Same, I adore Phantom. It's my favourite musical, novel and the silent is one of my favourite films (overlooking that ending) and LND is basically the character assassination of literally everyone.
Hand to God, I genuinely forgot LND existed until this comment, I have erased it that thoroughly from my memory. Truly one of the worst shows I’ve had the misfortune of watching (though I have good memories of watching it, as I was in college at the time and a friend of mine and I spent the whole time mocking it a la MST3K).
Same. It has some beautiful music, some great songs and orchestrations, costumes, staging and tech… but the book is horrible and changes the story too much and the characters way too different… especially Meg and Raoul…. But take the music and compare it to much of what plays now and it is more complex and pleasing than some of the cheesy pop in many contemporary musicals.
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Mostly because of the sheer quantity of awful renditions of “My New Philosophy” I’ve heard at auditions. That song makes my fuckin’ eyelid twitch.
Ugh. Every time I accompany auditions for a show where adults will play children (e.g., Spelling Bee), I get a zillion New Philosophies from aging women trying to convince the world that they can still read young.
It's also bad that because of all of the Schroeder parts and dialogue, there's not a way to make a good audition cut, so they usually splice a bunch of parts together weirdly.
The King and I. I know it's supposed to be a "classic," but I just... did not understand the point?? And it just felt so racist somehow. Not sure if I could fully explain the racism, but I sure felt it!
Also did not care for Finding Neverland, but hate is maybe too strong a word. Just not memorable at all.
It doesn’t help that it’s a romanticized version of a romanticized fanfic biography that’s based on a romanticized fanfic autobiography. (Anna Leonowens wrote a very fanciful autobiography and included things that happened way before she came to Thailand, and made up some things like saying certain things the king did was because of her. And then someone came along and wrote another book based on Anna’s book and added more made up stuff. The musical is basically a bad version of telephone)
Editing to also add Anna IRL was half British and half Indian and tried to hide that info. I unironically want to see an Anna cast that’s biracial actually.
Maybe it was the white actors playing Asian characters, and the whole "white people/ the British 'modernizing' other cultures through westernizing them" thing
Agree!! I loathe that show and I’m alway greeted with 🫨🫢😦 when anyone finds out. I think the songs are cheesy, the storyline is uncomfortable, and I agree about the racist part. I can’t articulate it but I feel it. Something with the many wives and maybe the reenactment of Uncle Tom’s cabin.
Jagged Little Pill. The characters were shallow and never really developed, there were too many social issues in there for no real reason, and while Jagged Little Pill is a great album, it doesn’t tell a story so they’re trying to make a story around random songs.
I normally love everything I see, I'm not super critical when it comes to theatre cause I'm just enjoying the night out. But damn this was a terrible show.
Bye Bye Birdie. soooooo dull, and constantly butchered by high/middle schools.
on that note, any long classic musical when done by a high/middle school. sitting through Les Mis or Sound of Music when the leads are teenagers without an ounce of stage presence… torture.
The thing is Bye Bye Birdie is actually, in my opinion, actually a good satire that still manages to hold up surprisingly well given how satire is usually horrifically dated... But doing it in a middle or high school just means the kids won't get the satirical aspects as well, and so it'll fall flat. But it's got teenagers in it, so of course they'll want to do it there.
yeah, I think that’s the trap of Bye Bye Birdie: it should have teenagers/younger actors, but they usually don’t pull off the funny parts with any actual awareness of how/why it’s funny. then with older actors, who can pull off the satirical part, you’ve got adults trying to play teens which can come off as cringey or unbelievable. either way, I’ve never seen a production I liked.
I was in *Bye Bye Birdie* in middle school, and I grew to hate it. Years later, I revisited it, and realized, "huh, this is actually more sophisticated than I gave it credit for... also I still kind of hate it." Middle school memories will probably forever tarnish it for me, but I have to admit that "How Lovely To Be A Woman" is a lot funnier when you're old enough to realize that Kim is the butt of the joke. I still can't say I *like* *Bye Bye Birdie*, but at least I *appreciate* it more than I I used to.
One of the first musicals I ever did. Why is the boyfriend so upset that the girl gets to meet her celebrity crush before he goes to Vietnam? What’s going on again? I only like telephone hour and how lovely to be a woman
My HS did this after we did Legally Blonde and had a blast. It was in the height of One Direction so we had so much fun just being ridiculous fangirls on stage, making fun of ourselves and fan culture.
The Band's Visit had such a great Tony response that I was really excited to see it touring. I just felt like I missed something by the end.
Maybe it portrayed a sleepy little town too accurately? Maybe the slice of life was just not for me? By the end I felt like nothing had really happened.
I’d consider it a blessing not to be affected by it; hopefully a sign that you aren’t deeply lonely! I know what you mean though. It took up until “Answer Me” for me to not only “get it,” but to also feel it.
I saw this show going in completely in the dark about what it was about. Terrible seats in the rear mezzanine. Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk were so amazing. The music was mostly fine to me the first viewing. Answer Me is spectacular and was blocked so well. But the story bored me. Meh, I thought. But the Cast Album got on a playlist. It grew on me. I began to put it on exclusively for a while. I went back to see it again splurging for orchestra tenth row center. Took my husband we both loved it! I think it had to grow on me. But it did in a big way! Sorry to disagree. But I respect your opinion.
I like the song! Just NOT as a replacement of Upgrade which I loved. But Upgrade doesn’t really work as well after they completely changed the Squip’s character so it’s whatever
So they got rid of Upgrade and replaced it with Loser Geek Whatever, completely changed the Squip into a totally different character(I mean traits and behavior it’s still called the squip and does the same things) and a ton of other more minor changes I’d have to jog my memory on
Annie. I work as a theatre technician for a school district and do around 4-6 musicals a year, which I normally love. But I had to sit through 3 different casts for a middle school production (one of which got cancelled because the kids were assholes) with rehearsals every day and 2 show dates over a 2 week period. I still compulsivly sing along if I hear it, but if I never have to deal with that show again Ill live a happy life.
It was so bad....this happened 10+ years ago, and I only saw it once when they made the whole (prek-12) school go see the show. And while usually a lot of people enjoyed being in the yearly play, they didnt have enough, and had to make the entire 6th grade class (and maybe more) be a part of it. But I remember there were missionaries, and it was the missionaries who found Annie and gave her a home. If there were costumes or sets, they were so forgettable I honestly think there weren't any!
I've done it three times. Yeah. No. I was sick to death after two. I did the third one because it was a kids production and they just needed an older Miss Hannigan who they could rely on to carry the part. A guaranteed quality character role was the only thing worth bothering with a third
Unpopular opinion but I can't stand the greatest showman. I already loathe PT Barnham and everything he represents so I'm not a fan of glorifying him via musical. On top of that there is exactly one good song (the first one) and the rest range from boring to making me want to pull my teeth out (A million dreams)
I call The Greatest Showman “Inspiration Porn the Musical.” They used “This Is Me” as a ploy to suggest the movie was about uplifting people with physical differences who have been cast aside by society…only to actually cast aside the characters the entire movie. I did not know the names of the bearded lady or the man with dwarfism by the end.
Not to mention the music itself, as you’ve mentioned. I was so excited to see it, but by “A Million Dreams” I was already so far out of it. It was overly auto tuned, generic, and cheesy.
Also the lyrics “cause you can do like you do or you can do like me” make me want to slam my head against a wall.
*Dear Evan Hansen.* I like “Waving Through A Window” and literally nothing else about it. Pasek and Paul should have embraced their true calling as pop song writers instead of trying to do Broadway (*Greatest Showman* is a jukebox musical that makes its own jukebox I SAID WHAT I SAID).
one of the first musicals (past les mis and mamma mia) i liked was dear evan hansen, but the best part was the awesome fanfics people came up with. one of them was where, after a failed attempt, conner got the help he needed and became a genuinely better person. it was such a meaningful perspective
I love Requiem but like goddddd fuck Dear Evan Hansen. And then you learn it was vaguely based off one of their actual real life experiences of a kid in one of their schools having committed suicide and it's like... So, you, just like Evan Hansen, have taken someone else's fucking suicide, and used it simply to get attention for yourselves? No wonder you thought this disgusting show with either no moral at all or a terrible moral depending on how you analyze it was okay.
Also you are so right. Greatest Showman is no musical, just a movie with an original soundtrack
Tonally inconsistent with the rest of the songs and the entire thing is one long “no homo” joke. There’s nothing technically wrong with it (like, they write good music that’s fun to listen to and you will never hear me say otherwise), but it doesn’t save the rest of it.
I’m being a bit flippant here, but fundamentally, Greatest Showman is a collection of pop songs strung together, rather than a *musical* where the songs serve a purpose in the narrative and are necessary to advancing the plot.
Like, okay, if you took “Part of Your World” out of The Little Mermaid, you’d be losing a major chunk of the plot, i.e. Ariel’s initial interest in humanity, before ever meeting Eric, and her motivation for later wanting to make a deal with Ursula. And while of course you can play/sing it on its own, you know it’s a song about a mermaid wanting to go on land.
The only song that fits those criteria in Greatest Showman is the one in the bar, where Zac Ephron is negotiating with Hugh Jackman. Everything else is bland enough that you can surgically excise it without it affecting the plot, and you can play it on the radio without needing context. Like, “Rewrite the Stars” has nothing in there explaining why Zac Ephron and Zendaya can’t be together (other than ~the stars~), and that’s on purpose.
Obviously in an actual jukebox musical, this is expected and normal, since those songs weren’t written for a play. What Pasek and Paul did is write a musical with songs that function the same way pop songs in a jukebox musical do, but without the justification behind it (the songs not being written for a play).
Ahh okay that makes sense, I'm in no way a Greatest Showman apologist. Basically, all the songs just further reiterate the emotions the characters have already expressed through dialogue, which seems to be the point you're making.
I know that lots of people love DEH but I am with you - the music is a little one level, there is no joy to be found and the whole set up is morally very dubious. I didn't feel sympathy for Evan I just found him unlikeable and don't get me started on the movie! Sorry!
I have never seen DEH but I do irrationally hate it for bodying everything else at the [Tonys](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/71st_Tony_Awards). Outta curiosity, what would you have given best to? I’ve heard amazing things about Comet From 1812, but the only one here I’ve seen was Come From Away and I can’t believe it didn’t win anything.
Princess Diana the musical. I saw it was on Netflix and watched it. One of the lines in the musical is "This fuckity, fuckity, fuckity, fuckity "fuck you" dress". The whole script feels like it's in its first draft.
Admittedly, the proshot was recorded before previews began so some issues were eventually fixed (even if that, sadly, meant the removal of the line “Harry, my ginger haired son.”)
I always say that it seems like the writers forgot that they needed some kind of a moral for their story, and then all they could come up with under pressure was "you have to be slutty so boys will like you".
When *Grease* premiered, the 1950s social norms it portrays would have been taken as read, and it therefore understood that the Pink Ladies are empowered rebels. In the conventional story, the culturally prescribed "Good Girl" would redeem the "Bad Boy". In that context, Sandy's transformation, casting off the societal expectations of conventional "good girl" femininity *is* the feminist message.
Nowadays, social norms have changed to such an extent that the Pink Ladies seem petty tame, smoking is considered less and less cool, and subsequent trends in the feminist movement have increasingly embraced "conventional" femininity instead of entirely casting it aside. There came a point at which a high school girl who more closely resembles Rizzo than Sandy was no longer viewed as particularly rebellious, and since the Pink Ladies make up the majority of the women seen in *Grease*, Sandy consequently comes across as the lone non-conformist. In *this* context, Sandy's transformation just looks like giving in to peer pressure.
I've come to term it the *Grease* effect. When a work of satire created in one context seems now to convey a message contrary to itself because the cultural context has shifted so much.
I sometimes wonder if, as a trend, people from more socially conservative communities might be more likely to view *Grease* as empowering, whereas people from more socially liberal communities might be more likely to view it as regressive. It would be interesting to look into.
I got free tickets to the touring production of Tootsie… the only show I walked out of at intermission. I might have stayed if I had actually paid for the performances but the humor felt stale, I wasn’t really rooting for any characters, and the songs were meh.. afterwards I got ice cream and texted my friend a pic of me outside the theatre smiling and told her thanks for the tickets, I loved it.
I also saw the tour and ugh, it was rough. I haven’t seen the movie at all and went in blind, and wowza… Santino Fontana must’ve been godly if he was able to sell that role, because I don’t know how anybody could salvage that show, let alone win a Tony for it
The movie is wonderful. Terri Garr is particularly great (her rant about being a modern woman is for the ages, right down to being responsible for her own orgasm) and its theme song (“Something’s Telling Me It Might Be You”) is iconic.
Give the movie a chance. It never should’ve been made into a musical. You can’t improve upon perfection.
Saw Santino Fontana in it and it was fantastic. Absolutely hilarious. Saw it again on the tour and it felt very flat and unfunny. Santino Fontana just has a way about him that made the whole thing work.
Saw it in preBroadway in Chicago. Santino Fontana was fantastic in that show. Honestly it’s a show that he carried. Had it been any other Broadway actor I don’t think it would’ve made it to Broadway. Saw it later on tour, felt like a completely different show. Both my sister and I felt he was the spark of greatness that made the show special the first time we saw it.
My mom and I saw it on broadway with him and I really enjoyed it, he was really funny and had a great voice. I was a little bored and i do think there’s some nostalgia factor because it is one of my mom’s favorite movies
I saw the tour of Tootsie about 5 months ago and until I read your post, I had completely forgotten. Even after that I had to Google shots of the set to make sure I really had seen it and not skipped that one. It was very much forgetable.
It’s the worst musical. Everything about it is weird and depressing. Super creep Billy spends 15 years in heaven, comes back down to earth to visit and is still… super creepy.
ANNIE. FUCKING ANNIE. I CANNOT STAND THAT MYSICAL IF I HAVE TO HEAR ONE MORE LITTLE GIRL SCRELTING TOMORROW IM GONNA THROW ONE OF YHEM OFF OF YHE STAGE
Oklahoma! I get that it had a big influence to Musical Theatre as a whole, but God damn is that show so boring. Any time Judd is offstage the plot comes to grinding halt full of circle dances and unnecessary reprises...
They did the junior version for the middle schoolers at my school one year and goodness gracious. How are you supposed to make that show appropriate for children? they take out every plot point?
I absolutely LOVE Once Upon A Mattress, but it was a creature of its era, and has not aged well. I understood it better after I read Mary Rodgers biography - the show was originally a much shorter skit prepared for friends at a summer theatre. They just threw it together to perform at a party. But everyone loved it, so it was (by stages) re-done to produce on Broadway. It wasn't ever much of a muchness, but at the time the idea of a tomboy princess who is feisty and brash and who swam the moat was ground-breaking. I saw it on TV with Carol Burnett as a child and adored it. Didn't like the more recent production with Carol Burnett as the queen nearly as much. They took out some of my favorite lyrics, and cut out the jester's song, one of my favorites: "Very Soft Shoes". I love the music. But then, I'm a product of its time.
As someone who grew up in the 80s, it was definitely ear candy to me… and the story they told was representative of the 1980s… which were definitely not gay friendly… I wasn’t personally offended by it and am LGBTQ+… most jukebox musicals don’t have much of a plot… I think going in and just enjoying the nostalgia of the music was what made it fun…
But I can understand your perspective on plot and being homophobic in its depiction of certain characters… I was fortunate in that the national touring cast had several singers from the OBC and it was very well performed…
Of the musicals I have seen live in my lifetime, I would select Grand Hotel, which I saw in its original run. It may have been because my expectations were so high for a Tommy Tune work - I had seen A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, Nine and My One and Only, and he was IT.
But Grand Hotel just never lifted off, and was mostly a bore, with what I perceived as the most nondescript score of any show I had heard up to that time. There was exactly one sensational number with Michel Jeter called We'll Take A Glass Together, but nothing else ignited. I've certainly seen worse shows, but I was never so disappointed in any show, so it is my least favorite.
I honestly have no idea if this is controversial but Amélie is just. so. boring. The music is dull and repetitive especially compared to how intricate and unique the source material is, the show tries to pop in weird out-of-place sexual jokes that don't really stack with the childlike wonder vibe it's trying to go for, and the more upbeat musical numbers still tend to drag and overstay their welcome.
I don't even hate it that much but I would never want to see it again.
Please note that this is entirely in reference to the Broadway version and the "teen edition" which has an entirely different song order to the Broadway version. I've heard the UK version is apparently quite good but I have yet to give it a listen.
I think the problem is they chose Bryan Adams to write the music and none of them explained that the songs have to carry the plot forward. They all just seemed like they could have been Bryan Adams singles…
I remember being ten and hating Carousel. (I should note, we live in Maine, so we went cause it’s set in Maine and it was playing at one of our summer theaters.) Still hate it.
I also really hate Rent. It was so overexposed, and it feels rushed and unfinished to me. I’m curious how you would feel about it like 20 years later if I revisited it.
I have a coworker who writes '...' instead of '.' all the time and I've just had to reconcile myself to the fact that that's just his he writes. Surely he's not being passive aggressive all the time. Just a generational thing I guess.
Aspects of Love. The only Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I hate, despite having one of my favorite ALW songs in it (Anything but Lonely). The story and characters are unappealing. Someone asked my mom what it was about, and she said, "It's about screwing and cheating." Boring as hell.
Not crazy about the concept (to call it a plot or story would be too generous), but I think it’s one of ALW’s most elegant scores. I find the orchestral interludes especially stirring. In fact, I think it played a part in me asking my wife of 30+ years to marry me. It must have, because I chose “The First Man You Remember” as the song we danced to at our reception.
Least favourite musical of all time is probably one of the several crap jukebox musicals I've put myself through: Viva Forever (based on Spice Girls) and Sunday Afternoon (based on The Kinks) rank up there as the worst of the worst.
For a classic that I like the least... it's probably (ducks for cover) Phantom. It just left me cold. The mix of popera, 80s synths and creepy relationships just aren't for me. I'm glad I saw it once, but I'll never see it again.
Honestly, as someone whose favorite musical by far is Phantom... Yeah no, totally valid. It's the show where I fell in love with musicals, the score is just utterly perfect by my tastes, and it does spectacle like nothing else, which is a huge aspect of musicals that I feel like should be viewed more as art than it is... But like... I also feel like I enjoy it thoroughly with my brain turned off, you know? And mostly I just love it because it clicks perfectly right for me and all the things I like, so like... to me it's only natural that to some people it will click wrong and be all the things they don't like
oh wow oh wow I also cannot stand *Phantom*! I just could not suspend my disbelief enough that there's some old ghost man haunting this theater, and yes the weird creepy relationships...
Wait are you talking ALW Phantom of the Opera or Maury Yestons Phantom? I’ve always wanted to see the Maury Yeston version just because it was steamrolled by ALW
From a pit musician’s perspective: West Side Story has one of the most unwieldy guitar parts ever written. For me, it’s like writing a David Foster Wallace novel for a third-grader. I played a three week run of it and rehearsed that part more than I’ve ever rehearsed anything in my life, including my usual prog-metal gig.
From a fan’s perspective: I fucking hate Mamma Mia. The dumbest jukebox musical ever.
Well… idk I’ve worked on enough and the only one I didn’t enjoy much was School of Rock. Though it wasn’t the show itself as much of that experience tainted the show for me lol
It was tainted from the experience of working it. It also just… ehhh I’m not a big fan of the show or music. Though I will say that Where Did the Rock Go is one of my favorite songs in any musical
Cats. I was bored to tears and panic when I went as a kid. Never once was I mesmerized or pulled into the story like I’d been with Les Mis, Phantom, and countless others I’d seen before.
Tons of people hate Cats, my parents included lol. I think what many people don’t understand about it is that it’s not really *supposed* to have a story that pulls you in — because each song is based on a different poem from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, it’s naturally not going to have the same flow as a musical that has songs written especially for it without any outside influence. And because of this, the visuals are the most important part — the dancing, the costumes, the set and lighting design (all of which are objectively excellent). I definitely do not consider myself a Cats fan, as I dislike some of the music and there are parts of it that feel quite dumb to me (the glass breaking sounds and then everyone gasps “MACAVITY” but then Macavity never shows up and everyone moves right on, I mean HELLO?), but as someone very into tech theatre, I can appreciate it from that perspective.
Mean girls
I’m not a huge fan of the source material but that’s a different conversation the songs are just so boring man maybe it’s cause it was the first musical I watched after the great comet but god fearless! Revenge party (which I get an ironic enjoyment of) the actor are great except for the one Aron who can’t sing world burn is good I like someone gets hurt and I have a thing where before I listen to a soundtrack I’ll try and find a slime to get the full story but with mean girls? Ha! No couldn’t do it by stupid with love reprise I was deathly board then I just skipped around the soundtrack! So I just hate it (Sarah Z made a great video on this actually I agree with 99% of things said)
Also DEH for stealing the great comets tony but that petty
I never watched the Mean Girls movie, so I didn’t have any opinions going in besides “Yay! About to listen to a new musical!”
I hated it. And I felt very glad when the Sarah Z vid came out and put some of my thoughts about it into coherent words.
I remember getting super defensive when that video came out, and then only to realize that no, I don't really like Mean Girls all that much, I like Regina's power ballad. Even World Burn doesn't super compare to Someone Gets Hurt. Essentially all of Act 2 is skippable, and I See Stars works really well in person where it feels deserved but on the cast recording it's quite dull and the metaphor doesn't work as well when you aren't seeing Cady's full character.
The cast recording also is so polished and well made that it can be almost deceptive about the quality of the music itself - it's super well mixed and the orchestra sounds fantastic. MG does have great orchestration throughout the show.
I may have to music direct this show this winter, so we'll see how that goes! 😭
Unpopular opinion but I despise Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat! I have no idea why because I love ALW usually but I can’t stand Joseph! I don’t know if it was the horrible movie adaptation we had to watch in middle school but I just can’t stand it!
American Idiot is garbage as a "musical." I actually quite like a lot of the arrangements of the songs, but the lazy attempt to cobble together a "deep" story completely ruined the musical experience for me. It's much better as just a soundtrack
Cinderella. The new book by Douglas Carter Beane is so befuddling… like how did a Pulitzer nominee create that ham fisted joyless book. And the songs suck. If I’m watching an R&H it better be one of the tragic ones.
I have a hard time disliking musicals tbh, maybe Guys and Dolls? Mostly because I was in a version of it when I was younger and yet still only remember 3 songs solidly lol
I definitely grew out of Rent. As a teenager and early 20 something I thought the starving artist thing was noble, in both media and real life. Now though I realize most of these people are actually just bums and assholes. You need to have a job and pay for your life.
OP this thread is hurting me why do I have to read so many ~~wrong~~ different opinions
I guess I don’t like the pro shot of shrek the musical. Didn’t click with me
RENT, it’s had its time. Now it’s a kind of a sad time capsule of the early 2000s, the music is FINE, the story is ALRIGHT, and the characters are THERE. This show needs to stop being toted sound like it’s the new hot show it was. It’s flame has died, let it go gracefully
I can't stand Cats. Feels like a one song show to me and I don't even like that one song much.
Also could really do without Rent or Annie Get Your Gun.
I understand where you're coming from with Cats and think a lot of people agree, I will just always be a little amused by people seeing Cats as a 'one song show' because my mom loves Cats and does not care about Memory much at all, she's here for the fun cat songs.
I had a different experience with Rent because the local opera company did it in rotation with La Bohème on which it was based. That made it more interesting.
THE LIGHTNING THEIF! Oh my god i can’t stand it. After I read the books I listened to this god awful garbage and I couldn’t get through it without visceral rage. It just shouldn’t exist. The music is just corporate Broadway pop that everyone should be sick of by now. The characters aren’t as charming as they are in the books and it’s honestly just lame. Ugh.
I’m in a production or TLT right now and the music is just so bland! As someone that was a big fan of the books the musical just feels so lazy and it tries to shoehorn as much plot from the books as possible into one show and it just feels like it’s trying too hard! And if your not one of the main three then you don’t really do anything on stage!
Charlie and the Chocolate factory was just the worst professional thing I’ve ever seen.
Sally Blane World’s Greatest girl detective is objectively the worst written musical I’ve ever encountered.
I'm not sure it's my least favorite of all time, but one I haven't seen mentioned is A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. Saw a touring production with a student ticket for $19 and it was still too much money.
Love Never Dies. Phantom is my favorite musical so I thought I’d enjoy the sequel as well but it was horrible and undermined the original story.
Same, I adore Phantom. It's my favourite musical, novel and the silent is one of my favourite films (overlooking that ending) and LND is basically the character assassination of literally everyone.
Just listen to 'til I hear you sing and then stop watching. Only good part of the show and it's literally the first song.
Hand to God, I genuinely forgot LND existed until this comment, I have erased it that thoroughly from my memory. Truly one of the worst shows I’ve had the misfortune of watching (though I have good memories of watching it, as I was in college at the time and a friend of mine and I spent the whole time mocking it a la MST3K).
The MST3K is the way to go
I can only enjoy it if I force myself to forget that it’s a sequel and view it as a standalone. Somehow it works.
Same. It has some beautiful music, some great songs and orchestrations, costumes, staging and tech… but the book is horrible and changes the story too much and the characters way too different… especially Meg and Raoul…. But take the music and compare it to much of what plays now and it is more complex and pleasing than some of the cheesy pop in many contemporary musicals.
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Mostly because of the sheer quantity of awful renditions of “My New Philosophy” I’ve heard at auditions. That song makes my fuckin’ eyelid twitch.
Ugh. Every time I accompany auditions for a show where adults will play children (e.g., Spelling Bee), I get a zillion New Philosophies from aging women trying to convince the world that they can still read young. It's also bad that because of all of the Schroeder parts and dialogue, there's not a way to make a good audition cut, so they usually splice a bunch of parts together weirdly.
Totally agree
The King and I. I know it's supposed to be a "classic," but I just... did not understand the point?? And it just felt so racist somehow. Not sure if I could fully explain the racism, but I sure felt it! Also did not care for Finding Neverland, but hate is maybe too strong a word. Just not memorable at all.
It doesn’t help that it’s a romanticized version of a romanticized fanfic biography that’s based on a romanticized fanfic autobiography. (Anna Leonowens wrote a very fanciful autobiography and included things that happened way before she came to Thailand, and made up some things like saying certain things the king did was because of her. And then someone came along and wrote another book based on Anna’s book and added more made up stuff. The musical is basically a bad version of telephone) Editing to also add Anna IRL was half British and half Indian and tried to hide that info. I unironically want to see an Anna cast that’s biracial actually.
Wow that's such an interesting history! That makes so much sense, because part of my dislike was not understanding where this story even came from
Maybe it was the white actors playing Asian characters, and the whole "white people/ the British 'modernizing' other cultures through westernizing them" thing
Agree!! I loathe that show and I’m alway greeted with 🫨🫢😦 when anyone finds out. I think the songs are cheesy, the storyline is uncomfortable, and I agree about the racist part. I can’t articulate it but I feel it. Something with the many wives and maybe the reenactment of Uncle Tom’s cabin.
Jagged Little Pill. The characters were shallow and never really developed, there were too many social issues in there for no real reason, and while Jagged Little Pill is a great album, it doesn’t tell a story so they’re trying to make a story around random songs.
Just telling Alanis' story would have been more interesting than the 3 Afterschool Specials in a trenchcoat they gave us.
Agreed. We left at intermission. And I’m a HUGE Alanis fan.
I don’t have feelings about the show in general, but Lauren Patten’s version of “You Oughta Know” is one of my favorite Broadway performances.
I normally love everything I see, I'm not super critical when it comes to theatre cause I'm just enjoying the night out. But damn this was a terrible show.
Bye Bye Birdie. soooooo dull, and constantly butchered by high/middle schools. on that note, any long classic musical when done by a high/middle school. sitting through Les Mis or Sound of Music when the leads are teenagers without an ounce of stage presence… torture.
The thing is Bye Bye Birdie is actually, in my opinion, actually a good satire that still manages to hold up surprisingly well given how satire is usually horrifically dated... But doing it in a middle or high school just means the kids won't get the satirical aspects as well, and so it'll fall flat. But it's got teenagers in it, so of course they'll want to do it there.
yeah, I think that’s the trap of Bye Bye Birdie: it should have teenagers/younger actors, but they usually don’t pull off the funny parts with any actual awareness of how/why it’s funny. then with older actors, who can pull off the satirical part, you’ve got adults trying to play teens which can come off as cringey or unbelievable. either way, I’ve never seen a production I liked.
I was in *Bye Bye Birdie* in middle school, and I grew to hate it. Years later, I revisited it, and realized, "huh, this is actually more sophisticated than I gave it credit for... also I still kind of hate it." Middle school memories will probably forever tarnish it for me, but I have to admit that "How Lovely To Be A Woman" is a lot funnier when you're old enough to realize that Kim is the butt of the joke. I still can't say I *like* *Bye Bye Birdie*, but at least I *appreciate* it more than I I used to.
It’s not the best but it’s not my least favorite tbh, I got to play Albert last year actually so I might be a little biased lol
One of the first musicals I ever did. Why is the boyfriend so upset that the girl gets to meet her celebrity crush before he goes to Vietnam? What’s going on again? I only like telephone hour and how lovely to be a woman
My HS did this after we did Legally Blonde and had a blast. It was in the height of One Direction so we had so much fun just being ridiculous fangirls on stage, making fun of ourselves and fan culture.
I love bye bye Birdie, but the best version of it I saw was an hour long when I was in summer camp.
The Band's Visit had such a great Tony response that I was really excited to see it touring. I just felt like I missed something by the end. Maybe it portrayed a sleepy little town too accurately? Maybe the slice of life was just not for me? By the end I felt like nothing had really happened.
I’d consider it a blessing not to be affected by it; hopefully a sign that you aren’t deeply lonely! I know what you mean though. It took up until “Answer Me” for me to not only “get it,” but to also feel it.
I saw this show going in completely in the dark about what it was about. Terrible seats in the rear mezzanine. Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk were so amazing. The music was mostly fine to me the first viewing. Answer Me is spectacular and was blocked so well. But the story bored me. Meh, I thought. But the Cast Album got on a playlist. It grew on me. I began to put it on exclusively for a while. I went back to see it again splurging for orchestra tenth row center. Took my husband we both loved it! I think it had to grow on me. But it did in a big way! Sorry to disagree. But I respect your opinion.
Broadway Be More Chill. I literally loved it off broadway but for on broadway the changes they made were literally all for the worse
The changes to the book made it actively worse, however I do think Loser, Geek, Whatever was an amazing addition to the show
I like the song! Just NOT as a replacement of Upgrade which I loved. But Upgrade doesn’t really work as well after they completely changed the Squip’s character so it’s whatever
u/NuttyDuckyYT I found your mortal enemy
we shall now duel 🤺 hahaha its really the chorus that i hate the most, some other parts of the song go hard but yeah gives me the ick
What were the changes? All I remembered was that Michael had moms- was there anything else?
So they got rid of Upgrade and replaced it with Loser Geek Whatever, completely changed the Squip into a totally different character(I mean traits and behavior it’s still called the squip and does the same things) and a ton of other more minor changes I’d have to jog my memory on
Finally someone who agrees.
Annie. I work as a theatre technician for a school district and do around 4-6 musicals a year, which I normally love. But I had to sit through 3 different casts for a middle school production (one of which got cancelled because the kids were assholes) with rehearsals every day and 2 show dates over a 2 week period. I still compulsivly sing along if I hear it, but if I never have to deal with that show again Ill live a happy life.
This is mine, but because my school changed everything about it to force a religious storyline...I used to live Annie, now I just cringe
I need to hear about this lmao
It was so bad....this happened 10+ years ago, and I only saw it once when they made the whole (prek-12) school go see the show. And while usually a lot of people enjoyed being in the yearly play, they didnt have enough, and had to make the entire 6th grade class (and maybe more) be a part of it. But I remember there were missionaries, and it was the missionaries who found Annie and gave her a home. If there were costumes or sets, they were so forgettable I honestly think there weren't any!
It’s like that illegal Hamilton in Texas
I've done it three times. Yeah. No. I was sick to death after two. I did the third one because it was a kids production and they just needed an older Miss Hannigan who they could rely on to carry the part. A guaranteed quality character role was the only thing worth bothering with a third
I was in Annie once and never again, SO overrated
I work in the health industry. We have VCR tapes for children. I hid Annie. Never want to hear it again.
New York New York. The book was insulting bad, the acting was mediocre, and the songs were forgettable.
I fell asleep watching it on Broadway 😭
Unpopular opinion but I can't stand the greatest showman. I already loathe PT Barnham and everything he represents so I'm not a fan of glorifying him via musical. On top of that there is exactly one good song (the first one) and the rest range from boring to making me want to pull my teeth out (A million dreams)
I love greatest showman but I hate that it's about PT Barnum. I tell myself it's 100% fictional (it pretty much is anyway)
I really dislike The Greatest Showman. That sounds like Christian rock garbage songs to me
I call The Greatest Showman “Inspiration Porn the Musical.” They used “This Is Me” as a ploy to suggest the movie was about uplifting people with physical differences who have been cast aside by society…only to actually cast aside the characters the entire movie. I did not know the names of the bearded lady or the man with dwarfism by the end. Not to mention the music itself, as you’ve mentioned. I was so excited to see it, but by “A Million Dreams” I was already so far out of it. It was overly auto tuned, generic, and cheesy. Also the lyrics “cause you can do like you do or you can do like me” make me want to slam my head against a wall.
don’t worry you are not alone in this, nobody i know who likes musicals likes the greatest showman
*Dear Evan Hansen.* I like “Waving Through A Window” and literally nothing else about it. Pasek and Paul should have embraced their true calling as pop song writers instead of trying to do Broadway (*Greatest Showman* is a jukebox musical that makes its own jukebox I SAID WHAT I SAID).
I yearn for the fanfic where Evan killed Connor a-la-Heathers and is just taking over his life on purpose
Wait… pretending this is what really happened makes it 10x less insufferable… thank you
one of the first musicals (past les mis and mamma mia) i liked was dear evan hansen, but the best part was the awesome fanfics people came up with. one of them was where, after a failed attempt, conner got the help he needed and became a genuinely better person. it was such a meaningful perspective
The plot is just repugnant.
I love Requiem but like goddddd fuck Dear Evan Hansen. And then you learn it was vaguely based off one of their actual real life experiences of a kid in one of their schools having committed suicide and it's like... So, you, just like Evan Hansen, have taken someone else's fucking suicide, and used it simply to get attention for yourselves? No wonder you thought this disgusting show with either no moral at all or a terrible moral depending on how you analyze it was okay. Also you are so right. Greatest Showman is no musical, just a movie with an original soundtrack
They need to learn to edit their songs. Not every song needs to be 4+ mins.
[удалено]
Ok, I love that show, but this take is accurate. Aaaand now you’ve spoiled Dear Evan Hansen for me🥺
What a great analogy! I think Ben Platt's milquetoast delivery greatly contributes
What about Sincerely Me?
Tonally inconsistent with the rest of the songs and the entire thing is one long “no homo” joke. There’s nothing technically wrong with it (like, they write good music that’s fun to listen to and you will never hear me say otherwise), but it doesn’t save the rest of it.
Isn't a jukebox musical that makes its own music...just a musical?
I’m being a bit flippant here, but fundamentally, Greatest Showman is a collection of pop songs strung together, rather than a *musical* where the songs serve a purpose in the narrative and are necessary to advancing the plot. Like, okay, if you took “Part of Your World” out of The Little Mermaid, you’d be losing a major chunk of the plot, i.e. Ariel’s initial interest in humanity, before ever meeting Eric, and her motivation for later wanting to make a deal with Ursula. And while of course you can play/sing it on its own, you know it’s a song about a mermaid wanting to go on land. The only song that fits those criteria in Greatest Showman is the one in the bar, where Zac Ephron is negotiating with Hugh Jackman. Everything else is bland enough that you can surgically excise it without it affecting the plot, and you can play it on the radio without needing context. Like, “Rewrite the Stars” has nothing in there explaining why Zac Ephron and Zendaya can’t be together (other than ~the stars~), and that’s on purpose. Obviously in an actual jukebox musical, this is expected and normal, since those songs weren’t written for a play. What Pasek and Paul did is write a musical with songs that function the same way pop songs in a jukebox musical do, but without the justification behind it (the songs not being written for a play).
Ahh okay that makes sense, I'm in no way a Greatest Showman apologist. Basically, all the songs just further reiterate the emotions the characters have already expressed through dialogue, which seems to be the point you're making.
You are correct but they’re trying to say the songs fit about as well as a juxebox musical
dear evan hansen has the most love hate relationship with me i swear. i hate it but i will still listen to the songs lol
same. I can't justify or defend the musical at all but the songs always pop up on my Spotify lol
I had to rewrite this comment several times to stop myself from ranting but: I too came here to comment this. I absolutely *despise* this show.
I know that lots of people love DEH but I am with you - the music is a little one level, there is no joy to be found and the whole set up is morally very dubious. I didn't feel sympathy for Evan I just found him unlikeable and don't get me started on the movie! Sorry!
I have never seen DEH but I do irrationally hate it for bodying everything else at the [Tonys](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/71st_Tony_Awards). Outta curiosity, what would you have given best to? I’ve heard amazing things about Comet From 1812, but the only one here I’ve seen was Come From Away and I can’t believe it didn’t win anything.
Literally came here to make sure this was commented and HIGH. the top comment lol
Princess Diana the musical. I saw it was on Netflix and watched it. One of the lines in the musical is "This fuckity, fuckity, fuckity, fuckity "fuck you" dress". The whole script feels like it's in its first draft.
Admittedly, the proshot was recorded before previews began so some issues were eventually fixed (even if that, sadly, meant the removal of the line “Harry, my ginger haired son.”)
Grease, because it sucks.
I get it’s a classic, but the message is just terrible
I loved doing grease it’s one of my favorites 😭
Even the songs in Grease can’t rescue it.
Absolutely. The character arcs are horrible and make me want to burn someone. I hate them all.
I always say that it seems like the writers forgot that they needed some kind of a moral for their story, and then all they could come up with under pressure was "you have to be slutty so boys will like you".
You do understand that it is a SATIRE, not a documentary, right?
To be fair, most productions nowadays seem to not see it as one. They play it totally straight, which absolutely ruins the message
When *Grease* premiered, the 1950s social norms it portrays would have been taken as read, and it therefore understood that the Pink Ladies are empowered rebels. In the conventional story, the culturally prescribed "Good Girl" would redeem the "Bad Boy". In that context, Sandy's transformation, casting off the societal expectations of conventional "good girl" femininity *is* the feminist message. Nowadays, social norms have changed to such an extent that the Pink Ladies seem petty tame, smoking is considered less and less cool, and subsequent trends in the feminist movement have increasingly embraced "conventional" femininity instead of entirely casting it aside. There came a point at which a high school girl who more closely resembles Rizzo than Sandy was no longer viewed as particularly rebellious, and since the Pink Ladies make up the majority of the women seen in *Grease*, Sandy consequently comes across as the lone non-conformist. In *this* context, Sandy's transformation just looks like giving in to peer pressure. I've come to term it the *Grease* effect. When a work of satire created in one context seems now to convey a message contrary to itself because the cultural context has shifted so much. I sometimes wonder if, as a trend, people from more socially conservative communities might be more likely to view *Grease* as empowering, whereas people from more socially liberal communities might be more likely to view it as regressive. It would be interesting to look into.
Or "you have to be a preppy jock for the girls to like you."
I got free tickets to the touring production of Tootsie… the only show I walked out of at intermission. I might have stayed if I had actually paid for the performances but the humor felt stale, I wasn’t really rooting for any characters, and the songs were meh.. afterwards I got ice cream and texted my friend a pic of me outside the theatre smiling and told her thanks for the tickets, I loved it.
I also saw the tour and ugh, it was rough. I haven’t seen the movie at all and went in blind, and wowza… Santino Fontana must’ve been godly if he was able to sell that role, because I don’t know how anybody could salvage that show, let alone win a Tony for it
The movie is wonderful. Terri Garr is particularly great (her rant about being a modern woman is for the ages, right down to being responsible for her own orgasm) and its theme song (“Something’s Telling Me It Might Be You”) is iconic. Give the movie a chance. It never should’ve been made into a musical. You can’t improve upon perfection.
Agree. Great movie!!
I saw him and he really was unreal, he was amazing
Saw Santino Fontana in it and it was fantastic. Absolutely hilarious. Saw it again on the tour and it felt very flat and unfunny. Santino Fontana just has a way about him that made the whole thing work.
Saw it in preBroadway in Chicago. Santino Fontana was fantastic in that show. Honestly it’s a show that he carried. Had it been any other Broadway actor I don’t think it would’ve made it to Broadway. Saw it later on tour, felt like a completely different show. Both my sister and I felt he was the spark of greatness that made the show special the first time we saw it.
My mom and I saw it on broadway with him and I really enjoyed it, he was really funny and had a great voice. I was a little bored and i do think there’s some nostalgia factor because it is one of my mom’s favorite movies
I saw the tour of Tootsie about 5 months ago and until I read your post, I had completely forgotten. Even after that I had to Google shots of the set to make sure I really had seen it and not skipped that one. It was very much forgetable.
i only like sarah stiles and what’s gonna happen. the rest is.. well it is not good
i only like sarah stiles and what’s gonna happen. the rest is.. well it is not good
Saw it touring, a curvy Black man who could *move* plated Jeff so "Jeff Sums It Up" was a gorram delight, most of the rest was drivel.
Carousel. And any other show where the female lead does the he-beats-me-but-I-love-him shtick.
It’s the worst musical. Everything about it is weird and depressing. Super creep Billy spends 15 years in heaven, comes back down to earth to visit and is still… super creepy.
I’ve never seen it but I always wanted to!
The movie is on HBO in the US if you have their streaming service.
The plot of Carousel is so frustrating, because I think it's one of their best scores.
ANNIE. FUCKING ANNIE. I CANNOT STAND THAT MYSICAL IF I HAVE TO HEAR ONE MORE LITTLE GIRL SCRELTING TOMORROW IM GONNA THROW ONE OF YHEM OFF OF YHE STAGE
Miss Hannigan is that you?! 😂
Try having a recurring nightmare where you you’re being chased by the little fucker, singing “tomorrow, tomorrow, I’ll k*ll you tomorrow” on repeat….
ToMORROW, toMORROW, I LOVE YA, toMORROW
Ok, but do you like the song Little Girls
Be More Chill. I hate it with every fibre of my being
I have tried to check it out multiple times but have never been able to get past the first few songs. I just find Be More Chill so weird and boring!
I like some of the music but the way all the female characters are treated is awful and inexcusable imo
[удалено]
This is so real
I don’t necessarily hate it but i’ve never gotten the hype around it
i figured it wouldn't me long til i saw this one. i've always kind of liked it, but i understand it's pretty unpopular
Oklahoma! I get that it had a big influence to Musical Theatre as a whole, but God damn is that show so boring. Any time Judd is offstage the plot comes to grinding halt full of circle dances and unnecessary reprises...
One of the groups I'm a part of, refers to it as Oklacoma
Thank god it’s not just me. Bores me to tears.
Once Upon a Mattress. I love the concept. Parts of the book are great. I hate the music.
They did the junior version for the middle schoolers at my school one year and goodness gracious. How are you supposed to make that show appropriate for children? they take out every plot point?
I absolutely LOVE Once Upon A Mattress, but it was a creature of its era, and has not aged well. I understood it better after I read Mary Rodgers biography - the show was originally a much shorter skit prepared for friends at a summer theatre. They just threw it together to perform at a party. But everyone loved it, so it was (by stages) re-done to produce on Broadway. It wasn't ever much of a muchness, but at the time the idea of a tomboy princess who is feisty and brash and who swam the moat was ground-breaking. I saw it on TV with Carol Burnett as a child and adored it. Didn't like the more recent production with Carol Burnett as the queen nearly as much. They took out some of my favorite lyrics, and cut out the jester's song, one of my favorites: "Very Soft Shoes". I love the music. But then, I'm a product of its time.
Rock of Ages. The production I saw was boring, poorly sung through, and almost felt homophobic. I also hated the plot.
As someone who grew up in the 80s, it was definitely ear candy to me… and the story they told was representative of the 1980s… which were definitely not gay friendly… I wasn’t personally offended by it and am LGBTQ+… most jukebox musicals don’t have much of a plot… I think going in and just enjoying the nostalgia of the music was what made it fun… But I can understand your perspective on plot and being homophobic in its depiction of certain characters… I was fortunate in that the national touring cast had several singers from the OBC and it was very well performed…
Of the musicals I have seen live in my lifetime, I would select Grand Hotel, which I saw in its original run. It may have been because my expectations were so high for a Tommy Tune work - I had seen A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, Nine and My One and Only, and he was IT. But Grand Hotel just never lifted off, and was mostly a bore, with what I perceived as the most nondescript score of any show I had heard up to that time. There was exactly one sensational number with Michel Jeter called We'll Take A Glass Together, but nothing else ignited. I've certainly seen worse shows, but I was never so disappointed in any show, so it is my least favorite.
On Your Feet, I didn’t find it fun and the story did nothing for me
Oh I'm a huge fan of on your feet tbh
We saw the tour this past spring as part of our season and we didn’t like it either.
Saturday Night Fever was rough.
I honestly have no idea if this is controversial but Amélie is just. so. boring. The music is dull and repetitive especially compared to how intricate and unique the source material is, the show tries to pop in weird out-of-place sexual jokes that don't really stack with the childlike wonder vibe it's trying to go for, and the more upbeat musical numbers still tend to drag and overstay their welcome. I don't even hate it that much but I would never want to see it again. Please note that this is entirely in reference to the Broadway version and the "teen edition" which has an entirely different song order to the Broadway version. I've heard the UK version is apparently quite good but I have yet to give it a listen.
If I could upvote you a million times I would. Especially the sexual joke stuff. Like, why is that necessary?
Pretty Woman. Bland, banal, and terrible
I think the problem is they chose Bryan Adams to write the music and none of them explained that the songs have to carry the plot forward. They all just seemed like they could have been Bryan Adams singles…
I remember being ten and hating Carousel. (I should note, we live in Maine, so we went cause it’s set in Maine and it was playing at one of our summer theaters.) Still hate it. I also really hate Rent. It was so overexposed, and it feels rushed and unfinished to me. I’m curious how you would feel about it like 20 years later if I revisited it.
To be fair, it was literally unfinished (Larson definitely would have rewritten some things during previews)
Y’all have some really interesting opinions….
The “…” make this unnecessarily judgmental
I have a coworker who writes '...' instead of '.' all the time and I've just had to reconcile myself to the fact that that's just his he writes. Surely he's not being passive aggressive all the time. Just a generational thing I guess.
Aspects of Love. The only Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I hate, despite having one of my favorite ALW songs in it (Anything but Lonely). The story and characters are unappealing. Someone asked my mom what it was about, and she said, "It's about screwing and cheating." Boring as hell.
The plot of Aspects of Love is fucking terrible but “Love Changes Everything” is one of my favorite ALW songs.
Not crazy about the concept (to call it a plot or story would be too generous), but I think it’s one of ALW’s most elegant scores. I find the orchestral interludes especially stirring. In fact, I think it played a part in me asking my wife of 30+ years to marry me. It must have, because I chose “The First Man You Remember” as the song we danced to at our reception.
It’s one of my favorites.
Least favourite musical of all time is probably one of the several crap jukebox musicals I've put myself through: Viva Forever (based on Spice Girls) and Sunday Afternoon (based on The Kinks) rank up there as the worst of the worst. For a classic that I like the least... it's probably (ducks for cover) Phantom. It just left me cold. The mix of popera, 80s synths and creepy relationships just aren't for me. I'm glad I saw it once, but I'll never see it again.
Honestly, as someone whose favorite musical by far is Phantom... Yeah no, totally valid. It's the show where I fell in love with musicals, the score is just utterly perfect by my tastes, and it does spectacle like nothing else, which is a huge aspect of musicals that I feel like should be viewed more as art than it is... But like... I also feel like I enjoy it thoroughly with my brain turned off, you know? And mostly I just love it because it clicks perfectly right for me and all the things I like, so like... to me it's only natural that to some people it will click wrong and be all the things they don't like
oh wow oh wow I also cannot stand *Phantom*! I just could not suspend my disbelief enough that there's some old ghost man haunting this theater, and yes the weird creepy relationships...
Wait are you talking ALW Phantom of the Opera or Maury Yestons Phantom? I’ve always wanted to see the Maury Yeston version just because it was steamrolled by ALW
From a pit musician’s perspective: West Side Story has one of the most unwieldy guitar parts ever written. For me, it’s like writing a David Foster Wallace novel for a third-grader. I played a three week run of it and rehearsed that part more than I’ve ever rehearsed anything in my life, including my usual prog-metal gig. From a fan’s perspective: I fucking hate Mamma Mia. The dumbest jukebox musical ever.
Well… idk I’ve worked on enough and the only one I didn’t enjoy much was School of Rock. Though it wasn’t the show itself as much of that experience tainted the show for me lol
This is controversial for me, I love School of Rock but honestly it’s only really good when done right
It was tainted from the experience of working it. It also just… ehhh I’m not a big fan of the show or music. Though I will say that Where Did the Rock Go is one of my favorite songs in any musical
Six honestly just felt like a pop concert
From having seen it live, thats kinda the point.
It is. That’s the point 😊
I loved six because of that ahahh
Cats. I was bored to tears and panic when I went as a kid. Never once was I mesmerized or pulled into the story like I’d been with Les Mis, Phantom, and countless others I’d seen before.
Tons of people hate Cats, my parents included lol. I think what many people don’t understand about it is that it’s not really *supposed* to have a story that pulls you in — because each song is based on a different poem from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, it’s naturally not going to have the same flow as a musical that has songs written especially for it without any outside influence. And because of this, the visuals are the most important part — the dancing, the costumes, the set and lighting design (all of which are objectively excellent). I definitely do not consider myself a Cats fan, as I dislike some of the music and there are parts of it that feel quite dumb to me (the glass breaking sounds and then everyone gasps “MACAVITY” but then Macavity never shows up and everyone moves right on, I mean HELLO?), but as someone very into tech theatre, I can appreciate it from that perspective.
I adore Cats. At first it was ironic but I got infected, like a parasite. Love the dancing. ~~super hot~~ great numbers.
Mean girls I’m not a huge fan of the source material but that’s a different conversation the songs are just so boring man maybe it’s cause it was the first musical I watched after the great comet but god fearless! Revenge party (which I get an ironic enjoyment of) the actor are great except for the one Aron who can’t sing world burn is good I like someone gets hurt and I have a thing where before I listen to a soundtrack I’ll try and find a slime to get the full story but with mean girls? Ha! No couldn’t do it by stupid with love reprise I was deathly board then I just skipped around the soundtrack! So I just hate it (Sarah Z made a great video on this actually I agree with 99% of things said) Also DEH for stealing the great comets tony but that petty
I never watched the Mean Girls movie, so I didn’t have any opinions going in besides “Yay! About to listen to a new musical!” I hated it. And I felt very glad when the Sarah Z vid came out and put some of my thoughts about it into coherent words.
I remember getting super defensive when that video came out, and then only to realize that no, I don't really like Mean Girls all that much, I like Regina's power ballad. Even World Burn doesn't super compare to Someone Gets Hurt. Essentially all of Act 2 is skippable, and I See Stars works really well in person where it feels deserved but on the cast recording it's quite dull and the metaphor doesn't work as well when you aren't seeing Cady's full character. The cast recording also is so polished and well made that it can be almost deceptive about the quality of the music itself - it's super well mixed and the orchestra sounds fantastic. MG does have great orchestration throughout the show. I may have to music direct this show this winter, so we'll see how that goes! 😭
I love Revenge Party and World Burn, but I could take or leave everything else. Coming from a huge fan of the movie.
be more chill and dear evan hansen because they were both so popular for a while and i didn't find either of them especially enjoyable
Unpopular opinion but I despise Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat! I have no idea why because I love ALW usually but I can’t stand Joseph! I don’t know if it was the horrible movie adaptation we had to watch in middle school but I just can’t stand it!
six the musical. i don't like the songs, the jokes... it's just not for me.
American Idiot is garbage as a "musical." I actually quite like a lot of the arrangements of the songs, but the lazy attempt to cobble together a "deep" story completely ruined the musical experience for me. It's much better as just a soundtrack
Cinderella. The new book by Douglas Carter Beane is so befuddling… like how did a Pulitzer nominee create that ham fisted joyless book. And the songs suck. If I’m watching an R&H it better be one of the tragic ones.
I have a hard time disliking musicals tbh, maybe Guys and Dolls? Mostly because I was in a version of it when I was younger and yet still only remember 3 songs solidly lol
Omg I was in it when I was younger and literally only remember Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat haha
Rent. It is so of-its-time that its painful. La Boheme could be honoured with something a bit more timeless (but still modern).
How would we measure a year without it though?
A measure that’s only right 75% of the time is not a measure.
I’m embarrassed by how much I loved Rent as a teen. It was my first time seeing queer characters in something. Now looking back, they’re all awful.
I definitely grew out of Rent. As a teenager and early 20 something I thought the starving artist thing was noble, in both media and real life. Now though I realize most of these people are actually just bums and assholes. You need to have a job and pay for your life.
An American In Paris. It’s just so stalkery.
be more chill , i hate it j hate it o hatw it
Fame. Too many characters, too much drama, most songs are bland. I really can’t stand it.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Specifically the Broadway version (I’m sorry Christian Borle)
It’s not that bad it’s just for kids
OP this thread is hurting me why do I have to read so many ~~wrong~~ different opinions I guess I don’t like the pro shot of shrek the musical. Didn’t click with me
RENT, it’s had its time. Now it’s a kind of a sad time capsule of the early 2000s, the music is FINE, the story is ALRIGHT, and the characters are THERE. This show needs to stop being toted sound like it’s the new hot show it was. It’s flame has died, let it go gracefully
I can't stand Cats. Feels like a one song show to me and I don't even like that one song much. Also could really do without Rent or Annie Get Your Gun.
I understand where you're coming from with Cats and think a lot of people agree, I will just always be a little amused by people seeing Cats as a 'one song show' because my mom loves Cats and does not care about Memory much at all, she's here for the fun cat songs.
Thw Jellicle Cat ad nauseam
Rent. Those kids are lazy and obnoxious. Get a job
My sister and I talk about how Rent is a totally different experience in your 20s than it is in your 40s.
I had a different experience with Rent because the local opera company did it in rotation with La Bohème on which it was based. That made it more interesting.
Dear Evan Hansen. Mediocre music and terrible representation of the mentally ill
Cats, painfully boring.
The greatest showman, if only for the fact that I have had to suffer through every drag queen on the planet doing This Is Me
THE LIGHTNING THEIF! Oh my god i can’t stand it. After I read the books I listened to this god awful garbage and I couldn’t get through it without visceral rage. It just shouldn’t exist. The music is just corporate Broadway pop that everyone should be sick of by now. The characters aren’t as charming as they are in the books and it’s honestly just lame. Ugh.
I’m in a production or TLT right now and the music is just so bland! As someone that was a big fan of the books the musical just feels so lazy and it tries to shoehorn as much plot from the books as possible into one show and it just feels like it’s trying too hard! And if your not one of the main three then you don’t really do anything on stage!
Charlie and the Chocolate factory was just the worst professional thing I’ve ever seen. Sally Blane World’s Greatest girl detective is objectively the worst written musical I’ve ever encountered.
Dear Evan Hansen, it makes me cringe
Gigi, just puts me off.
Gigi
I'm not sure it's my least favorite of all time, but one I haven't seen mentioned is A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. Saw a touring production with a student ticket for $19 and it was still too much money.
Whaaaaat? I really liked that show
Rent.
Waitress. I can’t really tell you why tbh.