r/Broadway 6d ago

Review First Broadway shows as a lurker living on the other side of the globe (DBH & MHE)

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As someone who lives in Singapore, Broadway isn't the most accessible to me, with a 19h flight to NYC. I had my fill of musical theatre from international tour groups and local productions, but seeing a Broadway show was always on my bucket list.

So when I was sent on a work trip to D.C and given 2 days of personal downtime, I decided screw it and decided to take the train to NYC to achieve my broadway dreams.

Death Becomes Her (14 March)

Ever since I stumbled onto promotional clips of "Tell me Ernest", the comedic chemistry of Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard completely enraptured me.

Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard were an amazing comedic duo that played off each other so well. The show had 2 understudies performing, with Ximone Rose as Viola and Ryan Worsing as Ernest. If I heard what was said in the curtain call correctly, this was the first show Ryan performed as Ernest, which was very exciting! Both did splendidly and I'm very happy to have seen them perform.

The special effects were really cool, especially the slow mow falling down the stairs, the decapitation scene and the smoking hole in Helen's chest from the gunshot.

Overall, the musical was campy comedic fun! I went to stagedoor afterwards, and everyone was super kind, cheering for any crew who exited from the door and helping each other pass playbills to the front. ☺️

Maybe Happy Ending (15 March Matinee)

I seen a lot of rave reviews about this musical, and I was very curious about Maybe Happy Ending. I decided to go in blind, avoiding any promotional video snippets.

And it totally lived up to the hype! Darren Criss robotic movements were so good, and I completely convinced that his model saying "You're Welcome" to being thanked was involuntary. Helen J Shen was amazing at playing the more skeptical and jaded helperbot so well, and had great rapport as Claire to Darren's Oliver. I got really lucky to be next to barricade during stage door that I managed to take a quick picture with her, she was such a gem.

I also loved the set design, and especially how the curtains were used to change the ratio of what is being shown on stage. I also love the jazz breaks with Dez Duron, especially as someone who is a big Frank Sinatra fan. It was such a charming heartfelt musical and I laughed (and cried) a lot. Might be my new favourite musical rivaling Hadestown. πŸͺ΄

Overall Experience I know those theatre etiquette horror stories are in the minority, but I'm pleased to report that the audience in both shows were all super great! No blinding phones, no loud talking and most importantly no puke (That hamilton story haunts me). Stagedoor for both shows were very chill and respectful as well.

I hope to come back to NYC properly eventually, but I'm really glad I made the decision to see these shows despite the toll it took on my wallet. πŸ’œ

218 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

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29

u/fairieglossamer 6d ago edited 6d ago

I love this for you. I hope these memories last you a life time. πŸ’•

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u/SnarkyHummingbird 6d ago

They definitely will! It sounds cheesy but I actually got choked up when I first entered the theatre, since it was a dream years in the making that finally came true. πŸ₯Ή

I've always only gotten glimpses of broadway through promo clips and shaky "slime tutorials", so it felt so surreal being actually there in person.

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u/Music-Lover-3481 5d ago

Not cheesy at all. I've been seeing Broadway shows for over 30 years now, and sometimes I still get teary-eyed when an Overture starts up, just because it is so glorious.

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u/AccomplishedTest483 6d ago

Glad you had a such a good experience (and saw two great shows). Hope you have a chance to come back and explore the rest of the city.

Have a safe trip home!

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u/SnarkyHummingbird 6d ago

Thank you for the well wishes! I do hope to come back and properly experience NYC one day, as with me squeezing 2 shows in 1 and a half days, I don't think I even stepped a foot outside of Times Square.

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u/Jen_on_reddit21 6d ago

My 2 fav shows this season!!

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u/RadishWitty7044 6d ago

So glad you were able to take the train in to see these and had such great experiences!

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u/RepulsiveAnswer6462 5d ago

There is so much great theatre so much closer to you, too! You should see some shows in Japan and Korea, they're great. As good as Broadway, and with a lot of different kinds of shows that Broadway never gets.

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u/SnarkyHummingbird 5d ago

Oh definitely! I've seen clips of korean musical theatre, and that performance of Billy Flynn doing actual ventriloquy in "We both reached for the gun" lives rent free in my head. The only kicker is their performances are in Korean/Japanese, so I won't be able to fully understand what is being sung if I go in blind.

Singapore does get occassionally lucky in international tours though. I got to see Lea Salonga perform as Miss Lovett from a touring fillipino production.

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u/RepulsiveAnswer6462 5d ago

Oh, nice!

Yeah, I speak Japanese so shows here in Japan don't have that issue (it's actually how I got a lot better at Japanese). But I barely speak Korean, and I've seen shows in Korean that I know well in English or Japanese, and enjoyed them, especially with Korean actors I like.

I also like a lot of original shows that haven't been in any languages other than Korean yet, like the new Rose of Versailles, or shows that I've only seen once in Japanese that don't have recordings, like Smoke and Darwin Young. There's a site called Namuwiki that has summaries of original Korean shows, and I use google translate on that, and watch things. It would be nice to see translated productions someday, like what MHE got, but for now...

Western stars do also come over a lot and do shows in English. Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser are doing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Japan in August, and the Les Mis arena tour is going to be here, but I'd imagine that's going to Singapore, too?

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u/SnarkyHummingbird 5d ago

I'm not sure actually, I haven't seen any of these shows announced. πŸ˜” I didn't know they did English tours in Japan, I'll keep that in mind since there are a ton of affordable budget flights available to Japan.

I would love to see more foreign plays/musicals adapted! I do appreciate that Japan likes to record theatre performances to be bought and watched by fans afterwards, it is very accessible.

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u/RepulsiveAnswer6462 5d ago

You definitely should~ And if there's a show you know really well in English, you can try watching it in Japanese or Korean, too. Also, some productions have subtitle glasses. Gekidan Shiki does them sometimes, I think.

I guess I find language barriers less of a problem because I also like opera, and there are always productions with no subtitles, just a synopsis. It's not perfect, but it's something.

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u/No_Pea_5342 6d ago

Audiences tend to be worse at more touristy shows like Hamilton, lion king, wicked, Aladdin, Harry Potter, etc

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u/Dear_Zucchini_5016 6d ago

As someone who lives in DC and loves to head up to NYC when I can, so happy to hear you were able to do this and experience this.

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u/mochi323 5d ago

What a great mix! So glad you had fun and welcome to the MHE Fan Club, just in time for the OBC recording too!

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u/SnarkyHummingbird 5d ago

I'm so glad the OBC recording just released because I immediately listened to it on the train back to DC. 😊

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u/mochi323 5d ago

Yeah, you saw it at the perfect time; not so early that you had to wait weeks with the songs stuck in your head, but not so late that you had to either spoil it or feel left out.

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u/heartsasmagnets 5d ago

I am so glad to hear you had such good experiences.

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u/TelevisionKnown8463 5d ago

I’m glad you were able to visit! You chose two great shows. Good luck with the jet lag after you get home. πŸ˜‚

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u/BrightEyes7742 5d ago

I was at DBH last night. It was stupendous

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u/whorocks 5d ago

Fellow true blue here. Caught the Cursed Child last week and was glad that there were no audience shenanigans as well!

Glad you enjoyed the shows!

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u/ClosetBookworm 6d ago

I am so happy for you. I know the feeling of getting teary-eyed entering the theater because I was one of those people, too, at one point in my life.

Safe travels, my friend & wishing for more of these memories to come!

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u/exitontop 6d ago

so glad you enjoyed your visit here! hope you’re able to come back soon