BROADWAY SECRETS: Wherein we confess our controversial opinions- Page 13

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/21/14 at 6:26pm

^O Hell No

Anne Hathaway acted the sh!t out of that role. Her voice may be just okay, but that is still the best performance ever in a musical movie

Cabaret is one of the greatest musicals ever written
Idina Menzel is going to screech those vocal chords right out of her throat. She needs to be careful.
John Travolta is great in Hairspray
Gentleman's guide is not a good show. It's funny and all but... it still isn't good.
Kinky Boots was disappointing.
Spring Awakening is god awful.
I liked Heathers.
Oklahoma! is dated and boring
Little Shop of Horrors is perfect
Wicked is the corny and poorly written.

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/21/14 at 6:58pm

I'm pretty sure the point of this thread is to share our controversial opinions without being made fun of or being told we are wrong, which is exactly what you are doing, icecreambenjamin.

Opinion:

The main problem with the Les Miserables movie was the weirdly personal camera work that made me really uncomfortable to watch it. Also, Hugh Jackman was really bad in that movie.

Hal Prince is a poor director

[smallworld]

Posted: 12/21/14 at 7:11pm

I think ROCKY has a wonderful score and deserved much more on Broadway.
I loved Elena Roger in EVITA and thought she was an absolute force of nature.
Idina Menzel is a terrible singer and I cannot stand her in much of anything.
I really wanted REBECCA to open and be a hit.

[Michael Kras]

Posted: 12/22/14 at 12:42am

Fantod- when I met Adam Guettel, it was like we were old friends. His immediate warmth was almost startling.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 2:44am

I didn't hate anything about the 2002 revival of Into the Woods, not even Stephen DeRosa.

While I like and enjoy the show, I feel that GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE doesn't do anything that LITTLE ME and EDWIN DROOD did better.

Also...I dont like Christmas.

[Tom 2]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 1:26pm

If there was one performer I could be in love with it would certainly be Sally Murphy. She has it all: talent, beauty, sex-appeal, etc. and (my heart). May this Christmas season bring her safety, happiness and whatever HER heart desires. May God continue to bless and watch over this amazing lady as I place a spiritual rose at her ever most joyous feet.

[mattmarkowski99]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 1:40pm

I really enjoyed Scandalous and Big Fish.

I hate Chicago on Broadway, but love the musical.

I think Idina Menzel isn't anything to go crazy over.

I loved the revival of Jekyll and Hyde so much.

I think Meryl Streep sings "Last Midnight" better than Bernadette Peters. Sorry.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 3:41pm

I love Laura Benanti, but I didn't think that Christmas video was funny at all.

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 3:43pm

Since it's apparently the most controversial thing ever, I don't like Renee Fleming and think that Maria Callas is talented, but way over-hyped

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 3:46pm

The books to most musicals are embarrassingly bad.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 3:50pm

Idina Menzel is a lousy actress who never met a song she wouldn't try to screlt.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 4:09pm

^ I love you.

[MegInManhattan]

Posted: 12/26/14 at 12:49pm

I loved BROOKLYN The Musical and couldn't understand why Eden Espinosa wasn't even nominated for a Tony.

I think Kelly OHara is talented, but find her incredibly vanilla.

I enjoyed HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME more than I should admit.

[Showface]

Posted: 12/26/14 at 1:01pm

"I think Meryl Streep sings "Last Midnight" better than Bernadette Peters. Sorry."

-And the rap, and "Stay With Me", and well...I overall just preferred Streep, though Bernadette Peters was AMAZING

-Into the Woods is one of those plays that should be studied...

-Russell Crowe wasn't a bad Javert

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/26/14 at 1:34pm

^I agree that Into the Woods should be one of the plays that gets studied in school. There's a lot of great opportunities for debates and discussions.
My high school had us study Company and Sunday in the Park which are also great musicals to teach.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/15 at 9:47pm

"Fantod- when I met Adam Guettel, it was like we were old friends. His immediate warmth was almost startling."

Yeah, I wouldn't call myself a close friend of Adam's, but we've socialized, and he is nothing but lovely, warm, generous, candid, and frighteningly smart about theater. Even before I got to know him better, he was always extremely warm and friendly. Same thing with his mother, who I knew even less, but reacted similarly to the few times I did talk to her at length.

His music, for me, is as generous and warm, though like Adam, extremely candid. Maybe not bright copper kettles sentimental, but I don't know a song more beautiful than "How Glory Goes."


Here's my secret (well, not so secret) but CONTROVERSIAL opinion--

ROCKY was a really entertaining, well put together show. Not a masterpiece, but a damn entertaining two hours in the theater, with a charming, intimate score.

I don't know if I have any others other than I don't like A CHORUS LINE...?

[ebontoyan]

Posted: 3/22/15 at 10:09pm

I loved Rocky, the cast recording and the cast especially Andy Karl!!!

Overrated Tony winners: Once, Gentleman's Guide. Book of Mormon is okay but nobody can pay me to see it more than once! It will be in the Des Moines Performing Arts 2015-2016 season again for the 3x but I will not be watching again!! Even if I can get $35-40 tix

Just my two cents :)
Updated On: 3/22/15 at 10:09 PM

[starcatchers]

Posted: 3/22/15 at 10:33pm

"I enjoyed HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME more than I should admit."
Me too.

Kelli O'Hara annoys me.
The current cast of Kinky Boots is far better than the original.
I have no interest in seeing Finding Neverland.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/22/15 at 10:40pm

The end of act one of SHREK THE MUSICAL is one of the best act endings ever written.

COMPANY is a bore to sit through. So are OKLAHOMA and to a degree CAROUSEL.

The Alfred Dolittle material weighs down MY FAIR LADY immensely.

Updated On: 3/22/15 at 10:40 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/15 at 10:54pm

Oh, come on Mr. Nowack! CAROUSEL? (I'll agree with the second act of OKLAHOMA!)

[rcwr]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 12:36am

I'm dying for a HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME cast recording. Even after learning that they didn't record one, I can't stop wishing.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 12:45am

I hope Audra doesn't win another Tony next year haha

[seahag2]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 1:30am

I think about what Ariana Grande's voice would be like if she didn't go down the pop path and studied classical/MT style more than I should.

I LOVE Sutton but her southern accent in Violet makes me so upset.

[aj88]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 9:17am

I am not the biggest fan of Hugh Jackman or Neil Patrick Harris. I have enjoyed them as hosts for the Tonys and think they gave some solid stage performances, particularly Jackman in The Boy From Oz but I don't really get the appeal of NPH...and I thought he was missing something in Hedwig and didn't really think he was right for the role. I think Jefferson Mays or Bryce Pinkham should have won the Tony over him.

[jkstheatrescene]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 11:03am

Kristin Chenoweth, one of my favorite actresses, is AWFUL in On the Twentieth Century, and she was TERRIFIC in Promises, Promises.

On the Twentieth Century (this revival, at least) is laughably bad, and boring as watching grass grow.

I LOVED both The Last Ship and Finding Neverland. I was captivated from start to finish with both, flaws and all.

I'm pretty sure Hell is having to sit through The Last 5 Years for eternity.

Don't get me started on Beautiful...

And sign me up for the list of those who thought Sutton Foster (another actress I love) was horribly miscast and completely undeserving of the Tony for Anything Goes, another revival that was so boring I wanted to scream.

Wow, that emotional purge was very satisfying...