Is THE PRODUCERS the most overated musical ever?

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:24pm

I know I'm probably a couple years too late for this topic, but I'm still new here, so bear with me. :)

Do you think THE PRODUCERS deservered all 12 Tony Awards it received? I will say to my death that THE FULL MONTY should have gotten at least two: Best Score and Best Featured Actress (The late, great Kathleen Freeman). Instead, its up there with the original production of CHICAGO as one of the best musicals to receive NO Tony Awards! The banners in front of the St. James Theatre read "BEST MUSICAL EVER", but the show can only do sellout business when Nathan Lane and/or Matthew Broderick are headlining. Was it wise of the Tony Committee to put all of its awards in one basket?

[cvapb]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:28pm

Hmm.. maybe not ever. But I was not a huge fan of it. YOu have to remember though, when it won.. Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane were the stars. So, thats a whole different story.

[Belter]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:28pm

They always vote in blocks. They like a show, they give it more than one. See "Avenue Q"'s list of wins this year.

Best SCORE?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:43pm

I think PRODUCERS deserved Best Score.

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:46pm

I agree PRODUCERS deserved best score too. I think AVE Q won it b/c the category is Best Original Score, Music and/OR LYRICS. I don't agree with that or Best Musical against WICKED, but any other Tony year...Anyway, I think the PRODUCERS is great even without the duo, I just wish that the actors I had seen didn't try to be Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick (pardon if I spelled wrong). THAT'S NOT GOOD ACTING. THAT'S COPYING...

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:57pm

I'm in the minority, but I saw the show WITHOUT Lane and Broderick, and it's one of my favorite shows-I think it's brilliantly comedic. Sure it's no Les Mis, but it was never inteded to be

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:58pm

I loved The Full Monty, but I don't think it deserved Best Score. With the exception of two songs, I found the music rather forgettable.

I rather liked The Producers, but I'll agree that it isn't exactly the "best musical ever."

How can you say that Avenue Q had a "list of wins"? It got 3, a very respectable number, but hardly a list produced by "block voting"! It received the same number as Wicked. If anything, it was Assassins which produced the "list of wins."

Avenue Q definitely deserved Best Score. Like Hairspray, its music is both poking fun at, and paying homage to, a nostalgic past - in this case, those children's television sing-a-longs we all grew up with. The tunes are infectious and instantly memorable. Plus, Avenue Q's hilarious lyrics are very cleverly constructed - have you noticed that all the rhymes in the entire libretto are perfect rhymes? (ie. "sometimes / hate crimes"). It's very difficult to pull off, but it gives the songs that Sesame Street feel. =-)

I think Avenue Q's biggest rival in the Best Score category was Taboo, whose music was the only thing critics lavished praise on. I don't think Wicked was in really a contender at all.

Oh, and the most overrated musical of all is Cats. I know we all hate it here, but how did it ever survive so many years on Broadway?!

Updated On: 6/8/04 at 09:58 PM

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:03pm

with the right cast The Producers deserves every ounce of appreciation it gets. the show itself is rather overrated. the most overrated musical, in my opinion, would have to be THE LION KING. CATS transcends overrated, and is simply a symbol of everything that is wrong with this country.

[cvapb]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:04pm

For real! I have seen newspapers and online stories saying how "Q sweeps the Tonys"! They only got 3! Everyone forgot about Assassins who was what... like 6 or 7? Whats with that

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:04pm

Not everyone here hates Cats--it wasn't THAT bad! lol

[secret-soul]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:11pm

Assassins won 5 of the 7 they were nominated for. Happily, Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisehauer won for lighting design this year just like they should have in 2001*(Jane Eyre)

* sorry, theatreguy. You're right. my sources were screwed up, i apologize. they DEFINITELY should have won.

Updated On: 6/10/04 at 10:11 PM

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:14pm

I should have added that I loved THE PRODUCERS! I STILL laugh at the "Who do you have to f*** to get a break in this town?!" line. I just thought that the Tone Committee went overboard in praising it. Excellent show, just overhyped, is all.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:18pm

Really? I actually found that most articles had Assassins in their headline.

And I loved The Lion King! It was a very unique and startling mixture of family-entertainment-meets-high-art. I never saw Ragtime, so I really can't say who should have won what, but I wouldn't call TLK the most overrated.

Ya know, I never liked Phantom all that much, but I can see why others do. I still think it's overrated, though, considering it's such a staple on Broadway. That "falling" chandelier is pretty anti-climatic.

[secret-soul]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:31pm

Oh, I'm sorry could you please come up with a BETTER way to make the chandelier fall...or, MAYBE we'll just call up Gaston Leroux and have HIM change the original.
Look, I realize that many people on this board do not LOVE phantom as I do. But I find that it is successfully a staple of american theatre---not not just because it has become a tourist attraction like all the Best Musical Tony Award Winners. Phantom has an element to it that is anti-melodramatic and touching. I don't think it's overrated at all. I do think that Cameron Mackintosh is a merchandise floozy who has managed to market his shows in every way possible (see forbidden broadway). However I think the OVERRATED musicals are the ones that are there for sole spectacle and no other reason. Phantom is NOT mainly spectacle. However, I COULD name a few that ARE and I'd PROBABLY get flamed for it considering the number of current Wicked posts out there....

...oops.

Updated On: 6/8/04 at 10:31 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 11:18pm

I saw the Producers three times with Nathan, Matthew and the original cast and absolutely loved it. But then, I'm someone who's a huge fan of the original movie with Mostel and Wilder, so I'm very biased. I haven't seen the show without the originals so I'm not sure how well it holds up without them. Most overrated? -- I could easily name a dozen or two I would put ahead of The Producers (including two or three long runners currently playing).

Posted: 6/8/04 at 11:23pm

I saw the producers twice, the second time only because my friend won the bc/efa walk on at the flea market. I didnt find the show nearly as amusing as it was hyped to be. Hairspray is a much better show in my opinion, as is Assassins.

[tkts]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 11:31pm

Did you actually see "The Producers" to ask this question? It is one of the funniest musicals you will ever have the pleasure of seeing. Overrated? Let me check. Well there is RENT, CATS, LION KING, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, and PHANTOM all Best Musical winners. And from the non-Tony file MAMMA MIA...shall I go on?

Updated On: 6/8/04 at 11:31 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 11:39pm

Bingo tkts.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 12:51am

I agree with Broadway Matt that "The Lion King" is the most overrated show on Broadway. How that abomination still packs the Amsterdam is beyond me. "Mamma Mia" is right up there, too. I'm just going to keep my mouth shut about CATS. I don't feel like starting a fight...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:04am

I saw it without Nathan and Matthew and I thought it was consistenly theatrically inventive, smart and funny. I don't think it was overrated at all. But even if it was...

"Something has changed with overrating
Something is not the same
The overrated title
Goes to the winner of the bombast game
Pounding loud synthesizers
A cherry picker broom
Disembodied amplified voices
Gasps louder than a sonic boom

I'll start a thousand threads
About Wicked
I'll talk about nothing else
But Wicked
And you can't slow me down

And all the overrating that EVER was
There never an overrating was
To ever overrate more than
THIIIIIIIIIS SHOWWWWWW

I hope you're happy!
Cuz we overrate this show!
AWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAAAA!"

Updated On: 6/9/04 at 01:04 AM

[Bohoboy]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:06am

I'm not sure if The Producers is the most overrated show ever... having seen it in previews, I have to say that I was a little taken aback with the critics adoration for it. And certainly Monty was a better score. From Breeze Off The River to You Rule My World.... to making the working class sing without seeming like it's out of place is everything that Producers tried to be and only briefly succeeded in doing so because of the showmen in the roles. Having seen it with later sucessors to the roles only made that point more obvious. For all of it's accolades, The Producers was not the "second coming" of musical theatre. Quite to the contrary, it was a throwback to a time and place that most of us never lived in. Sure it was good. But it had nothing to do with who you and I are. And isn't that why we go to the theatre? I go to see a piece of me in a character. I saw a great performance that had nothing to do with me, or them. Them being Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. I hoped for more, I got a musical comedy that should have a decent run, but 12 tonys and sellout crowds? "You Walk With Me" was the most touching moment of that season as far as musicals go.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:12am

Namo, my hat is off. Wicked may not be the most overrated show ever, but nothing is more convincing than an argument through song!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:20am

We could argue this all month; it's all our personal taste and opinion anyway! (I, myself, loved The Lion King.)

Still, I'll throw in a few points anyway.

- Rent, overrated?! No matter if you like the show or not, you have to admit it was a breath of fresh air!

- Again, I can completely see why people would like Phantom, and I don't want to start an argument since I don't have a strong opinion about this, but you have to admit, Phantom is MELODRAMATIC! I mean, that's kind of the point, isn't it? This isn't an insult - it's written to be a Broadway opera about an opera! Its very form is melodramatic! (It's also kinda ironic that Phantom is seen as this staple of American theatre, when it's really a British musical.) One arguable point is whether it's just pure spectacle - I personally think it is, which is my main reason for not liking it. To me, there's a little too much emphasis on the falling chandelier, the disappearing tricks, and the sound design that was state-of-the-art for its time. I'm waiting for a future revival of the show, when hopefully some talented director out there can make it meatier and give the show more complexity.

- FindingNamo, you are HILARIOUS!!!

Updated On: 6/9/04 at 01:20 AM

[bythesword84]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:46am

Rent, I just don't comment on because I hated it.

The Producers was okay. It was funny but would I call it the great american musical? No. And no I don't think it should have swept. That was the only time I remember turning off the Tonys in annoyance.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 6/9/04 at 1:49am

"Happily, Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisehauer won for lighting design this year just like they did in 2001 (Jane Eyre) when Producers wasn't even nominated for it. So there."

What? The Producers was nominated for and won the Tony for Best Lightign that year (though Jules and Peggy definitely deserved it that year).

". . . it has become a tourist attraction like all the Best Musical Tony Award Winners."

Yes, Passion was sure popular with the tourists . . .