The Cult Classic That is IN MY LIFE

It was truly the most awful piece of theater I have ever seen in my entire life...and I am grateful I got to see it four times. Three times in previews and closing night. Brilliantly bad!

One of my biggest regrets as a theatregoer is that I did. And that it got a standing ovation from the entire theatre...

Thanks, Wanna Be A Foster. I'll take that as a compliment. Actually, it should say "spoken like a true flopaholic!" LOL

Yes, Joe Brooks wrote METROPOLIS. Fortunately, the whole show was recorded - script and all. Unfortunately, the sound quality is dreadful.

Brooks has said he has been working on it - revising it and such. There are many songs that can and should be cut...but hopefully one day some European producer will take the risk...and a break from Wildhorn.

I wish I could have seen this delightful little oddity. It couldn't have been any worse than the London production of Notre Dame de Paris or Closer to Heaven.

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I would never call this show 'bad', because, for me, bad equals boring.

This simply was the most bizarre experiences I've ever had in the theatre. To be sure, it was an extraordinary snapshop into the mind of a madman.

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Mattbrain, you must not have searched very hard...

I would have loved to have seen this show.

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I'm with Robbie. For me "bad" is boring, annoying, grating, insulting, offensive and/or difficult to sit through. IN MY LIFE was none of those things. I was thoroughly entertained throughout. It was just the extremely weird, odd, whimsical, warped vision of a single individual who refused to conform to any of the accepted notions of what an American "musical" was supposed to look and sound like. It was extremely well-paced (the direction was frankly better than most of the more acclaimed shows that season) and it actually had its own internal logic which somehow, I think, made sense within its own context. It was very strange and way "out there" and unlike anything the Broadway stage has probably ever seen -- but, given that it was never boring for a moment (more than I can say for a lot of shows that have gotten rave reviews in recent years) and consistently entertaining throughout, I'd never call it a "bad" show.

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Mister Matt - you're right, it was still better than Notre Dame and Closer to Heaven...

I should probably rephrase what I said above - I am glad I saw it (if just for the dancing skeletons and Winston), and I'll agree that it was rarely dull (though I saw it towards the end of it's run by which time I understand that several bits had been 'refined'). But it was the vomit-inducing forced emotion of perhaps the most awful and bizzarely played love story of all time, coupled with a score that didn't even try to achieve 'interestingness' - people not only stood for it at the end but glared at me and my girlfriend and made comments because we didn't leap to our feet!! I was all for praising the actors for getting through the evening, but there are limits...

Yes, BroadwayAbridged, I did read your script. Very funny as usual.

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What I find hilarious is that the cast acknowledged that it wasn't a good show.