Touring Productions

[KyleBailey Joined: Nov 15th, 2013 Topics: 2 Posts: 146 View Predictions]

#1202090840

I was looking through some old forum posts seeing if there was a place anybody was really talking about tours they were seeing but it didn’t look like there was one. I would love to hear what people are going to see and what they thought!

I got to see Fun Home in DC Wednesday and I thought it was really great! All the Allison’s were really fantastic (and listening to the cast album I thought the tour Middle Allison does a much better job with Changing My Major) as were both the parents. Definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it already and it is in town!

Hoping to catch some more tours coming to DC over the next year like Hedwig, Les Mis, The Color Purple, The Book of Mormon, and possibly Something Rotten.

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202091109

Saw the Fun Home tour too and thought it was great. Cast was top-notch and the proscenium restaging worked well.

Thought An American in Paris was dull with a bad book and really poor direction in the dialogue scenes.

The Bodyguard was an embarrassment in every regard.

The Something Rotten tour cast has some great Broadway vets and I think I actually liked Adam Pascal better than Christian Borle. The show is still not as clever as it thinks it is and it becomes obvious in the second act that the authors didn’t really ever decide what their focus was. It needed more development.

The Curious Incident tour works great with the exception of the subway scene staging, which isn’t nearly as effective as the B’way version. The lead wasn’t quite as good as Alex Sharp, but who is?

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[Dennis Kelsch Joined: May 11th, 2017 Topics: 0 Posts: 1 View Predictions]

#1202091253

I have season tickets in m town. I often take one of the kids with me. 12 ear old daughter loved An American In Paris as did I. She liked it better than Matilda or The Sound of Music, the other 2 shows she got to see. I agree with her. The staging was fascinating. I saw Fun Home in LA a few weeks ago and man, was that an emotional roller-coaster! It does what theatre is supposed to do… makes one think, reflect and feel. I’ve seen Book of Mormon 3 times. Once on BroadwaY and twice the touring show. It is the funniest, most relatable show in all venues, though the baptism scene in NY was more powerful and moving.

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 115 Posts: 6503 View Predictions]

#1202092592

I see touring Broadway shows at the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, New York. I don’t live in New York City, so I can’t compare the touring productions to the Broadway ones. In March 2016, I saw the touring production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which was excellent. Last September, I saw The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, which was also excellent, and one of the most visually dazzling productions I’ve ever seen, and also some of the best stage acting I’ve ever seen. I finally saw Wicked for the very time last month, and although I was sitting in the furthest back row and the guy in front of me was so tall I had to keep craning my head to see the stage, it was still quite a fantastic show.

This is the Auditorium Theatre’s schedule for the 2017-2018 season:

School Of Rock—September 30-October 7, 2017
The Little Mermaid—October 24-29, 2017
Fun Home—November 14-19, 2017
A Christmas Story—December 12-17, 2017
On Your Feet!—February 6-11, 2018
An American In Paris—March 20-25, 2018
Rent—May 1-6, 2018

Of these productions I’m mostly interested in The Little Mermaid (for childhood nostalgia, as I grew up on the Disney Renaissance like most other millennials), Fun Home (because of its acclaim and Tony wins), and Rent (because of its Tony wins and iconic place in pop culture).

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202094950

The Fun Home tour announced today that it has recouped its investment. Yay!

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202095233

The Dear Evan Hansen tour will launch at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in October 2018.

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202097062

The road Tony voters are in town, so the tour announcements continue to come:

Come From Away will launch its national tour from Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre in October 2018.

I would think the road Tony voters would be excited by Evan and Away. Those seem the most likely to tour well. Groundhog would be an incredibly complex technical piece to tour, but it’s a familiar title. No announcement from them yet, but it will likely tour. I’d think Natasha would be at a disadvantage with tour promoters, since it’s an unfamiliar (and unwieldy) title and it couldn’t do a traditional tour in anything like its current environmental incarnation.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 148 Posts: 6613 View Predictions]

#1202097067

Unless Rachel Chavkin re-conceives the staging again like Sam Gold did when Fun Home went on tour.

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202106093

Saw the Finding Neverland tour on Saturday and found it to be kind of dull. The score was bland and the book had no notion of stakes or rising action. It seemed to take forever to get anywhere. There’s no “I want” song to drive the direction of the show at the beginning, and the act one finale is just a production number; it doesn’t bring us to a turning point to drive act two. Billy Harrigan Tighe and Christine Dwyer are attractive leads and sing well, but the material doesn’t give them a chance to soar. (I’ve seen Dwyer play Elphaba in the past and having her sing this score is like making a thoroughbred plough a backyard garden.) The four youngsters playing the Llewellyn boys were all very talented and probably the best part of the show.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 148 Posts: 6613 View Predictions]

#1202106098

I caught the tour last week, and I pretty much felt the same way…
http://www.broadwayworld.com/raleigh/article/BWW-Review-FINDING-NEVERLAND-National-Tour-at-Durham-Performing-Arts-Center-20170524

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 13 Posts: 619 View Predictions]

#1202106102

Yes, the audience did seem to enjoy it in general. The standing ovation was surprisingly fast after the blackout.

And the orchestrations were an issue for me too–normally the sound in that venue is crystal-clear, but with this one the music sounded a little muddy and a lot thin.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 148 Posts: 6613 View Predictions]

#1202113521

I was just able to catch the national tour of The King & I last night. Having seen Bartlett Sher’s other productions of South Pacific and Fiddler on the Roof, I’m not sure which I would say is my favorite because they’re all so unique and different in their own ways. It has me more excited that he’ll be taking on My Fair Lady next year…
http://www.broadwayworld.com/raleigh/article/BWW-Review-THE-KING-I-National-Tour-at-Durham-Performing-Arts-Center-20170607

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 148 Posts: 6613 View Predictions]

#1202129028

The current Broadway revival of Cats will play its final performance on December 30th, but will be launching a national tour in January 2019…
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Broadway-Revival-of-CATS-Headed-to-the-Heaviside-Layer-This-Winter-National-Tour-to-Kick-Off-in-Providence-20170621

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 115 Posts: 6503 View Predictions]

#1202129910

Christie Prades and Mauricio Martinez will headline the national tour of On Your Feet! http://www.playbill.com/article/christie-prades-and-mauricio-martinez-will-headline-national-tour-of-on-your-feet

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 148 Posts: 6613 View Predictions]

#1202180051

Casting has been announced for the upcoming national tour of Waitress…
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/189306/serve-with-a-smile-desi-oakley-bryan-fenkart-more-will-star-in-the-national-tour-of-waitress/

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