Question for Regular Theatre Goers?

[TickTockMan]

Do you find you enjoy the play, musical or opera more the less you know about the work?


All of my favorites, except for Disney musicals, I have known nothing about and had little to no interest in seeing them, but they were part of my season. Shows such as "Love Never Dies", "Spring Awakening" and "In The Heights" blew me away. Shows such as "Phantom of The Opera" and "Hamilton" were great disappointments. I am not sure if that was because I knew a bit about them or if I had too great of expectations.



Thoughts?

 

[Latimer]

By this time in my life--I'm now 40--most of the operas I see, I've seen before, or at least listened to some of the music, and know the plot. I grew up in world where it would have been difficult to not know the outlines of most works in the standard repetoire. It's like Shakespeare--you can't not know how Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth are going to end. Individual productions may bring me more pleasure and satisfaction, others less, but it has little to do with prior knowlege.

On the other hand, the greatest theatrical experience I've had was watching a famous Kabuki piece, "The School House". I knew nothing about it, and was on the edge of my seat the entire performance. I would not have had such a deeply felt, truly profound experience of the work had I known how it would play out.

A few days ago I attended a production of Swan Lake in Rome that recast a minor character--the hero's best friend, as the villain. I was fascinated to see how it would turn out, and enjoyed the tension and anxiety of not knowing, even though I was ultimately disappointed as to how the plot was finally resolved.

 

[TickTockMan]

^Thank you

 

[RyanKwanten]

as you get older, i think you gravitate to the familiar.

Live shows are also so much more expensive now, a disappointing show can turn you off the genre.

I went to many musicals as a young kid, and loved them.
But Mamma Mia was the worst, and most expensive musical I ever saw.

However Muriel's Wedding has become musical with original songs, as well as being true to the movie - so it revived my love of musicals.

 

[TickTockMan]

as you get older, i think you gravitate to the familiar.

Live shows are also so much more expensive now, a disappointing show can turn you off the genre.

I went to many musicals as a young kid, and loved them.
But Mamma Mia was the worst, and most expensive musical I ever saw.

However Muriel's Wedding has become musical with original songs, as well as being true to the movie - so it revived my love of musicals.

Being disabled if it was not for season tickets I could not afford to see as many plays/musicals as I do, but that is also what allows me to see things I know nothing about, but fall in love with.

 

[Rickrock]

If I have too high an expectation it can make a play (or movie) less enjoyable. If I don't expect much, the performance can be more enjoyable, but it depends. The first time I saw "Cabaret" I was blown away by it. I've seen it two more times and one was less enjoyable and the other time was almost as enjoyable as the first. I think that it depended on the performers.

 

[TickTockMan]

If I have too high an expectation it can make a play (or movie) less enjoyable. If I don't expect much, the performance can be more enjoyable, but it depends. The first time I saw "Cabaret" I was blown away by it. I've seen it two more times and one was less enjoyable and the other time was almost as enjoyable as the first. I think that it depended on the performers.

Very much.

My third favorite musical, Spring Awaking I loved the first time I saw it. The second time I was bored and had no idea what they were doing a lot of the time. The actors sucked.