Musicals most people hated, but you liked — Page 2

I had a great time at Bullets Over Broadway and then was rather confused when the reviews came trickling in.

I still often find myself loving The Wedding Singer cast recording. I have fond memories of rushing that show multiple times during the summer.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Rock of Ages (though it ran for many years, the vitriol on BWW hurled at it was EPIC)
Xanadu
Catch Me If You Can
Ghost
Dirty Dancing (the first tour of the original production, not the bland, paint-by-numbers recent tour)
Starlight Express
Big (the Broadway production)
Seussical (the Broadway production)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (the first Broadway production)
Jekyll & Hyde (the pre-Broadway productions)
A Bronx Tale
Memphis

And a show that infuriates purists to no end...Contact.

I don't recall most people hating Jane Eyre. I think it flopped mostly as a victim of timing. It was actually my favorite show that season.

Add me to the list:

Ghost the Musical

SHREK...enough said!

Big Fish and Tuck Everlasting both have fantastic material, but were in big bloated productions that made the end product bad. If they both had small scaled down productions, I really think they'd get the praise they deserve.

I absolutely loved Finding Neverland.

I'll also add myself to the "loved Groundhog Day" list although I felt like the opinions on that one were more 50/50 as opposed to "most people" hating it

Shrek, hands down. I heard/read somewhere recently that Jeanine Tesori & David Lindsay-Abaire are working on a new project together...I can't wait!

Original CHICAGO (critics panned it)


CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and Arthur Laurents’ revival of WEST SIDE STORY (there seemed to be little love)


And I might have been high but I really enjoyed BE MORE CHILL

Updated On: 5/21/19 at 04:40 PM

OKBroadwayFan said: "I loved Head Over Heels"

I think my username gives it away, but I LOVED this show too.

I adored PASSION and its refusal to condescend to audience expectations of a musical. Over time, it has become one of my favorite Sondheim scores.

My now-husband and I had a great time at THE MOONEY SHAPIRO SONGBOOK in London; then it closed so quickly in NYC we never got a chance to revisit it. I don't know if the references were too inside-British or if they messed it up somehow in the transfer.

I realize it has proved more popular on tour and in regional productions, but the failure of BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY on Broadway continues to baffle me, especially considering the amazing vocal performances on the OBCR. I know Americans prefer stories where one can "have it all" without making hard choices (see PASSION, too), but one would think the success of the novel and film would have prepared audiences for what they would see.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC and SHENANDOAH aren't hated, except among musical play aficionados who ridicule both shows with some frequency (and considerable cause). I am usually among the first to join the mocking. But as long as we're in a confessional mood, I must admit I have seen both countless times (literally, since I did an entire summer of MUSIC and a month of SHENANDOAH in stock, plus other productions of both) and, nonetheless, I start to bawl each time those kids start up the mountain at the end, and every time the presumed-dead "Boy" appears in the church in the final scene of SHENANDOAH, limping toward his father, calling "Pa! Pa!"