Shows You Walked Out On... That Everyone Else Seemed to Love- Page 2

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:16pm

I never leave either, or would if I had a car. lol. I mean if you leave something like "The Fantasticks" or "Into the Woods" at Act 1, you miss the point. It's SUPPOSED to look sugary sweet, but is quite the opposite. See if there's any twist or such!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:19pm

I didn't say I left the Fantasticks because it was sugary sweet -- I left because the performers were terrible -- I've seen more talented high schoolers than the leads on that stage. It was insult to call it professional theatre, so I left, as did half the audience.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:27pm

I've never walked out of a show, though I was sorely tempted to walk out of "Mamma Mia." I also wanted to walk out of the "Blood Brothers" we saw at a Thespian convention, but the chaperone wouldn't let us, despite our begging. Although, now that I think of it, nobody was enjoying the show.

Updated On: 9/20/04 at 05:27 PM

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:37pm

Just thought of one more. Showboat (revival). Just not my cup of tea. It seemed endless.

Updated On: 9/20/04 at 05:37 PM

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:37pm

i dont think i would walk out of any show..if i am paying that much to watch a show i will sit through them no matter how horrible they are. besides how do you know how horrible a show is till you see the whole thing. i'm really suprised at some of the shows some people walked out of also. Updated On: 9/20/04 at 05:37 PM

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:47pm

The way I look at is... you're out the money whether you stay or leave. So, if you're bored, or for whatever reason not enjoying the show, why throw away your time as well. As far as I'm concerned, my time is worth more than my money anyway. And forcing myself to sit through something I'm not enjoying to the very end isn't going to make me feel any better about having spent the money.

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 5:50pm

ya i guess your right. i guess for people that get to see musicals all the time it's not a big deal but for someone like me that can rarely get to nyc it seems just crazy!!..lol

[Sant]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:04pm

I have never walked out but I almost did when I saw NOTRE DAME DE PARIS in London. Such a waste of time and money!! The worst show I've ever seen - or heard.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:06pm

Agree with you, Diva.. Hated "Millie" !! Didnt walk out, but really didnt like it. Did not see Sutton, saw Susan Egan, (love her) but just didnt like the show.

Came close to walking out on "Cats", but stayed.
Left "After the Fall" at intermission.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:10pm

Rose - I wonder if we walked out of the same production of "Blood Brothers!" I HATE THAT 7hour(lie) SHOW!
I also walked out of a HS production of "Starmites." It didn't havea low production cost (the technology was incredible), I just hated the show.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:11pm

Beauty and the Beast. I was only about 4. Really a little too young to see a Broadway show.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:22pm

"Rose - I wonder if we walked out of the same production of "Blood Brothers!" I HATE THAT 7hour(lie) SHOW!"

Well, I didn't walk out, but I really wanted to...were you at the national Thespian convention in 2002? That's the one I saw.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:28pm

Yes I was! I was representing the troupes from Illinois!

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:39pm

Really? Cool! Did you guys do any mainstage shows?

[Princeton78]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:47pm

I walked out of "Saturday Night Fever" and I was at the last Broadway preview before opening night and was in the front row. From about 15 minutes into it, I was straining to see the playbill to count how many songs were left until intermission. Dont' care how the second act was. It was a joke and a ripoff in my opintion.

I also walked out of "The Producers" on Broadway. Everyone around me seemed to be having the time of their lives....but me. I didn't find it funny, I didn't find the songs or the words clever, I thought the acting was only so-so and I was actually insulted over and over again. I was given free tickets to see the national tour last summer in Boston and I stayed for the whold thing...but if I had my way I would not have left at intermission, I would have left after the overture. Sorry folks...just don't liket this show.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 6:55pm

I'm with curtainup2 -- my time is very valuable to me. If I feel a show is so inept that it is wasting my time, then at intermission I have to re-evaluate whether it's worth going back for another hour (in nearly every instance I do stay for the second act).

And musicalfandukie, you're right -- many weeks I see two, even three shows (Broadway, Off-Broadway etc....). Seeing theatre isn't necessarily a big "event" for me in the way it might be for somebody out-of-town who can only get to NYC once or twice a year. Mind you, of course, I love it and enjoy, on one level or another, 80 - 90% of what I see (and occasionally have a truly transporting experience which makes it worth sifting through all of the misfires and mediocrities that are inevitable if you go to theatre a lot). I try to do my homework before buying a ticket to avoid the bad stuff, but sometimes you take a chance on something that looks interesting and end up being sorely disappointed. In those cases, considering I work full time and really acn't afford having my time wasted, I have to decide whether it makes sense to go back for Act II of something that clearly isn't going to get much better, go run a needed errand, go meet friends or just go home and get to bed early.

[Mythus]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 7:00pm

That's the problem with satire...some people (like Princeton) are insulted. Oh well.

This wasn't on Broadway, it was at a drama festival. I don't remember the name of the play (maybe I blocked it out) but it was definitely the worst show I'd ever seen. I think it was about a kid who moved to a town, and no one liked him, and some girl invited him to a dance, but he couldn't dance, so she taught him. That was it. It featured bad acting, mumbling (I couldn't hear any of the lines (except when one guy was shouting)), awkward pauses as several people forgot their lines, and horrible, HORRIBLE southern accents. I wanted to get up and leave the theatre, but they wouldn't allow me. The only lines I could here was a part when some girl's father was yelling for her to come downstairs. He had a squeaky voice, and people laughed when he yelled. He picked up on that, and yelled a lot. Those were the only times in the play ANYONE laughed. Oh my god, it was so bad.

I think there was something about a porch, and some kind of ice cream shop where two waitresses sat there and gave everyone empty glasses. Updated On: 9/20/04 at 07:00 PM

[ShowTunes]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 7:05pm

I live in Denver, so I mostly just see touring stuff. I walked out on The Civil War by myself at intermission, and my parents and I walked out on Grease and The Lion King. The last makes everyone gasp, but we were DEAD bored with the costumes and scenery after five minutes, and the songs are really quite terrible on stage. (To give you some idea of how awful we found it, this was my mother's last musical before sinking too deep into her Alzheimer's to appreciate them any more, and even she thought it was deadly.)

BTW, as we were leaving Grease I saw a microburst hit Denver and send rolls of dust through the streets, which was vastly more entertaining than anything in the show.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 7:12pm

Mythus... sounds like "Footloose" to me.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 7:20pm

I'm with you, ShowTunes. I saw "The Lion King" in Denver too (go Coloradans!) and after the opening number and Patrick Page's first bit, everything went downhill (except for Page. He was awesome, as was Fredi Walker-Browne).

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 7:55pm

I'm anti-walking out of shows. But I wasbored to tears when I saw a local rendition of The Taming of the Shrew. (Not a musical, I know.) With actors forgetting their lines, and people not even trying to act, I was boooorrrreeed.

[whizzer2]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 8:23pm

I've never walked out of a show...but, man, I was close to leaving SIDE SHOW at intermission. BLAH!

[Mythus]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 8:26pm

"Mythus... sounds like "Footloose" to me."

That's the weird thing, Curtain. It wasn't Footloose. It was about fourty-five minutes long, and the main character couldn't dance, so it couldn't have been Footloose anyway.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 10:11pm

No matter how bad the show is, I stay because so many people are performing working to entertainment, I just can't bring myself to negate that work.

HOWEVER, I did walk out of one show in my life, Tony N Tina's Wedding. Everyone there seemed to really enjoy it, but I was in a bad mood to begin with, and couldn't handle it.

Technically, I didn't walk out...I just walked in a different direction, during the move from St. Luke's to the Edison.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 10:14pm

I've never left a show on purpose. I left opening night of Fiddler on the Roof (Revival) because I was sick and thought I was going to pass out so my father took me home.

Of course, I wanted to walk out of two shows but I would never do that. They were, though, Caroline or Change, and Rent.