Located in the dusty, industrial wastelands of Melbourne's Docklands stands a vast red and yellow marquee reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil's Grand Chapiteau; the custom-built 'pleasure dome' home of Xanadu the Musical, which had its gala Australian opening on Thursday night.Based on the unsuccessful 1980 movie starring Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly (which critic Roger Ebert decried as 'a mushy and limp musical fantasy, so insubstantial it keeps evaporating before our eyes') Xanadu the Musical is a tongue-very-firmly-in-cheek retelling of the film about roller-disco and romance to which a hefty dose of contemporary irony has been added.
Reviews of the original Broadway production were strong. As to whether the local production is any good I unfortunately can't say as I walked out of the opening night performance only half an hour after it started.
From where I was seated (section D, row L, seat 124) the sound quality was appalling: thin, tinny and inaudible. I had to strain to hear anything that was said on stage, and once the singing started, the lyrics were muffled and indistinct, even though the music itself seemed hardly loud.
My view of the stage, too, was terrible, with a large tentpole (which doubled as a major lighting rig) blocking a significant degree of the action. I don't mind tickets being sold with a poor view of the stage if they are advertised as 'impeded view' or 'restricted sight lines', but there is absolutely nothing to that effect on the Xanadu the Musical website, which I think is disgraceful.
Had I actually payed for my seats I would have been furious; as it was I was deeply frustrated with the situation, and extremely concerned for those people around me, paying customers including a young child and two elderly women who were becoming increasingly distressed at being unable to clearly hear or see anything of the musical they had come to see.
Based on my experience of the show, I cannot recommend Xanadu the Musical to anyone - unless perhaps (based on the opening night reviews in today's Age and Friday's Herald Sun) you're sitting in the $155.90 a head VIP seats, where sound quality and sight lines were apparently a non-issue.
7 comments:
Such a shame! I'd been looking forward to this, too.
I always say there are no bad seats, just bad productions. If you place a chair somewhere with bad sightlines you're either neglecting or insulting at least one audience member. That's bad theatre.
I can understand how frustrating and pointless it is to sit in an audience and you cannot hear or see what is going on. It is a shame for the cast who worked their asses off just to have people walking away feeling this way due to circumstances out of their control. I dont see this as a reflection on the show and i am glad you have decided not to comment on that which you didn't see or hear. The reviews mention a great performance by one cast member in particular but mostly it was all about the sound issues. I hope the cast can recover from these set backs.
Opening night had a standing ovation by a full tent! Reviews I've read mostly are all about how good the show was and don't mention sound issues. Were we at the same show? Did we read the same reviews? Not sure which ones you read. Ticketek clearly states B and C tickets' sight lines. You didn't see this? A seats are <$90; VIP $155 tickets include other stuff not just the seat. Seats on stage are $40. The cast were very good. We had a great time; hilarious show, and will go again taking other family members. Still singing the songs days later.
Re Bad Dancin - bad seat, bad theatre comment. Have had seats many times where the back left or right of stage can't be viewed. happens in most theatres.
hey anonymous: "hope the CAST can recover from these setbacks"? How about the AUDIENCE?
And thanks Richard for acknowledging that paying for a ticket in Melbourne doesn't actually guarantee you anything; this is not regularly acknowledged in the press which so readily accept advertising from the shameless promoters.
(And $155 for a ticket to a songbook musical!?!)
Hey Ethel
NO NOT $155 a ticket. Maybe get some details before you comment on things you have no idea about. $85 a ticket. $155 for extras as someone already stated. Of course that is probably why you missed the note about sight line issues.... you dont bother looking at the details.
How about the audience??? yes, of course. But do you think there is to be no thought for the people busting their asses on stage FOR THE AUDIENCE and being let down by sound and tent issues??
Post a Comment