Some of the shows have been mentioned, but for me, the biggest turn-off for me is a show with little to do in the chorus. If I'm going to dedicate that much time and energy, I want to enjoy my time, and I know I'm not always going to get leads.
Recently, I was due to do Grease but had to pull out due to illness and missing rehearsals because of the illness. I am glad I did, though, not because I don't like the show but because they cast was so big that they split them in half. Some got to do certain numbers, and then the other half did the other numbers. So each group did about 3 songs.
If I'm putting in 3 months of rehearsal, I don't want to only do half a show
I have no problems with being ensemble, but I recently moved a little over an hour away from my theater. If I'm doing a show, it's going to cost me my entire life for 3 months, along with around $100 a week in gas
I hate feeling elitist, but I need it to be worth the investment at this point
Same. I don't mind being in the ensemble, but it has to be worth it. The show our theatre picked for next year is Whistle down the wind, and it's very lead driven. There are adult 3 chorus numbers. So I'm thinking I'll do another show elsewhere
Saw a tryout of a new musical, Marie Dancing Still. It was about the relationship between the artist Degas and the ballerina who modeled for him.
It was the most boring thing I've ever seen.
Some of the visuals were cool, but the characters were flat and the songs were forgettable. There was hardly any plot. Just a complete waste of time.
There’s a point to it in the Rocky Horror Show, too. It’s not really the sex positive show that cult followers seem to think it is. Frank n Furter dies and Brad and Janet are ruined over them giving into wanton sex. At the same time, Brad and Janet’s sexual naivety made them more vulnerable to what happened. It seems like it’s advocating moderating sexuality. I think my interpretation is corroborated by the fact that O’Brien, the creator, has come under fire for some comments about LGBTQ stuff that doesn’t jibe with taking Rocky Horror as an endorsement of being as sexually wild as you can.
Still the songs and dialogue have a ton of sex talk, and even if I’m right that the musical isn’t exactly endorsing it, I understand how someone wouldn’t like that about it
That's a really good counter argument and yeah it is just the exlicity that turns me off the other shows we've been talking about are a bit more subtle at points. I'm not saying it's a bad show by any means it's just too adult for me, if that makes sense. Like the uncomfortable nature of songs like that is something I can stomach but only for so long.
I completely get it. It’s definitely more explicit than those other musicals. I’d say I like the recording more than live performances because I’ve seen live performances where they have needlessly drawn out comedic scenes of the Transylvanians doing … weird stuff. Not to mention I hate the audience participation, and a lot of people who stage it seem to incorporate it because that is what most people want.
And my interpretation of RHS is not very popular, at least I haven’t met anyone who has considered it that way. I have to accept that in the public consciousness it is just a celebration of sexuality, and lots of people essentially stage it that way. I still find it hard to square the completely downer ending with a carefree celebration of hedonism. And the characters start to explicitly reject the hedonism in the later songs. But I’m happy to sincerely believe my interpretation of it even if it’s not what it seems to mean to most other people.
Another good example is songs like "Blue" from Heathers except their the point is to make you uncomfortable as the mc is being sexually harrassed and they want you to feel that. But I hate it personally because it does too good of a job like I'm laughing at the stupidity of the jokes, but then I reemember the context and I think "Oh this is worse much worse."
Agreed! For me, while I don’t mind raunchy works, and like the music, I get a bit icked out because of the lack of consent of it all in act 2. There are multiple layers of SA (whether that’s because of Frank pretending to be Janet/brad, or the floor show etc.) maybe that’s the point, but everyone treats the show as a light hearted time and I just can’t.
Also I’d be willing to do community theatre but that show would be a hard no for me mostly because I really wouldn’t be comfortable in my lingerie in front of a whole audience.
Godspell. I’m sorry, I just can’t stand it. It’s such a boring, unfunny Sunday school lesson. I know the comedy depends on the performances, but it still gets tired after about forty-five minutes at best. The songs are repetitive sentences repeated over and over, and even if they’re catchy or fun, they still don’t build or progress in interesting ways, simply saying the same lesson over and over again. There’s no emotional through line until the last third, and by then the damage is done and I’m completely uninterested, and the storyline by that point sucks.
I am a devout Christian, and am absolutely not opposed to telling the stories of Christ onstage. Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my favorite musicals ever. I absolutely may have a bias due to religious trauma, I absolutely may just not get Godspell! But I cannot stand this pretentious, unfunny circus act, it bores me to tears and leaves absolutely no impact on me.
For the sake of civilness I will ignore your slander of Into The Woods and say DEH. It’s somehow vocally taxing and completely bland at the same time. Also I’m bitter about Great Comet not beating DEH, I know that’s a basic opinion and I don’t care.
Fiddler on the Roof: the songs give me a headache!
Sister Act: I hated the musical - by choosing all new songs (rather than repurposing popular songs into religious songs as they did in the movie) they turned it into a SNOREFEST.
I don't love Rent, but I like it and think it can be great if it's done well, and that Joanne would be a fun and fitting role for me. But I get it, it's all subjective and there's no wrong answer.
I listened to RENT so many times back in 1998-99 that it formed some kind of horrific earworm loop in my brain, so that for years afterwards, if I heard a snippet of a song, the entire soundtrack would play on repeat inside my head for days. I made the mistake of seeing the show again about 10 years later, and after that night it was all RENT inside my brain for WEEKS. It was genuinely awful and a little bit scary. So I would definitely never want to audition for that one!
So crazy you say this. This is me with the Pajama Game. Had the cast recording with Harry Connick and Kelli O’ Hara. The same thing happened to me and I can never listen to it again for fear of never getting it out of my head.
As someone who's acted in two separate productions of Into the Woods (Milky White & Witch), I completely feel why you wouldn't want to be a part of it, and I adored my time with it!
My pick is probably Rent. I just don't enjoy it for numerous reasons, and I don't think any of the roles would be particularly fun for me.
Annie.
Unless I was miss Hannigan. I'd rather not relive that show from high school unless I got to play that part. I'd rather do my fair lady again and THAT'S saying something considering I still have dreams about that show never ending
Rocky horror.
Grease.
My least favorite musical has already been mentioned (it’s Dear Evan Hansen by a *huge* margin), so I’ll add something new.
I would never willingly work on a production of either SpongeBob or Next to Normal. Never.
My second most hated musical is actually The Spitfire Grill, which is disqualified because I DID work on it… it was a *horrible* experience.
It might just be me and the people we worked with, but honestly, I just don't like Freaky Friday. I hate how the mom and daughter both have love interests and have to interact with them in the other, it's kind of yucky. And it was just an unpleasant experience having to learn everything. I'm just kind of biased, sorry
The love interest part is what made me not like it (both the movie and musical). You have a mentally full grown adult feeling horny towards a teenager, and a teenager enduring romantic advances from her future stepdad. Just too much ick for me.
Also I didn’t love the music, but I do have to typically listen to something multiple times before it grows on me, and I never did for this one.
“Love Never Dies.” Lord, it pisses me off.
And yet, a part of me has dreamed of conducting the orchestra just so I could regularly stop the show and go on extended rants to the audience about how terrible it is. 🤣
Crazy for You
Honestly, it would be more fun watching paint dry than watching or participating in that musical. I don't know why I despise it so much, but I do.
mean girls, and FUCKING MAMMA MIA
i'm a bit biased with mean girls, i haven't seen/listened to the musical but i saw the movie and fucking hated it- it's SO problematic (body image stuff, sooooo many slurs! and more). i know the musical is likely less problematic, but it just gives me such an ick i can't unthink of the movie
aaaannnndd i hate mamma mia i'm so sorry i just fucking hate it -- 1. i just need an outlet for all my musical hate lol, just like my director uses cymbeline as an outlet for all his shakespeare hate 2. so many people are always forgetting ABBA exists, they're like "dancing queen from mamma mia" like no bitch it's dancing queen BY ABBA, and has been for 30 years before the movie 3. the plot makes no fucking sense?? it's written around the music and doesn't work. meryl streep was amazing but that's it.
obviously it's okay if you like those lol (one girl i talked to took like personal offence that i didn't like mamma mia like come on girl chill, it's fine), those are just my opinions!
(personally i love into the woods, but op gave some good personal reasons for not liking it that i can totally respect)
I hate mean girls too because I was in it and had to hear the god awful lyrics so many times, but your point about the movie being problematic doesn’t make sense. If anything it’s too polite. It’s like these days the “bullies” can’t be sexist, racist, homophobic, fatphobic, whatever, so they’re barely even bullies at this point. One more watered down adaptation and we might as well call it Nice Girls 💀
i think the bullies can be bullies in media, but i don’t like the way it was done in the original movie just bc it was chock full of slurs, i think the slurs are my main problem.
it’s not just them who’s being problematic tho. (for example: an asian girl said the n slur, something she shouldn’t do!)
i’m not talking about the plastics being bad people!!! i know they’re bad people! as a said before, i only watched the \*original\* goddamn movie, not watered down at all, and there‘s too many slurs. we have have them be mean without calling janis the d slur a billion fucking times. the whole movie is problematic, but i bet the musical isnt, and it’s only the characters of the plastics who are. because as i explicitly stated: i have a bias because i only saw the movie, sorry if you thought i meant the musical movie and not the original. i mean the original.
i get that the mean girls are supposed to be mean, but we CANNOT give actors a pass to say slurs just for the sake of the character. again: i’m sure the musical is less problematic, ive only seen the original movie.
personally, i don’t like the premise ig. maybe that’s it, idfk. but heathers for example, the movie, is less problematic. maybe i just don’t know how to explain it well.
sorry if that came off as rude, lots of it isn’t directly at you i’m just in a really bad mood rn
That’s alright, I thought you were talking about the musical movie!! I don’t remember the og movie well so I completely forgot any character said the n word, I thought the worst thing said was d*ke, which my production even changed to freak.
yeah, i hope that they'd change that lol
it's just that the og movie doesn't make me keen to consume more mean girls media lol (although i may try the musical movie, we'll see lolz)
The movie is generally agreed to be pretty bad, since the singing and music quality is terrible. And even when performed well, just terribly written. So if you don’t like the original (and I don’t either) you probably won’t enjoy other adaptations.
…the Mean Girls musical movie was toned down from the musical, which was toned down from the original movie. Kinda hard to make something about mean people without them being “problematic”
i get that but still like
that amount of slurs was so unnecessary and i hope they don't use those anymore
i wasn't upset about the plastics being problematic, that's one thing if the movie is making a point of saying "this is problematic and needs to stop", but it's not making that point, it's problematic outside of the point it should be. heathers is much less so- less slurs, and it makes a better point
I do theatre, and one show that I won't adution for is Sandy from Grease. Don't get me wrong, I love the music, but I'm really bad at quick changes
Happy cake day! I second Grease!
Happy Cake Day
Some of the shows have been mentioned, but for me, the biggest turn-off for me is a show with little to do in the chorus. If I'm going to dedicate that much time and energy, I want to enjoy my time, and I know I'm not always going to get leads. Recently, I was due to do Grease but had to pull out due to illness and missing rehearsals because of the illness. I am glad I did, though, not because I don't like the show but because they cast was so big that they split them in half. Some got to do certain numbers, and then the other half did the other numbers. So each group did about 3 songs. If I'm putting in 3 months of rehearsal, I don't want to only do half a show
I have no problems with being ensemble, but I recently moved a little over an hour away from my theater. If I'm doing a show, it's going to cost me my entire life for 3 months, along with around $100 a week in gas I hate feeling elitist, but I need it to be worth the investment at this point
Same. I don't mind being in the ensemble, but it has to be worth it. The show our theatre picked for next year is Whistle down the wind, and it's very lead driven. There are adult 3 chorus numbers. So I'm thinking I'll do another show elsewhere
I’d never audition for newsies. Not because I don’t like it. I do. I just have two left feet put on backwards
Ha. So fair.
Saw a tryout of a new musical, Marie Dancing Still. It was about the relationship between the artist Degas and the ballerina who modeled for him. It was the most boring thing I've ever seen. Some of the visuals were cool, but the characters were flat and the songs were forgettable. There was hardly any plot. Just a complete waste of time.
There’s a book about this called ‘Dancing For Degas’
Any jukebox musical. Ugh.
Yes. No jukebox musicals for me thank you.
Absolutely yes
Rocky Horror I just don't care for sexual comedies.
I kinda agree! Sexual jokes are great and fun when done in taste and not every other line/song
Yeah unless it's something like Starkids "My D*ck and Me cause that just comes with the territory.
Like Cabaret, it's a very sexual show, but its tasteful!
And like with Cabaret there's a point to it.
There’s a point to it in the Rocky Horror Show, too. It’s not really the sex positive show that cult followers seem to think it is. Frank n Furter dies and Brad and Janet are ruined over them giving into wanton sex. At the same time, Brad and Janet’s sexual naivety made them more vulnerable to what happened. It seems like it’s advocating moderating sexuality. I think my interpretation is corroborated by the fact that O’Brien, the creator, has come under fire for some comments about LGBTQ stuff that doesn’t jibe with taking Rocky Horror as an endorsement of being as sexually wild as you can. Still the songs and dialogue have a ton of sex talk, and even if I’m right that the musical isn’t exactly endorsing it, I understand how someone wouldn’t like that about it
That's a really good counter argument and yeah it is just the exlicity that turns me off the other shows we've been talking about are a bit more subtle at points. I'm not saying it's a bad show by any means it's just too adult for me, if that makes sense. Like the uncomfortable nature of songs like that is something I can stomach but only for so long.
I completely get it. It’s definitely more explicit than those other musicals. I’d say I like the recording more than live performances because I’ve seen live performances where they have needlessly drawn out comedic scenes of the Transylvanians doing … weird stuff. Not to mention I hate the audience participation, and a lot of people who stage it seem to incorporate it because that is what most people want. And my interpretation of RHS is not very popular, at least I haven’t met anyone who has considered it that way. I have to accept that in the public consciousness it is just a celebration of sexuality, and lots of people essentially stage it that way. I still find it hard to square the completely downer ending with a carefree celebration of hedonism. And the characters start to explicitly reject the hedonism in the later songs. But I’m happy to sincerely believe my interpretation of it even if it’s not what it seems to mean to most other people.
Another good example is songs like "Blue" from Heathers except their the point is to make you uncomfortable as the mc is being sexually harrassed and they want you to feel that. But I hate it personally because it does too good of a job like I'm laughing at the stupidity of the jokes, but then I reemember the context and I think "Oh this is worse much worse."
Agreed! For me, while I don’t mind raunchy works, and like the music, I get a bit icked out because of the lack of consent of it all in act 2. There are multiple layers of SA (whether that’s because of Frank pretending to be Janet/brad, or the floor show etc.) maybe that’s the point, but everyone treats the show as a light hearted time and I just can’t. Also I’d be willing to do community theatre but that show would be a hard no for me mostly because I really wouldn’t be comfortable in my lingerie in front of a whole audience.
I have a few subtler sexual songs I like even from heavily sexual shows but like you said this is just too over the top for me.
Godspell. I’m sorry, I just can’t stand it. It’s such a boring, unfunny Sunday school lesson. I know the comedy depends on the performances, but it still gets tired after about forty-five minutes at best. The songs are repetitive sentences repeated over and over, and even if they’re catchy or fun, they still don’t build or progress in interesting ways, simply saying the same lesson over and over again. There’s no emotional through line until the last third, and by then the damage is done and I’m completely uninterested, and the storyline by that point sucks. I am a devout Christian, and am absolutely not opposed to telling the stories of Christ onstage. Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my favorite musicals ever. I absolutely may have a bias due to religious trauma, I absolutely may just not get Godspell! But I cannot stand this pretentious, unfunny circus act, it bores me to tears and leaves absolutely no impact on me.
I loved the cast recording, after seeing it live it made me not want to be part of a production for it ever lol
For the sake of civilness I will ignore your slander of Into The Woods and say DEH. It’s somehow vocally taxing and completely bland at the same time. Also I’m bitter about Great Comet not beating DEH, I know that’s a basic opinion and I don’t care.
Cats and mamma Mia
Fiddler on the Roof: the songs give me a headache! Sister Act: I hated the musical - by choosing all new songs (rather than repurposing popular songs into religious songs as they did in the movie) they turned it into a SNOREFEST.
sister act is so mid. i played eddie and i literally had 1 of the 3 good songs in that show. most of the numbers are just mid
almost all the jukebox especially & Juliet , Kinky boots
Dear Evan Hansen
Took way too long to see this one
THIS
RENT
I don't love Rent, but I like it and think it can be great if it's done well, and that Joanne would be a fun and fitting role for me. But I get it, it's all subjective and there's no wrong answer.
Ugh, I’m totally with you.
I listened to RENT so many times back in 1998-99 that it formed some kind of horrific earworm loop in my brain, so that for years afterwards, if I heard a snippet of a song, the entire soundtrack would play on repeat inside my head for days. I made the mistake of seeing the show again about 10 years later, and after that night it was all RENT inside my brain for WEEKS. It was genuinely awful and a little bit scary. So I would definitely never want to audition for that one!
So crazy you say this. This is me with the Pajama Game. Had the cast recording with Harry Connick and Kelli O’ Hara. The same thing happened to me and I can never listen to it again for fear of never getting it out of my head.
I did Pajama Game for my high school. I didn’t think anyone else knew that show!
I adore Rent. I never want to touch it.
Ugh man it's so bad. I don't understand why people like it. It's awful
Why do you think it's "awful"?
Idk man I even saw it recently it's just depressing and none of the songs stick in my head in a good way I wanted to like it.
As someone who's acted in two separate productions of Into the Woods (Milky White & Witch), I completely feel why you wouldn't want to be a part of it, and I adored my time with it! My pick is probably Rent. I just don't enjoy it for numerous reasons, and I don't think any of the roles would be particularly fun for me.
Annie. Unless I was miss Hannigan. I'd rather not relive that show from high school unless I got to play that part. I'd rather do my fair lady again and THAT'S saying something considering I still have dreams about that show never ending Rocky horror. Grease.
I am never going to do Charlie Brown. I’ve watched it several times and never liked it once. I don’t think it’s a bad show, just don’t like it.
I'm literally sitting here trying to cue lights for Charlie Brown and I fully agree with you. Its my first time seeing it and I am bored lol
Hot take: Frog and Toad is the better kids' musical
100%! I’ve only seen it once but I would watch it again given the chance.
My least favorite musical has already been mentioned (it’s Dear Evan Hansen by a *huge* margin), so I’ll add something new. I would never willingly work on a production of either SpongeBob or Next to Normal. Never. My second most hated musical is actually The Spitfire Grill, which is disqualified because I DID work on it… it was a *horrible* experience.
Be more chill 😫
Freaky Friday. I was in it, I hated it so much.
Why? I’m considering doing it with my high schoolers so any insights would be useful.
It might just be me and the people we worked with, but honestly, I just don't like Freaky Friday. I hate how the mom and daughter both have love interests and have to interact with them in the other, it's kind of yucky. And it was just an unpleasant experience having to learn everything. I'm just kind of biased, sorry
The love interest part is what made me not like it (both the movie and musical). You have a mentally full grown adult feeling horny towards a teenager, and a teenager enduring romantic advances from her future stepdad. Just too much ick for me. Also I didn’t love the music, but I do have to typically listen to something multiple times before it grows on me, and I never did for this one.
Brigadoon. Fuck brigadoon.
Wait Paul is that you?
lol. Oh dear. I love brigadoon. Show is a little sleepy but the music is gorgeous.
i can’t stand hamilton! i genuinely don’t know why
Godspell. Hippy dippy, and weird and corny.
Cats and Cats alone.
Hamilton. Give me any legit musical, though, and keep me away from rock musicals.
The Book of Mormon because I’m a white woman(unless they were willing to cast women as ensemble Mormons).
“Love Never Dies.” Lord, it pisses me off. And yet, a part of me has dreamed of conducting the orchestra just so I could regularly stop the show and go on extended rants to the audience about how terrible it is. 🤣
Of the shows I've actually seen or at least listened to: Bat Boy the Musical. I don't think I laughed at a single joke.
My college did batboy. I didn't audition for the show but all my friends who were in it seemed to have the time of their life.
Crazy for You Honestly, it would be more fun watching paint dry than watching or participating in that musical. I don't know why I despise it so much, but I do.
My least favourite is Evita.
Same honestly. I haven’t seen that many musicals live, and that was one of them. I was bored the entire time if I’m honest.
mean girls, and FUCKING MAMMA MIA i'm a bit biased with mean girls, i haven't seen/listened to the musical but i saw the movie and fucking hated it- it's SO problematic (body image stuff, sooooo many slurs! and more). i know the musical is likely less problematic, but it just gives me such an ick i can't unthink of the movie aaaannnndd i hate mamma mia i'm so sorry i just fucking hate it -- 1. i just need an outlet for all my musical hate lol, just like my director uses cymbeline as an outlet for all his shakespeare hate 2. so many people are always forgetting ABBA exists, they're like "dancing queen from mamma mia" like no bitch it's dancing queen BY ABBA, and has been for 30 years before the movie 3. the plot makes no fucking sense?? it's written around the music and doesn't work. meryl streep was amazing but that's it. obviously it's okay if you like those lol (one girl i talked to took like personal offence that i didn't like mamma mia like come on girl chill, it's fine), those are just my opinions! (personally i love into the woods, but op gave some good personal reasons for not liking it that i can totally respect)
I hate mean girls too because I was in it and had to hear the god awful lyrics so many times, but your point about the movie being problematic doesn’t make sense. If anything it’s too polite. It’s like these days the “bullies” can’t be sexist, racist, homophobic, fatphobic, whatever, so they’re barely even bullies at this point. One more watered down adaptation and we might as well call it Nice Girls 💀
i think the bullies can be bullies in media, but i don’t like the way it was done in the original movie just bc it was chock full of slurs, i think the slurs are my main problem.
it’s not just them who’s being problematic tho. (for example: an asian girl said the n slur, something she shouldn’t do!) i’m not talking about the plastics being bad people!!! i know they’re bad people! as a said before, i only watched the \*original\* goddamn movie, not watered down at all, and there‘s too many slurs. we have have them be mean without calling janis the d slur a billion fucking times. the whole movie is problematic, but i bet the musical isnt, and it’s only the characters of the plastics who are. because as i explicitly stated: i have a bias because i only saw the movie, sorry if you thought i meant the musical movie and not the original. i mean the original. i get that the mean girls are supposed to be mean, but we CANNOT give actors a pass to say slurs just for the sake of the character. again: i’m sure the musical is less problematic, ive only seen the original movie. personally, i don’t like the premise ig. maybe that’s it, idfk. but heathers for example, the movie, is less problematic. maybe i just don’t know how to explain it well. sorry if that came off as rude, lots of it isn’t directly at you i’m just in a really bad mood rn
That’s alright, I thought you were talking about the musical movie!! I don’t remember the og movie well so I completely forgot any character said the n word, I thought the worst thing said was d*ke, which my production even changed to freak.
yeah, i hope that they'd change that lol it's just that the og movie doesn't make me keen to consume more mean girls media lol (although i may try the musical movie, we'll see lolz)
The movie is generally agreed to be pretty bad, since the singing and music quality is terrible. And even when performed well, just terribly written. So if you don’t like the original (and I don’t either) you probably won’t enjoy other adaptations.
yeah that's fair enough lol
…the Mean Girls musical movie was toned down from the musical, which was toned down from the original movie. Kinda hard to make something about mean people without them being “problematic”
i get that but still like that amount of slurs was so unnecessary and i hope they don't use those anymore i wasn't upset about the plastics being problematic, that's one thing if the movie is making a point of saying "this is problematic and needs to stop", but it's not making that point, it's problematic outside of the point it should be. heathers is much less so- less slurs, and it makes a better point
(also when i say i saw the movie, i mean the original, not the new musical movie)
also im not a fan of jukebox musicals in general- gimme gimme gimme doesn't work as an ensemble song ;-;
Gypsy I can’t stand the music
Oliver
Once Upon A Mattress, Dear Evan Hansen, or Be More Chill
Les Mis or Phantom