Originally Posted by
briankoenig
In Week 2 can we discuss the Vegas-ization of theater that involves stripping about 20 minutes of content and forgoing the intermission? (I'm not necessarily an opponent of that; Spamalot was great, and I usually find the intermission more of an excuse to sell expensive knick-knacks than a required break)
I'm not joking, I find your insight very interesting

Thanks. For what it's worth, I refuse to see any Broadway show in Las Vegas precisely because they are all cut to 90 minutes and lack an intermission. I can think of only one Broadway musical that was originally performed without an intermission and that was Man of La Mancha, which was a long, long, long time ago. Musicals usually run 1:00 to 1:15 for the first act and :45 to :60 for the second, thought there's been a recent trend towards shorter productions influenced, primarily, by Disney and its dreck -- apparently, the attention span of young children is too short to permit performances of a traditional length. I suspect the primary motivation for the "edited for time" productions in Las Vegas is so that they can fit in two performances a night. That, in itself, raises a number of issues as it really puts a strain on the performers. Historically, Broadway and London added extra performances by offering matinees -- originally on Wednesday and Sunday, but now on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. A matinee, at least, allows the performers a couple of hours to rest and eat something between shows.
At any rate, I'd like to see Spamalot, but I'll wait for the touring production to come to LA or Orange County.