Badly Titled Shows- Page 2
Badly Titled Shows
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#25Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/5/10 at 4:32pm
SPIDER MAN--Yay! We know what that is! TURN OFF THE DARK--A bad lyric by The Cure?
GOT TU GO DISCO
ROCKABYE HAMLET (in the tree top?)
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG--Maybe this title sold tickets in the 1930's when everyone was lightheaded from starvation, but not now.
A BROADWAY MUSICAL--And...?
DUDE
THE TAP DANCE KID--An ABC Afterschool Special
BABY--Just makes the imagination reel, no?
GREASE--Ewww!
13
HAIR--"I heard it's even better than NAILS!"
#26Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/5/10 at 7:56pmDancin-- Yeah, I kind of have to agree about La Cage. I heard the name when I was younger and thought it was a serious French show. (Then again, I avoided Les Mis during elementary school because I thought that was in French, too, so maybe I'm just really dumb.)
#28Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/5/10 at 8:21pmDo You Turn Somersaults
#29Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/5/10 at 8:28pm
Caroline, or Change could have stood a better title.
#30Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/6/10 at 12:06pmHello Love <- This for a musical based on Miracle on 34th Street?!?! Probably could have been a hit if there had been some connection of the title to the material.
maggiemar142
Chorus Member Joined: 4/24/10
#31Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 7/6/10 at 3:56pmBest Little Whorehouse in Texas- just seems... vulgar.
#32Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 3:08am
For me? 'The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism with a Key to the Scriptures'
As brilliant as Tony Kushner is, it's almost like he goes out of his way to be pretentious with his titles.
mjohnson2
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/13
#33Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 3:26am
IRMA LA DOUCE
LYSISTRATA JONES
THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
HALF PAST WEDNESDAY (seriously though, the word "Rumplestiltsken" was in much larger text than the title, so why not just call it that?)
THE ACT
BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR
THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER (The Man Who Came to Dinner?)
kp
Understudy Joined: 8/14/04
#34Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 4:44amsingtopher - I am not saying that it isn't a bad title but wondered why you thought it bad for American audiences specifically?
#35Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 5:41am
Raisin!
One example where just using the original title, A Raisin in the Sun and putting : The Musical after would have been preferable.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#36Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 8:50am
This one always leaps to mind for me.
#37Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 8:58am
Love Never Dies
Stephen Ward
Spiderman Turn Off The Dark (I don't understand why the 'turn off the dark' was needed)
jemjeb2
Featured Actor Joined: 6/28/05
#38Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 11:11am
I believe that was "Here's Love" (and not hello as in Dolly!) but either way, you're right - no connection to "Miracle on 34th Street"
And in the context of the show, the themes and its symbolism - "Hair" is a great title!
#40Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 2:40pm
LOVELY LADIES, KIND GENTLEMEN
Seriously??? I know it's a reference to a line in the source material but it's such a clunker.
Also, HOME SWEET HOMER.
madlibrarian
Broadway Star Joined: 8/15/06
#41Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 3:02pmAUNT DAN AND LEMON. Whoever had an aunt named Dan? Who was ever named Lemon?
Green_Flash
Understudy Joined: 4/5/13
Timmer
Broadway Star Joined: 2/21/06
#43Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 8:52pm
"ROCKABYE HAMLET (in the tree top?)"
I thought it was With a Dixie Melody.
Timmer
Broadway Star Joined: 2/21/06
#45Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 8:59pm
And in the context of the show, the themes and its symbolism - "Hair" is a great title!
True. I wonder if Borstalboy is old enough to remember the 1960s. Hair (the substance as well as the show) was discussed to a degree that seems impossible (and laughable) now.
Tom5
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/11
#46Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 9:14pmAny show with the F-word in it reeks of desperation, or at least reeks of desperation for attention. Some go for the so bad it's good kind i.e., "Urinetown" Some are purposely confusing: (I guess to get your mind working) "August: Osage County". Some are so bad you can't believe it's that bad (Phoenix). Some are incredibly dull: Dividing The Estate". But in fairness some are thankfully and exactly on target i.e., "Kinky Boots"
yfs
Featured Actor Joined: 11/1/13
#47Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 10:37pm
MY FAIR LADY. We know it so well that we don't stop to ask, what the heck does it mean? I guess it's a cockney pun, sort of, but really...what the heck does it mean?
#48Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 10:46pm
SONG AND DANCE
I know it was only a musical for the first act, but that just sounds boring.
cmorrow
Stand-by Joined: 10/25/12
#49Badly Titled Shows
Posted: 8/23/14 at 11:14pmOne of my favorite bad titles is John Guare's drama A FEW STOUT INDIVIDUALS. Sounds like it's set on a fat farm, but it's not. There was also a drama produced at the Coconut Grave Playhouse in Miami several years ago called CRUSH THE INFAMOUS THING. But that's so clumsy, it kind of works -- that is, it makes you wonder what on earth the play is about.
Videos