Monster Stomp on Ripper Row

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Definitely. As I said on Twitter, the first show of the season just about beat any performance I've seen, and it was the first show!

It still has the some of the flow inconsistencies that we have all come to expect from this show, but the performers were on a roll. I never thought they could get people to buy into the knife drumming any more than what they have done, but they had new moves. Needless to say, the crowd went wild.

Sound was also at the best that I have heard it. It seems like they decided to quit playing around with speakers that they don't need, and maximize the essential speakers and live percussion.

Aside from the lack of a good number of live singers, they could play around with some of the tricks that they have used lately in the Abbey Stone to aid singers struggling to hold a note. Although, if today is any indicator, the singers won't need any phony vocal support anyway.
 
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I guess I'm the only one who wasn't big on the new leads. Talent-wise they were good, but I thought the lead girl is supposed to portray Mary Jane who I thought was widely believed to be a redhead or blonde. And the lead guy isn't intimidating like Jack The Ripper should be. The previous lead wasn't super intimidating either, but he had "crazy eyes" that made him believable. There's nothing intimidating about the new guy.

I don't know, maybe I'm being shallow and nitpicking because I did think they performed well.

Overall, I still really enjoy the show and I'm sure the new leads will grow on me.
 
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I agree that this year's show is the best one thus far. Really energetic cast and strong moments, sure there's some spots that were a little iffy but that's a minor nitpick for me.
 
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The calander on the web site has not listed showtimes yet, but go to the Howl-O-Scream section and click on shows. Pick the show you want to see and you have the option to buy reserved seats. You dont have to buy the seats but it does show all the show times. I already know l'll be watching monster stomp at 12:30 Fiends at 1:30 and night beats at 2:30 on the 29th. Cant wait
 
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AtmosFX, the company that BGW used last year for those random projections, just rolled out these digital projections that look exactly like the animation at the start of "Beat It" in Monster Stomp on Ripper Row. Is this just a coincidence?

 

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Didn't get to attend tonight because I had to work so I'll pass along what my mom said about the show until I can see it for myself. I texted her asking how it was and she said "It was great. The two leads are awesome together. Great chemistry." She also mentioned that there were just a few changes that she noticed.
 
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Okay, just got to see Monster Stomp for myself. It was Monster Stomp as usual with a few changes, most notably to the dancing skeleton part and to the knife drummer part. Nothing to make or break the show in my opinion. If you've enjoyed it in past seasons, you'll still like it this season and vice versa. Still a solid B+/A- show in my opinion.

I thought the leads were really good. The guy that played Jack the Ripper two seasons ago is back which is cool. I've always liked him. He's been in shows across the park for a few years now so he's a familiar face and is a great performer. I didn't recognize the lead girl but I was sitting literally in the back row next to the sound and lighting workers but she was very good as well performance-wise. Looks to be another good season for Monster Stomp!
 
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Rhaw757 said:
Okay, just got to see Monster Stomp for myself. It was Monster Stomp as usual with a few changes, most notably to the dancing skeleton part and to the knife drummer part.
Click to expand...

Are you allowed to elaborate to this part? Did they remove the dancing skeletons and the knife drummer guys? Or just change up their routine? Thanks! :)
 
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Just got out of the first show of Monster Stomp. Huge change right after the skeleton portion. I won't spoil it too much, but the whole "Light My Fire"/"Total Eclipse of the Heart" portion is removed and replaced with a mashup routine of Queen's "Somebody To Love" and Ariana Grande's "Dangerous Woman" which was interesting. I don't know how I feel about it yet because I'm so used to how it's been since it's inception so I'm going to wait a few shows to form an opinion but it definitely seemed to speed up the show by a good few minutes. My little brother happened to love the change though. The rest of the changes were subtle like minor changes in choreography, specifically in the skeleton portion and the knife guys. Hopefully others will chime in with their opinion.
 
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I'm going to miss "Light My Fire"/"Total Eclipse of the Heart" as it was honestly one of my favorite parts of the original set list, but I don't think the change is show-ruining. Still an entertaining production with a very strong cast overall.

Truthfully, I wish the new section was just a straight addition to the show instead of a replacement. The show has always felt like it needed another section to fill out the setlist and increase the runtime a little.
 
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One thing I worry about is that the song won't age well. Actors/singers tend to add a bunch of unnecessary energy to their performances once they get tired of their roles. That can be very bad for a song that's highly freestyled and, in my opinion, already overdone.
 
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After three views of the show now, I'm comfortable saying that I enjoy the changes in the show. I won't say it's better or worse, but I do like that they shook it up a bit since it's been lacking any major changes since it's inception. I may be biased though because Queen is one of my favorite bands of all time and Somebody To Love is my favorite song of theirs and as much as I hate most modern pop music, Ariana Grande is extremely talented and her songs have a cool vibe to them. Also, those two songs are extremely hard to sing vocally (I have zero musical talent or expertise but they just seem to require a lot of range) and both lead vocalist rock the hell out of those two songs.

Now, for some negatives which have nothing to do with the show. The experience in the Globe Theater can be extremely frustrating at times. You walk in and there's immediately someone directing you either to the right or left side of the theater which isn't a big deal to me at least but it just feels like immediately when you walk in, you're being directed to sit somewhere you may not want to. Again, this isn't a big deal to me because I don't care much about which side I sit on, but it immediately kind of creates a weird atmosphere. Then you get in and half of the rows are roped off or reserved. 90% of the time these reserved rows are opened up at the very last minute because nobody paid for reserved seats for that show. Can we maybe get some coordination with that? I get it, there might be some last minute seat reservations, but how about making a cutoff time for reservations? That way they have an idea of what rows they need to have reserved so they're not blocking off some rows for no reason? It's a bit frustrating getting there and having to choose between the very front row or the very end of one of the rows when there are 3 reserved rows reserved and some rows a bit further back roped off for whatever reason. I'm usually one who doesn't like to complain about things in the park, but some of the theaters can be a bit frustrating at times.
 
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Amen regarding Globe Theatre operations!

I was forced to watch MSoRR a dozen seats or so from the end of a row in the back 1/3rd of the theater despite the fact that tons of rows (empty reserved ones near the front and empty roped off ones right behind where I was) sat empty for the entire show.

Reserved seating should be released to anyone ten minutes before the show. No rows should ever be roped off. No one should ever need to direct people where to sit either—that isn't required anywhere else in the park and the other shows do just fine.
 
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I saw this for the first time ever last weekend. I don't understand the name of the show with "Monster" in it. I really expected the peformers to be in monster costumes at some point but instead they were policemen and natives.

The opening and the closing acts "Rhythm is Gonna Get You" and "Thriller"are the best parts. Strong choreography with the entire cast moving together. The rest was ok. The acts that seems to be most popular with the crowd are the knife drumming and the skeletons (which is totally novelty and not really choreographically pleasing IMO).

The Queen/Ariana Grande mash up didn't flow well together IMO. It seems those songs were chosen for their lyrics, not because they blend together.

The vocalists and dancers all did an outstanding job. The lead male is from Britmania but I think the Queen song really showed his range ability better than anything in the summer show. The knife drummers are fools for doing that.

Its ridiculous they don't allow people in the back rows, as the side seating in that theatre is horrible because of the round configuration.
 
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