BEST and WORST shows of 2014: What do you think?- Page 2

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:03am

Agree with Sutton Ross about Gentleman's Guide.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:16am

BEST (flipping through last year's calendar, so these are in my viewing order, not ranked):
- Twelfth Night
- Bridges of Madison County
- Gentleman's Guide
- Cabaret
- If/Then
- Here Lies Love
- Hedwig with AR
- Rock Bottom
- Disgraced
- Curious Case
- Hedwig with MCH
- Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (not sure when I saw that one, since I tried SRO and ended up buying an extra from a patron, so it never made it to my proper calendar)

Only Straight White Man and Pocatello remain on the calendar for 2014, although I will probably see The Illusionists and catch Once again.



Updated On: 12/4/14 at 03:16 AM

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 7:25am

LOVED:
- IF/THEN
- ON THE TOWN
- PIPPIN
- YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
- BOOK OF MORMON (1NT)
- A CHRISTMAS STORY (NON EQUITY TOUR)

LIKED:
- GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE
- IT'S ONLY A PLAY
- NEWSIES (1NT)
- SISTER ACT (1NT)

Nothing that I really hated, but I certainly enjoyed some more than others.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 7:43am

"I haven't seen Gentlemen's guide but I thought supposedly everyone loved it. What's wrong with it?"

Well, there are people out there who do find the show to be pretty fricken overrated. I haven't seen it, but from the advertising, I can understand why it may not be everyone's personal cup of tea...

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 8:52am

Gentlemans guide is a great concept and it's very funny, but the music is kind of boring. I wish that it was just a play or the music was done by a different composer.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 9:28am

I haven't seen Gentlemen's guide but I thought supposedly everyone loved it. What's wrong with it?

I found the show to be unfunny and not clever with direction that just seemed to miss the mark (and, the whole thing was emanating an air of clearly finding itself funny and clever). To me, most of the songs felt pointless and dull and much of the show could have been cut. I think it would have worked better as a 90-minute straight play as opposed to a 2 hour, 20 minute musical.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 9:34am

If the worst thing you've seen onstage in 2014 is Gentleman's Guide, you're having a very good year.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 9:52am

I haven't seen everything obviously so I'll just stick with the shows I have seen and pick what ones affected me the most.

Loved (no order)
-Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
-The Bridges of Madison County
-Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
-Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The only two shows I really didn't get into were Disgraced and Aladdin. I felt the acting strange in Disgraced and I've had those conversations with my friends before so it wasn't anything really new I was hearing (plus I love psychology and studying religion has been a big part of that during my college years so we had those types of discussions in class all of the time). The only thing I liked about Aladdin was James Monroe Iglehart's Friend Like Me. But I wouldn't say that they were bad, I personally just couldn't get into them.

I keep a spreadsheet of all of the shows I've seen (don't judge me) and I'm surprised to see that I've seen way more regional productions (DC/Maryland area) this year than actual Broadway shows!

I only just got into seeing live theatre in 2013, so I'd have to say that this year has been extremely successful for me for branching out and seeing shows that I would never have seen before (like Hedwig and Beautiful).



Updated On: 12/4/14 at 09:52 AM

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 9:54am

To each his own, Kad. For me, “Gentleman’s Guide” was a major low point in my theatre-going this year (there are about 50 others shows that weren’t considered in my Best/Worst list as I saw them outside of New York, but “Gentleman’s” still stands out as one of my least favorites) and one of the few shows I have seen in NYC in the last couple of years where I have walked out of the theatre feeling like I had wasted a precious show slot. The biggest fault I found in it was a lack of entertainment – I found it a chore to sit through most of “Gentleman’s…,” unfortunately.

[FutureDirector]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:42pm

Best (In no order):
Lady Day at Emersons Bar and Grill
Our Lady of Kibeho
Father Comes Home From Wars Parts 1,2&3
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hand to God
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
You Can't Take it With You
Cabaret
Heathers
Fortress of Solitude

Honorable Mention: Act One, The Oldest Boy, If/Then, Stop Hitting Yourself, Violet

Also everyone, keep in mind shows that opened in previous years (i.e. Pippin, Once, Here Lies Love), Casting changes and National Tours don't count. Also keep in mind, if a show was eligible for last years tony, theres a 50/50 shot it opened last year, not this year (i.e. Gentleman's Guide, Twelfth Night, Glass Menagerie)

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:06pm

The OP is asking what we saw this year that we liked and disliked, not what we saw that opened this year specfically in NYC (even though the list with the link is NYC oriented). What's wrong with listing tours or notible regional productions that we enjoyed/disliked? If I saw it this year, I posted it.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:07pm

Future Director, you're kind of control freak-ish here, aren't you?

I think folks are fair in listing the shows THEY liked best/least in 2014. That's what I did.

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 02:07 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:53pm

"Well, there are people out there who do find the show to be pretty fricken overrated."

I never find overrated to be a valid critique, since all it means is that you had formed an opinion of something prior to attending, and the show did not meet that expectation. It just seems weirdly artificial to judge a show based on criteria established outside of seeing the actual show, and then walk away thinking the show missed some mark.

It is very prevalent, though. I ran a website where I had people writing book reviews, and so many of them included "Based on the description, I thought that X was going to happen, but then..." followed by "It would probably have been a better book is YYY was the main story except ZZZ." So, I just stopped running book reviews on the site.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:55pm

I visited NYC only once this year so it is a small sampling. As for brand new shows, I saw "Aladdin" and really enjoyed it. Disney did good job with "magic carpet ride" and James Monroe Iglehart was as good as advertised. As for shows that I saw that have been running for awhile, loved "Matilda","Lion King" was OK and "Rock of Ages" was just fun.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:05pm

Why is anyone stunned that Gentleman's Guide didn't make the list when it opened in 2013?

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:30pm

"I think it would have worked better as a 90-minute straight play as opposed to a 2 hour, 20 minute musical."

Uhhh.....

[Broadwayfanatic2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:56pm

"I haven't seen Gentlemen's guide but I thought supposedly everyone loved it. What's wrong with it?"

Keep in mind that of everyone who mentioned GG: 3 people said they loved it, 1 person said they liked it and 3 people said they hated it. So I don't think anything is wrong with it, I think it's a matter of taste.

I personally was very disappointed with Gentlemen's Guide, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have won the Tony. I just found it dull and unfunny...

I agree with Kad though, and I assure you that it wasn't the worst show I saw this year!

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 4:27pm

Gentleman's Guide was a show that seemed so damn pleased with itself that it didn't leave much room for me to have as good a time as IT was having. I admired it's gymnastic qualities and the virtuoso performances of the cast, and find the music lovely when I give the score a listen these days (the lyrics are so bent on being clever they never settle down and say something meaningful.) So I give it A for (visible) Effort, and B to B- in terms of shows I loved in 2014. Otherwise will wildly disagree.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 5:18pm

A Gentleman's Guide was on of the best nights I have spent in a theatre. I absolutely loved it. That being said, I can understand how others may not like it. For some the lack of spectacle might disappoint; for others, it will be the tongue-in-cheek sensibility of the show. Different strokes for different folks.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 5:28pm

"Why is anyone stunned that Gentleman's Guide didn't make the list when it opened in 2013?"

A majority of people probably saw it this calendar year, which extends past the proper 2013-2014 season. One imagines this is why people are being asked about the favorite things they saw this calendar year in the last month of said year.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 5:33pm

For me, the most ENTERTAINING new musical of the past year was ROCKY. Yes, I said it. ROCKY. I was one of the few who found it engaging, sweet, and exciting.

But the best musical theater experience I had this year was the glorious revival of ON THE TOWN-- warts and all. When it works, it works, and when it's magical, it's magical. Yes, I also just said "magical."

FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, however, (again warts and all) was perhaps the superlative theatrical experience I've had in New York this year. It's what the theater is about. And the audience ate it up!

Oh, and CABARET still works like gangbusters. Powerful piece, brilliant performances, amazing production. But that's not exactly "new" is it? Updated On: 12/4/14 at 05:33 PM

[sctrojan65]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:10pm

I was in NYC in July. I saw Cinderella, Bullets over Broadway, Beautiful, Aladdin and Gentleman's Guide. I really liked them all but if were to order them from most fave:

1. Beautiful
2. Bullets
3. Gentleman's Guide
4. Aladdin
5. Cinderella

[BroadwayFan1231]

Posted: 12/5/14 at 11:59am

In no particular order

Favorites:
Curious Incident
Bootycandy
Love Letters
Side Show
Father Comes Home From the Wars
Disgraced

Honorable mentions:
Fortress of Solitude (controversial, I know!)
The Oldest Boy
Found

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/5/14 at 1:06pm

"I think it would have worked better as a 90-minute straight play as opposed to a 2 hour, 20 minute musical."

Uhhh.....

Perhaps I should further explain my feelings on why I think it would work better as a 90-minute play. I found one of the reasons many of the jokes weren’t funny to me was because there was so much time spent on reiterating the same jokes over and over. As far as the score, I found it to be dull and, instead of telling us something new and giving reason for the characters to break out in song, many of the songs, again, seemed to be reiterations of information we were already told. It was a rare case of a musical where I was wanting the songs to end as soon as they began. For me, by cutting down some of the book and cutting out the songs, I think the plot would move along at a quicker pace (helping to get rid of moments that felt slow to me) and would help in aiding the freshness of the jokes.

I really, really wanted to like it. I absolutely love “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and all of the reports that they have a similar vibe/humor got me excited. I tried to keep hopeful that I would get to the moment where it clicked for me, but by the end of Act I, they had nearly lost me completely. And, unfortunately, I found Act II to be significantly worse. And, I completely agree with this statement of Someone in A Tree’s:

Gentleman's Guide was a show that seemed so damn pleased with itself that it didn't leave much room for me to have as good a time as IT was having.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/6/14 at 8:56pm

I also forgot to mention that SIDE SHOW was also incredibly engaging and entertaining, sometimes even breathtaking. I can't wait for the new recording, because those girls really act those songs nicely. That isn't always easy to convey on a recording, but I'd like to find out if it works this time.