Guys and Dolls vs Bye Bye Birdie - which was worse?

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:14pm

For those who saw the revivals of Guys and Dolls (2009 ) and Bye Bye Birdie (2009), Which do you think was worse? Both received extremely negative reviews from the critics, though I believe Guys and Dolls' reviews were worse, but I could be wrong.
I didn't see Guys and Dolls, but that may be to my benefit. I am curious to read what those who saw both think.

Opinions?



Updated On: 11/28/09 at 07:14 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:22pm

Tough call, but I think Guys & Dolls was slightly worse. I always thought that show was indestructible, but last year's revival proved that opinion wrong. When Arvide, Benny Southstreet and Harry the Horse are the only characters getting laughs, you've got a problem.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:24pm

It's hard to tell since GUYS & DOLLS is the better written show (IMO). Still, the performances of Titus Burgess, Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt were more atrocious and inept than anything I saw on stage at BIRDIE. GUYS & DOLLS also managed to looked cheap and overproduced at the same time. Kate Jennings Grant made for a great Sarah, but she couldn't salvage the production.
I actually enjoyed Gina Gershon in BIRDIE even if she didn't know what she was doing at times in terms of keeping up with the orchestra. She had the character nailed and it's not her fault that she and Stamos had no chemistry to speak of. Bill Irwin was obnoxious to no end, but never nearly as annoying as say Burgess was in GUYS & DOLLS.
There was also something really painful about seeing the GUYS & DOLLS revival with such a terrible cast and terrible direction when we knew we were so close to getting the incredible Donmar production instead.
In fewer words, my vote is for GUYS & DOLLS as the worse revival.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:24pm

I hated both productions, but in my opinion, BYE BYE BIRDIE was far worse. Lauren Graham was brilliant compared to Gina Gershon.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:29pm

Another way to consider this - Birdie might actually seem like a better production with more talented or equipped leads. Guys & Dolls would probably have been just as bad even if it had the cast of the 1992 revival in place of the 2009 cast.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:31pm

^ That is such a good point. This is why I would love to see a replacement Albert and Rosie. But that may not happen.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 7:43pm

I actually enjoyed Gina Gershon in BIRDIE even if she didn't know what she was doing at times in terms of keeping up with the orchestra. She had the character nailed and it's not her fault that she and Stamos had no chemistry to speak of.

Agree. I thought she acted the role quite well but just couldn't seem to sing or dance it. I didn't pick up any issues with keeping up with the orchestra but maybe by the time I saw it she had gotten better. She couldn't hit the notes and tried to make up for it by using inflection. She also nearly tripped over her shawl in during Spanish Rose

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 8:09pm

ljay - There will indeed be replacements. Gina's contract is up January 11th and Jon's is up January 25th (I think). Stephanie J. Block will (most likely) replace Gina as Rose and Hunter Foster is a possible replacement John, but nothing is set in stone yet.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 8:11pm

That will surely ignite the box office.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 8:12pm

The real question is which Gina Gershon project is worse- Showgirls or Bye Bye Birdie?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 8:15pm

I think Birdie was worse. No matter how much people hated Des McAnuff's direction of Guys and Dolls, Robert Longbottom murdered Bye Bye Birdie.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 8:16pm

As much as I love Stephanie Block, I don't think she's right for Rosie.

[wonkit]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 9:30pm

As much as I like the music from BBB, it is not a particularly great book, and most of the characters are sketchily developed. Even the movie, with all the talent there, annoys me at times. For me GUYS and DOLLS was the worse of the two productions because it is a beautifully constructed little gem and I was bored and/or distracted from its strengths by the quality of the performances.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 9:35pm

If SJB does go into this I'll have to see it because she is amazing.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 9:35pm

The closest I've gotten to either production is Guys and Dolls' Tony Award performance (for me, that was the final proof that this production was plagued with bad luck) and Bye Bye Birdie's performance on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The choreography hurt my eyes. I actually know someone who actually liked the use of video projections in Guys and Dolls.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 9:39pm

I always thought Guys and Dolls was foolproof. Then I saw this misguided revival. They all seemed to forget they were doing MUSICAL COMEDY. Didn't someone tell them it was supposed to be funny?

Bye Bye Birdie was sort of disastrous too, but I'm going to say Guys and Dolls was worse for the simple matter that I didn't like anyone in Guys and Dolls. With Birdie, I enjoyed a few members of the supporting cast- Houdyshell, Funk, and Doyle. In Guys and Dolls I hated all of them.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 12:17am

I have never seen either show on stage before so I don't have anything else to compare them to. Also, for what it's worth, I went into both shows with an objective mind and am not biased to one cast over the other either. I have to say that I enjoyed Guys and Dolls much more mainly because Guys and Dolls' material is far superior to Birdie's, IMO. It was Birdie's book and songs that ruined it for me more than the actual production or cast. Even though I think both productions sucked, the material to G&D pleased me enough to have a good time at the show, unlike Birdie where I was bored and/or fed up at many parts throughout.

Both were disasters, but if I HAD to sit through either one of them again I would probably choose Guys and Dolls.

[HBBrock]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 12:33am

I saw both shows in person (you cant judge by one song on tv)....while Guys and Dolls is the better show....out of these revivals, Bye Bye Birdie EASILY took the cake.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 2:43am

BIRDIE was definitely worse in my book.

At least GUYS AND DOLLS came alive at one point ("Sit Down..."). BIRDIE was just a mess the entire way through...let's be honest.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 10:17am

I preface this post by saying that I have seen neither BYE BYE BIRDIE nor GUYS AND DOLLS in their 2009 revivals. G&D is a classic Broadway musical with a superb book and score. The direction and stars must have been pretty awful to have ruined the show. While not in the same league, BBB is a well written show with a good score. I played Harry MacAfee in a good college production and we were constantly laughing at ourselves during our 6 week rehearsal period. If BBB is not very funny, it is the fault of the direction and the stars, not the book.

Updated On: 11/29/09 at 10:17 AM

[raker]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:13am

Broadway will be better when they stop making crappy musicals based on crappy movies, and making crappy Broadway stars of crappy movie stars.

[THDavis]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:16am

No!! SJB can do SO much better than Bye Bye Birdie. I haven't seen BBB nor would I after seeing some of the videos. I thought the movie itself was bad enough and I can't imagine wasting one of my precious opportunities to see a Broadway show to see that. I ended up seeing Guys and Dolls because it was probably my friends favorite show and he ended up falling asleep. That's not really saying whether it was good or bad from him because he fell asleep through a number of shows but I was very bored by it and even though I overanalyze everything, I feel that at a Broadway level it shouldn't be hard to please me. Wow, that sounds arrogant but I normally share the same views as the general public on theatre.

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:22am

For me, it's Bye Bye Birdie by a mile. Guys and Dolls featured a delightful performance by Kate Jennings Grant, a solid Sky in Craig Bierko, and competent work from Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt. They may not have been perfect, but they were leagues ahead of Gershon and Stamos. (Though neither are singers, at least they could carry a tune and sing on pitch). Birdie has exactly two good performances: Brynn Williams and Matt Doyle. As far as the physical productions go, both were pretty ugly, but I'll take the gauche projections over the bubblegum vomit.

Also, IMO, Guys and Dolls has a far better score. There's a reason it's been revived so many times.

Updated On: 11/29/09 at 11:22 AM

[THDavis]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:36am

"Also, IMO, Guys and Dolls has a far better score. There's a reason it's been revived so many times."

Though, I hope it's never revived again. It's main audience it's on it's way out and though some of the younger crowd likes it I don't think there's enough of a following to really make it again (that is if they were thinking of reviving it AGAIN in ten years or so).

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:44am

It was revived too soon, after a benchmark production that ran for nearly three years, but I think saying "never again" is taking it too far. Some scores are timeless, and I'd venture to say this is one of them. If they had waited a bit longer and assembled a better ensemble cast, it could have been perfect. Look at South Pacific, Carousel and Finian's Rainbow.