.
It was the opposite to me: the cast was wonderful. A tad too eager and with vibrato to spare but wonderful nonetheless.
The new reedy orchestration; the "this happened stage right in the original, so let's do it stage left" butthead direction; the huge lies saying it is reinvented when more than half of it is a rehashed original staged with far less innovation and relying on century old scene changes by lowering a curtain to cover it as someone performs in front.
Not since Show Boat in 1927 and that's more modern than the brilliant revolve and suggestive settings of John Napier and the paint-by-light glow of David Hersey? OK, I better stop.
Blood pressure.
"youth has nothing to do with not appreciating Follies. Lack of intelligence does. There's nothing about anyone can't relate to if they have an ounce of depth."
What a butthole statement, sir/miss/whatever you are.
Not so much anymore but there was a time people would use this argument to make themselves out to look like geniuses. In reality, it only works to alienate people from his works and give his fanbase a bad name.
Even I began to believe some of this silly hype that kept me from getting into Follies sooner. Now I regret not ignoring everyone about how boring it is and how tuneless the music is because the final Los Angeles performance I attended, I haven't been able to get out of my mind. It was the best thing I've seen in a long, long time. Too bad the pretentious jerks continue to promote the lies that Sondheim is not very accessible and that there's a mysterious quality only perceivable by geniuses. Baloney.
Understudy Joined: 6/22/12
The Life was boring. I was bored at La Cage also
La Cage is very dated. I don't mean the story, just the way it's told. It's very clunky. Still, some great songs!
CATS...ugh. I think I am the only person in this world that despises this show. Guys and Dolls!!! The worst, most boring thing I've ever had to sit through. Lion King... awful.
Featured Actor Joined: 8/25/11
I don't care if I insult idiots. I'd say the same for the people calling Sunday in the Park boring. Just cause it shot over your head, don't condemn the genius of the work. Go back to your Mamma Mia crap.
Shows I've seen in person that were a bore:
Peter Pan (first show but I got so sleepy)
Catch Me If You Can (boring)
The Beatles Rain (I actually went to sleep)
War Horse (slow)
Porgy and Bess (soooo slow)
Cabaret is great but can drag in those long scenes between Cliff and Sally, Guys and Dolls doesn't have spark, Wizard of Oz, etc.
Don't get me started on how boring Newsies is either.
Updated On: 6/1/14 at 02:44 PM
Kiss Me Kate
Les Miserables
Passing Strange
Titanic
Cats
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
Oklahoma, hands down. Every time they crocus on Ado Annie and Ali Hamim / Will Parker, it is agony. Once saw it with two friends on Christmas week... We had to take singles . At one pint in Act 2, I couldn't stand it anymore...went to the lobby...one of my friends was there...beyond boring.
Others (recent):
Once -- I just didn't get it
Newsies -- every song sounded the same, every dance looked the same. Felt like a
Mediocre Musical from 1961
Catch Me If You Can -- basic concept did not work for me
Others (older):
Grind -- I don't know why it was so painful
Big River -- won the tony in the worst season EVER for musicals
Jimmy -- first show I ever walked out of at intermission
Dr. Jazz -- first show I ever let before intermission...sooooooo bad in all respects and what a bore
Copper field -- first show I ever saw where I left thinking how did they ever get someone to invest in this?
Come Summer -- gorgeous scenery and nothing else
Smoky Joes Cafe -- forced to sit though it three times and always totally bored
Alice -- went to see it a the Public because of Meryl Streep. She was amazing, but in all other respects a
Cpmplete snooze
currently:
once
Violet
phantom of the opera
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Prefacing this list by saying even brilliant musicals can be excruciatingly boring.
Goes without saying that truly bad musicals are almost automatically boring.
All are based on seeing the OBC (or west end):
PACIFIC OVERTURES (one of the brilliant ones)
BALLROOM
THE GRAND TOUR
DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER
BIG DEAL
INTO THE WOODS (see note above, although Act 2 goes on forever)
STARLIGHT EXPRESS
CHESS
LEGS DIAMOND
PASSION
SUNSET BOULEVARD
STEEL PIER
MARIE CHRISTINE
MAMA MIA
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
JERRY SPRINGER:THE OPERA
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (heresy, I know-- see note above)
THE WOMAN IN WHITE
SPAMALOT
CURTAINS
SPRING AWAKENING (Act 2 was agony)
THE GLORIOUS ONES
9 TO 5
LEAP OF FAITH
ONCE
KINKY BOOTS
Forgot to mention Chicago. Chicago needs to be done BRILLIANTLY in order for it to not be boring. The songs and book are far from boring, but if the cast isn't talented/has no energy, it's like watching paint dry.
Sweet Smell of Success. Left at intermission or even before.
Kinky Boots Boring!? I Can't....
Re Kinky Boots-- it's easy. As soon as I could predict every single line or song beat before they opened their mouths, I was bored silly. Realizing halfway through Act I that the finale would involve the whole cast parading downstage in thigh-highs did not bode well for the rest of the evening. Doesn't matter how much scurrying about is going on down onstage. Once it failed to engage me, it made for a long boring evening.
Cats. Hands down. Saw it back in the 80's and was kicking myself for spending $40 for a ticket. Couldn't wait till it was over.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
Agree on Cats...can't believe I forgot it. Other than the endings of both Acts 1 and 2 (both with Memory), I was bored out of my mind. I was also very close in the orchestra and did not know about the cats cuddling up to you...at least they did in London, where I saw it for the only time...which made me hate it that much mire
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/2/10
Cats!!!!!
Lion King has it's moments too..
I also found Big Fish pretty boring...well more tedious than boring. Is that the same thing?
It seems that Once would be boring to me..so I haven't seen it. Does that count?
Updated On: 6/1/14 at 06:01 PM
Cats was the second show my parents ever took me to. Even aged 9 I was embarrassed/uncomfortable for grown adults having to dress up and rub themselves up against the audience like that! Was bored by everything that wasn't an oversized piece of litter decorating the set or the trapdoor.
TBF dance really isn't my thing. Though Fosse was a hell of a lot more enjoyable.
Updated On: 6/1/14 at 06:04 PM
I didn't say you couldn't find it boring- I said "I CAN'T" LOL
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/24/09
Broadway Star Joined: 3/5/04
A Doll's Life definitely. And CATS- both from the audience and being in it! That stupid Peeks and Pollicles and Siamese Opera thing were absolute torture as well as just about every other number in it.
Videos