BROADWAY SECRETS: Wherein we confess our controversial opinions- Page 10

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 12/26/13 at 1:38pm

I enjoyed the 2003 "Gypsy" esp when Maureen Moore was on as Rose

I hated "Spring Awakening"

I prefer Elaine Paige's Eva over Patti's

"Sunset Blvd" is one of my fav shows.

I regret not seeing "Caroline or Change" I kept refusing to see it I saw the Toronto premire last year and was blown away.

I miss cast jackets. In the 80s and 90s you'd see cast members wear them all around the theatre district.

I don't understand how "contact" won best musical and Karen Ziemba won best featured.

"Aida" should of had a best musical nom

"The Wild Party" should of won w Toni as best actress (such an amazing performance) and Eartha as best supporting she was well there are no words.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/26/13 at 1:57pm

As much as I liked Kinky Boots, I think it did not deserve most of the Tonys it won at all. Matilda should have gotten at least Best Score and Best Musical. If Matilda received Best Score and Kinky Boots received Best Musical, I'd be satisfied. Pippin and Bring It On should have won Best Choreography from what I have seen and heard so far. Cinderella should have at least won Best Orchestrations. Bertie and Billy equally deserved Best Leading Actor, but I feel terrible that Bertie didn't get anything. The producers were really jumping the shark with Gsbriel over him as Best Featured Actor.

[Emma White]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 8:38pm

Madonna is one of my favourite Evas. I think she sings a lot of it decently and acts it well, and as someone who knows a LOT about Eva Peron and has watched a LOT of documentary footage of her, I think she had her mannerisms down so well it's kind of scary. The only thing she really sucked at was "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 9:11pm

I think Phantom is overrated. It's a good show, but it's not deserving of the love it receives.

Lloyd Webber is one of the most overrated people in the theater.

I think Kinky Boots winning Best Musical and Best Score was a joke.

I thought Shrek the Musical was an incredible show.

[nuckyblue]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 9:46pm

My secret is only positive:

Seeing so many fathers with their teenage kids (especially sons) at the Flea Market in September, bonding and often listening patiently about the virtues of this and that actress. So, so, so lovely.

Updated On: 1/1/14 at 09:46 PM

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 10:24pm

I think KINKY BOOTS is wildly overrated, MATILDA is a loud, empty bore, and ONCE was endless. Is this really the best that we can produce in a Broadway musical? Shameful.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 10:56pm

Nuckyblue--my dad ALWAYS took me to the flea market, because my mom gets scared in the city. I think he enjoys Broadway and theatre more than he would ever say aloud, but that was always the day he would express his love of it--he has a bigger window card collection in his garage that I do!! Flea market days have some of my favorite father-daughter memories. So I can definitely concur with what you said. :)

Posted: 1/1/14 at 11:12pm

I hate neither the RENT film nor the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA film. I actually like the PHANTOM film quite a lot, because it came out just as I was getting into musicals and I think the sets are very well done.

[broadwayfever]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 1:23am

- I actually liked Spiderman and my kids and I still listen to the soundtrack everyday.

- I also liked the music from Bonnie & Clyde.

- I think Eden Espinosa was a better Elphaba than Idina Menzel and Megan Hilty was a better Glinda than Kristin Chenoweth.

- I think The Color Purple was better than Jersey Boys

- I think Wicked should've beat Avenue Q for best Musical

- I think In The Heights has been the best musical since Rent first appeared on Broadway.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 11:41am

Ted Neeley's doing it again in Italy in 2014. And I would pay every penny to see it. #sorrynotsorry

Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar XX°Anniversario

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 5:31pm

I really liked Jessica Chastain in THE HEIRESS, possibly because I am the only person on the planet who didn't see Cherry Jones in the role.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 6:34pm

If Andrew Lloyd Webber just happened to be American he would be extolled more and there wouldn't be many skeptics.

[Tink2]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 6:46pm

^LOL! There is no denying that Sir Andrew is an extremely creative and talented man...and from an early age.
My confession is, the only ALW musical that I have never liked is Cats. I tried...really. I mean, I was a dancer. A friend from my hometown was in it. To me, it was just two hours of kitty aerobics.

[DivosThoughts]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 7:07pm

Let the Judging Commence!

-I hated almost everything about Newsies, besides the dancing. Besides that, thought it was dull.

-I find Matilda boring and don't understand the hype that it gets.

-Dislike Phantom of the Opera a great deal.

-I think Jesus Christ Superstar is one of best if not, the best Webber show.

- LOVED Bring It On, felt like I was the only one who thought The Best Musical nom was deserving.

-Billy Porter deserved to win Best Leading Actor in a Musical this year, sorry not sorry Bertie.

-I don't think Bernadette Peters in as great as most people paint her out to be.

- Patti LuPone scares me.

- Kinky Boots rightfully so deserved to beat Matilda in the Best Musical Category, yeah I said it.

-Ghost should of received more nominations such as a Best Musical nom.

-Sutton Foster was far more superb as Reno Sweeney than Patti was and every will be.

-Also those queens over at the Ambassador Theatre in Chicago need to give it a rest already. Gurl, it is time to end the run.

Updated On: 1/2/14 at 07:07 PM

[chinto1984]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 8:49pm

riffing is annoying and messing up most singers mediocre voices

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 1/3/14 at 9:18pm

I can't stand Chicago on stage. I thought the movie was a million times better and was extremely disappointed when I saw it this summer.

I thought Rogers and Hammersteins Cinderella was funny, but I think Laura Osnes is way too good for that role.

I'll support Kinky Boots over Matilda anyway. The atmosphere in that theatre was electric when I went to see it (at a matinee, mind you) and I'll never forget the high from the last ten minutes of that show.

I desperately want Julianne Moore and Jessica Lange to come back to Broadway.

[KC91WFU]

Posted: 1/3/14 at 9:52pm

I think Emily Skinner put the death nail in Billy Elliot. She had no chemistry with anyone else in the cast. Her comic timing was completely off. Her accent was absolutely terrible. She sounded like she had a sock in her mouth most of the time.

[inception]

Posted: 1/3/14 at 10:07pm

I'd rather listen to almost any show by Kander & Ebb instead of anything by either ALW or Sondheim.

I prefer Mame to Hello Dolly, and am not surprised Dear World flopped

I can't believe A Little Night Music took best show over Pippin

The first ten minutes of Fosse's All That Jazz is more interesting than the entirety of A Chorus Line

I would have given Sweet Charity a happy ending - screw Fellini

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 1/3/14 at 10:19pm

As much as I was impressed by Bertie Carvel in Matilda, I actually loved Chris Hoch's performance more. Granted he was certainly influenced by the original - so I give credit where credit is due. But I was more emotionally involved and had more fun with Chris' performance than I was with Bertie.

Billy Porter should have won lead actor regardless. If he did not win, I would have voted for Stark. They are both lead actors in their shows. I would have been thrilled if Bertie and Gabe tied as best supporting actor - because to me there is no one in Matilda that is really a LEAD except Matilda. I don't really see Ms. Honey as a lead either.

I agree with the Tony's that KB should have won Best Musical. I am also happy it won best score..and it annoys the heck out of me when people say the only reason the score won is because it was Cyndi's fame.

While I now really LOVE my two Matilda CD's (London and OBC), it took a lot of listening and re-listening for me to get "into it". It's truly the more you hear it, the more you appreciate it. So I can understand why it did not win..it took a lot of effort for me to love it and I am not sure the majority of people care that much.

I really enjoyed the play A Time to Kill and was saddened it wasn't better received.

I would have loved to see/hear Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba in the original cast of Wicked - as she would have been had she had a "name" back then.

[Tateh]

Posted: 1/4/14 at 5:10am

I find Kelly O´Hara completely overrated

Updated On: 1/4/14 at 05:10 AM

[mikey2573]

Posted: 1/4/14 at 1:27pm

The Broadway production of RENT was the single most excruciating piece of theater I have ever sat through. The only reason it won all the awards was because of the death of its creator on opening night. Had that not happened, RENT would have been dismissed as the piece of garbage it is.

MATILDA, while not horrible, did not deserve the almost unanimous praise it received in NY. It does NOT live up to the hype. The Matildas did NOT deserve any special recognition last year at the Tonys --not with the kids from A CHRISTMAS STORY in the house.

A CHRISTMAS STORY should have won Best Musical last year. Also, John Bolton should have won Featured Actor and Johnny Rabe should have won Best Actor in a Musical.

Sandy Duncan is the best musical PETER PAN ever.

THE SECRET GARDEN has one of the most beautifully haunting scores ever.

BILLY ELLIOT is a great musical, but the music is not effective when taken out of the show, which is why I NEVER listen to the CD.

I should be able to purchase a video of any Broadway show I see as I leave the theater.

That is all.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 1/4/14 at 1:46pm

Updated On: 1/4/14 at 01:46 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/4/14 at 7:01pm

Mikey, I suspect most shows would LOVE to have a DVD to sell to their patrons. I think it's been pretty well established that seeing a DVD doesn't deter live attendance any more than listening to the OBC recording does.

But the cost involved in making a decent video is enormous. Only the biggest hits could afford it, I suspect (based on working at a theater where this was discussed and the numbers were run--and that wasn't even in NYC!).

[mikey2573]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 6:55pm

Yes, I know. But it would be nice. And I don't mean of any performance of the show I just saw, it needs to be THE performance of the show I just saw. I am not that demanding.

[Morticia Addams]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 7:39pm

The OBC of Wicked is not my favorite cast, by far.

I adored the Addams Family, and thought it should have run longer, the same with The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

I have no interest in seeing Newsies or Cinderella.

I actually enjoyed Sutton in Anything Goes.

Jessie Mueller was robbed of the Tony in 2012.