a contemporary dance watcher predominantly it's harder to clock up repeats but fans of ballet surely must rack up a long list of Swan Lake etc over a lifetime? I have racked up a few repeats of Matthew Bourne shows already, and the odd Hip Hop dance show that rolls around.
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Post by ensembleswings on Mar 12, 2019 18:49:41 GMT
Kinky Boots - 109
The Wedding Singer - 33
Wicked - 32
Mamma Mia - 8
42nd Street - 5
Wonderland - 5
Legally Blonde - 4
Dreamgirls - 3
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie - 3
Hamilton - 3
Heathers - 3
Then there’s another 12 shows that I’ve seen twice.
Kinky Boots is not only my overall most seen show but also the show I’ve seen the most during a short space of time. I saw it 80 times in 2018 alone and I saw all 8 shows during its final week in London (no, I’m still not bored or done with the show either)
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Post by LaLuPone on Mar 12, 2019 19:00:49 GMT
My biggest is also Wicked, 8 times since 2015. That's not loads compared to others obviously but it still yields the "What?? HUH??" response from most people. My first pairing was Emma and Sophie Linder-Lee and then I went back twice before Emma and Savannah left, regret that now! In the grand scheme of things there are so many better pairings...
I went back for Rachel then in January 2017 and then for Willemijn in April, and I remember being sat there a bit bored at points to the point that I was thinking "come on Willemjin give us some riffy action" so I can see why the fans who go twice a week are so riff-obsessed. I saw the show once on Broadway with the incredible Jackie Burns then and twice on tour last year and I think I'll definitely not be back for a few more years yet unless they announce some stellar casting for July.
I've also seen Miss Saigon and Hairspray 3 times each and would be back in a shot if they re-emerged in London/on tour.
Shows seen twice: Rent, Dreamgirls, Company, Little Shop of Horrors, Matilda, Evita (but that was just to see if I'd like it more the second time than the first and because it was cheap!)
EDIT: Also, I know already that my new Wicked is probably going to be Waitress! I think money-permitting I'll try to go every six months for as long as it manages to stay open.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 12, 2019 19:53:25 GMT
Interestingly nobody has mentioned dance or ballet. Being a contemporary dance watcher predominantly it's harder to clock up repeats but fans of ballet surely must rack up a long list of Swan Lake etc over a lifetime? I have racked up a few repeats of Matthew Bourne shows already, and the odd Hip Hop dance show that rolls around. I've only started ballet-going this season but I've already seen ENB's Manon twice (in 3 days) & the RB's Two Pigeons twice. I'll be seeing the RB's Don Quixote for a second time in a couple of weeks & have 4 Romeo & Juliet performances booked for April/May. When there's half a dozen or more casts in a run then I'm finding it had to see things only once! I know there are dedicated ballet goers who will see every cast in a run.
Opera hasn't been mentioned either but again it is very likely that anyone operagoing over years will see operas multiple times. The operas I've seen the most are Der Rosenkavalier (14), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (12) & Le Nozze di Figaro (10), Cosi Fan Tutte (6) & Ariadne Auf Naxos (6). From which it may be noticed that my preference for comedies extends to opera.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 19:58:38 GMT
Only ever seen immersive productions by Punchdrunk multiple times, that’s not counting trips I’ve taken with students because that was just work!
The Drowned Man - 23
Faust - 7
Masque of the Red Death - 7
Sleep no More [Boston) - 3
There is a likelihood of another production soon at their new location in Greenwich but that might be partly dependent on Crossrail.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 20:03:02 GMT
Interestingly nobody has mentioned dance or ballet. Being a contemporary dance watcher predominantly it's harder to clock up repeats but fans of ballet surely must rack up a long list of Swan Lake etc over a lifetime? I have racked up a few repeats of Matthew Bourne shows already, and the odd Hip Hop dance show that rolls around. I've only started ballet-going this season but I've already seen ENB's Manon twice (in 3 days) & the RB's Two Pigeons twice. I'll be seeing the RB's Don Quixote for a second time in a couple of weeks & have 4 Romeo & Juliet performances booked for April/May. When there's half a dozen or more casts in a run then I'm finding it had to see things only once! I know there are dedicated ballet goers who will see every cast in a run.
Opera hasn't been mentioned either but again it is very likely that anyone operagoing over years will see operas multiple times. The operas I've seen the most are Der Rosenkavalier (14), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (12) & Le Nozze di Figaro (10), Cosi Fan Tutte (6) & Ariadne Auf Naxos (6). From which it may be noticed that my preference for comedies extends to opera.
Indeed! (and sorry I thought I'd read and opera comment my mistake otherwise I'd have included that!) even in my very casual attendance of WNO and occasional concert versions of operas I've racked up a few Bohemes and Traviatas already. Again, like ballet and Hamlets, no two are the same, but that said one can tire of the same old same old with nobody 'special' in them. |
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Post by dontdreamit on Mar 12, 2019 20:11:09 GMT
Anything with JD is always seen many, many, many times by me, and I am wondering how many times I’ll see Joseph this summer- I’ve got 4 booked so far and I know I’ll book more nearer the time, if it’s on for 11 weeks it’ll probably be between 10 and 15 I would think. I never counted up the Priscilla tickets I bought but between the West End and then the never ending tour it’s got to be over 50.
The only thing that’s ever come close is Bat, which I saw for the first time at the beginning of August and by the last night I’d racked up 23 visits. And it wasn’t enough! I took Young who was curious and had been listening to the cast recording with me during October half term for the first time and then they managed another 5 visits between then and the show closing at the beginning of January. So maybe that’s just the way I am (and by extension they are too!).
The way I look at it though is that if something makes me that happy, it doesn’t matter that I go back time and time again. And I’ve never really cared what people think of me doing that. I don’t understand why someone would go out and drink tonnes of alcohol and spend load of money on something they’ll be unlikely to remember, but that’s their choice so that’s ok!
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 12, 2019 20:25:04 GMT
Indeed! (and sorry I thought I'd read and opera comment my mistake otherwise I'd have included that!) even in my very casual attendance of WNO and occasional concert versions of operas I've racked up a few Bohemes and Traviatas already. Again, like ballet and Hamlets, no two are the same, but that said one can tire of the same old same old with nobody 'special' in them. I can't see any previous comments on opera in this thread, though I'm sure it's been discussed in the Opera & Dance section in the past. Considering Boheme & Traviata are probably the 2 most performed operas I've only ever seen 3 Bohemes & 2 Traviatas, as for both pieces I like the music but I'm not very keen on the characters. My most recent viewing of each was to see particular singers rather than the pieces. Not anyone very famous, but singers who I'd liked in other roles. A lot of my favourite opera singers are those who I've seen singing with ETO/OHP/ON/WNO repeatedly over the years, rather than the big international stars who sell out the ROH. |
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Post by david on Mar 12, 2019 20:25:43 GMT
The way I look at it though is that if something makes me that happy, it doesn’t matter that I go back time and time again. And I’ve never really cared what people think of me doing that. I don’t understand why someone would go out and drink tonnes of alcohol and spend load of money on something they’ll be unlikely to remember, but that’s their choice so that’s ok! Totally agree with you here. In my opinion, if there is a particular play or musical that just ticks all the boxes for s great night out then I’m all for a multiple viewing, particularly if your having a tough time at a particular point in your life, a few hours of escapism to a “go to show” in these cases I’ve found does wonders for me in helping to clear my head or just to forget about life. With the drinking comment again 100% with you. I’d rather have some great memories to treasure rather than spending my time nursing a hangover the following day. Though in retrospect there have been a few shows (yes NT I’m looking at you here) where drinking would have helped me get through shows. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 12, 2019 20:30:39 GMT
The way I look at it though is that if something makes me that happy, it doesn’t matter that I go back time and time again. And I’ve never really cared what people think of me doing that. I don’t understand why someone would go out and drink tonnes of alcohol and spend load of money on something they’ll be unlikely to remember, but that’s their choice so that’s ok! That's what I used to say to people at uni when they asked me how I could afford to keep going to the theatre: that I wasn't going out drinking & that at least I could remember my evenings out! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2019 21:47:32 GMT
I think this is the only play in this thread with what I think of as a ‘musical level’ of repeat visits :-) I’ve been wondering, do we have any other examples of plays that inspire the same sort of fandom? What is it about musicals that keeps people coming back? If you look again at the first page you'll see that I stated that I have seen The 39 Steps 8 times. I didn't give a break-down of my Mischief viewing by show but given I said that my total was 169 I would think it'd be apparent that I've seen each play many times
I’m sorry that you feel so ignored by my post. It wasn’t deliberate. I have a bit of a blind spot about Mischief plays. Is it all the ‘play that goes wrong’ or the ‘comedy about a (insert scenario)’ stuff? In case any Shakespeareans feel slighted, I don’t think we’d count 17 different versions of Lear as the same play, right? |
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Post by Jon on Mar 12, 2019 23:16:06 GMT
Surely if it you see the same things over and over, it gets a bit repetitive?
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Post by daisy24601 on Mar 12, 2019 23:30:10 GMT
I saw Memphis 45 times in 4 months, and I'd go again if it opened tomorrow.
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Post by mistressjojo on Mar 13, 2019 0:00:31 GMT
Anything with David Tennant will be on my repeat list.
I think Much Ado About Nothing would top the list - 11 times over a fortnight I think it was .
Richard II - 8 times. 4 at Stratford, 3 at the Barbican and once at BAM Brooklyn. 11 if you count the 2 x NT Live screenings.
Don Juan in Soho - 5 times -which was probably 4 times too many tbh. (But a couple of those were cheap 10 quid 'Monkey's Nest' seats in Wyndhams balcony, so still a bargain!)
Musical wise - Once. 4 times - but with 3 different casts.
And The Boy from Oz (in Sydney with Hugh Jackman)- 3 times. First time the seats were terrible & nobody in the rear stalls could see, so I bought cheap gallery seats for the following night. Then theatre gave all of us who complained free seats for another night!
Also saw The Boy From Oz the year before (in Sydney with Todd McKenny) twice.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2019 0:24:29 GMT
Surely if it you see the same things over and over, it gets a bit repetitive? That’s why my only ones are Punchdrunk shows where you probably need to go seven or eight times to see the whole thing and, as you are responsible for constructing your own experience, every time is literally a different story. Theatre is meant, generally, to be a complete experience with one viewing so very few traditional stagings hold much more than academic interest to me for repeat viewings. As I have to do it sometimes for work reasons, it can be of some interest to compare different people in roles, though. |
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