DEH Flops in Toronto- Page 3

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 5/23/19 at 11:53pm

I believe that Billy Elliott and War Horse both also ran for over a year in their Toronto sit-down productions in fairly recent memory (last 10 years or so).

[Joshua Kilimnik]

Posted: 5/24/19 at 11:39am

18 year old theatre-goer in Toronto. Basically target audience for the show.

I had slightly more emotional investment in this show (it was the first professional production I’d ever auditioned for) and I followed the press and developments very closely. I find it really funny that people could forget the production was there, with posters being all over public transit and 30 seconds spots every two minutes on television and Instagram. Maybe I was just subconsciously drawn to it more, but it feels to me like it was hard to forget.

I can’t say quite too much about its popularity, I bought a full price ticket for the first preview the week before and a student rush ticket for its official opening night (which was absolutely cutthroat, tickets disappeared in thirty seconds and only secured one of the two tickets I was trying to obtain) so those are the only experiences I had. The stage door was just about dead, but then again it’s rather rare to have a populated stage door in Toronto. The only one I could seriously think of would be the final performance of The Lightning Thief tour.

I absolutely adored everything about this production I particular. Robert Markus is not a no-name to those interested in the Toronto theatre community; big name from the Stratford festival playing Tommy in Des McAnuff’s remounting and a star turn as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show last year, loads of other regional productions as well. The production, to me, felt like a true Toronto production of Dear Evan Hansen. I got such a joy out of seeing these actors that were recognizably from my ends.

That being said, that might not have been a plus overall. It doesn’t draw in international guests and it could be the stigma of exclusivity and “the hottest ticket in town” drew people away by thinking they’d never be able to afford it. I hope I get to revisit this production as many times as possible before it goes.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/24/19 at 11:54am

Currently in entertainment there is a trend in writing that puts provocative plot points over growing something slowly over time and letting things marinate. The latter creates depth, complexity and investment. It's comparing Sondheim to Pasek & Paul. P &P can hammer you with power pop and ballads that are quite impressive but leave you feeling hungry right after you ate. Like eating sugar. Sondheim requires a relationship, takes a while to engage/understand but you walk away with more questions, intrigued, enriched. You invest in the cast record to learn more and deepen the relationship.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/24/19 at 12:05pm

I also just think the production of DEH is unimpressive. The staging is rather dull and boring. I would love to see how this show would look if it was designed for a traditional space instead of 2nd Stage's tiny off-broadway house. It annoys me that the band is playing in a "loft" when they have a giant orchestra pit below. And the sliding of the 2 pieces on and off stage gets tiresome after awhile. 

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/24/19 at 12:11pm

Bettyboy: I agree in general but I think that Dogfight is an exception to that. I wish I liked P&P's more recent, and successful, work as much as I love Dogfight.

Updated On: 5/24/19 at 12:11 PM

[Lot666]

Posted: 5/29/19 at 8:56am

Almira said: "[Ben Platt's] performance (and the other extraordinarily strong members of the original cast) made a well written piece appear a lot better than it is."

My thoughts exactly. I've seen the show four times in NY and once on tour. After my first time, with Ben Platt, I described it to my husband as "The Ben Platt Show". I said he was phenomenal, rose above a problematic book, and would most certainly win the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. However, I thought Best Book and Best Musical should've gone to Come From Away. I enjoyed Dear Evan Hansen, even the touring production, but I can't say that subsequent viewings without Mr. Platt have been as satisfying. Without him in the lead role, I've spent more time questioning the holes in the story and that inexplicable ending scene. 

Updated On: 5/29/19 at 08:56 AM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/29/19 at 9:52am

SporkGoddess said: "Bettyboy: I agree in general but I think that Dogfight is an exception to that. I wish I liked P&P's more recent, and successful, workas much as I love Dogfight."

Dogfight is f***ing excellent! In case anyone in TO was wondering, it is just a giant blue sticker placed on the facade of the Royal Alex

[Joshua Kilimnik]

Posted: 5/29/19 at 11:42am

The staging or the book or even casting doesn't enter into it. The show itself is not a problem whatsoever; it's still selling minimum $99 seats on Broadway on its fourth Evan replacement with no sign of stopping any time soon, the tour broke even recently and therefore definitely remains popular cross-country. Both of those productions have been seeing success, so why Toronto specifically?

Updated On: 5/29/19 at 11:42 AM

[littlemouse921]

Posted: 5/29/19 at 2:51pm

fashionguru_23 said: "Dogfight is f***ing excellent! In case anyone in TO was wondering, it is just a giant blue sticker placed on the facade of the Royal Alex"

I cannot wait for them to remove that blue monstrosity from the exterior of the theatre.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/30/19 at 12:34am

Painting it blue just seems odd as I wouldn’t really consider it an “event” the way some of the bigger shows are - like Cats, Les Miz.

But it is interesting. Maybe the world doesn’t care about a story about a terrible straight white American?

[Tag]

Posted: 5/30/19 at 7:25am

The staging or the book or even casting doesn't enter into it. The show itself is not a problem whatsoever; it's still selling minimum $99 seats on Broadway on its fourth Evan replacement with no sign of stopping any time soon, the tour broke even recently and therefore definitely remains popular cross-country. Both of those productions have been seeing success, so why Toronto specifically?

Toronto has better taste?

[Joshua Kilimnik]

Posted: 5/30/19 at 7:31am

Tag said: "The staging or the book or even castingdoesn't enterinto it. The show itself is not a problem whatsoever; it's still selling minimum $99 seats on Broadway on its fourth Evan replacement with no sign of stopping any time soon, the tour broke even recently and therefore definitely remains popular cross-country. Both of those productions have been seeingsuccess, so why Toronto specifically?
 

Toronto has better taste?"

The new touring production of Phantom is coming for its third engagement about a year and a half after its last one. That’s not it either.

[Up In One]

Posted: 5/30/19 at 8:06am

Kinky Boots ran eleven months in Toronto and lost most of its investment. If Come From Away is what sells (is it turning a profit?) I would say the failures of Kinky Boots and Evan Hansen says more about the audience and who buys tickets.

[hsection]

Posted: 5/30/19 at 9:53am

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/article-tony-award-winning-musical-come-from-away-recouping-its-money-in/

Apparently Come From Away Toronto recouped in 14 weeks last summer so should be in profits now.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 6/1/19 at 11:53am

Saw this here last night and, surprisingly, really liked it. The cast album has always turned me off and the libretto comes across really poorly, but the production and acting gives it an edge I wasn’t expecting (and emotional impact! Big/Small made me weep from both eyeballs). I still think the show has some structural issues, primarily that we’re told Connor’s family is brought together by Evan’s lies, but what we see is a family going crazy with grief, adopting a liar as their surrogate son, and then being the target of viral hate. At the end she’s like “everyone got something they needed from this” it’s like...did they? It’s a sleight of hand that doesn’t really work, and it feels like a cop-out after the show moves in such an intriguingly dark direction.

On the other hand, the rest of it is perfectly gripping, and the music takes on a nice earnestness when sung live that’s missing from the highly scrubbed cast album. The understudy for Evan was on, which seemed to be a good thing - he looked the age of the part and was appropriately desperate, which made him easy to relate to (though he couldn’t overcome one of the show’s other main structural flaws, which is that Evan’s sudden turn towards comical power-hungry dismissiveness in the start of act two is abrupt and flatly written). He also got kind of pitchy towards the end of the show, I think because he was trying the Ben Platt thing where he sounds like he’s about to do the verbal equivalent of crytyping. Evan doesn’t HAVE to spit all over the stage.

I feel like launching this show here in Toronto in the crappiest part of the year was a terrible decision. Nobody wants to go see something emotionally difficult (and kind of a gamble - do people who don’t know about this show already know what it “is”?) when they’re struggling through the sixth consecutive month of cold, cloudy weather.

[Rainah]

Posted: 6/16/19 at 6:05pm

Saw it today while in Toronto. It's flopping HARD. Poked around online this morning and bought a $39 rush ticket (online) at 11am. Row N, great seat. Most shows in Canada that I've seen don't even offer rush. (CFA here does $25 standing room only, and you still have to wait outside the theatre). sides of the orchestra were maybe half empty? At intermission I moved to row J.

 

Cast was perfectly fine. Actor for Evan has a lovely voice and the actor for Heidi got the biggest cheer of the night for So Big/So Small. People certainly liked it. I don't know why it's not selling here, I can't find much fault in the production, but man is it not selling.

[Tag]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 11:35pm

Toronto really doesn't like this show - it was virtually shut out at the Toronto theatre awards tonight.  Only winning for lighting design (Japhy Weideman).

[Pose2]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 11:51pm

I'm so just curious why people in Toronto have universally rejected this show.  It's really fascinating what sells and what doesn't most of the time (not including blockbuster hits like Phantom or Hamilton).  

 

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 6/26/19 at 10:47am

AEA AGMA SM said: "fashionguru_23 said: "There is a debate that I have mentioned a few times before about Garth Drabinsky in the 1980/1990's of having the national tour of Phantom not play cities close to Toronto, (Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, etc.), and force people who really wanted to see the smash musical, had to come to Toronto if they wanted something close."

Just a side note, the national tour ofPhantomcame to Cleveland twicewhile the Toronto production was still running in the 90s. Though we did have commercials for the Toronto production airing in Cleveland (I still remember the "Buy Phantom by phone" tag line followed by the Ticketmaster(?) phone number), Drabinsky was not able to block the tour from playing there."

 

I grew up in metro Detroit and still remember those commercials too. Phantom voice: "PLAYING AT THE PANTAGES THEATER IN TORONTO!!!" Funny what sticks.

 

DEH seems to be such an actor driven show, thinking the combo of this show appealing mainly to younger people who historically don't go to the theater in large numbers, and maybe the cast made it a dud? DEH is not a show I would travel to see, so who knows.

[yyys]

Posted: 6/26/19 at 11:10am

I hated DEH.  Probably the worst musical EVER.

[Joshua Kilimnik]

Posted: 6/26/19 at 12:16pm

yyys said: "I hated DEH. Probably the worst musical EVER."

Cool.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/4/19 at 3:24pm

Interesting note - my supervisor, who is a huge fan of the cast album, finally got out to see this here and was surprised by how cynical it is. He expressed reservations with the ending in particular, but also noted that he didn't realize how many of the songs on album are kind of creepy in context. He did say it seemed pretty packed (it was fairly full when I saw it as well) - perhaps the early closing and the BOGO deal are drawing people to see it before it goes?

Another piece of evidence that a lot of people just don't know what the show is. There's the picture of his arm in the cast, and all the quotes about how it's going to bring people together (etc), but it's almost like they're hiding the actual content of the show.