"...The HELL?!" moments in productions

This weekend, I saw a production of the musical "Scrooge" (the one that's adapted from the Albert Finney/Bricusse/Newley movie) that inspired me to create this thread. In productions of musicals that you've seen, can you name me any "...the HELL?" moments--in other words, things that the director has just dropped into the production that shows s/he isn't paying much attention to the work's coherence or meaning?

This production of Scrooge (which used recorded backing tracks instead of live music) was rife with them. Just after Scrooge saw Marley's face on the door knocker and went into his house, we "cut" to Mrs. Cratchit singing the Carpenters' "Merry Christmas, Darling," to her family. The CARPENTERS. In DICKENSIAN LONDON. With a 70'S POP BACKING TRACK. (Plus, she was singing a song about wishing a loved one were with her for Christmas...to her husband and children, who WERE there with her for Christmas.) Now, I realize that they needed to cover up a costume change for Scrooge, but couldn't they have just had some carolers come along to sing a more period-appropriate carol?

Then there was the Spirit of Christmas Past. She was portrayed by a grown woman and a child who spoke their lines in unison. Which, in and of itself, wasn't such a bad idea, since Dickens described this Ghost as being both young and old. But her appearance in Scrooge's room was heralded by her singing a jazz arrangement of "My Favorite Things." Apropos of what exactly? And with no lead-in dialogue or anything...she just showed up singing it.

Plus, when the Spirit left Scrooge back in his room, the younger Spirit said, "Let's blow this popsicle stand!" Uh...yeah.

At the Cratchit family Christmas, Mrs. Cratchit and the children sang a song called "Good Times" that wasn't in the movie (and no, it wasn't the theme from the TV show--at least we got spared that much). But I think it was from another show...it just didn't sound the same as the rest of the score. In fact, it almost sounded like it was from America in the thirties.

During the "Thank You Very Much" sequence, the Spirit of Christmas Future (portrayed on stilts) bounced along to the music. Kind of undermines the Spirit's menace, doesn't it?

Moments like that are what I'm talking about. Another example is two shows my alma mater did. Now, my alma mater has done excellent shows as well...their "student edition" of Les Mis rivaled any professinal production I've seen. But on occasion, the director can overdo the "merry villager" bit--that is, turning songs into chorus numbers when it doesn't really apply in the interest of getting more kids involved in the show. Which is fine for getting more people involved, but can hurt the show.

For example, in their production of "Sweeney Todd," Todd and Mrs. Lovett strolled the streets of London while singing "A Little Priest"...and, what's more, assorted Londoners joined in on "The history of the world, my pet..."

And in their summer production of "West Side Story," during the Quintet, a chorus of assorted New Yorkers, apropos of nothing in particular, joined in on the final chorus of "The Jets are gonna have their day/The Sharks are gonna have their way/We're gonna rock it tonight/TONIGHT!"

So...what are some "...the HELL?" moments you've seen in productions of plays/musicals you've seen?

Hmmm. I wonder what it is that makes some Shakespeare-in-modern-dress performances work, and some not? For example, I love the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet, since it really brings home the idea of the feud being ugly and violent...something that traditional-dress productions, as much as I love them, can sometimes lose sight of. And this summer I saw a production of Twelfth Night at the Princeton Rep that set it in the sixties, and worked wonderfully.

I guess it's the difference between doing it in order to get us to see the work in a new way, and doing it just for a cheap gimmick.

it sounds like that production of "Scrooge" may have been illegal. there's no song on the CD titled "Merry Christmas, Darling" and the Carpenters surly did not contribute new songs to the score, though I have not seen the licensed script.

At a regional theater a couple years ago I saw a production of "Much Ado about Nothing" where during the scene where people are tricked into thinking Hero is being unfatihful to Claudio, they suddenly flooded the stage with oranges. Yes. Oranges. They stayed there for the rest of the performance and I am surprised someone didn't trip on them. What the hell was that???

The little white coffin in SWEENEY.

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Mattbrain, I saw the same production of "Taming of the Shrew". Same qualms (Did they really need to go to Revere Beach, I mean come on!), but I did love the set. The actor playing Tranio was god awful with his "Bostonian" accent. I wanted to punch him in the face after the show, but thought better of it =)

It is pretty hilarious how Shakespearean text inspires people with such ridiculous ideas sometimes. I assume that the orange-throwing described by Its All Good is a reference to the line when Claudio calls Hero a "rotten orange", which supposedly symbolizes Hero's rotten state of lost innocence and is also somehow a reference to her blushing with guilt-I recently read an article about that line, and it seems to me that its one of those things that scholars read into way too much. That's crazy that they actually made that a major visual point for the scene!
I also saw the Italian/Bostonian Shrew, and I liked it for the most part. Some of it was definitely a little off, but I thought it was very visually striking and it managed not to be completely sickening in the end which that play can easily be.

The Little Boy in Levieux's Fiddler on the Roof was a little out of place, although the intentions were wonderful...

He was just a random boy on stage, in the darkness, so he was barely noticeable. When he was noticed, he was a little distracting from the piece...but the part he played in the final image of the show had great intentions.

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Original post, cracked me the hell up....thank you.


and even though I've seen A LOT of shows, I don't see a lot of WTH? moments...

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The first Ian scene (the one where he's meditating) in High Fidelity.

Elizabeth: In England, Grace O'Malley, we do not destroy good linen.

Grania: In Ireland, my Queen, we do not hold on to bad.





-The Pirate Queen

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a robotic crucible? oh dear. that one has got to be the best one I've heard so far.

I saw a regional theater production in which one of the members of the ensemble sat down center stage, took off his shoe, and started chewing on his toenails. And spitting them out. This had nothing to do with the main action taking place stage left, but of course no one was paying any attention to what any of the other characters were doing or saying. And this was a relatively stodgy, well-established theater with an older subscription base, not an "edgy" theater company. I still don't understand what the director was thinking.

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