Boring Sondheim Shows?

Since this board is usually filled with how boring ALW shows are, I was wondering . . . are there any boring Sondheim shows? Discuss!

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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.

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I like a few of the songs, but FOLLIES!!!!!!!!!!!

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If it's a bad production, I can absolutely see why and how most Sondheim shows come off as boring.

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I 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.

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?

I'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.

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.

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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!

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Company was pretty tough to sit through, but I saw a pretty poorly directed and performed production of it-except for the Amy.

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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.

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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

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