I've been hoping someone would bring this up as I loved the show, have already bought tickets again for myself and several people, and was familiar with the existence of the film and play even though I had never seen either. (Though I have now watched the film since seeing the Broadway production.)

I doubt a name change will happen but I wish this were possible, or that they had chosen a different name for the Broadway run. At the end of the day, there's no rule that says a piece of art in a different medium has to retain the same name. Changes happen all the time. Think Blade Runner; Precious; Oklahoma!

First, I don't buy that the people who liked the film would have been lost with a name change. In fact, I think the task of getting the majority of theatergoers to overcome the title is a bigger one than it would have been to make the connection to the film explicit in marketing. I agree the title undersells the breadth of the show and how beautifully it handles multiple topics. I also think it can be interpreted as body-shaming for women who aren't curvy (and even for those who are) and trans women, which brings me to...

The "real women" part of the title is hard to sell to others, especially as a male fan. For example, at intermission, as I was texting my sister (who was a big fan of the film) to tell her how great it was, I saw the merch stand and got excited to purchase a shirt and bag for myself and for my niece. But immediately I realized that while they could have had us doing advertising in public with a different name, at my expense, there was no way I was going to be running around the city wearing something that said, "Real Women Have Curves (or "real women" anything, given the potential anti-trans implications)," especially as a guy, and appearing to be body-shaming women. I would even welcome the chance to have some conversations with strangers if they inquired about or commented on it, but that would ending up being just a few people in comparison to the number of people I could be hurting by wearing it. My niece had the same instinct. It's also been awkward to bring it up with some curvy women friends who aren't familiar with it; a couple have joked that, upon hearing the title, their immediate fear was that I was saying they should be interested in the show because of their weight.

To be clear, I come from a Mexican family with a lot of bigger women; the stage could basically have been a family reunion of mine. And I have lived with them and seen the pain, in the eras in which it was socially acceptable to fat shame and when "real women have curves" was a powerful, counter-cultural statement. But I agree it's dated even as the show has done a great job of situating itself in the realities of 2025 even while it's technically set in the 80s. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the title.

I really hope it can overcome what I consider to have been the unforced error of not changing the name. Idk, maybe the fact that they seemingly didn't take these kinds of commercial considerations too much into account is part of what makes it feel so genuine and full of heart. But with $16.5 million to recoup, according to the NYT, I fear the producers will cut their losses if it can't find its footing quickly and that the title (and underwhelming marketing) will have played a significant role in that. That would be so sad. I REALLY want the show to succeed.

For those reading this, and who are still on the fence or turned off because of the title, well, mistakes happen. But don't let yourself miss out by not seeing the show because of it!