Celebrity Production Shows

[mcrcruiser]

Some time back Celebrity had announced that they were undertaking production of their own on board shows .;)

 

What is your opinion of these new shows & if you can be ship specific would be of help ?

[Heartfelttraveler]

We were on the Solstice in February. (First cruise with Celebrity and third cruise overall.). The shows were 40 - 50 minutes. Good singers and dancers. Great Elton John cover singer. From my limited experience I would rate Solstice's shows as better than Princess but not as good as NCL Escape. The solstice shows were good enough that we went all but one night. The theater was about 80 to 90 percent full most nights.

[hcat]

We saw 2 of the new entries...

 

We saw Elysium on EQ.,,nice costumes, very good voices, good acrobatics and dancing, very visual....but it went on and on without a real identity.(billed as a journey through the season??).

 

Eventually we were bored as it was very repetitive. We left, along with quite a few others,

( luckily we were seated on the aisle towards the back) A for effort of the cast... but material was weak...voices could be put to better use,

 

We also saw one of the the atrium shows which was hyped to the max..not enough seats in the limited space atrium so folks gathered around the railings..we were early and had front row seats. . It was.called Masque...lots of costumed dancers came down the stairway..which was blocked off for a long time ...Cast was costumed with mask & wigs...no singing, just a sound track mostly from Rocky Horror(been there, done that) ..lively but pretty bad...prancing and dancing..seemingly no point to this show either. .Again A for cast effort but material not very good...maybe a good high school talent show skit!

 

I think this was a great inquiry and would like to hear about shows on Infinity and Silho...among our upoming bookings,,.

Edited March 5, 2016 by hcat

[4774Papa]

We enjoy the production shows, but in the last three years, we have done 7 Celebrity cruises and repeating the same shows gets old.

 

I understand that new shows are coming out (or perhaps they already have). That is good.

[wendychloecruiser]

We are just home from a b2b on Equinox. It was exceedingly refreshing to NOT have a Broadway rehash again. ELYSIUM got standing O's on each cruise. And EDGE was equally well received. The singers and dancers were exceptional.

[Grandmaanne7]

We just did a B2B on Reflection. The entertainment was exactly the same both weeks (with the exception of one comedian). We enjoyed the production shows so much that we went to all three of them both weeks! All four of us found them to be very good to excellent.

 

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[bEwAbG]

We just did a B2B on Reflection. The entertainment was exactly the same both weeks (with the exception of one comedian). We enjoyed the production shows so much that we went to all three of them both weeks! All four of us found them to be very good to excellent.

 

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Those shows on Reflection are the "old" ones. I went to the Q&A held with some of the cast and the lead female singer said that their current contract expires some time in March, which is when the "new" shows are coming in. She made a distinction that it was not just a recasting of the current shows.

Edited March 5, 2016 by bEwAbG

[mcrcruiser]

Thanks to those giving their opinions :).When we get Feb & March show reviews we all should get a better idea as to how the new shows are received by the audiences ;)

[Kirsten T]

Agree with BosoxI, but I'll embellish a little.

 

Short answer: I hated the new shows, both in content and due to the excruciating volume Celebrity seems to think is required in the theatre. I really wanted to like them; the costumes, sets, tech and dancing were impressive. But all the shows are now just a collection of pop tunes with very thin, or no discernable plot lines. It's sort of like watching upscale karaoke with expensive costumes and dancing. Ultimately I walked out of every show thinking I should have done something else instead.

 

Equinox Jan. 2016 - I saw Elysium and another one about a music box. The one about the music box had interesting technical effects and great dancing. After 10 minutes I'd had enough of the music and couldn't see any plot developing, but this was the first new show I'd seen, so hung in there to see if it got better. It didn't. I still have no idea what it was about, other than a ballerina in a music box. Elysium was the 2nd formal night show and I was hoping to see the "specialty acts" we'd enjoyed so much in the Cirque-style show that Elysium replaced. They did have aerialists but they were a very small part of the show. The rest was a blond female vocalist wearing puffy princess dresses, looking amazed (a la Taylor Swift) and giggling a lot as the costumes and sets sort of morphed into stylized seasons, kinda sorta. There was another female vocalist who appeared to play a "bad witch" for dramatic contrast. The male vocalists didn't have much to do. The dancing was good, and again, the tech and sets were impressive. But the music ranged from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" to the Stones' "Paint It Black" to Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" and, inexplicably, "Imagination" from Willy Wonka (the first movie.) If it was supposed to be about the seasons, I don't know how anything but the Vivaldi fit in. This one at least had live musicians playing with the pre-recorded tracks; that helped a little.

 

Constellation Feb. 2016: IHollywood was a more traditional tour through various shows, with good dancing. This was the last night of a 4-night cruise and I missed the first half of the show. The 6 vocalists on this cruise were adequate but not outstanding, but at least this show featured the live musicians. It was okay. Land of Make Believe was all pre-recorded music; another karaoke-fest with dancing. The story started with a wedding where the groom's Mom hated the bride ("Going to the Chapel and we're gonna get ma-a-arried") and suddenly the bride ended up in an enchanted forest where she had to look for something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue to get home but managed to talk to her beloved fiance on a phone, while a goofy prince found himself in love with her due to being put under a spell by a witch that I think was the evil future mother-in-law. I'm not making that up. It was billed as being light-hearted and fun, and there were parts that were definitely funny. One highlight: the two specialty performers on Connie right now are absolutely amazing - every time they appeared in both shows, their grace and strength and aerial moves basically stopped the show in its tracks - the crowd went wild every time, and I wished Celebrity would focus more on that kind of entertainment. They were fantastic.

 

So one woman's opinion: Celebrity's new shows just made me say, Huh? I didn't get them. Whoever developed them seemed to be trying too hard, or maybe not hard enough. The theatre wasn't nearly full at any performance and a significant number of people walked out of all these shows, and I'd not seen much of that before, especially with the formal night shows. And they seriously need to turn down the volume; it was painful.

[chamima]

Just off the Eclipse.

I saw two of the new production shows (can't remember why i missed the third).

Personally I think the quality of the new shows was fabulous. I was so sick of the old high-school quality musical reviews. The two I saw were edgy and just a little weird. Each had a "narrator", a young man with a really good voice, who kind of oversaw his own world. The first was a cross between phantom of the opera and another recent musical which escapes my mind just now (I'm suffering from mal de debarquement - google what that it is - so you'll have to forgive me. )

The second was about a group of characters that lived in his hat. Also, just weird and edgy enough.

Each also incorporated a little of the cirque - type acrobatics that Celebrity is known for.

There were also some good comedians and singers other evenings but those shows in the theater were almost the ONLY evening entertainment.

When they were over things were pretty much dead most nights (with a few exceptions). :(

[bEwAbG]

Those Constellation shows you mention were on there last year and are not part of the new roster of shows. I agree that they were both pretty underwhelming. That Land of Make Believe one had a germ of a story in there that could have been really terrific but it was too scattered to be a satisfying whole outside of a few laughs.

 

The shows on Equinox are the new productions produced by the in-house team.

[BosoxI]

Karen, the one was called Topper, and the second one on the Eclipse had to do with the manager of a hotel with a bevy of odd clients. Shows of this caliber are why I tell my wife "I'll go, but I have to have a seat on the aisle in the back of the theater". I don't want to disturb people in making my escape. :)

[chamima]

Karen, the one was called Topper, and the second one on the Eclipse had to do with the manager of a hotel with a bevy of odd clients. Shows of this caliber are why I tell my wife "I'll go, but I have to have a seat on the aisle in the back of the theater". I don't want to disturb people in making my escape. :)

 

I understand the sentiment - that's the only way my husband will go also. ;)

 

That said, I was really sick of the old shows and , if I even went, have been leaving with him.

I really did enjoy these new shows but I went alone or with a friend.

Edited March 5, 2016 by chamima

[brfan]

The OP asked a completely legitimate question, which can be easily answered in a few words by anyone who has suffered through these shows.

 

In two words "They're lousy"

 

BTW I am referring to the shows that were current on the Eclipse December 18 2015-January 10 2016

 

I think people just need to see the shows for themselves to make a decision on whether they like them or not. I was on the Eclipse for the Jan 24th show and really enjoyed the 4 new shows. I thought Topper was one of the best shows I've seen on a cruise and I wasn't the only one who felt that way. After reading the reviews of how lousy it was before going on the ship I wasn't sure I would go see it, but I'm glad I did and can't understand the negativity about that particular show.

[hcat]

Karen, the one was called Topper, and the second one on the Eclipse had to do with the manager of a hotel with a bevy of odd clients. Shows of this caliber are why I tell my wife "I'll go, but I have to have a seat on the aisle in the back of the theater". I don't want to disturb people in making my escape. :)

 

DH and I use the same seating plan described above. We are usually ready to escape at about the same time...just takes a look and "Ready?" ...and we are out of there...

 

Voices and dancers have been much better than in the past, but unfortunately material of the present caliber will never sustain itself!

Edited March 5, 2016 by hcat

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

We found the two new shows on Equinox in December enjoyable, but it may have been mainly because they were new to us. A third new show wasn't ready for its debut yet. In retrospect, I confess that I enjoyed some of the guest performers even better than the production shows. There was an especially good Elton John imitator who played with the ship's orchestra. One comedian was very funny.

 

We will be on Eclipse soon and I look forward to their new shows. I know I won't miss the Cirque de Soleil-style show. We had seen it four times and it just seemed to get slower and slower each time. Part of my problem and I know it is just me, but the music was hypnotic and there was little recognizable in the music. I believe it was all original. I prefer music I know.

 

The new Celebrity shows we have seen feature much more current music than was typical of past shows. It was fun to hear versions of newer songs.

[liverpoollad]

When they were over things were pretty much dead most nights (with a few exceptions). :(

 

Oh dear! hope not, surely there is some house band doing rock/popular music somewhere on the ship?

[davekathy]

We are looking forward to the new shows on our 3 April Cruise on the Eclipse.

[Redtravel]

The shows are good the first time, ok the second time and boring after that. I know that it is expensive to produce the shows. They seem to have the same shows for several years. Since I cruise on Celebrity often, I have seen all of them many times. On a recent b2b both cruises had the same shows and same menus. It gets tired when you've seen them more than once. After the b2b repetitions, I doubt that we will do another b2b on Celebrity.