Name the worst musical
Name the worst musical
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#1Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:16pm
What's the worst musical? I'm talking the musical that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
One on my list is "Yours, Anne" A musical about Anne Frank might have made it if Sondheim were writing it, but the lyrics to this musical are so banal and repetitive. I don't think there is one good song in the whole score (but just to be sure, I'm going to pull out my copy and give it a listen one more time).
What do you nominate as the worst musical ever?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#2re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:18pm
"Growing Up Sicilian and Female."
Right, Emcee?
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#2re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:40pmMY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE is high on my list.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
gumbo2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/21/05
#4re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:47pm
Is it weird that I really want to have all those cast recordings now?
Does Carrie qualify? Or does that have one or two redeeming qualities...
#5re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:48pm
I think it has the camp factor going for it.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
LuPonatic
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
#8re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:49pmfor me at least, Lestat
"If we don't live happily ever after at least we survive until the end of the week!" -Kermit the frog "I need the money... it costs a lot to look this cheap!" -Dolly P. "Oh please, Over at 'Gypsy' Patti LuPone hasn't even alienated her first daughter yet!" Mary Testa in "Xanadu" "...Like a drunk Chita Rivera!" Robin de Jesus in "In the Heights"
"B*tch, I don't know your life." -Xanadu After that if he still doesn't understand why you were uncomfortable and are now infuriated, kick him again but this time with Jazz Hands!!! -KillerTofu#9re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:51pm
Oh, people, please.
LESTAT and URBAN COWBOY are pure gold next to turkeys like "Sicilian and Female" and "Yours, Anne."
Come now...
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
gumbo2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/21/05
#10re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:53pmmunk, is there any way to sample any songs from those, or read a plot synopsis?
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#11re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:53pm
"Does Carrie qualify? Or does that have one or two redeeming qualities... "
No it doesn't qualify because as bad as the show was, there are one or two nice songs. A colleague of mine once played a bootleg of the music and I seem to remember the mother's prayer as being an effective song.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#12re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 4:56pmYours, Anne is so bad that the lyricist rhymed "jew" and "zoo". I can't remember the exact lyric, but when I pull out my cassette I'll let you know.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#13re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 5:08pmAre we talking Broadway musicals? Because I've been involved in some off-Broadway, and even workshop stuff that is really REALLY bad.
Madame Morrible: "So you take the chicken, now it must be a white chicken. The corpse can be any color. And that is the spell for lost luggage!" - The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken
#14re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 5:09pmHello, Dolly
"The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life." - Arthur Miller
#15re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 5:17pm
Growing Up Sicilian and Female?
I actually saw it and I agree it was pretty awful, but how do you know about it, Munk?
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#16re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 5:18pmDFW has just incurred the eternal wrath of Dollypop
Poster Emeritus
mejusthavingfun
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/12/06
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#18re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 5:30pmTarzan was quite good. I know I am in the minority but so be it
Poster Emeritus
#19re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 9:16pmDoes The Phantom of the Opera (as big as a hit as it is) count? Just awful stuff.
#20re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 9:19pmIn My Life.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
#21re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 9:21pmAnnie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge. Sequels should be banned.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#22re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 9:24pm
Let's see: For the first 45 minutes of Jelly's Last Jam, I had no idea what was going on because no one onstage articulated. It took Phyllica Rashad's entrance to bring the show to life, and by that point I didn't care. I did sit through the whole thing, though.
Rent: I thought it was loud and obnoxious and I didn't care about the people, whose problems would all be solved if they just got a job. I stayed through that whole thing too, though.
Parade: What a ghastly idea for a musical! Furthermore, the young lady on whose murder the show turns, is dead and gone ten minutes into the show, and the rest of the show focuses on the trial. We never understand who Mary Phagen was and why she may have died, nor are the Franks likeable people, so we don't care about them.
There's a really uncharacteristic song at the end of the first act where Leo sings about seducing young girls which is all wrong. I left at the interval.
King of Hearts. This I left at intermission as well. The film is so enchanting and magical, but the musical puts the themes in a different light and takes away all the charm that made the film work so well.
Timbuktu: Eartha Kitt couldn't save this dreary, dreck-filled variation on Kismet.
I'm sure there are one or two more over the years, but right now, I don't remember what they are.
NYC Visitor and Broadway Fan
LuPonatic
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/06
#23re: Name the worst musical
Posted: 2/3/07 at 9:24pmMaybe Urban Cowboy can be the worst musical people are still being subjected to. I just saw the tour...AACK! and I like almost everything!
gymdudeva
Broadway Star Joined: 1/29/07
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