Broadway Guilty Pleasures

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 7:11pm

I thought I'd create a fun thread where we share some of our Broadway-related guilty pleasures...things that are considered "bad" or that we personally think isn't quite good, but we cannot help but really like and maybe re-watch from time-to-time. 

I'll start with saying that I can't help it, but there is something I truly love about this Starmites Tony performance:

I'm not talking about that Sharon McNight "Diva" song because it fits Broadway being a female character showing the audience who she is type of song, but I'm talking about that strange title song in the beginning and no shame acting of that pet lizard and the rest of them just going all out. There's a sort of rough courage that resulted in this strange mess, but just a bit more of that is what I think Broadway could use these days. 

Another Tony performance I can't help but love is the Starlight Express' performance. "Starlight Sequence (I am a Starlight)" is such a cheesy ballad and the actor was probably told to sing it like a real children's cartoon character, but I can't help but love it and the earnestness of the performance.

 

[CorkySt.Clair]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 7:53pm

For me, it's definitely "I Should Tell You" from RENT. Many people who have commented on the show bring up their distaste of the song. I find the melody quite soothing and the lyrics appropriately....scattershot, I guess, to describe falling in love that way. Honestly, I don't really understand the negativity towards it but I know it isn't held in very high regard.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 10:40pm

Those compilation videos of the same moment in different productions of musicals (like "Courtney, Take Your Break" is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine! 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 12:16am

The Boy From Oz.  A piece of garbage, elevated into a fun evening by Hugh Jackman's terrific performance.

Something's Afoot is another one I sat through and knew was terrible, but still enjoyed it immensely.

Julie Harris in 40 Carats.  Colleen Dewhurst in An Almost Perfect Person.  Garbage made fun by terrific stars, although Harris would not have been nominated, let alone won, a Tony in most years.

Irene with Debbie Reynolds.  Definitely Starlight Express, but I never saw it in NYC and suspect the London performance was much superior to the NYC one, because the London production was not constrained by the stage...they skated around the theatre.

Cant think of any at the level of these right this minute, using the criteria...'I know it is bad, but I am still really enjoying it'.

[Broadwaygirl2]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 5:37am

Legally Blonde

[BroadwayLover4]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 6:09am

"Mamma Mia!"

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 12:33pm

BroadwayLover4 said: ""Mamma Mia!"

 

How could I have forgotten Mamma Mia.  It practically defines 'guilty pleasure.'  

 

[once a month]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 8:18pm

Bombay Dreams

(title of show)

ANY Charles Busch vehicle