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My seat was alright:
And I was there 2 weeks before the NYC opening night? Because the opening night just happened. I was in some sort of pre thingie? IDK. I just grabbed a ticket? The show was good! I'll post more on that below a cut.
Due to rain, I took a car to the theater. The driver was deaf. The reason why this is relevant is, you know how modern cars sometimes have censors that ding if a car is too close to you, or you are too close to it? Imagine being in a car in NYC traffic with that sensor NOT disabled. The driver was fine. He drove exactly how I'd expect someone who drives in NYC for a living to drive. But, the whole ride was dingdingdingdididididididididding.... ding....
Then I couldn't find the theater because the way I needed to go was blocked by people who were in line for 'whatever my tour group booked'. Seriously, most people couldn't or wouldn't tell me what they were in line for, so I just had to start pushing through lines to get to an employee for help. The lines turned out to all be for Hamilton, the line for my show turned out to be inside.
It was good! Better than I expected. It starts off a little rocky when it's focusing on Henry's parents. His family scenes kinda feel like stage plays, and knowing the writers that's likely intentional. But, once the story kicks off and focuses more on Young Joyce, Young Hopper and Young Bob it really comes together. Some of the actors are insanely good. The effects also ramp up from basic stage craft to 'holy fuck'. A slo-mo scene and effect near the end are insane.
I really, really like that they didn't go with 'Henry is the REAL woobie' as the plotline. I hate that trend. There's a lot of subtle trope subversion going on. At the start of the play he's still at a point where things could go very differently for him. His family moving the kids to a new town and school could have worked out, the show plays with that potential. They didn't woobiefy him, but they did show how things could have gone. The only person who is clearly a villain is Brenner, who was already established as a main villain and why shit went the way it did. They didn't change anything there.
The show avoided the problems of the Stranger Things tie in novels by adding a new character, one who could have a plotline resolve. They dodged a lot of problems that can plague prequels and tie-ins. They avoided gratuitous fanservice or pandering except for one detail, but while I groaned at it everyone else laughed. There was exactly one moment where the audience is supposed to catch a reference and laugh at it. And honestly, for a production like this and an audience who isn't going to be as picky as me, letting one of those moments happen so the audience can feel smart is honestly perfect.
I'd see it again, especially for some of the middle parts. They did some impressive stuff with that show. It wasn't the IP-exploiting mess they could have done, far from it. They took the production really seriously.
And I was there 2 weeks before the NYC opening night? Because the opening night just happened. I was in some sort of pre thingie? IDK. I just grabbed a ticket? The show was good! I'll post more on that below a cut.
Due to rain, I took a car to the theater. The driver was deaf. The reason why this is relevant is, you know how modern cars sometimes have censors that ding if a car is too close to you, or you are too close to it? Imagine being in a car in NYC traffic with that sensor NOT disabled. The driver was fine. He drove exactly how I'd expect someone who drives in NYC for a living to drive. But, the whole ride was dingdingdingdididididididididding.... ding....
Then I couldn't find the theater because the way I needed to go was blocked by people who were in line for 'whatever my tour group booked'. Seriously, most people couldn't or wouldn't tell me what they were in line for, so I just had to start pushing through lines to get to an employee for help. The lines turned out to all be for Hamilton, the line for my show turned out to be inside.
It was good! Better than I expected. It starts off a little rocky when it's focusing on Henry's parents. His family scenes kinda feel like stage plays, and knowing the writers that's likely intentional. But, once the story kicks off and focuses more on Young Joyce, Young Hopper and Young Bob it really comes together. Some of the actors are insanely good. The effects also ramp up from basic stage craft to 'holy fuck'. A slo-mo scene and effect near the end are insane.
I really, really like that they didn't go with 'Henry is the REAL woobie' as the plotline. I hate that trend. There's a lot of subtle trope subversion going on. At the start of the play he's still at a point where things could go very differently for him. His family moving the kids to a new town and school could have worked out, the show plays with that potential. They didn't woobiefy him, but they did show how things could have gone. The only person who is clearly a villain is Brenner, who was already established as a main villain and why shit went the way it did. They didn't change anything there.
The show avoided the problems of the Stranger Things tie in novels by adding a new character, one who could have a plotline resolve. They dodged a lot of problems that can plague prequels and tie-ins. They avoided gratuitous fanservice or pandering except for one detail, but while I groaned at it everyone else laughed. There was exactly one moment where the audience is supposed to catch a reference and laugh at it. And honestly, for a production like this and an audience who isn't going to be as picky as me, letting one of those moments happen so the audience can feel smart is honestly perfect.
I'd see it again, especially for some of the middle parts. They did some impressive stuff with that show. It wasn't the IP-exploiting mess they could have done, far from it. They took the production really seriously.
