Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
KevinKlawitter
Broadway Star Joined: 1/21/20
KevinKlawitter
Broadway Star Joined: 1/21/20
seaweedjstubbs
Broadway Star Joined: 3/21/07
#3Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 7/18/24 at 10:19am
LOVE that movie and love Trensch! Fingers crossed this is good!
CoffeeBreak
Broadway Star Joined: 3/30/17
#4Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 7/18/24 at 4:24pm
Exciting. We are hoping this is great too!
CoffeeBreak
Broadway Star Joined: 3/30/17
#5Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 7/18/24 at 4:27pm
Does BAM ever extend their shows?
#6Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 8/1/24 at 7:26pm
FYI, all preview balcony seats, September 17 through October 2, are $44.50, including fees.
#7Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 8/19/24 at 6:50pm
and if you see it during the first week of previews, orchestra tickets are just $64.50 (fees included)!
#8Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/16/24 at 11:43am
This was being papered, I figured, why not? I’ll be there Sunday.
raddersons
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#9Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 10:23pm
I was there tonight for the second preview. This show is a hot mess. A lot of the melodies are catchy and I like the indie rock sound… but you don’t connect with the characters at all, the lyrics don’t move the story forward, and what they decide to sing about (a love song to a laptop? A song about becoming a werewolf? A training montage?) feels like it was picked out of a hat. The stage is basically empty with a few small rolling set pieces in and out, with the most bizarre choice of flat bright green floor that looks like a green screen? I don’t know what mood this show is supposed to set; I want this show to be quirky and offbeat but it just comes across as amateur, boring, and borderline nonsensical. I don’t even know what message it’s trying to get across. Just a huge miss.
Updated On: 9/18/24 at 10:23 PM
#10Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 10:23pm
Been a long time since I disliked something as much as this tonight. I’m sorry, but there was absolutely nothing redeemable in it, for me. At two hours long, this was a loooooong evening for me.
willep
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/08
#11Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 11:07pm
Oof, have tickets for this weekend and was looking forward to it.
#12Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 11:13pm
I hope you like it. For me, it played like a project some middle schoolers wrote one day at a summer camp to put on for people that night.
VintageSnarker
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/30/15
#13Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 11:22pmWell, that's disappointing. At least I went for the cheaper previews tickets.
NYfanfromCA
Broadway Star Joined: 10/13/15
#14Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 11:28pm
I liked it. When I was scanned in, I was told that tonight was the first preview and that it was running 1:54 no intermission. I thought that it was fun and sweet with music and songs that I would listen to again. I do agree about not getting to know the characters (especially compared to the movie), and I didn't feel any emotional connection to the story (like I did with the movie). Talented, hard working cast and musicians. I think that it can get better as they work through previews.
raddersons
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#15Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/18/24 at 11:31pm
Yes I actually just spoke to a friend who said they were supposed to go yesterday but it was cancelled. So today was in fact the first preview.
chrishuyen
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/12/14
#16Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/20/24 at 1:30pm
I generally agree with all the other posters, though I didn't come out feeling quite as negative. The show isn't good but it's a bit inoffensive (and maybe that's because I had no familiarity with the movie so I was still a little invested for the plot) and it was worth it for the TDF price I paid.
I liked the *sound* of the score (though I do usually like a rock sound overall), but none of the songs really had melodies that would make any of them notable or memorable. And most of the songs are more of the "let's sing this song about the situation" style but don't actually do anything crucial for the plot (I'll give them credit though for having identified a lot of the right spots to add a song though). I think the closest a song came to functioning like a traditional musical theater song was maybe "Are You Good?" but honestly a lot of them blend together for me even when looking at the song list. And I wonder if they'd change this in previews, but so many songs ended without a button and you could feel the audience hesitate in trying to figure out whether to clap or not.
From just reading the plot summary of the movie on Wikipedia, it seems like the show follows that story fairly closely, but without interesting characters, and I really enjoyed seeing Nkeki Obi-Melekwe's performance, but Darius just didn't seem to have any personality traits--she seemed to oscillate between heartfelt and "lets just do it for ****s and giggles" so I never had a clear handle on her motivations or how much she really believed Kenneth. On the other hand, Jeff and Arnau seemed like more two dimensional stock characters (more so on the part of Jeff, but Pomme Koch was fantastic in the role). And while I could eventually see the pieces of how the themes among the different characters came together, it just felt like they were in different stories and I often found myself thinking "why do we care" whenever we went back to a Jeff or Arnau subplot. I felt like I could almost see the gaps where the movie may have done a better job of intertwining the different parts of the story.
Even with all the other problems, I think the show could've played better if it had stronger direction. I agree with raddersons that a lot of the visual elements seemed puzzling. They have the band on stage to just take up space they didn't know how to use, or at least that's how it seemed. Maybe it would've worked better in a smaller theater, but I think even just defining different spaces would've helped a bit, as the show seemed to be asking a lot of the audience in envisioning the different settings. I did think the opening was fairly strong, but almost immediately after that I could tell there were tonal issues as they couldn't decide what kind of story they wanted to be (the lead up to the finale played off as campy and there was an audience member near me who couldn't stop laughing at it). While there are "serious" threats in the story, you never know how you're supposed to take them because the show didn't set a strong tone to begin with, so the stakes are kind of all up in the air.
I could possibly be convinced to see this again if they really put in some work during previews, but ultimately this was a miss for me, which is rather disappointing as I like a lot of the people involved in it. I do also wonder about the recent trend of non-theater artists composing musical theater scores as they all (with the exception of Sara Bareilles) seem to miss the key points of what a theater score is supposed to do, but I suppose that's another topic entirely.
rachelfran
Stand-by Joined: 8/24/17
#17Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/20/24 at 1:40pm
Jordan Catalano said: "I hope you like it. For me, it played like a project some middle schoolers wrote one day at a summer camp to put on for people that night."
i was there and thought i was in an alternate universe when the crowd popped up to give a standing ovation. They are boosting the show score ratings. At least the woman sitting next to me was as dumbfounded as I was. Definite high school vibes but not NYC high school ... somewhere without a budget for high school productions. I didn't see the film but researched it ahead of time and saw some clips on youtube so I had a sense of the story and vibe and thought the lead wacko had it down but everything from the sound and staging to the set was bad. I was waiting for an emotional connection, but it never came. What a disappointment.
two ladies tickets
Stand-by Joined: 5/21/10
#18Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/20/24 at 1:45pm
I was on the fence about purchasing tickets and then I was reminded that one of the authors wrote Glory Days, the horrific/boring Broadway musical that closed on opening night about 14 years ago... so that's a hard pass for me and based on what some other people have reported in this thread, I am very glad I am skipping this.
#19Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/21/24 at 10:20pm
I just left and…honestly I’m not sure what I saw.
I have to agree that the indie rock sound made for a great score, but it lyrically did not attach itself to the material and seemed to be radio-ready as opposed to advancing plot (a pet peeve of mine). Also, the sound design was not at all helpful. I was directly first row by the actors and I could hear lags and cutting out of the microphones and, even being just a tiny barrier from them, couldn’t make out some of the lyrics over the band.
Based on what I read of the film plot, it seems like the book sticks close to the movie, but alters characters that never really have dimension in the first place. (One of the male reporters was made gay, but there was no real reason for it other than, I guess, to add in another love song?)
The performances were fine given the material. Having seen Nkeki as Tina Turner, I know she has depth and range, though she didn’t get to show much here. Taylor Trensch does bat***t crazy quite well, and after his petulant prince in CAMELOT, this redeemed him for me. Of the remaining cast, Pomme Koch was the standout as the sleazy editor.
I feel like it could’ve been a great play or a good concept album, but the marriage of the two elements into a musical seemed to end up being less than the sum of its parts.
Side Note: During a critical scene, Taylor accidentally chucked the prop security tag at me and under my seat and I was trying to find a way to get it back to him in the context of the scene, but he was already upstage at that point so I just left it on the stage after curtain call. He profusely apologized after the show and I just told him that I was impressed that he was able to steal the device from the lab without the security tag. A laugh was had by all.
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RUkiddingme
Leading Actor Joined: 12/9/11
#20Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/22/24 at 9:15pm
Agreeing with others -
This is pretty bad.
One thing I didn't read here before - Taylor has some of the worst songs ever written for a male lead. Ever! How they made it past the first rehearsal is a mystery.
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#21Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/23/24 at 12:26pm
Saw this this past weekend and couldn’t find much, if anything, to like about it. It felt extremely amateurish – both the written show (book and score) and the production itself. The transitions in and out of the songs were particularly awkward.
Did anyone else have issues with the sound mixing? The sound of the band was so forward and drowning out the singing that I genuinely think I only caught about 25% of the lyrics. During the first song I leaned over to the person I was with and asked if they could understand anything, but they had the same problem. (We were in the balcony, so maybe that was part of it?) Unfortunately, the few lyrics I was able to catch left much to be desired.
willep
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/08
#22Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/23/24 at 12:53pm
The direction and production truly didn’t do the show itself any favors. Some directors can elevate mediocre material, but in this case it just made it that much more obvious. I was truly shocked how poor it was on those fronts.
As for the material, as others have said, it’s not great. I had a fine time, the music is nice, but what I could hear of the lyrics (which was admittedly not much), was not good. It’s a pity because it is a fun story and I wish it was done better.
charlie525600
Chorus Member Joined: 2/12/20
#23Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/23/24 at 1:17pm
I went with a group of non-theatre goers and all liked this overall (although the cynics among the group complained about the ending).
Going against the grain of this thread, I actually thought this was a pretty good show. I loved the indie-rock score (although I agree that the sound balance could be improved). The pacing could be tightened and the transitions into and out of songs improved, but for a new work, I thought this was pretty charming. Certainly could amp up the set for subsequent productions, but I wasn't expecting spectacle.
#24Musical adaptation of film SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED from Nick Blaemire and Ryan Miller (Guster) to premiere at BAM
Posted: 9/25/24 at 12:19am
More to come tomorrow, but I either saw a different show than most posters or they have done some work. The score and cast are amazing. Yes, the book and direction needs work, but I truly had fun. And was going in with low expectations tonight. It may never lift off further, but well worth the trip to BAM to see it.
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