"Tug Boat" from THOU SHALT NOT has got to be right up there in the top (or rather, bottom) 5.
I remember seeing Thou Shalt Not and in a show that got SO much wrong, Tug Boat was the most effective number in the show. What sounds rather boring and innocuous on a recording was rather brilliantly staged in the show.
I’m going to add “Murder Murder,” the act 2 opener of Jekyll and Hyde to this list. It’s lyrics are laughably bad (“they murdered dear old Bessie, I hear extremely messy&rdquo
and the choreography in the original production (the cast swinging umbrellas around) was extremely cringeworthy.
Well, that was the Broadway production, which staged EVERYTHING horribly and that umbrella dance was indeed ridiculously awful, reminiscent of high school drill team choreography, utterly devoid of context or meaning. But the pre-Broadway productions used newspapers instead of umbrellas, which underscored the intent of the lyrics. Everyone was reading the articles in macabre fascination and spreading rumors and panic like wildfire across London. Not unlike what we see in the media and on social media today. I really enjoy the score to Jekyll & Hyde because I remember when the potential of the show was realized before it was completely ruined by what happened on Broadway (both times).
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian