Worst Musical Ever???

[Miss Inga Depointe]

Oh, wait, I just thought of the worst of all time. And it won a tony!!!

Urine Town. What a piece of ....you know.

 

[RadioNate]

Oh, and the most recent version of Sweeney Todd. God, that was just ridiculous. The entire cast was on stage at all times, playing various characters AND they were the orchestra as well. Patty Lupone playing a tuba and the triangle. NOT

How could I forget Sweeney Todd.

 

[Mandabella]

I've got no interest in seeing any of the Disney musicals, either. For free in the theme park (ala MGM's Beauty and the Beast), but not for the price of tickets these days.

What they do in MGM is no comparison to what they do on the Great White Way. I saw BATB when it was still at the Palace Theatre on Broadway before I saw what MGM did....and let's just say this huge BATB fan doesn't make much of an effort to catch the MGM show. The same goes for TLK. All MHO of course...YMMV...

As for my choices as the worst musicals ever....hmmm...

CATS die cats die...die your plotless musical die!! And thankfully, you are no longer infesting the Winter Garden Theatre. And don't you dare do a revival!!!

Sweeney Todd You know...it's got Sondheim, a demon barber, and woman making meat pies of people...you'd think I'd be all over this one....but I just cannot get into this one. Ugh.

Miss Saigon It starts out sad and gets progressively sadder and sadder. All right already, I get it!

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that popped into my head.

Also one thing I want to point out about many musicals...in my experience, their respective productions are usually better on Broadway than the various National Tours. This is not always true, but true enough for me. For example, The Phantom of the Opera is best view on Broadway or in the West End IMHO. And recently this was proven true again for me with Wicked . I saw Wicked this past weekend and it was a better production that the National Tour that I saw in Philly.

 

[FergieTCat]

Hugh Jackman WAS the only good thing about "The Boy From Oz." That man is so hot he smoked!! I saw the show a few times just to drool over the fabu Mr. Jackman.

Kind of a toss up for me. The Boy From Oz was awful. Hated it. Hugh Jackman was good but the show was just... bewildering. I couldn't figure out what was so significant about Peter Allen's life that it would warrant a Broadway show. Told my friends that I wanted a truck to hit me during intermission so I wouldn't have to be subjected to more of that nonsense.

 

[barkley]

First of all, The Nutcracker is a ballet, not a musical, so it can't be put in the mix here.

Secondly, HOW could you not like "The Lion King?!" First of all, it's DISNEY. Secondly, even if you're not a fan of the music or the story, the technical feats that that show has mastered is mind blowing! We saw it on Broadway and loved it! Sorry you did not experience the magic we did.

The worst show I ever saw was one by Andrew Lloyd Webber - Sunset Boulevard! I left in the middle of it, it was that bad.

actualy-there is a musical theatre version of "the nutcracker"-i don't know that it's ever been professionaly produced, but it was written several years ago and the community theatre i'm involved in did it a few years ago. it's not the greatest show ever, but that someone managed to take the actual songs and write lyrics that actualy make sense within the context of the show amazed me.

i've never had any desire to see "lion king", if i want to see this type of a production i'll see the versions they have in the parks. i much rather see a musical theatre production that showcases the actors.

 

[Rikku]

Ok I'm all over this bad musicals thread!

Now I've seen pathetic productions of just about everything, but as far as show I think are simply no good...

POTO (Phantom of the Opera)
Les Miz
Annie
Oliver
South Pacific
Contact
Meet Me in St.Louis
my list truly could go on forever...as an adendum...add anything by ALW.

Ok now some of the shows mentioned as bad make no sense to me...

Sweeney Todd? Come on people!!! Granted the newest revival is a travesty and Lupon sucks the life out of Lovette...but this has to be THE most lush and brilliant musical score ever written!

Urinetown? Again...brilliantly conceived...wonderfully written!

Ok I'm getting off my soap box now...this is a subject that's...well it's the business that feeds my wife and close so maybe I'm just a little to close to it! LOL

 

[Evil Genius]

Sweeny Todd. Just awful. I wasn't too keen on Cats either.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

Urinetown? Again...brilliantly conceived...wonderfully written!

LOL you must have seen some other Urine Town! The one I saw was a one joke play with a bunch of unmemorable songs.

 

[amy4bruce]

As someone with a master's degree in theatre arts, I'd like to say that there is no show so good that it doesn't have someone who hates it, and no show so bad that it doesn't have fans.

As I mentioned on another thread (when I misspelled it), Sondheim's Sweeney Tood is my favorite musical. Several people have mentioned how terrible it was (and I don't mean the last production). Fine. That's why there are many theatres in New York and elsewhere.

I saw the original production twice. The second time, I went with two friends from college, both with theatre degrees, and one's then-girlfriend, now wife. The two friends agreed with me. The girlfriend looked puzzled. She said, "This is a musical comedy?" I nodded, and began to explain that the term is just that - a term, and there are plenty of serious musicals. She said, "I don't think it's a comedy. Or very musical." All I could do is shrug. I might mention that the original production only lasted about two years, and I got tickets right after it opened at the half-price booth. Obviously, many people don't like it.

 

[Rikku]

I'm curious...not to turn this into a flame thread...but what about 'Sweeney' and 'Urinetown' do you guys find so unappealing?

Details folks! Back up these arguments.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I'm curious...not to turn this into a flame thread...but what about 'Sweeney' and 'Urinetown' do you guys find so unappealing?

Details folks! Back up these arguments.

Well, I liked Sweeney Todd but as I said, the "theme" of Urine Town got old fast, and I couldn't remember any of the songs in it even with a gun to my head. It was supposed to be funny? Ironic? Maybe there was some kind of greater meaning that just went plum over my head!

 

[Mandabella]

I'm curious...not to turn this into a flame thread...but what about 'Sweeney' and 'Urinetown' do you guys find so unappealing?

That's simple. I don't enjoy the music for Sweeney Todd. And that is odd considering I love Sondheim's other shows and the premise for this musical sounded like it would something that would be right up my alley. I keep giving it a chance every few years, but still nothing...oh well...

I'm sure there is a musical I love that you may not enjoy.
There are some musicals that have been mentioned in this thread that I adore, but I can see why others dislike them. To each their own...

At least everyone in this thread (so far) is a fan of musical theatre!

 

[Rikku]

I understand folks' opinions now that I see the criteria for what people think makes a good musical. I was speaking more from a writing and story telling standpoint more than a...well audiences really like it standpoint. And I know it's all subjective anyway so...

So far as the themes to Urinetown...it's a great satir of politics...social morays and musical theatre in general...it's basically making of its own genere.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I understand folks' opinions now that I see the criteria for what people think makes a good musical. I was speaking more from a writing and story telling standpoint more than a...well audiences really like it standpoint. And I know it's all subjective anyway so...

So far as the themes to Urinetown...it's a great satir of politics...social morays and musical theatre in general...it's basically making of its own genere.

No! I thought it was about peeing!!!!

Seriously, I got that it was supposed to be satire, I just didn't think it was very good satire. And I didn't think the storytelling was good at all or I wouldn't have been bored out of my mind.

But obviously alot of people agree with you or it wouldn't have gotten all those rave reviews. I don't care how smart it thought it was,it just didn't float my boat. Different strokes.

 

[helenabear]

the worst in my opinion-"damn yankees" and "pajama game"-both seem like someone said "hm, lets find something to tie these songs together into a play!".

I saw Pajama game and felt the exact same way!!!! It wasn't very good at all. Of course not having a strong lead in the female part with a HS production didn't help either That one was just plain weird to me!

Jesus Christ Superstar is one I love and hate... love some of it hate the rest!

 

[wvrevy]

Cats, hands down. Major waste of money and 2+ hours of my life I'll never get back.

It's funny that so many people dislike ALW...and Sondheim's name is to be spoken only in reverential tones. I MUCH prefer Weber to Sondheim. Not that I greatly dislike anything of his that I've seen (limited to only Sweeney in concert and Into the Woods as well as the usual suspects (Gypsy, WSS)...just that I prefer Weber's works (for the most part).

 

[eclectics]

"Springtime For Hitler"....


but seriously, I vote for "Into The Woods". Not exactly terrible, but waaaaay too long! I'm sorry I missed "Carrie" It must have been a hoot!

 

[Mandabella]

It's funny that so many people dislike ALW...and Sondheim's name is to be spoken only in reverential tones.

It's standard operating procedure with musical fans it seems. It's part of the reason I don't frequent a lot of musical online communities anymore. It's get exhausting....the whole ALW vs SS debate. It's akin to the DL vs. WDW debate among Disney fans.

I enjoy both ALW and SS. I also dislike some of their respective works. And as much criticism (some of which I share!) as ALW gets from people "in the know," he must be doing something right to to have the commercial success and audience appeal. I forgot where I read it but The Phantom of the Opera is not only the longest running Broadway musical, it also has grossed the most amount of money world wide. Not that that makes it a great musical, but it speaks to its broad long standing appeal among audiences.

 

[RadioNate]

I'm curious...not to turn this into a flame thread...but what about 'Sweeney' and 'Urinetown' do you guys find so unappealing?

Details folks! Back up these arguments.

Let's see..Sweeney Todd is about a insane barber who kills his clients for revenge, while is even more deranged neighbor bakes their bodies into 'meat pies' that all the townspeople crave. No nothing about that is unappealing.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I haven't seen Sweeney Todd.

I have Looong thought that Phantom and Cats were wildly overrated. But where Cats was OK, Phantom was just lousy.

Am also very sick of this trend of making plays from movies (e.g. Footloose). That has to go.

But my award for Worst Musical Ever has to be Gigi. ETA: Wait! Sorry! I forgot about Rent. Rent is the absolute worst. Thanks.

Just my opinions, of course.