BROADWAY SECRETS: Wherein we confess our controversial opinions — Page 5

"I want to see John Gallagher Jr. try something that isn't a rock musical, although I believe he should have been nominated for Best Leading Actor in American Idiot. "

He did Rabbit Hole and Farragut North, both to acclaim.

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I'm pretty sure your singing along at a broadway show will ALWAYS bother someone.

I love Cats, Wicked, and Phantom of the Opera
I think all playbill covers should always be color (unless the actual show artwork is black and white. I hate seeing all the beautiful and colorful artwork all bland)
I dislike Newsies.
I really don't want projections to be used as much an I'm waiting for an original show to come along from new composers that has beautiful and lush music.
I want either Aaron Tveit, Josh Buscher or various others to marry me. I know it may not seem controversial, but I live in PA so it still is here!

"Interesting! So you don't want people to take their phones to the theater, but you still expect them to film the shows..."

i don't expect anyone to film shows... if you film a show and you're not disturbing anyone around you and no one can tell you're doing it... then do it... but if you're texting with a big ass bright light and it's disruptive then yeah... don't bring your phone in

i had a friend once audio a show... the recorder just sat in her lap... no one knew what she was doing only me because she told me... it was small and inconspicuous... no lights or anything were showing....

"And unless my singing along is bothering someone else, I get to press charges for assault in a public place. As the kids say, "U mad, bro?""

and if it's bothering someone else then you don't get to press charges??

Updated On: 6/15/13 at 12:11 PM

First of all, it's WENDLA.

And second of all - There's so much wrong with what you just said, I don't even know where to begin.

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"She did not have the dignity, nor the vocal prowess for the role, and I have wondered why people keep suggesting her for things. You have to realize that because of her untrained singing, her vocal abilities have deteriorated to the point where she can no longer sing high, or without a crackly overtone (see her Oscar performance singing, and I use that term lightly, "All That Jazz"). However, Bernadette was much more suited to the role"

You're kidding right? Bernadette's voice is shot. The only thing that saved her on Smash was the computer enhancements. She ruined her voice on Song & Dance and she's been raspy ever since.

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I don't like any Broadway shows that were written before 2005! None of them.

Oh, theatrefan4, I don't think we're meant to take seriously something that includes this:

"Last weekend I traveled 7 hours to 118 degree heat to see LES MISERABLES in Sacramento..."

Are we?

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I thought Smile was a far better musical than Les Miserables, and I saw both original Broadway productions less than two months apart.

Cats is one of those shows that "defied gravity" for me. Nothing about that show should have worked, but for me everything did. Seeing the OBC is still one of the most inspiriting, thought provoking, and moving nights of theatre I've ever had. And it's hard for me to articulate why. But that show resonated WAY beyond seeing a bunch of dancers in cat costumes singing poetry.

Speaking of "defying gravity," I absolutely love Wicked (the musical and the novel).

I don't much care for Betty Buckley or Idina Menzel's voices on recordings, but live in the theatre, they are electrifying.

Dreamgirls fizzles out completely in the second act. Nine deserved to win the Tony that year.

Broadway is mostly a machine now with very few exceptions. Everybody talks about "tracks" like the little dolls that scoot around on metal rails in "It's a Small World" at Disneyland. Robots with prerecorded entertainment. The ones who work the most are the ones who are easily replaceable and interchangeable enough to easily replace others. They all fit the same costume. That's why they're hired. I do think Broadway should be a "well oiled machine" as far as the running of a production, but I shouldn't see the "machine" from the audience. And I do.

John Lloyd Young didn't deserve a Tony over Bob Martin in Drowsy Chaperone.

Mary Poppins sucked. I don't just mean it was a disappointment, I mean it was terrible.

Evita really isn't a great show. It's a terrific "star vehicle" for whomever plays "Eva," if she's up to the challenge, but that's pretty much it. It's boring aside from the "star vehicle."

I absolutely love Phantom of the Opera the first two times I saw it with Michael Crawford. Everything about it, including and especially the music. But also the staging, costumes, sets, and choreography. The show has never, ever been as good since.

The Drowsy Chaperone should still be running on Broadway. So should Grey Gardens. So should the original (not revival) production of Ragtime.

The Los Angeles "original premiere" cast of Ragtime was far superior to the original Broadway/Toronto cast.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a pretty good show.

The film version of Chicago is a vast improvement over the stage show.

Same thing with Oliver!, The Sound of Music, and while it wasn't a "vast" improvement, the movie West Side Story is still an improvement over the stage show.

I actually like the movie Nine if you cut the first scene off completely (with Guido and the reporters) and just start the movie with the Overture Delle Donne. It's a good film.

I like the film version of Rent.

Mame is inferior to Auntie Mame, both on stage and on film (obviously).

Broadway is now the most expensive children's theatre district in the world.

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Sad, but true!

"Clowns never laughed before ... "

EDIT: Adding a few more ...

I don't care if I ever see Gypsy again on any stage. 328 productions is enough.

I think Follies is a bad show with some great songs in it.

It's strange to see "monumental event' shows start to fade away within my lifetime. Sweeney Todd and A Chorus Line come to mind. They were (and still are to me) unequivocal masterpieces. But they are starting to fade now through the eyes of younger generations. Just like The Music Man, Show Boat, and Carousel all have (to some degree).

I think food and drink of any kind should be banned inside Broadway theatres.

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Updated On: 6/15/13 at 02:47 PM

Some more potentially controversial opinions:

Shows and Talent
* The book for Man of La Mancha would be much improved by including more material from the original teleplay, I, Don Quixote, on which it was based.
* The 1999 Royal National Theatre version of Candide is the best script in terms of faithfulness to the Voltaire original that the show will ever have. Combined with the environmental production concept it received in 1973, and the ornate orchestrations of the 1950s versions, it would be a work of art.
* Jesus Christ Superstar is easily one of the best musicals ever written.
* I do not get the appeal of Jonathan Groff. At all.

Production Practices
* I am not at all against stunt casting, so long as the choice made is appropriate for the role in terms of talent and not just in terms of potential box office.
* If someone is clearly attempting to bilk others in the entertainment industry, or anything they are doing raises cause for alarm, others should feel free to open their mouth about their suspicions without fear of reprisals, regardless of their age. Background and experience are far more important.

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^ in re: Candide. I think the National Theatre version is still too jam-packed and its lyrical changes unnecessary and clunky. The 2004 concert is probably the best in terms of score selection. The show is just not destined to work as a great adaptation of the Voltaire novella, which is so insanely quick-paced and brisk (not to mention ridiculous with its deliberate skewering of plot contrivances, wide scope, and other tenants of picaresque stories) that a mock-operetta format cannot easily match it. The novella is barely 100 pages; its adaptation should not be three plus hours with 30+ musical pieces.

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