"Nobody puts baby in a corner" or lines that ruin a show!

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 3:59pm

I was recently thinking about the musical version of DIRTY DANCING that they were workshopping a while back. It made me wonder if that dreaded line "Nobody puts baby in a corner" was in the script for the musical.

So I wonder are there any shows out there that you love but when you get to one line you just cringe? If so... what show and what's the line?

For example:

JANE EYRE - "Jane, I've been dealt a blow - I've been dealt a blow, Jane"

I also once saw a show called KILLING TIME about Jack Kevorkian.
and right before intermission a charachter walks on and says "What are you doing here???" to which the kevorkian character replies in a very ominous tone "KILLING TIME" Black out!

What are some others??

[London Boy]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 4:10pm

Particularly cringeworthy is in 'seasons of love' - "how about looooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeee." Bleugh! A little excessive

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 4:20pm

Well, this didn't ruin the show, but when I saw MY SWEETHEART'S THE MAN IN THE MOON (play with singing about Evelyn Nesbit) a couple of months ago, I was irritated by this common error in plays...

Repetition of the play's title by a character, just to remind us that the title is relevant to the subject matter. The audience laughed *at* the actress everytime she said that.

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 7:03pm

Falsettos or Falsettoland or whichever . . .

In the original production of Falsettoland, the lyric went,

"I left my child, I left my wife, to be insulted by such handsome men."

Both times I've see it on stage, the lyric has changed to " . . .to be insulted by such a handsome man."

I doesn't fit the music, it doesn't fit the moment and it changes the very meaning of the thing . . .CRINGE!

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 7:06pm

The entire finale of Rent with Mimi's "resurrection" is chocked full of them for me.

Also, the "think twice before you poo-poo it" line in Rent particularly annoys me.

By the way, I LOVE the "nobody puts baby in a corner" line from Dirty Dancing. In fact, I just saw an adorable baby onesy at a local store and I am considering going and buying it to put in the "When I have a baby" box. Updated On: 9/5/05 at 07:06 PM

[JoMarch]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 7:22pm

I don't remember the exact line but it's from Rent. It's when Benny makes amends with someone (is it Collins?) after Angel's funeral. When I first saw the tour, it was a really hokey exchange that made a few people snicker. When I saw the same productin again months later, the lines were the same but they really rushed the scene and no one really had time to notice its cheese factor.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 7:26pm

Yeah, that's a pretty cheesy sequence.

Priest: "Off the premises now! We give no handouts here.
Mark: What happened to rest in peace?
Preist: Off the premises. Queer.
Collins: Thats no way to send a boy to meet his maker. (to Mark and Benny) They had to know we couldn't pay the undertaker.
Benny: "Don't you worry about him. Hey! I'll take care of it."
Mark: "Must be nice to have money."
Benny and Collins: "No ****.
Collins: "I think it's only fair to tell you that you just paid for the funeral of the person who killed you dog."
Benny: I know. I always hated that dog. Let's pay him off and then get drunk.
Mark: I can't I have a meeting.
Collisn and Benny: Punk. Let's go.


Updated On: 9/5/05 at 07:26 PM

[roquat]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 7:57pm

In CAROUSEL:

Julie: It is possible, dear, for someone to hit you--very hard--and have it not hurt at all.

Perhaps the most atrocious line ever put in a musical. Every production I've seen of this otherwise stellar musical cuts it, and I'm certainly not going to argue.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:00pm

Hairspray:

Link: I can hear the bells! I love the show, but I think that line is akward.

[measureinlove16]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:05pm

Wow alot of ripping on RENT in this board.

I dont think theres any line in RENT that is awquard or out of place. Of course, you are intitled to your opinion. My boyfriend thinks the whole Mark sequence of "Close on Roger, his girlfriend April left a note saying 'we've got AID's, before slitting her wrists the the bathroom' is out of charecter, and i never thought of it that way. RENT is more poetic than people think and sometimes you have to look at the lyric's meanings.

i really have the sequence in Into the Woods where the Baker and Baker's wife do the whole "fine,fine, FINE, FINE!!" thing. It seems to modern and out of place.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:16pm

I've seen Rent over 50 times, probably listened to over 300 performances well over 1000 times total.

I love the show and it's very personal to me and it will always have a special spot in my heart.

I agree it's extremely poetic and a beautiful piece of theatre.

None of that changes the fact "think twice before you poo-poo it" is a terrible line.

[Hairspraydoll]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:18pm

Patronus - I worship you.

[alterego]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:25pm

Yes, 'Nobody puts baby in a corner' is in DIRTY DANCING. The show is currently selling out here in Australia, while THE PRODUCERS is struggling somewhat. Go figure eh?

[kjklo]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:30pm

From Parade's "How Can I Call This Home:"

Well I'm sorry Lucille
But I feel what I feel
And this place is surreal.

Talk about anachronisms. It's supposed to be 1913. The Surrealist art movement didn't even exist then, and certainly the slang usage of "surreal" meaning bizarre and inappropriate didn't become current until the 1980s. That line wrenched me out of the show and more or less "ruined" it for me. And I really wanted to like that show and that score. I still respect its ambitions, but I don't think it successfully fulfilled them.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:31pm

Also, in terms of nothing being "out of place" in Rent...

During "On the street" there is an exchange between Roger and Mark that goes like this:

Roger: There that's her. (points down to the street)
Mark: Maureen?
Roger: Mimi!

Actually within the context of Rent as we know it that makes absolutely no sense since we know Maureen arrives on the scene later.

This was in reference to a cut sequence from when Rent was at the New York Theatre Workshop that goes like this:

Mark: She said "Would you light my candle?" and she on a pout, and she wanted you to take her out tonight?

Roger: Right.

Mark: That's great!

Roger: She was more than okay but I pushed her away. It was bad- I got mad, and I had to get her out of my sight...

Mark: Wait, wait, wait. You said she was sweet?

Roger: Let's go eat. I'll just get fat, it's the one vice left when you're dead meat... No kisses...

Mark: I saw Maureen...

Roger: No alcohol.

Mark: She's in the lot.

Roger: No sex.

Mark: She still might care!

Roger: Look, that's her there!

Mark: Where?

Roger: There, that's her!

Mark: Maureen?

Roger: Mimi!

Mark: Whoa!

Roger: I should go.

Both: Hey, it's beginning to snow!

As you can see, in the earlier days of the show the line made sense - but parts of the scene were cut as the show evolved and those lines are out of place.

Another great mystery is why in Voice Mail#1 when Mark's mom calls on Christmas Eve:

Marks Mom: We wanted to call and say will miss you tomorrow.

Mark is Jewish. Why would they specifically be getting together on Christmas day. I suppose it's possible that Hannukah fell over Christmas, but it seems odd and there is no explanation.

Again, in the workshop they furthered that in a cut song called "Splatter":

Mark: If I killed myself or studied business, no more parents spitting up on my career. So are you showing? Where's this going? Home for Christmas?

It at least has Mark specifically address going home for Christmas and that it's potentially a family history to spend time on Christmas but he is mad at them for not supporting him.

I fully believe that had Jonathan Larson not passed away these things might have been removed, but who knows what else may have been changed in the process.

Bottom line is that this is my favorite show of all time and I have such a long history with it in my life, but it is far from perfect.

Updated On: 9/5/05 at 08:31 PM

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:41pm

There's not a line in Rent that I don't enjoy, but this (fun) one doesn't serve the dark mood of the scene...

Collins: I'm afraid she needs more than heat.
Mimi: I HEARD THAT.

Fun, yet it runs counter to [what I think is] the scene's intended mood.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:44pm

>Roger: There that's her. (points down to the street)
>Mark: Maureen?
>Roger: Mimi!

I've always wondered about that bit! Made a lot more sense in the original context.

I also believe that many of these hole would have been repaired had Jonathan not passed.

But, I still love it despite its many flaws.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:46pm

Sometimes it pays off to be a gigantic geek like myself. Sometimes.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 8:56pm

In Jekyll and Hyde I never liked the line at the end of the show: "Go to sleep my tormented love"...it just sounded a bit hokey.

[measureinlove16]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 9:01pm

hmmm...I always thought that Mark had thought Mimi was Maureen when he first saw her. Now that I think about it it doesn't make much sence.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 9:05pm

>hmmm...I always thought that Mark had thought Mimi was Maureen >when he first saw her. Now that I think about it it doesn't make >much sence

That's what I thought too until I started seeing blonde Maureen's that would have been pretty impossible to confuse with Mimi.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 9:36pm

Yeah, the Workshop of Rent was like an entirely different experience.

[callitquits]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 9:47pm

i was in a production of jekyll & hyde at my camp this summer, and if we're talking about cringe-inducing lyrics/lines, look no further than that show. the one that everyone had the most trouble singing with a straight face was "to kill outside st. paul's requires a lot of balls." an amazing show to be part of, but there are definitely some god-awful lines.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 9/5/05 at 10:19pm

Oh yeah the think twice before you poo-poo it is horrible. Also, Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise) I hate how she says " I love you and this prison smells" I hate the line. It kills the scene.

Oh and two other hairspray things: Tracy's line in Without Love "It must be the low-watt intitustion lighting" Ugh. Bad line. And the skededalidowah thing in the song Hairspray. That gets on my nerves.

Oh and in Wicked, the hlaf-rhymes and at the end of March of the Witch Hunters "Wickedness must be punished, punished, punished BUT GOOD!" Where does the BUT GOOD come in?

[bjivie2]

Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:38am

I love the "low watt" line in Hairspray. I think it's hillarious. I also think "this prison smells" works just fine, because we're not watching a drama. We already love Tracy, we don't need to feel sorry for her anymore. We're already on her side.

Updated On: 9/6/05 at 04:38 AM