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#26

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 12:29pm

i still enjoyed each of these shows very much, they are just overrated relative to hype and awards and i ding every one of them for a weak score relative to hype and awards

Billy Elliot- weak ass score for best musical

Gentlemans Guide hilarious comedy and Mays was extraordinary, but a really weak score for a best musical winner

Once for being basically a one song best musical (Falling Slowly really is a fantastic song...)

An American in Paris for just not being that great a show relative to all the hype and fauning. more a ballet-cical than a musical

Fun Home- amazing drama, really weak score for best musical(its best musical not best dramical)

#27

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 12:39pm

Newsies (AKA Twinks with Newspapers the Musical) is really not very well written at all. It relies heavily on musical theatre clichés and attractive men doing strong choreography. Other than that the score and book really aren't anything to get very excited about. It's just an extremely mediocre show in every way.

Kinky Boots is a similar thing for me. It's a lot of pretty fashion, but the score is not very good and neither is the book. Billy Porter was the best thing that, that show had going for it.

Next to Normal is one of the shows where I can't believe that I didn't love it. Actually, I kind of hated it. I thought that all the characters were caricatures and thought the score was awful and the staging atrocious. The cast really didn't help much, IMO. I know that this is a very unpopular opinion, but I think that DEH tackled some of the same themes in a much more human matter and with a much better book and score.

CFA is one of the worst shows that I have ever seen. I saw it twice actually. The first time that I went, I thought that maybe it was just the mood that I was in or something and that's why I didn't love it, so I returned and found that I went from not enjoying it, to absolutely loathing it. Hold on though, I adore the story and I think that it's a beautiful and important one to tell, but, IMO, it absolutely DOES NOT ADAPT WELL INTO A MUSICAL. At all. The score is horribly amateurish and the choreography was literally the worst that I have ever seen on a Broadway stage. The show wasn't touching or funny, it made me cringe. I heard someone on here talk about how it felt like an emperor's new clothes situation where everyone was cheering and applauding, while I saw what was really happening onstage and it was positively embarrassing. That story deserved better.

#28

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 12:50pm

Kinky Boots - Solidly pleasant and mediocre, but I was surprised it won Best Musical, Score and Choreography.

Newsies - The most theme-parky show to come from Disney yet. It looked and felt more commercial than anything else I've seen from them, even with that ugly set design. Over-choreographed to the point of being silly and annoying. I was a fan of the film and so excited it was finally coming to the stage. I'll stick with the film.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#29

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 12:53pm

Fiddler on the Roof - loved the set design, just couldn't get into the score

Cats - show drags quite a bit until Rum Tum Tugger and Memory

Book of Mormon - Catchy score and a few good jokes, but some of the running gags become flat after a while (Maggots, etc)

#30

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 12:53pm

Double post

Updated On: 5/27/17 at 12:53 PM

#31

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 1:11pm

icecreambenjamin said: "Next to Normal is one of the shows where I can't believe that I didn't love it. Actually, I kind of hated it. I thought that all the characters were caricatures and thought the score was awful and the staging atrocious. The cast really didn't help much, IMO. I know that this is a very unpopular opinion, but I think that DEH tackled some of the same themes in a much more human matter and with a much better book and score."

Very odd because swap Next to Normal and DEH and this is my exact opinion haha. Except I didn't have an issue with the cast or staging of DEH. Next to Normal makes me weep and DEH leaves me completely dry eyed and actually actively rritated.

Updated On: 5/27/17 at 01:11 PM

#32

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 1:55pm

An American in Paris -- I really hated the awkward "serious" turn the show took in Act 2, making it a sort of Schindler's List. It was totally inconsistent with Act One's "Is Henri gay" jokes. I thought the choreography was trite and generic, especially compared to the movie. And also, if your score is the Gershwin songbook IMO it's important to have good singers, and Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope for all their talents just weren't good singers.

#33

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:05pm

Dear Evan Hansen – The plot utterly disgusts me (so much so I felt compelled to italicize) and while most of the music is enjoyable, the songs sound like a muck up of every pop music hit from the last decade. The dialogue is very unnatural for a show that sells itself as being "real," and all of the performances beyond Ben Platt and Rachel Bay Jones (who are not overrated, and I do think deserve the awards in their respective categories) blended together and were just bland to me.

Book of Mormon – Someone already said it, but it's just the jokes and humor get so boring after a while. I understand why it's a success and think it deserved most of the Tonys it received, but I don't think people should still be raving about it after five years.

Hamilton – Before you say anything: I enjoy Hamilton. It's not a top ten for me, but there's nothing I really disliked about it. I understand how well done it was and how much Lin (who I love) put into it, and from a technical perspective I love it, but it's not really breaking any new ground beyond using rap music. The performances are nothing special, and I have no idea how they won three of the acting awards last year. Also, when I saw it, all I could think about was how it was essentially Les Misérables on steroids, but that's a whole other discussion.

#34

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:07pm

drowsy chaperone and matilda also awful

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

#35

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:17pm

Dear Evan Hansen - an afterschool special with a weird sense of morality.

The Great Comet - Incredible to look at, but it was a pretty empty musical experience.

Just my opinion.

#36

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:17pm

Once - I just...there's nothing there.

Dear Evan Hansen - The longer you think critically about this show, the worse it gets. The score isn't memorable at all and sounds like something the whiny boys in high school and college created. I think Ben Platt gets away with a lot of overacting and overreacting because he cries and snots a lot (and his voice is nothing special, IMO). Add that to the fact that there isn't a single redeemable character nor anything that will make sense in about 10 years...and I don't get the hype. I think we were too eager for "the next Hamilton."

Hamilton - Speaking of. I love Hamilton, however there is a catch. I believe that the magic of Hamilton relies on the exuberance and strengths of the players. The first time I saw someone other than Leslie play Burr, the show immediately dropped in genius. Same for Angelica. Same for Jefferson. They hit the lottery with that OBC. I think that the true testament of "genius" is whether or not a show will stand the test of time, and I don't think Hamilton will. It's already losing something.

Something Rotten - I just don't get the love for this one either. I thought it was unfunny, parts of it were offensive, and the jokes were TIRED by the time they were said for the 5th, 6th, or 7th time. I took several Shakespeare courses in undergrad and I /got/ it but I just...don't get it.

#37

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:38pm

Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton.

#38

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 2:40pm

Hamilton - A relentless rapped history lesson with too much telling and not enough showing, and repetitive choreography that ultimately grows annoying. And when they're not rapping, they're singing bad R&B songs. It's also not groundbreaking -- it's In the Heights (rap musical) meets Les Miserables (sung-through musical about revolution that uses a revolving stage) meets Jersey Boys (biographical musical in which the main subject's kid dies in the middle of Act 2 and everyone's really sad about it).

Book of Mormon - A comedy that mistakes geeky pop culture references and puerile obscenities for actual jokes, and schoolyard teasing for social satire. And it's wrapped up with the usual Parker-Stone Preachy Speech at the end, in case we didn't get the Message.

Next to Normal - I never actually saw it, but I disliked the cast recording more and more each time I listened to it, and so I couldn't bring myself to buy a ticket for it, not even when it came to L.A. with Alice Ripley. I find the lyrics trite and corny and the music attenuated and amateurish.

Kinky Boots - Just not a fan of the "English people being cheeky and unseemly" genre (The Full Monty, Mrs. Henderson Presents, etc.), and the forgettable score didn't help.

#39

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 3:00pm

Two more:

Passing Strange - I only saw the Spike Lee movie/recording, but it just seemed like pretentious navel-gazing (the protagonist is named "Youth"!), and the score wasn't memorable .

Matilda - Just unbearable.

#40

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 3:03pm

An American In Paris, Kinky Boots, the revival of Pippin.

"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop

#41

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 3:13pm

I still to this day do not understand the love that Rent gets. Every time I saw it, it got more unbearable, preachy and, frankly, offensive in some respects.

#42

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 3:22pm

thattreegurl said: "I still to this day do not understand the love that Rent gets. Every time I saw it, it got more unbearable, preachy and, frankly, offensive in some respects.

I agree. I loved it at first, but every single time that I watched it after that, the more that I hated it and found it absolutely appalling. The ending with Mimi getting resurrected is the worst ending to a musical that I have ever seen and is completely offensive.

#43

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 3:52pm

So this thread is mostly just a list of the rare shows that have been both financially successful AND critically acclaimed.

#44

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 4:00pm

jpbran said: "So this thread is mostly just a list of the rare shows that have been both financially successful AND critically acclaimed. "

Well to be fair, that's how most shows get overrated.

#45

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 4:03pm

Brave Sir Robin2 said: "An American In Paris, Kinky Boots, the revival of Pippin.

"

I'm glad I'm not the only one left cold by the revival of Pippin.

#46

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 4:19pm

Hard-pressed to think of a show more overrated than Dear Evan Hansen, in my opinion.

#47

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 4:53pm

Spring Awakening

Passing Strange

Next To Normal

Memphis

Kinky Boots

Gentleman's Guide

Come From Away

Great Comet

"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new." Sunday in the Park with George

Updated On: 5/27/17 at 04:53 PM

#48

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 5:00pm

Don't know that my first two are an overrated thing vs just I don't care for them, but have never understood the love for Rent. And I am not a fan of most things ALW in general but Cats in particular has annoyed me for years for some reason.

As far as currently overrated I have to go with the two biggies which I think have built their primary reputations by suckering in a younger, social media active audience to promote them:

Great Comet - I do not understand the fascination with this show. It is all set and no substance. The cast is bland (Lucas Steele's blank stare and grating voice are outshined only by the fact his acting is like watching paint dry), even Groban who I love was boring and underutilized at the same time, not an easy feat. The songs are forgettable. Let's be real, there is an actual reason most people haven't actually ever read all of War and Peace.

Dear Evan Hansen - the songs are average even in the hands of a very talented supporting cast doing their best (sorry but Pasek and Paul bore me), Platt's snot flying meltdown does not equate brilliant acting ability and frankly the basic story line is everything we should all hate about how social media has negatively influenced our society in general and young society in particular.

#49

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 6:25pm

rosscoe(au) said: "It's interesting that some have just listened to a recording and than class the show overrated.

"

See your point but sometimes I wish I had stuck to the recording! I love the Hamilton cast recording but was utterly disappointed in seeing the show, which to me now feels like a machine with a thousand replacements and understudies that don't seem to have any connection to the show beyond executing what they are told to do and receiving a pay cheque - I know this is a very emotional reaction and is hard to justify with any real evidence. I just didn't 'feel it' when I went.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

#50

Overrated Musicals Of The Last Ten Years

Posted: 5/27/17 at 7:05pm

Kinky Boots and with the show winning the Tony is definitely a head scratcher for me. And I don't think I've seen it listed yet, so let me be the first one - Matilda. The giggling teenagers in the audience definitely enjoyed it. But not for me and the four older ladies who I saw left at intermission

Updated On: 5/27/17 at 07:05 PM

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