‘On the Bayou’ - Princess’ Longest Running Show?

[dmwnc1959]

By time I board Coral Princess in early 2025 ‘On the Bayou’ would have been running for over 13 years. Is this the longest show ever to run on Princess Cruises? 
 

 

[Thrak]

Whether or not it's the longest running Princess show it's well worth seeing. I love watching the cruisers who have never seen it before at the very beginning of the show. Their surprised faces are awesome. 😁 I've seen it on Coral a couple of times and once on Island after the refit. I wouldn't waste my time seeing it on Island Princess again.

[DCThunder]

17 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Whether or not it's the longest running Princess show it's well worth seeing. I love watching the cruisers who have never seen it before at the very beginning of the show. Their surprised faces are awesome. 😁 I've seen it on Coral a couple of times and once on Island after the refit. I wouldn't waste my time seeing it on Island Princess again.

I saw it once on Island.  It's a nice enough show, but once is enough. "Phantom" finally closed on Broadway, so there's hope that OTB will too...

[shellbeachjim]

While I haven't seen "Words and Music" in years, it was a staple on Princess for a lonnnnng time.

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, DCThunder said:

I saw it once on Island.  It's a nice enough show, but once is enough. "Phantom" finally closed on Broadway, so there's hope that OTB will too...

I did see Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater on Broadway. The sets were stunning - the massive and breathtaking proscenium arch, the huge staircase during the Masquerade ball scene, and especially when the forrest of candelabras rise from the lake in the lair beneath the opera house. All of this specifically designed for that theater. I may have read somewhere that ‘On the Bayou’ was specifically designed for the the Universe Lounge? Albeit on a much smaller stage than POTO, I wonder if that attributes to its longevity. 

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Whether or not it's the longest running Princess show it's well worth seeing. I love watching the cruisers who have never seen it before at the very beginning of the show. Their surprised faces are awesome. 😁 I've seen it on Coral a couple of times and once on Island after the refit. I wouldn't waste my time seeing it on Island Princess again.

How many times during a cruise does it show? I’ll be on Coral Princess for 16-nights, so I’m hoping to catch it a couple of times. I also have the Princess Premiere package that offers reserved seating for production shows. Is ‘On the Bayou’ considered a production show instead of a cabaret-type show?

[DCThunder]

2 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

I did see Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater on Broadway. The sets were stunning - the massive and breathtaking proscenium arch, the huge staircase during the Masquerade ball scene, and especially when the forrest of candelabras rise from the lake in the lair beneath the opera house. All of this specifically designed for that theater. I may have read somewhere that ‘On the Bayou’ was specifically designed for the the Universe Lounge? Albeit on a much smaller stage than POTO, I wonder if that attributes to its longevity. 

I saw Phantom in the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in DC.  Obviously, a road company, so the sets weren't as elaborate as those on Broadway.  But still a grand production.

[DCThunder]

1 minute ago, dmwnc1959 said:

How many times during a cruise does it show? I’ll be on Coral Princess for 16-nights, so I’m hoping to catch it a couple of times. I also have the Princess Premiere package that offers reserved seating for production shows. Is ‘On the Bayou’ considered a production show instead of a cabaret-type show?

I'd be surprised if it's shown more than once, even on a 16 nighter.  On 2 7-day B2B, it might be shown twice.  And yes, they reserve the seats for OTB

[dmwnc1959]

1 minute ago, DCThunder said:

I saw Phantom in the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in DC.  Obviously, a road company, so the sets weren't as elaborate as those on Broadway.  But still a grand production.

Pre-COVID pandemic I use to make several trips a year to NYC to see Broadway shows, had yearly Broadway season subscriptions to the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, and made road-trips to Cleveland, Baltimore, and Philadelphia (saw POTO there again, at the absolutely breathtaking Academy of Music) for the National Tours. Rarely did I ever see a national tour show (most of the sets were quite well done) that matched the Broadway production since the latter are more-or-less long-term where the theater and its stage can be physically altered to match that show. Moulin Rouge at the Hirshfeld Theater is another good example with the entire theater walls being draped in stunning red velvet. Loved seeing all of those the National Tours that I attended, but the pandemic killed that spark in me. I hope ‘On the Bayou’ is as fun as I’ve read. Maybe it’ll rekindle that interest in me. 😉

[dmwnc1959]

19 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

I'd be surprised if it's shown more than once, even on a 16 nighter.  On 2 7-day B2B, it might be shown twice.  And yes, they reserve the seats for OTB

I’ll definitely have to make sure not to miss it then! 🎟️ 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, DCThunder said:

I saw it once on Island.  It's a nice enough show, but once is enough. "Phantom" finally closed on Broadway, so there's hope that OTB will too...

 

If you saw it in the Princess Theater on Island it's not the same at all. It's designed for the rotating stage on Coral. (There used to be the same stage on Island before they turned the Universe Lounge into more cabins. It's just not the same at all on the stage in the theater.)

[Tranquility Base]

4 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

How many times during a cruise does it show? I’ll be on Coral Princess for 16-nights, so I’m hoping to catch it a couple of times.

I would expect a matinee show as well as an evening one.

[coopco]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:26 AM, dmwnc1959 said:

By time I board Coral Princess in early 2025 ‘On the Bayou’ would have been running for over 13 years. Is this the longest show ever to run on Princess Cruises? 
 

How long has Stardust been running? I’m 64 and my husband is 70 and we don’t know the songs in that show. We’ve seen Stardust twice and On the Bayou once and I’d much rather see On the Bayou. We did hear there was an elderly couple in the front row singing all the songs during Stardust. I guess that means we are not elderly yet 😀.

 

[coopco]

Ops-messed up my previous reply above. Sorry.

 

How long has Stardust been running? I’m 64 and my husband is 70 and we don’t know the songs in that show. I’d much rather see On the Bayou than Stardust. The last time we saw Stardust, I heard there was an elderly couple in the front row singing along with all the songs so I guess that means we are not elderly yet 😀.

[Thrak]

13 hours ago, coopco said:

Ops-messed up my previous reply above. Sorry.

 

How long has Stardust been running? I’m 64 and my husband is 70 and we don’t know the songs in that show. I’d much rather see On the Bayou than Stardust. The last time we saw Stardust, I heard there was an elderly couple in the front row singing along with all the songs so I guess that means we are not elderly yet 😀.

 

Guess that means we are elderly. Surprised you haven't heard of songs such as Stardust and the other songs in the production. Of course people have different experiences in their youth.  When we tried the "70's Trivia" we were surprised that we knew almost none of the songs. The trivia was run by the DJ and he had almost entirely (GAK!!!) disco music. Nope, nope, nope. Not our 70's music at all.

[nini]

@dmwnc1959 @Tranquility Base

As I recall, there was only one performance and it was at night. This was on a full transit Panama Canal itinerary.

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, nini said:

@dmwnc1959 @Tranquility Base

As I recall, there was only one performance and it was at night. This was on a full transit Panama Canal itinerary.

That’s surprising. Even on a ship with a capacity of ‘only’ 2000 people, you’d think they have two seatings of the performance?  

[Tranquility Base]

9 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

That’s surprising. Even on a ship with a capacity of ‘only’ 2000 people, you’d think they have two seatings of the performance?  

They had matinees performances whilst Coral has been Australia based.

We have been to matinees twice, but I can't recall whether it was due to being on a short cruise or a long cruise.

Edited January 17 by Tranquility Base

[nini]

50 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

That’s surprising. Even on a ship with a capacity of ‘only’ 2000 people, you’d think they have two seatings of the performance?  

 

That is what I recall, however this was in 2018.

[coopco]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Guess that means we are elderly. Surprised you haven't heard of songs such as Stardust and the other songs in the production. Of course people have different experiences in their youth.  When we tried the "70's Trivia" we were surprised that we knew almost none of the songs. The trivia was run by the DJ and he had almost entirely (GAK!!!) disco music. Nope, nope, nope. Not our 70's music at all.

When exactly were the songs from? I’m pretty good on 70’s songs and even late 60’s (like I watched Where the action is, American Bandstand, and Soul Train). My husband is older than I am and knows more songs from the 60’s. The songs to me sounded like they were out of my parents era but since I don’t know them, I can’t be sure. If I knew any of them, I could look them up but I’d be interested in what year they were popular.

[coopco]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Guess that means we are elderly. Surprised you haven't heard of songs such as Stardust and the other songs in the production. Of course people have different experiences in their youth.  When we tried the "70's Trivia" we were surprised that we knew almost none of the songs. The trivia was run by the DJ and he had almost entirely (GAK!!!) disco music. Nope, nope, nope. Not our 70's music at all.

I just Googled because I was curious. Stardust (which I had no idea was the name of a song) was from 1957. I’m 64 so I was born in 1959. If your production show is named after a song from before I was born, how the heck are you going to attract the next generation of cruisers to keep your business going? Is your target audience 80 year olds? I personally like when they add Bruno Mars songs into shows with songs from the 70’s and 80’s but if your show has songs 60 and 70 year olds don’t recognize, in my opinion, you need to refresh your offering. I’m not saying the performers weren’t top notch. I just had to question what audience Princess was targeting, especially when I saw it a second time several years after I wondered who they were trying to target. I cruise almost exclusively with Princess so I’m not trying to nit pick. As someone who loves live theater, I’m saying consider your audience.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, coopco said:

I just Googled because I was curious. Stardust (which I had no idea was the name of a song) was from 1957. I’m 64 so I was born in 1959. If your production show is named after a song from before I was born, how the heck are you going to attract the next generation of cruisers to keep your business going? Is your target audience 80 year olds?

 

Stardust is a wonderful song. I heard it as a youth by Nat King Cole as my mother was a fan. I later heard it by Willie Nelson. It transcends genres and has been performed by many artists. On our recent Australia/New Zealand cruises we interacted with an assistant CD by the name of Clive who was actually part of the development of that show. (I believe he has definite CD potential.) It's a "classic" but, as you have realized, is quite dated. I was pleased to see it again (the first time it was presented on this 6 segment cruise) but once was enough. It is definitely an "end of life" production.

[DCThunder]

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Stardust is a wonderful song. I heard it as a youth by Nat King Cole as my mother was a fan. I later heard it by Willie Nelson. It transcends genres and has been performed by many artists. On our recent Australia/New Zealand cruises we interacted with an assistant CD by the name of Clive who was actually part of the development of that show. (I believe he has definite CD potential.) It's a "classic" but, as you have realized, is quite dated. I was pleased to see it again (the first time it was presented on this 6 segment cruise) but once was enough. It is definitely an "end of life" production.

And Stardust, the Hoagy Carmichael song, was written and first recorded in 1927!

[voljeep]

On 1/17/2024 at 12:49 AM, coopco said:

Ops-messed up my previous reply above. Sorry.

 

How long has Stardust been running? I’m 64 and my husband is 70 and we don’t know the songs in that show. I’d much rather see On the Bayou than Stardust. The last time we saw Stardust, I heard there was an elderly couple in the front row singing along with all the songs so I guess that means we are not elderly yet 😀.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust?  Classic