Posted: 11/29/17 at 7:59am
Posted: 11/29/17 at 9:26am
Posted: 11/29/17 at 10:23am
It would take a lot of reasons for me to despise any single show. Right now, I can't think of any that I despise...
There are some OC albums that I would definitely listen to more often if one element were changed, however. Two that come to mind both feature Lucie Arnaz (They're Playin' Our Song and The Witches of Eastwick).
I've never been a fan of a 'nervous' vibrato. Not that Arnaz isn't a fine actress/singer - her vibrato just isn't appealing to my ear. Bluntly, I find it grating. 
Posted: 11/29/17 at 10:29am
In order to make a show that I dislike become appealing, I would need to change more than one thing.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 11:10am
Make The Addams Family a Shaiman-Wittman show instead of a Lippa one.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 11:12am
darquegk said: "Make The Addams Family a Shaiman-Wittman show instead of a Lippa one."
Make it an adaptation of Addams Family Values rather than a half-assed You Can't Take It With You ripoff.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 11:18am
"I've never been a fan of a 'nervous' vibrato."
YES. And this is how I feel about Christy Altomare when she uses her head voice.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 11:20am
I'm in the minority who actually likes PASSION very much. But I find the book mostly extraneous. The OBCR could be staged with a couple of lines for transition and I wouldn't miss a thing.
But that isn't to say I "despise" Lapine's book. (And he gets to share credit for "book" in the abstract sense that includes arrangement of songs.) I just don't find anything essential in his spoken dialogue.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 1:47pm
Kad said: "darquegk said: "Make The Addams Family a Shaiman-Wittman show instead of a Lippa one."
Make it an adaptation of Addams Family Values rather than a half-assed You Can't Take It With You ripoff."
I'd prefer the first film (Fester's welcome home/bon voyage party with the waltz leading into the Mamushka would have made a perfect Act 2 opener, and Mary Testa as Dr. Pinderschloss), but yes to Shaiman expanding the work he did on the scores of both movies.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 2:31pm
In Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, instead of having all 7 of the women choose to marry their kidnappers at the end of the story, I would revise the book so that all 7 report them to the police as kidnappers and the show would end with the 7 kidnappers going to prison as the heartwarming, uplifting finale song. Of course, the title would have to re-named "Seven Kidnapping Brothers Get Sent to Prison for Kidnapping After Performing Some Amazing Michael Kidd Choreography".
Posted: 11/29/17 at 2:44pm
AEA AGMA SM said: "Kad said: "darquegk said: "Make The Addams Family a Shaiman-Wittman show instead of a Lippa one."
Make it an adaptation of Addams Family Values rather than a half-assed You Can't Take It With You ripoff."
I'd prefer the first film (Fester's welcome home/bon voyage party with the waltz leading into the Mamushka would have made a perfect Act 2 opener, and Mary Testa as Dr. Pinderschloss), but yes to Shaiman expanding the work he did on the scores of both movies."
Oh my god, Mary Testa would be perfect as Abigail Craven/Dr Pinder-Schloss. Dana Ivey could've even reprised her role as Margaret Addams, nee Alford.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 2:49pm
TheGingerBreadMan said: "In order to make a show that I dislike become appealing, I would need to change more than one thing."
This is exactly my thought. If I truly despised it, there wouldn't be only one thing to change.
Posted: 11/29/17 at 5:21pm
Not a show I despise but just wanna say: In Hamilton, make Jefferson's character less jokey and lightweight. He comes off as a dunderhead until the final interchanges. It was as if Lin-Manuel could not stand to have anyone be distinguished except for Alexander H. and Washington. Yes Jefferson was a slave owner and probably rapist.. but still..... not a clown.
Updated On: 11/29/17 at 05:21 PM
Posted: 11/29/17 at 5:55pm
I'd take a middle path between the two films, keeping the Fester plot from the original while pairing it with the "Wednesday goes to camp" plot from the second. The Debbie Jellinsky plot was a lot of fun, and great high camp, but felt a little bit like a retread of the first film's "Fester is weird, gullible and bizarrely sexually appealing to a certain kind of woman."
Posted: 11/29/17 at 6:38pm
HamilHansen said: "Add a plot to CATS."
Took the words right out of my mouth
Posted: 11/29/17 at 8:50pm
(Insert Clever Name) said: "HamilHansen said: "Add a plot to CATS."
Took the words right out of my mouth"
A group of cats get together so their leader can decide which one is reborn into a new life. Mischief ensues.
Better?
Posted: 11/30/17 at 8:20am
I would find Waitress far more enjoyable if the character of Ogie were eliminated or, more adventurously, rewritten in a way to give him a fate more fitting of such a creepy stalker.
Posted: 11/30/17 at 8:41am
I would agree that changing one thing would not fix any musical that one despises. But, in the spirit of the original question, I think Finding Neverland could be greatly improved by adding a proper "I want" song for the lead at the top of the show. Not every musical needs an "I want" song, but this one desperately does because I could never get to grips with Barrie.
The show would still have issues, but it would be a better watch with that establishing moment up front.
Posted: 11/30/17 at 3:29pm
HamilHansen said: "trpguyy said: "(Insert Clever Name) said: "HamilHansen said: "Add a plot to CATS."
Took the words right out of my mouth"
A group of cats get together so their leader can decide which one is reborn into a new life. Mischief ensues.
Better?"
Well then why does THAT take 2 hours to happen?"
A poor kid in the Caribbean journey's to New York to make a name for himself. Mischief ensues.
A teen's letter to himself goes viral. Mischief ensues.
Why does any show take two hours?
Posted: 11/30/17 at 11:32pm
Posted: 11/30/17 at 11:45pm
Posted: 12/1/17 at 7:25am
Posted: 12/1/17 at 6:02pm
theater_tech said: "Eliminating/reducing “The Private and Intimate Life of the House” and “Natasha & Bolkonskys” in Great Comet. I’ve pondered and observed EVERY aspect of the show yet still can’t wrap my head on the importance of these two songs, especially the former. Maybe someone can help me out."
I don't love those songs myself, and some things about them perplex me too. IMO they don't seem to provide a great lead-in to 'No One Else'; a nasty encounter with a fiance's off-putting family wouldn't lead directly into starry-eyed rhapsodies about the fiance, or not for me anyway. I've only heard the albums, not seen the show, so maybe it makes more sense in context.
But if it helps, I also interpret those songs to be about the limited options for women in that time and place. If a woman was too free and expressive about her sexuality, she would be ruined; but if she was too careful and dutiful, like Mary, life would pass her by, leaving her lonely and 'boring'. Natasha doesn't make the wisest choices in the show, but these songs help a little to show that she is somewhat caught between a rock and a hard place.
(Of course, the songs are also meant to set up that brief later parallel between Bolkonsky Snr and Andrey, when the latter gets vindictive about Natasha during 'Pierre & Andrey'.)
Regarding other shows: I'd change the ending of 'My Fair Lady'.
Posted: 12/1/17 at 8:38pm
I wish that Gypsy act 2 moved faster. Act 1 is perhaps the best written and orchestrated act in any theater I have ever seen, but act 2 is full of forgettable songs and dragged out plot. Wherever we go and Rose's Turn save the act from the space filler You Gotta Get a Gimmick and the dreadfully long Strip scene.
Posted: 12/1/17 at 11:38pm
I love Les Mis, but I hate how at the end of Stars the moment is ruined with Gavroche coming on stage and singing randomly for thirty seconds. It sounds jarring and clunky coming out of the end of the song and ruins the dramatic moment that we had for Javert (and also cuts off the applause the song usually gets). Honest to god it feels like it was written to cover a scene change. When it wasn't in the Tenth Anniversary Concert I didn't miss it at all.
