"All of those shows suck."
Excuse me laddie, but did I hear you say that Miss Saigon "sucks"?
Would ya care to rephrase that remark?
It's a matter of opinion of course, but if so Miss Saigon sucked for 10 years on Broadway and two national tours, and it sucked throughout Europe and Asia in numerous productions. It still sucks in countless regional productions, and its sucky CDs and sheet music still sell lots and lots of copies.
All I want from a musical is for it to tell me a story I care about, show me something interesting on stage, give me a few memorable songs and keep lots of actors, techs and musicians working for many years. We can only cross our fingers and hope that somehow the folks who gave us the mess that Pirate Queen now is can find some way to fix it up enough to suck like Miss Saigon did.
I can't argue with you about Aida though.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie