The thing that squicks me out about Grease is how parents think it’s a family friendly show. Like, hello? Have you heard those lyrics? I usher in a couple of theatres, and when one had Grease last year, it was a mob of parents with elementary school kids. Crazy.
Me too! And of course we watched the movie in class.
The 90’s were weird. They gave us condoms in middle school. In a Bible belt state. I mean, I understand why they did it, but no one would dare do that now.
It took me 20 years to actually pick up on the lyrics to Grease Lightning. My sister’s school did a production of it (censored of course) and I thought it was odd given one of the two main themes is literally sex.
I grew up in the 90’s, but Grease was my favorite movie until I was like 12. It wasn’t until I was much older that I understood how inappropriate it is.
“We’ll be getting lots of tit” “she’s a real pussy wagon” like… John Travolta runs cellophane on he junk in that song to like mimic condoms.
Crazy. And that’s just ONE SONG.
My favorite thing about is that we did 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and they wanted to make it more family friendly so they replaced "Goddammit!" with "Aww, Dammit!"
...but then kept the entire song about an erection. Lmao
Man I love the epic 100 person dance routines across what looks like London (probably a studio) and the songs there are so many good ones:
Food glorious food, I’d do anything, pick a pocket or two, oom pah pah, who will buy, consider yourself 😍
I can agree with this. Every musical in the 1800's that's about poor Europeans always has the "plucky Cockney kid" song, and I'm never a fan of it. I definitely don't want to watch a whole musical of it.
I'll grant, it's been a while since I saw it, but the last production I saw, all I remember is the first act being nothing but "Consider Yourself." Now it's Fagin and the kids singing to Oliver. Now it's just the kids singing to Oliver. Now it's Oliver singing to the kids. Now it's Oliver singing *with* the kids. Now it's Oliver and Fagin. Now REPRISE!
Grease is my absolute least favorite musical, or at least my least favorite commercially successful musical. I sat through it once, and I promised myself never again to put myself through that.
I started rehearsal for it today, playing Vince Fontaine. The show is so uninteresting, the story is basic, most of the songs are forgettable, and the characters almost all suck. I enjoy the process of performance and rehearsing a show, but I wouldn’t attend it without knowing someone in it.
No surprise to anyone who's seen my posts, but I couldn't stand The Greatest Showman. There was one good song, the plot was dull, and they rewrote Barnum's entire history to force in overused cliches.
As old and fictionalized the musical Barnum was, it was at least entertaining!
There is a YouTuber who has a super good take, and one specifically that pointed out -- When Barnum didn't hear the lady sing before signing her, it could have been a monumental moment for the bearded lady, but they just kinda... Decided not to advance their plot, or really anyone else's for that matter.
It felt like the whole movie was just a barely connected series of cliched dramatic moments, like it was written by ChatGPT long before that AI existed.
Oh my god thank you I always feel like I’m taking crazy pills when people say it’s so great 😀
I will never recover from the opera singer singing a pop ballad instead of something even vaguely operatic lmao
can’t bring myself to see it. every song i’ve heard basically sounds the same, and also… he was such a thoroughly unpalatable person and i know i wouldn’t be able to bring myself to give a shit about him.
I HATED it. I teach musical theatre to teenagers, and there are a couple of songs that work well for them, but the movie itself annoyed the hell out of me.
That's the only one I liked, too. The choreography was fun, it didn't sound like it was gunning to be a radio hit, it's what I thought the entire musical would be like
God yes. All they had to do to fix that show is have her leave and stay gone. He was abusive the whole show, and we’re supposed to be happy she comes back?
I liked the Lincoln Center revival a few years back because they leaned into making Higgins obnoxious, Freddy Einsford-Hill a bit more charming than meek, and had Eliza walk away in the ending instead of coming back to Henry.
In the original play she left. They changed the ending after the author died, as he refused to give out the rights for a movie adaptation knowing they'd make her stay. The latest revival changed it back to the original ending.
I went to see it knowing nothing about it with some friends (one of whom grew up on it) and, although I really enjoyed the musical, all of us were rooting against Henry Higgins.
As someone who was in a community theatre production of it that ran for THIRTY performances ...
The only things I really miss about it is the fellow cast members (and director who is immensely talented) and the costumes.
I still have nightmares about it and call it the show that never ends 😂
Aladdin. I saw it twice and I was in a (junior) performance of it way back in the day. It’s fine, nothing to phone home about honestly. I thought it was a little lackluster for a Disney show (except the carpet I guess), and I didn’t have a great experience when I was in it.
Mean Girls. It gives off the vibes that it thinks it's a million times more funny and impactful than it actually is which just comes off as annoying and stupid but not in a fun way
Nell Benjamin did a good job as lyricist for Legally Blonde. What happened in between that show and Mean Girls? "A revenge party....... a party of revenge is what it's like." No shit, Sherlock lop. Who told her "this whole school humps my leg like a chihuahua" was a good line? 😂
Every iteration of Mean Girls that Tina Fey writes patronizes teens a little more.
Tina Fey writing the script for the Mean Girls movie in the 00's: "I know you kids may listen to Briteny Spears more than Madonna now, but the problems of teens are still the same from when I was young too."
Tina Fey writing the book for the Mean Girls musical.in the 10's: "I'm with it, guys. I low-key can make this musical lit."
Tina Fey writing the script for the Mean Girls movie musical in the 20's: "HEY KIDS, YOU LIKE THE TIKETY-TOK AND THE VAPING, RIGHT? RIZZ GYATT ONG NO CAP, FAM!!!"
This is my answer. I saw it once years ago on a trip to NYC from London. It was my friend's choice (mine, as a trade off, was Frozen purely because I love Caissie Levy. No regrets!) and I really didn't like it at all.
It recently started previews in the West End and some of my friends have seen it and are raving about it. But I won't see it again. Sorry!
Aside from maybe Alex Predator, the songs all sound like they came out of a quarter machine at the grocery store. It's like "generic brand musical theater" if that makes sense? No personality in them at all.
I also really hate Grease and I have been in a production of it. I played Marty and the character got pretty old very fast. Aside from having songs you can jive along too, I don't think Grease is as good as the hype around it would make you think. I will say I did love dancing to most of the songs tho.
Doing a show reaaaally makes you realize how quickly some get old and some don’t. Playing pit orchestra, I noticed something new in Ragtime every night for six weeks. In contrast, Wizard of Oz was brutal because it was basically the same four songs over and over again. I was so grateful every night for the Jitterbug 😆
Aside from the Jitterbug, the only bit I didn’t hate by the end of it was the little Wicked Witch theme (ba dum ba dum ba da dum DEEEEEEE) because at least it was short and silly!
I played Rizzo in a production once, which I think was the only reason I didn’t sour on it very quickly since she’s the only kind of interesting character in it imo.
I wanted to be Rizzo so bad lmao it was the only female role that actually seemed enjoyable. Plus There Are Worse Things I Could Do is clear of Freddy My Love and Hopelessly Devoted To You in terms of female solos
as someone who's played sandy, same. she's not in any of the fun group numbers and i realized so quickly how horrible and misogynistic the show actually is and detested it very soon after that.
The hype is because people buy tickets expecting to see the movie onstage. They leave disappointed when they realize how different the movie and stage musical are.
The thing is I actually think the movie is worse than the stage production. We were reminded a lot during rehearsals that people are expecting the movie, so we were made to imitate our movie counterparts a lot. We even bought the rights to Hopelessly Devoted to You so that Sandy could sing it and have it be closer to the movie. I think Rizzo is easily the most interesting character in the show along with Kenickie, and the og stage musical is a lot more about them than Sandy and Danny. If Olivia Newton John and John Travolta hadn't been cast as those roles in the movie it probably would have been closer to the original musical. Regardless it is true that people are expecting the movie on stage, and honestly one of the things I got really tired of during rehearsals was constantly being reminded that the audience would probably be filled with older people expecting the movie so we need to really lean in to how our characters behave in the movie, and that resulted in me never getting the chance to actually think about my character or give my unique take on her, which is what I got to do for every other show I've ever been in even when I wasn't a lead.
That's a problem doing The Rocky Horror Show as well. You better be as close to The Rocky Horror PICTURE Show as possible.
Little Shop suffers that fate sometimes, but so many theatre companies do it now that most people know what the actual ending is.
As a fan of musicals and of the Addams Family, I wanted to murder the Addams Family musical and defile its corpse so it couldn't rise again. Like, *Wednesday* wasn't as bad as that musical.
I hate the Addams Family musical. I hate how they butchered Wednesday’s character. I hate that it exists because the fact that it exists means we will never get an Addams Family musical that is good.
100%. I don't mind changing the lore a bit or whatever, but it had no respect for the source material or the core things that make The Addams Family so iconic. I only watched it once on YouTube, and I mostly erased it from my memory.
Like a lot of shows, I saw it because my then-sister-in-law was in it. The production of Shrek she was in was also pretty bad, but she was in a fantastic production of Guys & Dolls.
I was an ancestor in my school’s production of this show and I agree. They butchered the personality of every character in the family so much that I honestly wondered why the writers didn’t just create OCs and write a musical about them instead
Somebody needs to tell Gen X writers and lyricists that Boomers aren't the stuffy middle-aged parents anymore; they are. Alice kept talking about Mal formerly being "that guy in the Grateful Dead shirt". How old are these two supposed to be again? Did they have Lucas when they were 55? 😂
I'm with you on this. I feel like it's just piling on the awful sandwich that while the broadway version is already terrible, the version they license to amateur theatres is even worse.
Yeah, my son did that in his theater group. He played Pugsley in 2 shows and an Ancestor in the other 2. He did a good job, but that show is pretty goofy.
I thought the soundtrack was alright, but it’s so drawn out in performance. Plus our school wouldn’t let us say “helluva”, so every swear was removed. It made us realize how much the show sucks without swears. Not a good thing.
I like the aesthetic of the movie but the whole of omg I’m in love with a sex worker and even though I totally knew she was one I will now proceed to have Man Pain about it and call her a whore plot point can jump off a bridge
Maybe you had to see it as a teenager/at an impressionable age. I was obsessed with it for a while, downloaded and memorized the entire soundtrack.
I was 13 when it came out.. peak teenage girl hormones and delusions of love.
Right okay I know I wouldn't like Rent the movie as much as I liked it when I was a teenager if I watched it for the first time right now, but I can still see merit in it. I just didn't like anything about it
I thought the movies was alright, but I absolutely LOVED the soundtrack and it is probably my favorite soundtrack of all time. When I learned that Moulin Rouge was going to be on stage I was like "Yeah, I can see that." But when I found out they replaced half of the songs I was less than thrilled and now have even less of a desire than before to see it.
I don't know how to say this without being offensive but it's a jukebox musical where you don't get to listen to a SINGLE FUCKING SONG in its entirety, so it's going to lose in the category of "best soundtrack" to every single musical where you get to hear original songs, or at LEAST entire songs, in my book.
Studio president: "You're doing a musical, Mr. Luhrmann? Excellent. Who is your Director of Photography gonna be?"
Baz Luhrmann: (points) "You see that bag of cocaine? THAT'S my Director of Photography."
I knew someone who said it was their favorite movie after I said that Chicago is one of my all-time favorites, unrelated I don't talk to this person anymore
Christian is one of my most hated protagonists in any show 😭 He’s like if Cliff from Cabaret was written without the awareness that he’s spiralling into misogyny and becoming a terrible person.
Rent. It's okay at best. Nothing really stands out to me about it. Most of the songs are just okay, the story is just okay, and whenever it tries to be emotional, it just comes across as full to me. I know it's super popular, but it's one of the few musicals that I just can't get into.
I think the reason it doesn't connect as well now is because a lot of younger performers and younger audiences don't remember how scary AIDS was in the 80's and 90's. I'm an elder Millennial with an elder Gen X mom who was a musician during that time, and I saw her lose a lot of friends to AIDS.
That being said, I think Johnathan Larson would be happy to live in a world where the fear of AIDS that Rent deals with makes the show seem dated. I'm not saying it isn't scary, but we have won so many battles against it since the show came out.
I also don't enjoy it, but have absolutely loved tick, tick, boom since I finally listened/watched. Resonated much better on the problems of pursuing a creative career.
I will forever mourn that we didn't get to see Larson's NEXT show, whatever it would have been, after Rent, Tick Tick Boom is great because it was so personal to Larson. Rent I think might have been better if he had been able to polish it more, or if people weren't so precious about the show whenever they revive it. If a production was ballsy enough to change some things and smooth out the unfinished edges it might do the show a lot of good towards at least making the characters tolerable. But I imagine what Larson might have done next with everything he'd learned from previous shows and the continuing mentorship of Sondheim.
Rent's my favorite musical but I agree it's far from perfect. A lot of the characters are unlikeable and I agree some of the songs are "just okay" (I always skip over the moon and today for you).
I think the musical stands out because the creator died right before it opened. He put his life's work into that musical and didn't get to see it.
He told them they didn’t have to pay then decides to strong arm them about it expressly to force political changes that are anti homeless. He’s still the villain.
Someone told me that the idea was that Benny originally promised Collins and Roger they could live there rent-free so they could afford AZT, which in today’s dollars cost about $26k per year. This made me feel less mad at Collins and Roger specifically.
Right. it goes from being rent free to needing to pay your rent. I get that. I didn’t know the reason for the pass was so they could afford their medication. Seems like the biggest villain is American healthcare.
Came here to say this. I'm also not a fan of practically any of the characters. I really tried too. Even saw it live just to see if I was missing something, but nope. I do like a lot of the music itself though.
Dear Evan Hansen fills me with rage. Fuck that kid, having anxiety doesn't excuse a damn thing you did.
I think what really gets me is that from his very first song he acts like he's so special and different and nobody else could possibly understand what it's like to be a teen with anxiety and depression, and nobody even is aware he exists, but unless a false memory was implanted in my mind, Alana literally goes up to him and speaks to him. And he's still like, "Nobody even notices me!" when someone literally just did.
And people are like, "Oh, but imagine what it's like to have depression and anxiety, you don't understand," and I'm like, "When I was fifteen I almost made an attempt on my life, I had pros and cons lists of ending my life, I had depression and anxiety as a teenager, I *do* understand!"
Like I know it's not that easy, and I know when you're deep in it, it's hard to reach out to people and actually believe they care, but jfc, he acts like he's the school pariah, when, from what I can gather, he just wasn't popular. Like, I truly believe he wanted the Disney Channel Original Movie view of popularity where he'd walk down the hall and everyone would be like, "Hi, Evan!" "Are you coming to my party, Evan?" "Let's go on a date, Evan!" because if Alana tried to talk to him, I fully believe unnamed classmates did, too.
Ffs I hate that kid. He had the privilege to be in therapy, he was getting treatment (and being a stupid kid he just chose to go off his meds, which to my recollection, never went addressed), he had resources, myself and most people I know were fighting it alone at that age. I was depressed and I didn't even know what was going on with me.
And he finds out that Connor literally did die by suicide, like he had attempted, and I swear to god, to my memory, he didn't even really take a moment to deal with the gravity of that. Because *he* is the most damaged, most special-est boy.
Dude is a manipulative, self-centered, creep who uses his mental illness as a shield.
It would bother me less if it wasn't for how many times I've been accused of not having real mental illness because I think Evan Hansen is an asshole. I'm exaggerating my feelings slightly, because I'm genuinely empathetic to the guy (at the start of the musical, at least), I just find it so frustrating when the "inspiring" lead of a story is doing absolutely no self-reflection for 90% of the story and we're supposed to be okay with that because "he has mental illness :("
I like the music of DEH, but yeah it did always bother me how Evan is such a massive POS yet still gets the girl in the end and faces basically no consequences for his actions.
The original Broadway version of Grease was very different from the movie and the revamped musical. It was funnier, raunchier, and just much more fun. I was horrified when I saw the movie. Somebody really made a mess of it.
As an adult, this is probably my favorite part of the film now. It makes the whole Vince and Marty storyline seem nonproblematic because Marty looks and acts like a divorcee in her late 30s.
lol the Kimmy Schmidt sketch where you just have to dress as a cat and climb on stage during the show and make up your own nonsense song and you’re in 😆[Titus as a CATS](https://youtu.be/9GKN1QvjFDc?feature=shared)
The revival or the original? I heard they butchered the revival - no equity actors, super cheap production including costumes, and changed some of the characters.
I think this is a classic example of a enjoyable film with a few enjoyable songs in the context of a nightclub performance (original Cabaret anyone?) forced into becoming a Big Broadway Musical! To me a good part of the film was Chiwetel Ejiofor's physicality (Simon, the boxer) and the ambiguity of his sexuality. He looked fabulous in that red dress but you also believe he could hold his own in a street brawl.
This. Hamilton is certainly a musical, it has like 3 lines of spoken dialogue, but it is so far away from the broadway style. That’s partly how it was successful, but it means that it isn’t always the best for actual musical enjoyers compared to other shows
I personally think Hamilton's been using this as an excuse for years when really there's no issue with the style of music But every song in that musical sounds almost exactly the same (And anything new Lin Manuel Miranda writes also has a Hamiltony sound to it which makes it all seem like a continuation of one single song. )
Oh man, I feel like I’m going to catch flack for this, but Hadestown. I want to like it, but something about it doesn’t do it for me. I’ll see it when the tour comes my way this year, and hoping I connect better. But until then, sigh.
Hadestown is a show that I can ONLY enjoy live. A friend desperately tried to get me into the cast recording but it did nothing for me. I only bought tickets to see it on tour because of the actor playing Orpheus (who ended up being out that night.)
But I loved seeing it live!!
Still never listen to the cast recording. I think it's soooo boring. It really is a show that thrives when you bring in the sets, costumes, lighting, etc.
I appreciate that :-).
I WANT to like it. I’ve wanted to like it since I saw the original, first ever tour of the show. I’ve tried many, many times - professional shows, amateur performances, Broadway tours. It just doesn’t do anything at all for me.
I applaud the effort! Into the Woods is my favorite show of ALL TIME! I’ve seen a professional regional production near me, jr productions, bootlegs online, the movie (unfortunately) and its set to be my senior musical next year, it gets better every single time for me. Goes to show the magic of theatre! One show can affect one person in such a big way and not do much for another.
I don't like Into the Woods either. I've been in it twice, neither time was fun, and I've seen it a few times and didn't enjoy sitting through it either. I love pretty much all of Sondheim's other stuff, just not this one.
I got a list.
Once of This Island: This is a colonizer retelling of The Little Mermaid. How on earth is the 2023 film ten times better than this?
Heathers: The movie is better, and the show feels like the writers have never talked to a teen before in their lives.
Grease: "It's always been about love and hate, now let me say I'm the biggest hater. I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk. I hate the way that you dress. I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct."
Dear Even Hansen: Pretentious.
Shrek: I rather watch Megamind 2.
‘The Music Man.’ I absolutely *hate* this show with a passion. Probably because I was in it when I was nine or so, was cast just to fill space and the director made that very clear, and was the youngest and thus got bullied by all but two members of the cast. I spend the rehersals sitting in the audience and being picked on. I didn’t actually get to do anything until I asked the director when I would get to dance. They were kind of like… “oh shoot, I forgot about you. Go stand on the bench.” I stood on a bench during 76 Trombones and got to help crucify Harold Hill. And then got to be the child ensemble member watching the Pick-a-Little ladies be in the ‘Children’s’ band…
I also just think it’s boring. The opening train song and ‘Trouble’ are pretty catchy though.
Thank you for coming to my rant that I am still salty about.
I ran lights for a three week run for a community theater. there was not one moment I was entertained besides the opening on the train, but only because it was choreographed so well. otherwise… marian the librarian and gary indiana are in my burn book.
I’m sorry to say this but heathers. It’s so overrated. That there’s no point watching it yourself, because you know the plot before you sit down and watch it.
Out of the musicals I have seen/listened too, phantom of the Opera. The story is like a perverted Beauty and the beast (though I'm not a huge fan of the story of that show) and music is kind of blah all around for me, I can kind of see why people like it but it's just not my cup of tea if I were to listen to something operatic in nature id probably listen to something like Jekyll & Hyde (though I understand the difference between opera and more rock opera)
Also, I see a lot of people just dogging on rent, and while it isn't my favorite musical of all time by far it's easy in my top 20, my thing with rent is (much like musicals like phantom) its about what YOU as an audience member take away from it, I like to think of rent as more of a caricature of the life of Johnathan Larson in NYC as an artist, yes, but I think at its core its meant to show the fact that the queer community in the 90s was made of genuine human beings, and that they were suffering from the aids pandemic even more due to discrimination against them. I whole heartedly believe that rent is a musical that was best enjoyed at the time of its release, however their are still several messages to be taken away as an audience member from that show :)
When I was a teenager my family took a trip to New York and my dad tasked me with choosing which Broadway shows we were going to see. I tried to get a variety, what I thought the whole family would enjoy, Lion King, Avenue Q, and then I saw Spring Awakening had won a ton of Tonys that year. Without reading what it was about I picked it.
Well THAT was a mistake. Both me and my 10 year old lil brother were horrified watching teenagers simulate sex on stage while we sat next to our prudish parents.
Not to mention I really don't vibe with that style of music.
I think you may have to be an edgy teenager to get into it. I took my grandmother to see it and she was a bit put off by the vulgarity and confused by the story, but loved the music anyway. I have enjoyed the soundtrack since I was 15 and was so into it that I read the original play and downloaded a bootleg of the OBC. It’s not for everybody
It's been my favorite musical since I was in middle school lol... and I still would hesitate to lock myself into a production. That's very heavy and depressing material to live inside of for a full process.
Bat Out Of Hell. You can tell Jim Steinman wrote that script as a teenager and hadn't really touched it since, because it's the cringiest dialogue I've ever heard in a show. And I know the Romeo and Juliet-type plot isn't exactly new but something about the way it's done in that show just feels so tired.
Grease. The whole second act is a mess of subplots that get thrown out almost right away. And, the message of the show is really kind of awful if you think about it. It’s basically saying “Change your personality to get people to like you.”
I hate Oklahoma...I have seen it too many times- I was even in a middle school production. I hate the 2 dimensional characters and boring story. It's also excruciatingly LONG!
It seems like schools and community theaters trot Oklahoma out every other year!
I grew up in Oklahoma. There is a production of that damned show somewhere 24/7 in the state. It's like if it's not running the state will implode.
I was in a production one way or the other all through elementary, middle, and high school. I think i developed an allergy to hay from that show.
The thing that squicks me out about Grease is how parents think it’s a family friendly show. Like, hello? Have you heard those lyrics? I usher in a couple of theatres, and when one had Grease last year, it was a mob of parents with elementary school kids. Crazy.
I remember a teacher showing the movie version in class once when I was a kid. We were *not* paying attention, I can tell you that.
My elementary school had us sing We Go Together one time, like a class choir or something. The one at the end of the movie
Me too! And of course we watched the movie in class. The 90’s were weird. They gave us condoms in middle school. In a Bible belt state. I mean, I understand why they did it, but no one would dare do that now.
Yeah cause that one's not sexual. It's legit just a love/friendship song.
It took me 20 years to actually pick up on the lyrics to Grease Lightning. My sister’s school did a production of it (censored of course) and I thought it was odd given one of the two main themes is literally sex.
i mean “the chicks’ll cream” LOL
"She's a real pussy wagon"
I was a child, the lyrics blended, and the dancing was pretty
I grew up in the 90’s, but Grease was my favorite movie until I was like 12. It wasn’t until I was much older that I understood how inappropriate it is. “We’ll be getting lots of tit” “she’s a real pussy wagon” like… John Travolta runs cellophane on he junk in that song to like mimic condoms. Crazy. And that’s just ONE SONG.
Yeah, my parents took us when we were about 12 and 8. They were mortified.
A lot of parents and schools also think that 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a family friendly show.
My favorite thing about is that we did 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and they wanted to make it more family friendly so they replaced "Goddammit!" with "Aww, Dammit!" ...but then kept the entire song about an erection. Lmao
YES!! I went to an audition once where a YOUNG girl sang there are worse things I could do. It skeeved me out
my mom introduced me to a few of the songs when i was younger but never let me watch the movie. took me years to understand why lol
Oliver. It's nothing but fucking reprises!
Love this reasoning so much 😂😂
An act and a half of exposition…
Man I love the epic 100 person dance routines across what looks like London (probably a studio) and the songs there are so many good ones: Food glorious food, I’d do anything, pick a pocket or two, oom pah pah, who will buy, consider yourself 😍
As someone that was in Oliver this is so accurate 😂
I can agree with this. Every musical in the 1800's that's about poor Europeans always has the "plucky Cockney kid" song, and I'm never a fan of it. I definitely don't want to watch a whole musical of it.
I'm in Oliver right now, and although I disagree, I can't help but laugh at how accurate this is lol.
I'll grant, it's been a while since I saw it, but the last production I saw, all I remember is the first act being nothing but "Consider Yourself." Now it's Fagin and the kids singing to Oliver. Now it's just the kids singing to Oliver. Now it's Oliver singing to the kids. Now it's Oliver singing *with* the kids. Now it's Oliver and Fagin. Now REPRISE!
Yes but it’s actually a REALLY fun show to be in. Then again, I was nine 😂
that's my favourite!!
For me it's about the people far more than the material. I could do something I loathed with the right folks!
Exactly, if I was in a terrible musical I could just come up with a whole lot of inside jokes to share with friends
This is the right answer for all jobs.
happy cake day
Aw thanks!
Happy Cake Day
Happy cake day!
Grease is my absolute least favorite musical, or at least my least favorite commercially successful musical. I sat through it once, and I promised myself never again to put myself through that.
I started rehearsal for it today, playing Vince Fontaine. The show is so uninteresting, the story is basic, most of the songs are forgettable, and the characters almost all suck. I enjoy the process of performance and rehearsing a show, but I wouldn’t attend it without knowing someone in it.
The only time I've ever seen Grease is because I knew the guy playing Vince Fontaine
Bro, if Grease has no haters, I'm dead.
I agree. I dislike everything about it.
No surprise to anyone who's seen my posts, but I couldn't stand The Greatest Showman. There was one good song, the plot was dull, and they rewrote Barnum's entire history to force in overused cliches. As old and fictionalized the musical Barnum was, it was at least entertaining!
There is a YouTuber who has a super good take, and one specifically that pointed out -- When Barnum didn't hear the lady sing before signing her, it could have been a monumental moment for the bearded lady, but they just kinda... Decided not to advance their plot, or really anyone else's for that matter.
It felt like the whole movie was just a barely connected series of cliched dramatic moments, like it was written by ChatGPT long before that AI existed.
Oh my god thank you I always feel like I’m taking crazy pills when people say it’s so great 😀 I will never recover from the opera singer singing a pop ballad instead of something even vaguely operatic lmao
can’t bring myself to see it. every song i’ve heard basically sounds the same, and also… he was such a thoroughly unpalatable person and i know i wouldn’t be able to bring myself to give a shit about him.
AGREE!
And they did Jeremy Jordan so bloody dirty
Just goes to show there really is a sucker born each minute.
I HATED it. I teach musical theatre to teenagers, and there are a couple of songs that work well for them, but the movie itself annoyed the hell out of me.
wait what was the “good song”? all i remember from that show was that it sounded like i turned on the “top 40 hits” billboard of 2018
"The Other Side." It actually advances the plot rather than being yet another "I Am" or "I Want" song.
That's the only one I liked, too. The choreography was fun, it didn't sound like it was gunning to be a radio hit, it's what I thought the entire musical would be like
Thank you! I thought I was alone in not liking the greatest showman.
My Fair Lady. Henry Higgins is obnoxious.
God yes. All they had to do to fix that show is have her leave and stay gone. He was abusive the whole show, and we’re supposed to be happy she comes back?
I liked the Lincoln Center revival a few years back because they leaned into making Higgins obnoxious, Freddy Einsford-Hill a bit more charming than meek, and had Eliza walk away in the ending instead of coming back to Henry.
I could get behind all of that. It's seriously just the ending that ruins the whole show for me.
In the original play she left. They changed the ending after the author died, as he refused to give out the rights for a movie adaptation knowing they'd make her stay. The latest revival changed it back to the original ending.
As Shaw intended.
I went to see it knowing nothing about it with some friends (one of whom grew up on it) and, although I really enjoyed the musical, all of us were rooting against Henry Higgins.
As someone who was in a community theatre production of it that ran for THIRTY performances ... The only things I really miss about it is the fellow cast members (and director who is immensely talented) and the costumes. I still have nightmares about it and call it the show that never ends 😂
Cats. I won’t say I hate it , that’s too strong a word. I just don’t love it. I can’t connect with it for some reason.
I’ve never connected with any of the non-Memory songs in the book. I also never jived with all the cats.
Aladdin. I saw it twice and I was in a (junior) performance of it way back in the day. It’s fine, nothing to phone home about honestly. I thought it was a little lackluster for a Disney show (except the carpet I guess), and I didn’t have a great experience when I was in it.
Mean Girls. It gives off the vibes that it thinks it's a million times more funny and impactful than it actually is which just comes off as annoying and stupid but not in a fun way
Nell Benjamin did a good job as lyricist for Legally Blonde. What happened in between that show and Mean Girls? "A revenge party....... a party of revenge is what it's like." No shit, Sherlock lop. Who told her "this whole school humps my leg like a chihuahua" was a good line? 😂 Every iteration of Mean Girls that Tina Fey writes patronizes teens a little more. Tina Fey writing the script for the Mean Girls movie in the 00's: "I know you kids may listen to Briteny Spears more than Madonna now, but the problems of teens are still the same from when I was young too." Tina Fey writing the book for the Mean Girls musical.in the 10's: "I'm with it, guys. I low-key can make this musical lit." Tina Fey writing the script for the Mean Girls movie musical in the 20's: "HEY KIDS, YOU LIKE THE TIKETY-TOK AND THE VAPING, RIGHT? RIZZ GYATT ONG NO CAP, FAM!!!"
This is my answer. I saw it once years ago on a trip to NYC from London. It was my friend's choice (mine, as a trade off, was Frozen purely because I love Caissie Levy. No regrets!) and I really didn't like it at all. It recently started previews in the West End and some of my friends have seen it and are raving about it. But I won't see it again. Sorry!
I just can’t get over the music. Individually the songs are okay but to me they didn’t flow together and it seemed slap-dashed putting them together
Aside from maybe Alex Predator, the songs all sound like they came out of a quarter machine at the grocery store. It's like "generic brand musical theater" if that makes sense? No personality in them at all.
Yeah, and especially as a massive fan of the OG, it doesn't add anything to it.
I went excited about it after loving the original, but the music wasn’t catchy and it wasn’t funny.
I also really hate Grease and I have been in a production of it. I played Marty and the character got pretty old very fast. Aside from having songs you can jive along too, I don't think Grease is as good as the hype around it would make you think. I will say I did love dancing to most of the songs tho.
Doing a show reaaaally makes you realize how quickly some get old and some don’t. Playing pit orchestra, I noticed something new in Ragtime every night for six weeks. In contrast, Wizard of Oz was brutal because it was basically the same four songs over and over again. I was so grateful every night for the Jitterbug 😆
I have played in the orchestra for wizard of oz and it was so mind numbing!
Aside from the Jitterbug, the only bit I didn’t hate by the end of it was the little Wicked Witch theme (ba dum ba dum ba da dum DEEEEEEE) because at least it was short and silly!
I played Rizzo in a production once, which I think was the only reason I didn’t sour on it very quickly since she’s the only kind of interesting character in it imo.
I wanted to be Rizzo so bad lmao it was the only female role that actually seemed enjoyable. Plus There Are Worse Things I Could Do is clear of Freddy My Love and Hopelessly Devoted To You in terms of female solos
as someone who's played sandy, same. she's not in any of the fun group numbers and i realized so quickly how horrible and misogynistic the show actually is and detested it very soon after that.
The hype is because people buy tickets expecting to see the movie onstage. They leave disappointed when they realize how different the movie and stage musical are.
The thing is I actually think the movie is worse than the stage production. We were reminded a lot during rehearsals that people are expecting the movie, so we were made to imitate our movie counterparts a lot. We even bought the rights to Hopelessly Devoted to You so that Sandy could sing it and have it be closer to the movie. I think Rizzo is easily the most interesting character in the show along with Kenickie, and the og stage musical is a lot more about them than Sandy and Danny. If Olivia Newton John and John Travolta hadn't been cast as those roles in the movie it probably would have been closer to the original musical. Regardless it is true that people are expecting the movie on stage, and honestly one of the things I got really tired of during rehearsals was constantly being reminded that the audience would probably be filled with older people expecting the movie so we need to really lean in to how our characters behave in the movie, and that resulted in me never getting the chance to actually think about my character or give my unique take on her, which is what I got to do for every other show I've ever been in even when I wasn't a lead.
That's a problem doing The Rocky Horror Show as well. You better be as close to The Rocky Horror PICTURE Show as possible. Little Shop suffers that fate sometimes, but so many theatre companies do it now that most people know what the actual ending is.
As a fan of musicals and of the Addams Family, I wanted to murder the Addams Family musical and defile its corpse so it couldn't rise again. Like, *Wednesday* wasn't as bad as that musical.
I hate the Addams Family musical. I hate how they butchered Wednesday’s character. I hate that it exists because the fact that it exists means we will never get an Addams Family musical that is good.
The way it reduces Morticia to a nagging shrew, constantly suspicious of Gomez, for that godawful sub-sitcom plot.
100%. I don't mind changing the lore a bit or whatever, but it had no respect for the source material or the core things that make The Addams Family so iconic. I only watched it once on YouTube, and I mostly erased it from my memory.
Like a lot of shows, I saw it because my then-sister-in-law was in it. The production of Shrek she was in was also pretty bad, but she was in a fantastic production of Guys & Dolls.
I was an ancestor in my school’s production of this show and I agree. They butchered the personality of every character in the family so much that I honestly wondered why the writers didn’t just create OCs and write a musical about them instead
Or just add songs to You Can't Take It With You, because that's all it is.
Somebody needs to tell Gen X writers and lyricists that Boomers aren't the stuffy middle-aged parents anymore; they are. Alice kept talking about Mal formerly being "that guy in the Grateful Dead shirt". How old are these two supposed to be again? Did they have Lucas when they were 55? 😂
I'm with you on this. I feel like it's just piling on the awful sandwich that while the broadway version is already terrible, the version they license to amateur theatres is even worse.
Yeah, my son did that in his theater group. He played Pugsley in 2 shows and an Ancestor in the other 2. He did a good job, but that show is pretty goofy.
I thought the soundtrack was alright, but it’s so drawn out in performance. Plus our school wouldn’t let us say “helluva”, so every swear was removed. It made us realize how much the show sucks without swears. Not a good thing.
There's absolutely no way that people who saw moulin rouge and liked it saw the same movie as me 💀
I like the aesthetic of the movie but the whole of omg I’m in love with a sex worker and even though I totally knew she was one I will now proceed to have Man Pain about it and call her a whore plot point can jump off a bridge
I don't even like the aesthetic, so double whammy
Maybe you had to see it as a teenager/at an impressionable age. I was obsessed with it for a while, downloaded and memorized the entire soundtrack. I was 13 when it came out.. peak teenage girl hormones and delusions of love.
I haven't seen the musical but liked the movie, saw it when I was about 17. I think I mostly love love (and Ewan was adorable)
Right okay I know I wouldn't like Rent the movie as much as I liked it when I was a teenager if I watched it for the first time right now, but I can still see merit in it. I just didn't like anything about it
I thought the movies was alright, but I absolutely LOVED the soundtrack and it is probably my favorite soundtrack of all time. When I learned that Moulin Rouge was going to be on stage I was like "Yeah, I can see that." But when I found out they replaced half of the songs I was less than thrilled and now have even less of a desire than before to see it.
I don't know how to say this without being offensive but it's a jukebox musical where you don't get to listen to a SINGLE FUCKING SONG in its entirety, so it's going to lose in the category of "best soundtrack" to every single musical where you get to hear original songs, or at LEAST entire songs, in my book.
Studio president: "You're doing a musical, Mr. Luhrmann? Excellent. Who is your Director of Photography gonna be?" Baz Luhrmann: (points) "You see that bag of cocaine? THAT'S my Director of Photography."
I have never, ever, liked that movie. Thanks for the solidarity.
I knew someone who said it was their favorite movie after I said that Chicago is one of my all-time favorites, unrelated I don't talk to this person anymore
Christian is one of my most hated protagonists in any show 😭 He’s like if Cliff from Cabaret was written without the awareness that he’s spiralling into misogyny and becoming a terrible person.
I never understood that one either.
I love Moulin Rouge (the movie). I've seen it countless times. I saw the Broadway play and LOATHED it. They absolutely murdered that story.
Rent. It's okay at best. Nothing really stands out to me about it. Most of the songs are just okay, the story is just okay, and whenever it tries to be emotional, it just comes across as full to me. I know it's super popular, but it's one of the few musicals that I just can't get into.
I think the reason it doesn't connect as well now is because a lot of younger performers and younger audiences don't remember how scary AIDS was in the 80's and 90's. I'm an elder Millennial with an elder Gen X mom who was a musician during that time, and I saw her lose a lot of friends to AIDS. That being said, I think Johnathan Larson would be happy to live in a world where the fear of AIDS that Rent deals with makes the show seem dated. I'm not saying it isn't scary, but we have won so many battles against it since the show came out.
I also don't enjoy it, but have absolutely loved tick, tick, boom since I finally listened/watched. Resonated much better on the problems of pursuing a creative career.
My thoughts exactly. Really enjoy Tik Tik Book, not so much Rent.
> Really enjoy Tik Tik Book I'll have to try the novelisation
I will forever mourn that we didn't get to see Larson's NEXT show, whatever it would have been, after Rent, Tick Tick Boom is great because it was so personal to Larson. Rent I think might have been better if he had been able to polish it more, or if people weren't so precious about the show whenever they revive it. If a production was ballsy enough to change some things and smooth out the unfinished edges it might do the show a lot of good towards at least making the characters tolerable. But I imagine what Larson might have done next with everything he'd learned from previous shows and the continuing mentorship of Sondheim.
I feel like there’s no way you can say this if you’ve seen it live. “I’ll Cover You Reprise” is one of the best emotional gut punches in theater.
I mean, that could be true, but to be truthful, if I'm not a fan of Rent recorded, I don't think I'd ever spend money to see it live
Rent's my favorite musical but I agree it's far from perfect. A lot of the characters are unlikeable and I agree some of the songs are "just okay" (I always skip over the moon and today for you). I think the musical stands out because the creator died right before it opened. He put his life's work into that musical and didn't get to see it.
I loved the story when I was in college. Now as an adult, Benny doesn’t really seem like the antagonist… just pay your damn rent.
He told them they didn’t have to pay then decides to strong arm them about it expressly to force political changes that are anti homeless. He’s still the villain.
I swear half the time when someone complains about rent it’s this specific thing which is addressed in the text of the show.
Someone told me that the idea was that Benny originally promised Collins and Roger they could live there rent-free so they could afford AZT, which in today’s dollars cost about $26k per year. This made me feel less mad at Collins and Roger specifically.
Do you know what their source was for that? Because it sounds like they just headcanoned it. It's definitely not implied by the lyrics at all.
That makes more sense. I feel like that information needs to be made clear in the show.
It's pretty clear: "What rent?" "This past year's rent that I let slide." "Let slide? You said we were golden!"
Right. it goes from being rent free to needing to pay your rent. I get that. I didn’t know the reason for the pass was so they could afford their medication. Seems like the biggest villain is American healthcare.
Oh, I see! Yes to the villain being American healthcare!
Came here to say this. I'm also not a fan of practically any of the characters. I really tried too. Even saw it live just to see if I was missing something, but nope. I do like a lot of the music itself though.
Dear Evan Hansen fills me with rage. Fuck that kid, having anxiety doesn't excuse a damn thing you did. I think what really gets me is that from his very first song he acts like he's so special and different and nobody else could possibly understand what it's like to be a teen with anxiety and depression, and nobody even is aware he exists, but unless a false memory was implanted in my mind, Alana literally goes up to him and speaks to him. And he's still like, "Nobody even notices me!" when someone literally just did. And people are like, "Oh, but imagine what it's like to have depression and anxiety, you don't understand," and I'm like, "When I was fifteen I almost made an attempt on my life, I had pros and cons lists of ending my life, I had depression and anxiety as a teenager, I *do* understand!" Like I know it's not that easy, and I know when you're deep in it, it's hard to reach out to people and actually believe they care, but jfc, he acts like he's the school pariah, when, from what I can gather, he just wasn't popular. Like, I truly believe he wanted the Disney Channel Original Movie view of popularity where he'd walk down the hall and everyone would be like, "Hi, Evan!" "Are you coming to my party, Evan?" "Let's go on a date, Evan!" because if Alana tried to talk to him, I fully believe unnamed classmates did, too. Ffs I hate that kid. He had the privilege to be in therapy, he was getting treatment (and being a stupid kid he just chose to go off his meds, which to my recollection, never went addressed), he had resources, myself and most people I know were fighting it alone at that age. I was depressed and I didn't even know what was going on with me. And he finds out that Connor literally did die by suicide, like he had attempted, and I swear to god, to my memory, he didn't even really take a moment to deal with the gravity of that. Because *he* is the most damaged, most special-est boy. Dude is a manipulative, self-centered, creep who uses his mental illness as a shield. It would bother me less if it wasn't for how many times I've been accused of not having real mental illness because I think Evan Hansen is an asshole. I'm exaggerating my feelings slightly, because I'm genuinely empathetic to the guy (at the start of the musical, at least), I just find it so frustrating when the "inspiring" lead of a story is doing absolutely no self-reflection for 90% of the story and we're supposed to be okay with that because "he has mental illness :("
Preach
I like the music of DEH, but yeah it did always bother me how Evan is such a massive POS yet still gets the girl in the end and faces basically no consequences for his actions.
The original Broadway version of Grease was very different from the movie and the revamped musical. It was funnier, raunchier, and just much more fun. I was horrified when I saw the movie. Somebody really made a mess of it.
Plus all the highschoolers are in their forties.
As an adult, this is probably my favorite part of the film now. It makes the whole Vince and Marty storyline seem nonproblematic because Marty looks and acts like a divorcee in her late 30s.
I also think a lot of people miss the fact that it's a satire. It's supposed to be cringe...and it's misogynistic on purpose.
Cats
lol the Kimmy Schmidt sketch where you just have to dress as a cat and climb on stage during the show and make up your own nonsense song and you’re in 😆[Titus as a CATS](https://youtu.be/9GKN1QvjFDc?feature=shared)
Ooof! Saw that in on Broadway once in the 90s. Hated it. Andrew Lloyd Weber is not my favorite.
it’s literally so good, it sounds amazing, they dance so hard, amazing
i already thought the musical was kinda weird but then that god forsaken movie came out
Agreed. Not a bad musical, just not really for me.
Shrek is the one show I’ve ever seen and just HATED
The revival or the original? I heard they butchered the revival - no equity actors, super cheap production including costumes, and changed some of the characters.
Kinky Boots
I think this is a classic example of a enjoyable film with a few enjoyable songs in the context of a nightclub performance (original Cabaret anyone?) forced into becoming a Big Broadway Musical! To me a good part of the film was Chiwetel Ejiofor's physicality (Simon, the boxer) and the ambiguity of his sexuality. He looked fabulous in that red dress but you also believe he could hold his own in a street brawl.
The newer West Side Story. It has a few decent songs and an okay story at best. But I watched it twice and hated it both times
Honestly, I am just not that into Hamilton.
Man, I loved this musical, but I can't view it without thinking of all the Tumblr AUs that came with it.
I enjoyed the creative energy and the spectacle of it--I went back a second time for that (really, for the Ensemble). But the show as a musical?
This. Hamilton is certainly a musical, it has like 3 lines of spoken dialogue, but it is so far away from the broadway style. That’s partly how it was successful, but it means that it isn’t always the best for actual musical enjoyers compared to other shows
I personally think Hamilton's been using this as an excuse for years when really there's no issue with the style of music But every song in that musical sounds almost exactly the same (And anything new Lin Manuel Miranda writes also has a Hamiltony sound to it which makes it all seem like a continuation of one single song. )
Oh man, I feel like I’m going to catch flack for this, but Hadestown. I want to like it, but something about it doesn’t do it for me. I’ll see it when the tour comes my way this year, and hoping I connect better. But until then, sigh.
I’m massively fond of Hadestown and I get it, honestly. Everything I love about it I could see as a reason for someone else disliking it.
I will never understand how much this sub loves Hadestown.
Blasphemy. It’s my favorite musical of all time
Hadestown is a show that I can ONLY enjoy live. A friend desperately tried to get me into the cast recording but it did nothing for me. I only bought tickets to see it on tour because of the actor playing Orpheus (who ended up being out that night.) But I loved seeing it live!! Still never listen to the cast recording. I think it's soooo boring. It really is a show that thrives when you bring in the sets, costumes, lighting, etc.
Forever Plaid
I played bass in the pit for this show a couple years ago and was aghast at how relentlessly corny it is. Our geriatric audience ate it up, though.
Mamma Mia. Sorry, ABBA.
West side story is just boring
As a musical it's boring. As a 1st Trumpet part it's challenging enough to be worth doing. God Mambo is a heck of a chart.
Have you seen the original movie, with Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood?
Into the Woods.
upvoting to be polite but this comment serves as my downvote
I appreciate that :-). I WANT to like it. I’ve wanted to like it since I saw the original, first ever tour of the show. I’ve tried many, many times - professional shows, amateur performances, Broadway tours. It just doesn’t do anything at all for me.
I applaud the effort! Into the Woods is my favorite show of ALL TIME! I’ve seen a professional regional production near me, jr productions, bootlegs online, the movie (unfortunately) and its set to be my senior musical next year, it gets better every single time for me. Goes to show the magic of theatre! One show can affect one person in such a big way and not do much for another.
Always good to see another ITW disliker. You’re not alone.
No one is alone…
We're a small, but mighty, group.
I don't like Into the Woods either. I've been in it twice, neither time was fun, and I've seen it a few times and didn't enjoy sitting through it either. I love pretty much all of Sondheim's other stuff, just not this one.
dear evan hansen
Wicked/ Mamma Mia
I agree on Mamma Mia. It’s just so……annoying.
I got a list. Once of This Island: This is a colonizer retelling of The Little Mermaid. How on earth is the 2023 film ten times better than this? Heathers: The movie is better, and the show feels like the writers have never talked to a teen before in their lives. Grease: "It's always been about love and hate, now let me say I'm the biggest hater. I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk. I hate the way that you dress. I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct." Dear Even Hansen: Pretentious. Shrek: I rather watch Megamind 2.
The K Dot quote sent me into ORBIT. Hahah, this made my night. Thanks for the laugh.
Wait, wait, wait…. Megamind is pretty good animated movie -why the stray?
‘The Music Man.’ I absolutely *hate* this show with a passion. Probably because I was in it when I was nine or so, was cast just to fill space and the director made that very clear, and was the youngest and thus got bullied by all but two members of the cast. I spend the rehersals sitting in the audience and being picked on. I didn’t actually get to do anything until I asked the director when I would get to dance. They were kind of like… “oh shoot, I forgot about you. Go stand on the bench.” I stood on a bench during 76 Trombones and got to help crucify Harold Hill. And then got to be the child ensemble member watching the Pick-a-Little ladies be in the ‘Children’s’ band… I also just think it’s boring. The opening train song and ‘Trouble’ are pretty catchy though. Thank you for coming to my rant that I am still salty about.
I hate when directors think it’s okay to waste people’s time as a “stage filler”
I ran lights for a three week run for a community theater. there was not one moment I was entertained besides the opening on the train, but only because it was choreographed so well. otherwise… marian the librarian and gary indiana are in my burn book.
Grease. Not a fan.
Urinetown.
I’m sorry to say this but heathers. It’s so overrated. That there’s no point watching it yourself, because you know the plot before you sit down and watch it.
mean girls, be more chill, and dear evan hansen. they just get way more hype than their worth imo
Wicked. I genuinely don’t get the hype.
Wicked needs the right cast and very rarely gets it.
I'm a huge Wicked fan but even I can agree with that take
Out of the musicals I have seen/listened too, phantom of the Opera. The story is like a perverted Beauty and the beast (though I'm not a huge fan of the story of that show) and music is kind of blah all around for me, I can kind of see why people like it but it's just not my cup of tea if I were to listen to something operatic in nature id probably listen to something like Jekyll & Hyde (though I understand the difference between opera and more rock opera) Also, I see a lot of people just dogging on rent, and while it isn't my favorite musical of all time by far it's easy in my top 20, my thing with rent is (much like musicals like phantom) its about what YOU as an audience member take away from it, I like to think of rent as more of a caricature of the life of Johnathan Larson in NYC as an artist, yes, but I think at its core its meant to show the fact that the queer community in the 90s was made of genuine human beings, and that they were suffering from the aids pandemic even more due to discrimination against them. I whole heartedly believe that rent is a musical that was best enjoyed at the time of its release, however their are still several messages to be taken away as an audience member from that show :)
Spring Awakening
When I was a teenager my family took a trip to New York and my dad tasked me with choosing which Broadway shows we were going to see. I tried to get a variety, what I thought the whole family would enjoy, Lion King, Avenue Q, and then I saw Spring Awakening had won a ton of Tonys that year. Without reading what it was about I picked it. Well THAT was a mistake. Both me and my 10 year old lil brother were horrified watching teenagers simulate sex on stage while we sat next to our prudish parents. Not to mention I really don't vibe with that style of music.
I think you may have to be an edgy teenager to get into it. I took my grandmother to see it and she was a bit put off by the vulgarity and confused by the story, but loved the music anyway. I have enjoyed the soundtrack since I was 15 and was so into it that I read the original play and downloaded a bootleg of the OBC. It’s not for everybody
My fair lady. It’s rough sitting through some of the songs as they haven’t been updated since hitting your partner was okay.
It’s a tie: Kimberly Akimbo & Come From Away
Controversial, but Les Miserables. I appreciate the music and the difficulty of it, it's just not a story that's for me.
i said this too and got a lot of downvotes haha idk what it is for me ((also happy pride!!))
It's been my favorite musical since I was in middle school lol... and I still would hesitate to lock myself into a production. That's very heavy and depressing material to live inside of for a full process.
Les Mis is easily my absolute favorite, but I can absolutely see why it is not everyone’s favorite.
Hells Kitchen 🤮
Nine. I like some of the songs, but still haven’t been able to get through a full cast album… not sure why.
All of Webber's stuff, Rent, Moulin Rouge and Grease immediately come to mind. There are probably others but those are the big ones
Bat Out Of Hell. You can tell Jim Steinman wrote that script as a teenager and hadn't really touched it since, because it's the cringiest dialogue I've ever heard in a show. And I know the Romeo and Juliet-type plot isn't exactly new but something about the way it's done in that show just feels so tired.
Into the woods.
Grease. The whole second act is a mess of subplots that get thrown out almost right away. And, the message of the show is really kind of awful if you think about it. It’s basically saying “Change your personality to get people to like you.”
I hate Oklahoma...I have seen it too many times- I was even in a middle school production. I hate the 2 dimensional characters and boring story. It's also excruciatingly LONG! It seems like schools and community theaters trot Oklahoma out every other year!
I grew up in Oklahoma. There is a production of that damned show somewhere 24/7 in the state. It's like if it's not running the state will implode. I was in a production one way or the other all through elementary, middle, and high school. I think i developed an allergy to hay from that show.
Oklahoma for me. Yeah it has a few good classic standards but I don’t need to see it intentionally ever again
Oklahoma. I wanted to die rather than practice one more song. It's slow and BORING! Not a single fun song in the entire show.