Sorry, but BRING IT ON has no place in a "Guilty Pleasure" discussion since that's just a GOOD show. It's a solid, fun musical that succeeded in basically every way.
Probably Rock of Ages for me. I hated the movie and don't even really like the cast album, but I had a great time at the show. If Constantine had sung "Oh Sherrie" for American Idol, I probably would have voted for him.
Definitely Cats for me too! Everyone in my family thinks (with understandable reason, let's be real, it's a musical about dancing cats) it's a horrendous show. But I was captivated as a kid. Those sets were stunning (I remember walking into the Winter Garden and going through the backstage area you had to go through to get to the on-stage seating, and being blown away when I saw that junkyard set up close), the dancing and theatricality impressive, and yeah, it's definitely my guilty pleasure show!
I think there's a difference between a "guilty pleasure" and a "noble failure". The latter is serious (even if comic) in intention and skillful in execution, but failed to generate sufficient popular interest to achieve commercial success. Most of Sondheim's musicals and BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY are, IMO, noble failures.
A guilty pleasure, on the hand and whatever its commercial success, is a piece that doesn't aim very high in the first place, but offers some sort of odd pleasure nonetheless. For some, MAMA MIA! and STARLIGHT EXPRESS might fall into this category. Myself, I'll admit to having seen SHENANDOAH many, many times because of my love for the source material and for John Cullum.
thirtythirtyninety said: "MOBY DICK, the Mackintosh version set in an all girls' school. Never seen it live, but I love that score
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The entire show is on YouTube. It's not great quality video. Indeed, the CD is not a studio Cast Recording - but I understand was taken from the sound board of the last show and was intended to be only for the cast.
I'll add my sincere affection for 13, Cats, and Priscilla, all of which I saw more than once. And then one show I really enjoyed that hasn't been named because I think I'm literally the only person who enjoyed it? Leap of Faith.
and this doesn't totally fit because I actually think its a great show that was sorely underappreciated: Hands on a Hardbody
Xanadu, Legally, Blonde, Smile, and Mama Mia for sure. Had great fun at all of those shows.
My biggest guilty pleasure, tho, is Carrie. I liked the revival and enjoy the recording a great deal. But I LOVE the 1988 Broadway recordings. I know that's not a popular opinion but I get such a thrill from the Broadway orchestrations, Linzi Hately, and Betty Buckley in that show. And here's where it gets really bad ... I adore "Don't Waste the Moon!"
My guilty pleasure was SMASH, but strictly during the Shaiman/ Whitman numbers across the 2 seasons. The Pasik/ Paul numbers left me uniformly cold.
FINDING NEVERLAND made me surprisingly happy the first time I saw it. Visit Number Two (with 2 out of 3 leads played by understudies) showed the error of my ways: it seemed insufferable and amateurish in the cold light of day.