MOST DISAPPOINTING SHOW(S) THAT WAS HAILED BY THE CRITICS AS GREAT — Page 4

Rent: both times I saw it. The original cast was terrible. They were horribly off key and screeching the whole night. I had a headache for days. The second time I saw it the cast was less screechy, but now the show did not speak to me.

Phantom Bored me to sleep both times I saw the show. I was woken up by my family for the falling of the chandelier.

Copenhagen: which surprises me since I love every other of his plays!

The recent Caretaker revival: I was out and asleep.

The recent Glengarry Glen Ross revival: wow I did not like this show. I was shocked at the reviews since the audience I saw this show with hated it! The scene change got the only applause.

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The Producers was indeed VERY disappointing.

And Phantom? well, I recently went back with a group of high school pupils and must admit that it was MUCH better than I remebered it to be (in London that is....)

I get upset when people tell me the NT production of Caroussel was not great. I CRIED SOOOOOOO MUCH...... One of the best nights in the theatre EVER!

I did not see AIDA on Broadway, but I got to work on a very small, simply designed production full of fantastic, committed actors. The show is not perfect--several of the lines are cringe-worthy--but it has a definite emotional pull and it WORKS. "The Gods Love Nubia" is perhaps the most exhilarating first act closer of all time.

I also like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST a good deal more than most people, although it is certainly not perfect either. I suppose that makes me a corporate shill, but ask me if I care.

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phantom, les mis but i am not sure what the critics thought and i know it wasn't loved by the critics but wicked wsa very dissapointing.

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Phantom. Both Mother Dearest and myself agreed that it was a waste of money.

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A lot of people are confusing entertainment value with artistic criticism...and I feel that a lot of people are theatre fans rather than being trained. Having said that, I think that's why there's such a huge variety of answers to this question. I, for one, have never trusted Ben Brandtly, but instead usually look at the reviewers at Time Out who are usually dead-on.

Also...how many people who asnwered this question actually read the reviews for the shows(the whole reviews). A lot of people listed shows that received very poor-mixed reviews. Les Miz, Spamelot, Gypsy(revival), Caroline or Change, etc. all received mixed-bad reviews. Just because it won Tonys or had a long run does not mean it was well reviewed. It's likely...but not a guarantee.

Thom Pain was the biggest waste of an hour in my life.

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Madame X,

I totally agree. Thom Pain was third rate Beckett, without an ounce of the wit or intelligence. PAINFUL to sit through.

I HATE all pretentious, self-indulgent, wholly unentertaining theatre -- the stuff that critics often don't like either but feel compelled to write a rave for, lest anyone think they're stupid ....... which all but one or two are.

If I had my way, Ivo van Hove would never again be allowed to infict his narcissism upon US theatregoers. Words simply don't describe my utter contempt for his versions of More Stately Mansions, Hedda Gabler, Alice in Bed (TORTUROUS to sit through -- I took a couple of friends who incidentally were both theatre directors with MFAs from big schools and they wouldn't speak to me afterwards), A Streetcar Named Desire (which my friends and I all dubbed a "bathtub name desire" for the bathtub upstage center which was the only set piece on an otherwise bare stage, that each of the characters removed their clothes and dived into at one point or another; Why? I could give all sorts of fancy schmancy explanations, but bottom line -- it was crap and Tennessee Williams deserved better).

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I couldn't imagine Stones in His Pockets done by a cast other than the original. The same goes for the The Pay What I Wrote. When a play is written by/for precisely an actor, or in these cases, two actors, they should be treated like one man shows. Was the production of Stones you saw even with Irish actors? I think seeing Americans do the show would be as bad as watching a WASP try to do Whoopi or Freak. It just doesn't work.

THE PRODUCERS

Not worth 12 TONY awards by any means......

Wicked
Producers
Rent
GYPSY the last revival

Wicked was not really hailed by the critics.