Campiest musical ever?
Campiest musical ever?
#0Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:34pm
With all this talk about Dracula being bad, but not baaad enough, what's the campiest musical you've ever seen?
For me, I guess it's that perennial gem, Rocky Horror.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#1re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:38pm
I was about to say that, with the cast recording on my desk.
Going by this definition of campy - an affectation or appreciation of manners and tastes commonly thought to be artificial, vulgar, or banal - I would say Little Shop of Horrors and Urinetown.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 8/22/04 at 10:38 PM
#2re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:42pmI never cared to see ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY a second time, but I'm not sure if it was bad, not bad enough or even camp.
" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."
#3re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:42pmRocky Horror Show, most definitely.
"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."
#4re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:42pmWhat was the Simpsons' definition of campy? "The tragically comic, the comically tragic"? I don't remember.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#5re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:43pmI would say TMM and/or maybe The Producers.
"Chicago is it's own incredible theater town right there smack down in the middle of the heartland. What a great city! I can see why Oprah likes to live there!" - Dee Hoty :-D
LadyGuenevere
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/28/03
#6re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:44pmWould Fame be considered campy? If not, it's almost there.
basketcase
Featured Actor Joined: 4/19/04
#7re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:48pmFame's just the CRAPPIEST musical ever. Though, perhaps not the CAMPIEST.
#8re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:50pmI agree with Rocky Horror - too easy! For the record I believe that Homer Simpson's understanding of "camp" was "you mean like when a clown dies?"
"What could a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate? I am now telling the computer exactly what it can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate!"
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#9re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 10:55pmWhen done well, RUTHLESS! is deliciously campy.
#10re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:01pmROCKY HORROR SHOW defines the word "campy".
There's a light in the darkness of everybody's life.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#11re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:10pm
Rocky Horror
and Urinetown (in its own, quirky way)
I also think The Producers will eventually become a camp-classic.
ponine24601
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/03
#12re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:12pmi agree. rocky horror and urinetown.
"People asking questions, lost in confusion. Well I tell them there's no problems, only solutions."
~The one and only John Lennon
#13re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:47pm
not little shop. little shop isnt supposed to be camp, if it is played for camp then it is being played wrong (or so it says on the script)- though i see what you are saying millie, and i see why it is often played for camp.
id say rockey horror wins that prize.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#15re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:55pm
Thanks for the clarification. 
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#16re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:55pm
Some of Little Shop is camp, but not all.
Hairspray also has some delightful camp. Very tongue-in-cheek, I love it.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
CurtainUp
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/9/04
#17re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 12:23amI love little shop, but it is camp. That doesnt necessarily mean it should be played that way, it should come naturally. A man eating talking plant? Totally campy, with the dentist, etc. Very surreal and campy.
Rosencrantz: "Be happy - if you're not even HAPPY what's so good about surviving? We'll be all right. I suppose we just go on."
- from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
#18re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 12:31amwhen i was in the show (high school production- im not trying to sound like a know-it-all pro or anything) my script had a message from the creators which said that it should be played for dark humor, not camp. i think that when it isnt played for camp, it works better, it has more heart. the humor is dark but there is emotion as well.
#19re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 12:36amFor me, dark humour is something like Sweeney Todd, or even some parts of Cabaret: depends if the focus is the "dark" or the "humour". But Little Shop is neither of those. Considering some of Little Shop's rediculousness - a funny-looking talking female plant with a deep bass voice, conveniently bought from a Chinese man - it's definitely camp.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Updated On: 8/23/04 at 12:36 AM
#20re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 12:56ami would say bye bye birdie..but it's still a fun show
StateOfJade
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/03
#21re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 1:03amHairspray. And Fame.
"I really liked the show--Wish I saw Boy's Night...Am I allowed as I am not a boy anymore:)"-duffyny1
wiggum2
Broadway Star Joined: 9/21/03
#23re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 2:20pm
STARMITES,
Rocky Horror,
Andre Heller's Wonderhouse
VoiceofReason
Leading Actor Joined: 2/18/04
#24re: Campiest musical ever?
Posted: 8/23/04 at 2:26pm
Gotta be Bye, Bye, Birdie!
~m~
For heaven's sake, don't try to be cynical. It's perfectly easy to be cynical.
~The Importance of Being Earnest~
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