Live tour production quality

[jherr2018]

Anyone have any ideas on why the production quality of the live tours has been so variable? The first tour was really well put together, good sets, solid writing and scripts, the bits worked with the movies. The second tour, with both shows, it was also pretty solid.

But the Cheesy Movie Circus Tour, that I just saw last night, was like a Ren Faire show on a big stage. The "set" was basically a desk with some panels on it. The puppets were super small and just kinda odd. And the show itself wasn't that good. The bits didn't relate to the movie at all. One of them existed just to flog the merch. It didn't seem like the movie audio was ducked at all, so I only got maybe 20% of the jokes. And my kid, who has great hearing, was with me and said the same.

It's just sad.

One thing that is really odd to me; why rebuild the props and sets every time? Shouldn't they just keep the sets and reuse them, maybe make small improvements or replace stuff that gets busted on the road?

It feels like the first live show did ok, so they went back on the road with the second and the audience wasn't there (both shows I went to had ~15% occupancy). So maybe they lost money and now they are trying to recoup with a lightweight show,  where they keep the ticket prices the same, cut the production quality and merch the heck out of it? 

[Diet Kolos]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the last bit there. The first two seasons didn't make money. They probably didn't make any money on that second tour and probably barely broke even on the first. That's why they're touring with their third string of what's essentially college interns, so they don't have to pay anyone.

[jherr2018]

I'm not "in the biz" but I think they call that degrading the brand.

I'm a fan. I've paid for the lives shows, the kickstarter, and rifftrax (not the same I know, but...). But I don't think I'll see another live tour without it being something like a reunion tour with rifftrax. It's just not worth it.

I honestly came away angry with Joel last night. That was not cool.

[gerswin]

Angry in what way? With the quality of the show?

[majorjoe23]

The sound quality is likely the fault of the venue, not the touring show, they sounded fine in Des Moines,

[jherr2018]

Jan 18, 2020 16:00:30 GMT -5 gerswin said:

Angry in what way? With the quality of the show?

Angry about feeling used, if that makes any sense. It didn't seem like they made a good faith effort to make a genuinely decent show.  I probably had unrealistically high hopes. I seem to recall them talking about the circus in the last show. And then seeing the production blog. And it being hosted at a much bigger venue than the two previous shows. And it being Joel's finale tour. I really thought he had shot for the moon, and it was the exact opposite of that. So that delta between what I was hoping for and what was actually on the stage, was enormous.

[standbymejd]

I am both glad, and sad that I am not the only one who feels like this after seeing the show. I had front row seats and was still compelled to just leave halfway through the show. (I only stayed because I figured it would be my last time seeing Joel.)

[BoB3K]

Jan 18, 2020 10:34:24 GMT -5 jherr2018 said:

It feels like the first live show did ok, so they went back on the road with the second and the audience wasn't there (both shows I went to had ~15% occupancy).

Yikes, really? I'm surprised they did a 3rd show...although not really because my opinion of Joel the businessman has dropped to around 0.

[Mighty Jack]

sorry you didn't have fun.... but I did.

I didn't come for a big production, sets, etc, but for big laughs - and it delivered.

Ironic that so many have complained about the Netflix show being too slick, and now, this live show is not slick enough. Frankly, I liked it scaled back, it brought back memories of that old School, lo-fi budget, cow town show it used to be.

For me, it was more than a genuinely decent show and the audience I watched it with roared with laughter.

[Lukin]

I saw my first live show last night and while yes, the host segments had obviously zero budget and were very unfunny, I laughed at the movie performance harder than I ever laughed at the show. Something about the atmosphere of being there live and the energy of the room.

To me, that was way more important than the puppet show aspects. I read through this thread thoroughly confused but at the end of the day, I guess the puppet show is the main draw of MST for some people.