Chicago Tribune: "Last Thursday night, “Billy Elliot the Musical” began previews at the Oriental Theatre. And my mailbox immediately began to fill up with stories of computer malfunctions, restarted dance numbers and holds for technical problems leading to missed trains. And, in fairness, I've also heard much tell of how fast the show seems to have found its legs, and of the thrill of seeing hugely talented young performers out onstage alone for the first time.
Ah, previews. They are a weird breed." Via: ArtsJournal
5 comments:
I think that previews provide an important opportunity to both the designers, stage managers, and actors to adjust and hone their performance and work to the addition of an audience. Hopefully a performance would run smoothly every time, but seeing as the performance should be used as a time to work the show, I believe it is unfair to give preview-goers such a low discount on ticket prices, regardless of how well the show ends up going, or if there are any major changes.
It is great to bring up the point to see a show in preview if it only is a little bit cheaper in the end. But some people just can wait to see a show and the privilege to say that they where the first to see it no mater what the quality is of the show. There is always the chance for things to go wrong especially when a show is just starting out and everyone is trying to learn and master their roles. In my opinion you are just better off waiting till the show opened officially and wait a little bit to let the show work through all of there problems and glitches. At that time the audience will be elaborate the show at its best and mastered presentation to tell if the show is any good and worth the money to go see it.
I think that previews are definitely worth it. However, I think the ticket discount is not nearly high enough. While many people will appreciate the live nature of a preview, and understand that everything may not be totally worked out, previews could also be used as a chance to give people a cheaper way to see the show. I think it is also wrong that some previews are not being advertised as such. If something does go horribly wrong within the show, the audience should know ahead of time, instead of thinking that the real performances were not prepared enough.
I think previews are extremely important to the technical and design process. They not only provide a chance to run the show as a performance and see what exactly you need to fine tune, but as directors and designers provides us with what works and what needs to be changed.
And i think its okay to charge a discount price, so long as the audience knows it may not be smooth.
Previews do provide an important time for the production team as they work out any final kinks before opening night. I think it's great if the audience is able to come and see the previews at a discounted price, but they should be aware that things won't necessarily run smoothly. Audiences who come to previews should be willing to deal with stops and technical snafus since it's just part of the process. It needs to be understood that this isn't the finished production. As long as they understand that, and are happy with the discounted prices they get, previews continue to be an important and interesting part of the theater process.
Post a Comment