Unpopular Opinions You Hold — Page 9
Posted: 5/12/09 at 9:30am
Alice Ripley's performance is overrated in Next to Normal.
Mary Testa annoyed me in Guys & Dolls.
Posted: 5/12/09 at 10:18am
Posted: 5/12/09 at 10:57am
Posted: 5/12/09 at 11:23am
Posted: 5/12/09 at 12:46pm
Cry-Baby wasn't that bad. It wasn't great but there are many worse shows that have lasted longer.
Sondheim is not overrated but he's also not God. His early 70's stuff is a big snoozefest (Company, A Little Night Music, Follies). I dislike it when his stuff is described as "sophisticated." It innoculates them from any criticism. "Well, you're just not sophisticated enough to understand it." No, I understand it just fine. But it still sucks.
Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:10pm
I saw it as Farquaad couldn't learn to be proud of himself the way he was and appreciate the advantages of being short or learn to laugh at himself. He was so self-conscious about being short that he blamed it on his father and became an obsessive perfectionist and really emotionally stunted-- which, had he been taught when he was younger that different isn't always bad, might have never happened.
Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:15pm
Just my opinion, though.
Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:07pm
But she DIDN'T turn ugly at the end. She turned into an ogre. Which, she learned, is a beautiful thing to be. She embraced her own freakishness, and was able to find love by doing so.
Seems like YOU missed the message.
Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:23pm
I never thought I'd be getting into a debate over SHREK, of all things!
Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:26pm
For my part, I think that using shortness of one character to make him a comical aspect of the show demonstrates the cleer lack of thought, lack of inclusion, in short people to the virtuousness imparted on other characters. "Shrek," is hardly the first slice of entertainment to do it, but I can only imagine that children take away something negative about short folks from it.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
Posted: 5/12/09 at 5:43pm
While I see your point, there is also a tiny elf, a dwarf, and several children in the cast, and none of them are made fun of because of their height.
Farquaad is ridiculed not because he's short, but because he's an evil and murderous zealot who is in denial about being short. His problem is that he refuses to ACCEPT his shortness as a badge of honor, and instead tries to hide it - quite literally in a couple places (those silver leg extensions on the horse?) His whole goal is to wipe out everything weird and physically imperfect, though he himself is the son of a dwarf.
Yes, there are short jokes, and I guess that intellectually it goes against the message of the show, but it didn't bother me. Not because short jokes are less offensive than, say, fat jokes, but because they were at the expense of the VILLAIN. Double standard? Perhaps. But if he had just embraced his stature, and accepted everyone else's, then nobody would be making fun of him.
Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:18am
Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:20am
That's about it. Totally justified in being snubbed this year.
Updated On: 7/10/09 at 12:20 AM
Posted: 5/19/09 at 1:38am
I'm not sure if I mentioned it, either, but one lyric finds Fiona singing - while making an empassioned plea to be rescued from the prison of her lair - about the abomination that is "seven shorties," a reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
So yeah, definitely, double-standard. All should feel wonderful about themselves except for shorties. Great message for kids.
But this is the unpopular opinions board.
Here's another unpopular opinion - Sutton Foster has all the grace, charm and charisma of a 13 year-old boy. She also has a strong voice but nothing to write home about. It absolutely perplexes me that she has such diehard supporters.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:17pm
Raul Esparza is light years beyond overrated. If I never have to witness another one of his hollow, one-note performances again, it will be too soon.
Posted: 5/19/09 at 1:27pm
I love musicals!! When people ask me my favorite type of music and i say musical theatre people are just like... oh ummm ok? Like they have no idea how to react to that at all!
I dont like listening to the "popular" music of today
And also my huge love of Judy Garland! Barely anyone that i know even knows who she is let alone can respect the massive amounts of talent she had! It makes me sad that people dont know about the talents of the "yester-years" and for that people always tell me i was born into the wrong generation!
Posted: 5/19/09 at 6:57pm
- I have mixed views on the Tony Awards. I think that if you win a Tony, it's a huge honor, but if you lose or aren't nominated, that doesn't mean anything awful (unless there was a general consensus that the show was indeed awful). Take The Seagull - I missed it, unfortunately, but I heard it was excellent and Kristin Scott Thomas fantastic. But did that garner a Tony nomination this season? Not a one.
- I enjoyed the most recent revival of Les Miserables. I had heard that it was "hacked to pieces," but I loved it.
- I do love Raul Esparza, and I think Company deserved to win Best Revival of a Musical in 2007.
And... that's all for now.
Posted: 5/21/09 at 5:49am
Posted: 5/21/09 at 1:35pm
Audra McDonald is a far better actress than she is a singer. She tends to yelp.
Boyd Gaines is good, but not multiple Tony-award winning good.
Most of the time, Dorothy Loudon is unendurbable. Sledghammer hammy and totally unfunny. Vodka is sheer hell.
That said, her Mrs. Lovett is second only to Angelas, and she's hysterical in her chats with Johnny Carson on the old TONIGHT show.
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:38pm
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:40pm
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
Updated On: 5/24/09 at 10:40 PM
Posted: 5/25/09 at 2:29pm
Getting back to unpopular--I find most "jukebox musicals" incredibly entertaining, both to watch and to perform in. Same thing with musicals that come off as jukebox musicals but which are really about a decade of music (GREASE, HAIR, DREAMGIRLS, WEDDING SINGER.)
Posted: 5/25/09 at 3:04pm
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