Lol. Here comes the hater who TODAY preached about how rude it is to criticize a show in a thread about it.
Whizzer: That's an okay question! Yes, I do still experience that. More explicitly with gay men, but I think that's also because women who would find my identity problematic are understandably more careful and filter me out in advance. There is so much complex weirdness around it, it's hard to talk about in brief. I'll PM you a link to a thing I wrote in case this whole social area is of interest to you. Don't want to derail this thread with personal issues too much!
After Eight, I have a question, and I do not mean it sarcastically or in a rude manner, I'm just curious... What is the most recent show that you've seen that you truly enjoyed? What's the most recent musical, that you believe, had deserved it's Best Musical award? Again, I don't mean this in a rude way, as I truly do value your opinions on this board. :)
@After Eight (aka the posturing troll): you long ago forsook any legitimacy to speak to this (or any other) subject. You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!
I did not have any interest in seeing Fun Home. I don't live in NY but come to NYC 3-4 times a year to watch 5-6 Broadway shows/visit so I consider myself more theater savvy than tourist.
I don't remember every Tony nominee for best musical down through the years, but La Cage aux Folles was certainly one that I remember as deserving most resoundingly its best musical ---- and best score --- Tony Awards.
As for the most recent shows I enjoyed to the greatest degree, I guess for musicals it would again be La Cage aux Folles, and for plays, Forty Carats.
gypsy101 said: "let that sink in everyone. After Eight hadn't enjoyed a Broadway musical in 32 years and yet he still continues to attend. What dedication."
I don't think it does attend; I think it has become a full time troll
I enjoy being able to see everything that I can get my hands on and have informed opinions, but my friends tend to have limited time and funds.
For one pair, all my recommendations to them thus far has seemed to resonate. I explicitly did not recommend Fun Home, but they went to go see it anyway (because it was critically well-received and has so much positive word-of-mouth). Not surprisingly, they felt lukewarm towards it at best and cold at worst.
They thought none of us enjoyed it because we weren't the target demographic. They thought that people who were less tolerant or less open-minded would find it the most impactful. Maybe that's true. I've lived in NYC all my life, was part of my high school's GSA, am currently an ally in my workplace's LGBT network, lost count of the # of years I've fundraised for AIDS Walk, and became overwhelmed with joy when same-sex marriage finally became legal in the US.
I felt no connection to any of the characters (and did not like the music, honestly). I thought you needed to have some relatable experience to any of those characters to feel an emotional investment.
On the other hand, our friend (who is LGBT) saw it before all of us, and she was really moved by it.
Who can say what is "good"? The only thing you can know is what you like and what you connect with, and even that's not always consistent.
There's a bunch of people out there who don't like it but don't bother to say anything. Forget the wording of the title, this was obviously just to start a lovefest. It is okay to have dissenting opinions, but I think in general people avoid chiming in when it's so heavily skewed a certain way.
TLDR; it's not too good for Broadway. It's fine. I'm happy it moves people, even if I'm not one of them.
Too good to have a successful run on Broadway? No, it has already done that. Too good to be one of the huge money makers/long running shows? I don't think it's a case of being too good. It's a case of being too small, too heavy and not commercially appealing enough. It's a 90 minute show with a small cast, no huge spectacle, that ends with a suicide and doesn't have any 'name' behind it.
"It's a 90 minute show with a small cast, no huge spectacle that ends with a suicide and doesn't have any 'name' behind it. "
It had/has the power of the "arbiters of culture" and the media mega-machine behind it, and that's as good as gold. And it's just that gold that enabled it to move to Broadway and then to run there as long as it has. If word of mouth is finally catching up with it, then that's a good thing.
I'm thinking back to the many comments about how it would never make it to or make it on Broadway, let alone win the TONY.
It had a great run at The Public and has done nicely at Circle in The Square. It has lasted far longer than many thought it would and longer than many shows with less challenging subject matter or much bigger names in the cast.
Everyone involved with its development and this production should be very proud of what has been accomplished.
indytallguy said: "I'm thinking back to the many comments about how it would never make it to or make it on Broadway, let alone win the TONY.
It had a great run at The Public and has done nicely at Circle in The Square. It has lasted far longer than many thought it would and longer than many shows with less challenging subject matter or much bigger names in the cast.
Everyone involved with its development and this production should be very proud of what has been accomplished."
Exactly! Not to mention it recouped and has yet to announce closing. I'm thinking the team are pretty glad they took it to Broadway.