If you could “unsee” any show, what show? — Page 2

The WORST shows I ever saw are definitely not ones I would choose to unsee. Brooklyn, the Musical? A laugh riot of ineptitude. Spider-Man? Jeezum crow, I'm glad I saw it.

 

Shows that I wish I could unsee would be ones that were more mediocre or simply not for me--things that I found mediocre, not terrible enough to enjoy for camp reasons. I would unsee Motown which took some of the most exciting music of the past century and did nothing at all with it. I'd unsee The Visit which was a struggle to stay awake through. I second unseeing Bullets Over Broadway which took a movie I loved and rendered it bland and boring. This season, I'd unsee American Son, a show with its heart 100% in the right place but whose ending (and attendant message) it is possible to guess within the first 60 seconds. 

 

In the end, bring me a bold failure over a mediocrity any day. Bring back In My Life!

Frogs at Lincoln Center with Mario Cantone and Nathan Lane....Still can't get the taste out of my mouth.

Cherry Orchard was the worst thing I’ve ever seen on (or off) Broadway. But the Radio City Summer Spectacular in 2016 (iirc) was the worst thing I’ve seen in any theater in the world so that’s my pick.

robskynyc said: "AFTERGLOW"

Oh lord yes! Such a waste of everyone's time, it's a surprise it ran for a year.

Noises Off, was the only show I ever thought of leaving early. I stayed for the whole show but really did not enjoy it very much.

Anything Goes - that national tour was rough here in Florida

Bandstand - even though I saw the screening at the movies and not live, I truly debated leaving early and regretted being charged $25 for it instead of a regular movie ticket price haha

Cats - idk if I necessarily wish I could unsee it, but I was 11 when I first saw it and vividly remember looking at my parents during intermission and my mother going ".....well the costumes are nice". It was so boring, at that age at least haha

I was going to skip this one, but I really enjoyed reading the responses (many of which surprised me).    Honestly, I have walked out a few times (I left at the intermission of LOVE MUSIK, because I was just bored, despite having a great admiration for the music and those fantastic lead performers) but I don't regret having at least seen some of almost anything.   

That said, I was really, really unhappy about having wasted money and time at ROCK OF AGES.     I saw it well into its Broadway run.  At that point it had become ridiculously cartoonish and broad and the probably-talented people on stage were just over-doing everything.    It was amateurish and slapdash, and I couldn't even tell if anyone in the room was genuinely having a good time.  Really, I was just depressed about the state of Broadway's longer-run 'tourist' shows.

I live in a Southern city that used to apologize for its local productions ("we know it's not Broadway"-- but now proudly realizes its productions are as good as many things being produced in NY.    Productions like ROCK OF AGES helped make that point.     And a visit to a late-in-its-run MAMMA MIA didn't hurt.

Scandalous is my choice. Not one second of it, not one performance in it, was worthwhile or interesting (there were talented people in it, of course, but you wouldn't know it from seeing this show). To make matters worse, I saw it the Sunday after Thanksgiving and it took eight or nine hours to get home from NYC (it usually takes about 3.5 hours). I can definitely say I wish I hadn't seen it. 

Two that stand out:

I saw the touring company of 'All Shook Up' in Boston and got an orchestra seat for $8 because business was so bad.  I still wanted my money back.

I saw the first touring company of 'Spamalot' in Boston and considered leaving at intermission.  I didn't ... but the second act was no better than the first.