Biggest upsets?

For me at least, Shuffle Along. I found it to be a horrendous evening at the theatre, despite the world-class names on the marquee.

I was convinced An American in Paris was going to be amazing, but instead it's probably one of my least favorite musicals in the past few years.

PThespian said: "Let's not forget Chita Rivera and Roger Rees in The Visit. What a disappointment that was."

Well financially yes, and there were some very questionable vocals from the leads there (ESPECIALLY from Rees). But were you really disappointed with the show as a whole? A tense and sometimes heartbreaking story with a great score ("I Walk Away", "You, You, You", "Yellow Shoes", "Winter", "I Would Never Leave You", "The Only One", "Love and Love Alone" "In the Forest Again". A breathtaking set, lighting - and some interesting staging with the Coffin from Doyle. I find the show to be incredibly underrated! Anton's vocals sound even better in the Lincoln Archive recording because Rees was sadly out of the show by that stage due to ailing health I believe.

The Visit was kind of like War Paint to me. The show itself was meh, fine, nothing horribly offensive or bad. But I'll always cherish having gone just to have seen the legend(s) on that stage.

Shuffle Along, while filled with stage icons, was irredeemably bad.

Catch Me If You Can. I enjoyed the show and still listen to the album all the time. But I remember having really high expectations for how the show was going to be executed and it all going over very bland during the show.

The clips that were online from the Seattle run were so exciting and really hyped the arrival on Broadway, but the show that opened was not as exciting. It was also overshadowed by Book of Mormon that season and was unfortunately compared to the phenomenon.

TFMH18 said: "If/Then. Oy."

I had the opposition reaction actually. I was dragged to see this show by a friend and I was not in the mood to see what sounded like Sliding Doors the Musical. Plus, I heard nothing but bad things about it on this forum. Then when I saw it I ended up loving the book and some of the songs. I wasn't sure that final ballad had the impact that they were intending for it to have and that opening number choreography seemed like an afterthought and musical theatre cliche, but it's one of my better theatre experiences given the expectations I had going in.

If a show didn't live up to the version I had invented in my head, I would question that practice before it ruined future shows. Shows can be good or bad on their own accord without me making up what it will be like on top of all of that.

haterobics said: "If a show didn't live up to the version I had invented in my head, I would question that practice before it ruined future shows. Shows can be good or bad on their own accord without me making up what it will be like on top of all of that."

I agree. I almost ruined DEH for myself but listening obsessively to the OBCR and imagining every plot point and how it would fit into the music as well as when I would likely cry. Interestingly, the plot point that occurs right before So Big/So Small had be bawling my eyes out through that entire song. In retrospect, shows where I went in with no/limited knowledge of the show are often the ones that just wow me. I go in with limited expectations other than a great night (or afternoon) of theater.

Updated On: 3/19/18 at 12:00 PM

Someone mentioned War Paint - that is mine in recent years. The two leading ladies were marvelous and there were three or four numbers that were magic, but the rest of it just sat there. The authors never figured out how to create compelling drama out of this story. I saw this the same day as Dear Evan Hansen and it was amazing to me that the same person who directed the kinetic Evan also directed this flat misfire.

Going back some, I didn't care for Crazy for You. It got raves and Jodi Benson and Harry Groener were starring and Susan Stroman was supposed to be the next coming and the songs were Gershwin... and I just sat there thinking, "So what?" when I saw it.

JSquared2 said: "One of the biggest "How could it miss?" shows has to be THE GOODBYE GIRL. Book by Neil Simon, score by Marvin Hamlisch, starring Bernadette Peters and Martin Short. A few great songs and a wonderful Tony winning performance by Short --- but other than that a complete misfire."



Brent Carver won that year for Kiss of the Spider Woman. Short won his Tony for Little Me. But he was wonderful in GG, the only thing that kept it watchable, even during that awful Richard III, or whatever it was, number. Poor Bernadette--her role was so drippy her natural charm was buried under it.

Updated On: 3/19/18 at 12:36 PM