From Jesus Christ Superstar: "to conquer death you only have to die". Huh? If you die haven't you given in to death? Survivng would be conquering death.
I completely second the Wicked line that bwayfan9 said. It makes me violent.
Also, from Sweet Charity: "He said, 'I'm going to Bloomingdales.' I said, 'I'm going to Bloomingdales." So, we hoofed it over to Bloomingdales." It irritates me.
"Of course there is the castle - the ruined castle. I find it lovely. Probably because it's ruined, I suppose." - Passion
"You and you and nothing but you 'Mahvelous' novelist, you! Isn't he wonderful, just twenty-eight The savior of writing You and you and nothing but you Miles and piles of you"
"He always looks like he's keeping score....who's winning Robert?" (usually followed by a snicker)
I don't know why but all of those lines in that section come off so....ugh! I just want Bobby to punch them in the face and say "who the **** are YOU!?"
From A Little Night Music: "Stage managers are not nannies dear, they don't have the talent."
I stage managed that show recently and every time Madame Armfeldt said that line, I put up the finger.
I know it's not the worst line, but I hate it. Probably because stage managers are nannies backstage half the time.
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.
-Dre-
You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree. ~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel. ~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known. ~A Tale of Two Cities ~
"Jelly isn't jelly 'til you set it Anything can happen if you let it"
I saw the first ever performance of the show and thought that that was just a place-holder until they could come up with something better. It never happened. Updated On: 10/30/08 at 07:31 PM
I love Tim Rice. He's so successful and yet so consistently bad. He's raised "terrible lyrics" to a new artform. Although Frank Wildhorn will totally wrestle him to be King of Terrible Lyrics; half of the reason I love 'The Civil War' is because of the awful lyrics. The song I keep coming back to though as the most painful to sit through is 'Missing You (My Bill)':
"The parlor roof still leaks a bit Where the gable meets the eave You always meant to get to it But I know you had to leave"
Beautiful. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. (Although "I sit among my charts and maps/and hear the lonely call of Taps" is currently knocking inside my skull and insisting I bring it up too. God BLESS Frank Wildhorn's 'Civil War'!)
""Will you pay for stuff I buy? And bake me cake and pie? And hold my when I cry?"
From "Bend and Snap" in LEGALLY BLONDE
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
This little girl we could be in a sack, for what it cost me to buy a big mac... aaaargh.. horrible line!
Room 317 Kim sings: Oh yes madamme my son is Chris'. I had a dream for my son to belong... I just think the OLC version flowed much better... every time i hear the current version i think it just sounds odd...
from Wicked
Brave evil witch hunters I would join you if i could... that line sounds so weird when its sung...
Wickedness should be punished but good... i understand what he means but it sounds so odd
from RENT
I don't care too much for the "poo poo it" line
from Les Miserables
I just want to say that i dislike some of the changes from the show made to cut it to a shorter time... especially Fantine's death and Cosette's verses in IN MY LIFE
I totally second Or third the reaction to the ACL Nothing line: SO makes sense in context.
One of the favorite things in any show I direct: figure out the least favorite line of the show. And then torture the actor that has to deliver it!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
"All of this time I planned I'd be patient and you would love me again; You'd come to respect my mind and at last you'd find you could love me again." ^^ "So Much Better" -Legally Blonde :: Really? There was NOTHING they could find to rhyme?! It happens again in LB too, but I'm too lazy to remember it.
Also, the entirety of "Enough" from In The Heights makes me cringe. The "No no no no no; no no no no no" parts make me die. The whole song is just.... IDK!! Something about it!!
I'm just going to cut and paste the end of Real Nice Clambake from Carousel. Hammerstein is capable of so much better.
Enoch: Remember when we raked them red hot lobsters Out of the driftwood fire? They sizzled and crackled and sputtered a song Fittin' for an angels' choir.
Girls: Fittin' for an angels, Fittin' for an angels, Fittin' for an angels choir.
Nettie: We slit 'em down the back and peppered 'em good, And doused 'em in melted butter.
Carrie: Then we tore away the claws and cracked 'em with our teeth Cuz we weren't in the mood to putter.
Girls: Fittin' for an angels, Fittin' for an angels, Fittin' for an angels choir.
A guy: Then at last come the clams.
Guys: Steamed under rockweed and poppin' from their shells.
All: Just how many of 'em galloped down our gullets, We couldn't say ourselves, oh,
This was a real nice clambake, We're mighty glad we came. The vittles we et Were good, you bet, The company was the same. Our hearts are warm, our bellies are full, And we are feeling prime. This was a real nice clambake, And we all had a real good time. We said it 'afore and we'll say it again, We all had a real good time!
Tim Rice is notable in that his lyrics are not great, but his bio in the Playbill is always really, really enjoyable... SO many lyrics in "Evita" that I could list here.
It's not just Tim Rice who contributes pretty nasty lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals...In "Woman in White," there are loads of shockingly horrible lines. The characters are always saying what they're doing as they're doing it. I thought the lyrics to "You Can Get Away With Anything" were great, but the rest of the songs just left me scratching my head.
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
You're right Schmerg... Andrew Lloyd Webber always works with the worst lyricists. Either that or the lyrics that good lyricists write for an ALW score are horrible.
Well, David Zippel did do the lyrics for Disney's Hercules, which I thought for the most part were pretty clever. So I have to say it's something about ALW's music that retards the quality of the lyrics...
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy