Boring Sondheim Shows?
Boring Sondheim Shows?
#0Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:15pmSince this board is usually filled with how boring ALW shows are, I was wondering . . . are there any boring Sondheim shows? Discuss!
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
JudasIscariot
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/05
#1re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:17pmThe only Sondheim shows that I really enjoy are Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, and West Side Story. I don't really care much for his other shows.
#2re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:21pm
Though I'm sure a lot of people will say Passion, I must say I have difficulty with A Funny Thing Happened...
Just not my style.
"This ocean runs more dark and deep than you may think you know...I'll be the fear of the fire at sea."
-Marie Christine
#3re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:22pm
I never saw BOUNCE, but I'm not a fan of the recording.
I found THE FROGS to be insanely boring.
There are some moments in virtually all Sondheim shows that are a tad slow (FOLLIES, PACIFIC OVERTURES, PASSION, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, SUNDAY IN THE PARK) - but for me, none of them are flat out boring.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#4re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:27pmI like a few of the songs, but FOLLIES!!!!!!!!!!!
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#5re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:36pm
I find Pacific Overtures very boring. I know I'm alone in this, but hey.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
Updated On: 6/23/06 at 03:36 PM
#6re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:41pmIf it's a bad production, I can absolutely see why and how most Sondheim shows come off as boring.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#7re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:42pmI'm a fan of all of Sondheim's work, however, I find there are boring moments in all of his shows.
"I believe that art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, to engage in a constant search for the truth."
- Barbra Streisand
thevolleyballer
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#8re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:43pmI find Sweeney Todd to just be incredibly boring. I mean, aside from other things, one of the main reasons you hear me dislike it so much is because the music just doesn't shout at me as so many of Sondheim's other shows do. Into The Woods and West Side Story are far superior, in my mind.
#9re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:46pmI'd take a boring Sondheim show over some of the crap on Broadway right now anyday. Sondheim's worst is better than most people's best.
sicetergo
Stand-by Joined: 3/16/06
#10re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:49pm
I have to agree - there have been productions of Sondheim shows that I've seen when the direction has not been great and there are times when you look at your watch. But intrinsically, I don't find anyone of them boring - they are always challenging and intriguing.
And Sweeney Todd boring??? Good grief, compared to what?
#11re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:53pm
Yeah. Personally, I don't think there are any Sondheim shows that are actually boring, but it is VERY easy to do a boring production of almost all them.
That said, I find FORUM to be the most boring of his shows, if I had to pick one. I don't really find it all that boring, but I guess that would be the one.
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#12re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 3:54pmI've seen most of Sondheim's shows, on Broadway. The only two that I really liked were FORUM and FOLLIES. The rest, I found fairly uninteresting.
#14re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:00pm
I don't think any of his shows are boring, but many are very dense and someone without the patience to delve into one and work through it, won't get it and these people usually take the easy way out and say "oh it was boring."
SWEENEY TODD? Boring? Not bloody likely. PASSION is slow and deliberate in pacing but those who stay with it are rewarded with the rich emotionalism of the piece. Some don't like FOLLIES book and chracters, but the text of FOLLIES is brief and the songs - those wonderful songs one after another - will more than compensate.
Trouble is TV and movies have conditioned audiences to sit back and spoon feed everything. The best plays (and musicals) demand our involvement, and that (I think) is the secret of Sondheim's success: he can involve audiences in sometimes the most unlikely of stories.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#15re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:02pmI saw an excellent production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG that was extremely boring.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#16re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:07pm
This thread is breaking my heart
I just wanted, for a moment, to point the finger in another direction and make it known that every composer has boring material or boring moments within their shows. Like I said before, it seems like this message board was made to completely bash Webber and I am getting tired of everyone making it seem like that he is a piece of crap and that he has hurt Broadway so badly. I am a fan of both Sondheim and Webber and think both are great!
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Thesbijean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/9/04
#17re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:28pmI think Company is his most boring show, I cannot bare to sit through it at all...
#18re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:35pmCompany was pretty tough to sit through, but I saw a pretty poorly directed and performed production of it-except for the Amy.
"This ocean runs more dark and deep than you may think you know...I'll be the fear of the fire at sea."
-Marie Christine
#19re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:45pm
I don't find any of the shows boring- there is always a brain at work, which is challenging and stimulating.
I guess some shows don't set out to be entertaining in the light entertainment sense.
I can't think of any bits I'd skipon a Sondheim cd, whereas I can skip 3 or 4 tracks at a time for most other composers.
#20re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:34pm
I've always loved the implication that if a person isn't completely enthralled with every bit of a Sondheim show, he/she must not be deep enough/smart enough/whatever enough to appreciate the inherent brilliance of every last millisecond.
Parts of Shakespeare's plays are boring, and dare I say, parts of some of Shakespeare's plays are pretty bad. I'm pretty sure that Sondheim does occasionally have his not-so-great moments as well.
I hesitate to mention them as I will instantly be labeled a plebe, however. 
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
#21re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:37pmFollies sounds like something ALW would've made
Hartt School class of 2010 ;-)
#22re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:39pm
Passion is about the most boring thing I've ever seen...Sondheim or otherwise.
And btw, I completely agree with Shawk. There's a very vocal opinion on this board that if you don't "like" something, that means you didn't "get it" or "understand it." And that's crap.
Updated On: 6/22/06 at 05:39 PM
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#23re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:39pmNot sure about the TV aspect. I've been seeing shows since the 50's. I was raised on Broadway shows, and watched very little television (there wasn't much to watch). Sondheim shows are worse than boring, they're not entertaining to me. I'm not saying that someone else shouldn't be entertained, just that I'm not. FOLLIES and FORUM excepted, of course.
#24re: Boring Sondheim Shows?
Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:50pm
Follies sounds like something ALW would've made
- I threw up a bit reading that. All Sondheim shows take time to get into, and they make you think. Some people don't want to think, they want sh*t pop scores, and a spoon fed plot..(Schwartz, some ALW)
I find PASSION to be thrilling, heartbreakingly beautiful, and well passionate. Far from a boring show for me.
Updated On: 6/22/06 at 05:50 PM
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