[ThatPuppetGuy]

I'm sure this thread has been done to death, but are there any musicals that everyone seems to adore and love every song to but you. Mine is "Hello Dolly".

I don't know why, I was just in it at my high school and I wasn't too satisfied with the show (I was a 2-line Policeman, a role I've already played in last year's musical ). But aside from my embarrassingly minor role, I just don't think the show is that great. No one really gets to shine besides the actress playing Dolly and the show is written so you don't care about anyone but Dolly. Another problem with the show for me is the script itself. It feels like a sitcom pilot with songs tacked into it. Most of the songs have no real relevance to the plot.

So what show can you not withstand?

[Salome]

I know more people who dislike Hello Dolly than like it.

[Anno_Domini]

Spring *beep*ing Awakening

Wicked - the music/lyrics are alright, all power to Mr. Schwartz, but the book is outright terrible and thus the show is quite overrated IMO

My Fair Lady - music's not the best, and too many people seem to forget or overlook the fact that it was Shaw's play that originated the story, not this musical.

Contact - ....it's not a musical, it's a freakin' dance play, yet it still won the Tony for Best Musical in its year.

[Salome]

My Fair Lady is simply the finest musical ever written. its sheer perfection. the total brillaince of Lerner's lyrics..mixed with the perferect melodic strains of Loewes music.

you dont get great scores like that from hacksl ike Webber or Schwartz.


as for S.A. and Wicked...again most people despise these shows.

[sopranodespair]

Hairspray.
Everyone in show choir loves it, but I just don't.

[pish123c]

[Salome]

well..most educated theatre fans and critic hate Wicked.

[Anno_Domini]

[Anno_Domini]

Well, there are only a certain number of audience members in a Broadway theatre who are "educated theatre fans". In the end, however, it all comes down to an individual's opinion

[Salome]

[Anno_Domini]

Well, here it's all a matter of opinion, and what appeals to our ears. For me, it's a wide variety of composers, from Sondheim to Wildhorn, to Kander, to Bernstein, to Jason Robert Brown, to Lawrence O'Keefe, to Jule Styne, the list goes on in no particular order.

I can appreciate music, and while I appreciate the fact that Loewe's score is very ornate and well-written, I must also appreciate the fact that I always start yawning as I listen to the recording of the show

[Salome]

I fewel sorry for you. escpecially with rex Harrison's magnificent performancxe as higgins and Holloways great music hall style numbers as Doolittle.

[Anno_Domini]

The performers were wonderful, especially Harrison and Holloway, I have no illness towards them.

Mind you, I will say about Rex Harrison that I don't much care for the overly-parlando style of singing, be it in this show or any show. Of course, if the songs are WRITTEN that way, than I shall shut up promptly

[Salome]

of ocurset hey were written that way. can you really hear Higgins singingl ike a silly juvinelle????

Harrison was possibly the greatest actor the world has ever seen..and if he wasnt he was certainly the greatest Shavian hands down.

[Anno_Domini]

Hmm, the only reason I ask was because I've seen a video of Michael Crawford giving a rendition of "Her Face", in which he actually sings most of the words, rather then speak them in time with the music

[music is my life!!!]

I can't stand the music in Little Shop of Horrors. I don't know why, it just happens...

[blue wind]

i think ALW is seriously overrated...

oh, and west side story. i honestly just don't like it. especially that song "maria". he just says maria like 923572093582905 times i just want to kill him!

[Mungojerrie_rt]

I can't stand 'Grease', It just annoys me how cheesey the plot is and how grindingly bland the characters are. The 'slutty' on is the only good character.
I hate all Rodgers and Hammastein.

However, I think 70s and 80s ALW is brilliant and Little Shop has very good music as well.

Oh, and what does "Educated Theatre fan" mean anyway?

[Sweeney Hyde]

Grease.
I hate it.
I will never like it.
It's dumb.

Others:
Chicago
A Chorus Line
Cats
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

[jarrod001]

Hate Sweet Charity.
Molly Ringwald ruined it for me.
Hate Movin out.
What the hell was going on?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Higgins's songs do have music, but a quasi-parlando style is more common.

By the way, has John Lithgow ever done Henry Higgins? His switching back and forth between parlando, sprachesang and actual singing in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels really made me think of My Fair Lady.

[Mungojerrie_rt]

[idTAPthat89]

I couldn't get into Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for some reason. Act one seemed incredibly slow and it boring and it just didn't ever really pick up. I do, however, really like the character Jolene.

[Mistress]

[Kiwi]

I just can't seem to get into Les Mis. Throw rocks if you want.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is just horrible, imo, although I don't know if you could say everyone likes it but me. I know a lot of people who hate it.
Some others:
Bye Bye Birdie
Oklahoma
The Music Man

[windscreen]

Rogers to Hammerstien: Hey man, did you have chance to go over those two new musicals Oklahoma and State Fair?

Yes I did....some nice songs there man...but why the hell didnt you include a story?

Grease is pants because of the type of people that obsess about it. And what the hell is happening in My Fair Lady...the intermission seems to be 5 minutes from the end!

ps: ALW is overated....two good songs dont make a musical (Phantom)

[broadwaygirl306]

Hairspray! I mean, I don't hate it completely. I guess it's sort of cute, but I find it annoying, especially since every one of my friends is obsessed with it. Every time someone just breaks out into a song from the show, I think: "Oh my God, please just...stop."

Personally, I love Wicked. I know many people don't think it's a musical with much substance, but I think it's a great musical (just my personal preferance). I agree that the book could have been better, but the music, in my opinion, is awesome. The only thing that annoys me about loving this kind of overly-done, extreemly popular musical, is that...well, it's overly-done and extreemly popular. Many of the people who like it that I know are just obsessed with the musical without having even analyzed it or even seen it. They just, once again, break out into songs because everyone knows them.

Of course, I have nothing against breaking out into song. Public dancing can be fun as well, but that's beside the point.

[wicked_diva]

For me, the 3 that come to mind that other people probably like are West Side Story, Cabaret, and Phantom of the Opera. I don't hate any of them, I just don't like them.

[Mungojerrie_rt]

I've never seen Wicked. I would like to, but it's not leaving Melbourne and I can't just head off to another part of the country to see a musical.

I don't think musicals need to be deep. Some of the best musicals are just random and silly events (Rocky Horror anyone? ). Of course, Rent is very meaningful and very good.

[actor05]

I hate anything with Andrew Lloyd Webber; Anything Rodgers and Hammerstein; I loved Hairspray on stage but the movie just sucked. Wicked is over-rated. I hate Annie and Oliver! with a passion!

[lovesinging]

Bye Bye Birdie and Grease drive me crazy. I can't stand those obsessive, whiny girls. I get enough of them in school.

Also, Rent. Story line is pretty good..but I can't get into the music.

[windscreen]

Ok, I'm back for another rant. We will Rock You (not a real musical anyway) The storyline (and I use that word lightly) is pants! plus it doesnt have an ending! Just go and buy a Queen CD and make up a story...anything has got to be better than Ben Elton's crap effort!

[lottielou22]

I don't like Cats, even though I always liked the book it was based on when I was little...
I dont like Hairspray all that much, even though I've only seen the movie which I am told doesn't do it justice.
I don't like Oliver; I've always thought that it was pretty boring
A Chorus Line and Godspell; nothing against the music, just the show kills me. High School Musical. If that even counts. MAN I hate that show. Weirdly, my dad, the Hater Of All Musicals, liked the second one. I CAN say for it, though, that it has started bringing musicals back.

[LadyOfTheLake]

For me, it's The Music Man. And I honestly can't give you a good reason as to why; something about it just bugs me...

[mizzie]

I was never a huge fan of My Fair Lady. I like Pygmalion, but the musical never did a ton for me. There are some songs that I love in it, though, particularly I'm Getting Married In The Morning and On The Street Where You Live (especially this one), it's just really not my favorite.

I find it difficult to sit through The Music Man.

The Sound Of Music gets boring fast.

[DontDoSadnessxx]

Please PLEASE don't throw anything at me.
It's a great story, beautiful music and everything but I really can not get into Company. It's just not something that I'll put on repeat on my ipod.
Sorry Don't hate me.

[Not Dead Yet]

It hurts my soul a little when someone says they dislike My Fair Lady

Honestly, it took me a while to get into A Chorus Line. I still don't LOVE it, but it's all right. I can only listen to a few songs all the way through, though.

Everyone in my freaking school is obsessed with Wicked, Rent, and Phantom of the Opera. I hate Phantom, Rent is okay (but Mimi should have died), and Wicked is nothing special.

OH, and Legally Blonde. Don't get me wrong, it's an OK show, but I don't understand why EVERYONE I KNOW is obsessed with it. It's nothing special, people! IT'S DUMB, only serves for temporary entertainment. Also Xanadu... why my friends like it, I don't even know.

There seem to be a lot of Cats fans. I can't relate.... Actually, I tend to dislike anything Webber and Schwartz. Evita is maybe like the one Webber I sort of like, but not enough to spend money on.

Tommy. Don't like the music style.
Jesus Christ Superstar.

One that I DO like and much of the theatre community dislikes is Spring Awakening. Forgive me, but I love that shit. And also Light in the Piazza. What's with all the hate? It's a beautiful score...

Not to mention: my friend can go to ONE Broadway show this summer and the dumbass passes up GYPSY for Young Frankenstein. FAIL.

[Anno_Domini]

Well, don't pass judgement too quickly. There will be many opportunities to see a production of Gypsy, be it through an amateur or professional venue (I mean, Broadway had a revival of it only 5 years ago, for pity's sake!). I say see Young Frankenstein, in all it's technological glory, on Broadway while he can, and save Gypsy for another day (though it is indeed a wonderful show)

And from what I've seen (bootlegs) of the Gypsy production, it's nothing new, nothing spectacular...and neither is Patti LuPone as Mama Rose

*flees before rotten veggies can be thrown*

[Mungojerrie_rt]

It seems taht every show I've seen and like someone else calls shallow with bad music.

Cabaret, Cats, Chicago, Evita, Hair, Into The Woods, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Keating!, Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera, Produces, Rent, Rocky Horror Show, Starlight Express, Sweeney Todd, Tommy and The Wiz.

Is there any one of those there any of those that nobody hates? Probably not. Maybe Keating! because no one outside of Australia has even heard of it, let alone seen.

[nabla]

I never got all the hype about Rent, it lost me after Over the Moon

[LittleGavroche]

Grease annoys the hell out of me not only because of the overly-peppy songs but if you're going to make a cute little musical, it can't end with the leading female changing herself to be with the guy. What the hell kind of message does that send?

Hairspray is something of a bore for me as well.

And the thing that saves A Chorus Line for me is Zach. I adore that man for no particular reason at all. But not many of the songs are very memorable, and I don't like the strange way that they never really end. You start to clap but wait! They're still singing the same song! Maybe if I was a dancer, I would care more, but I'm not. -shrug-

[mastachen]

[Mungojerrie_rt]

My point exactly.

Let's see your list, and I'll saw what I hate.

Still waiting for someone who's seen Keating!

[nabla]

I wish i'd seen keating, apparantly it's hilarious, but i know almost nothing about it

[Mara]

I just booked my tickets for Keating! today. I'm going to see it on June 29!

[curlyhairedsoprano91]

So once upon a time all my friends were like, "OMG WICKED IS THE BEST. Listen to Wicked. You'll love it." And so I listened and I was like ... mmmmmeh.

I hate Bye Bye Birdie.

I love the movie "Hairspray" (with the exception of Zac Efron ... *shudder*). I saw the show "Hairspray" and I thought the movie was much better.

I can't get into POTO. Christine's stuff is too easy to be all that impressive for an opera singer. I like listening to Rebecca Caine sing it, but that's it.

I used to think I couldn't get into Into the Woods. But that's because I was listening to the revival recording and it sucked. Now I've been in the show and I have the OBC recording, and I'm obsessed.

[Mungojerrie_rt]