Unpopular opinions you hold- Page 2

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 11:29pm

Jim Parsons and Patrick Breen were by far the best things in The Normal Heart

Triumph of Love was the best musical of the 1990s

[michellek45]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 11:31pm

This board seems to be filled with Sondheim worshipers, so this probably qualifies as unpopular here: I think that, overall, Kander & Ebb's scores are better than Sondheim's.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 11:35pm

Duncan Sheik writes very nice music and it doesn't have to be rock.

Sondheim: I just love him, but some of his stuff even I don't like and I would become his lover even at his age. So there were are.

Kander & Ebb are good, but some of their stuff is far too thrown together.

[shrekster224]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 11:42pm

-I think Memphis is a great show, also.
-American Idiot was a successfully entertaining and creatively conceived rock opera, and not just a bad juke box show.
-Sutton Foster is a bit overrated.
-Although many wanted Norbert to win, I believe Best Actor in a Musical was rightfully Rannells'.
-I think Dee Roscioli is amazing, especially in DC.

[Ajpuppypal]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 11:44pm

from what i have seen of there work (Chicago, and a very well done college production of Cabaret) Kander & Ebb's are quite brilliant. i find there work on the same level as Sondheim. However I would never say they surpass him.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:04am

I thought the Kennedy Center production of FOLLIES was little more than an adequate, regional-level production. Woefully directed, too.

[PReeves2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:13am

I love Movin' Out and Twyla Tharp...sorry, I said it. I know I'll be voted most unpopular even on this board. FYI, yes, I heard about 'Times They are a Changin', although I never saw it. Maybe that's why I still like her?

[bernadettelupone17]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:18am

-I love Sondheim, but I find Company to be an awful and dull show. I also find the second act of Sunday in the Park a bore.
-I liked the revival of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown
-I think Wicked is terribly overrated
-I thought the touring cast of Next to Normal was better than the OBC.
-I really don't think that Stephen Schwartz is a good composer.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:28am

I agree with most of your opinions Bernadette. Wicked IS overrated and the second act of Sunday is just awful. I love the show though, but typically stop watching at the end of Act I. Unfortunately, since nearly the whole tour of N2N was in California, we're not getting it here until 2013 when the tour will already be non-equtiy.

[littlegreen2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:48am

-Spring Awakening was dull and boring.
-Jennifer Damiano was not that great in Next to Normal, and she is wildly miscast as MJ in Spiderman.
-Passion is the only Sondheim show I can listen to all the way through. I am very much NOT a fan of his work otherwise.
-That said though, I adore Andrew Lloyd Webber.
-Sarah Brightman is obnoxious.
-Sutton Foster is terribly over-rated.
-Emma Hunton is inconsistent and hard to watch as Natalie in n2n.
-Billy Elliot is actually a wonderful show.

[undercoveractor]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:48am

'Dee Roscioli in DC'.....what is DC?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 1:54am

@ Justoldbill: THANK YOU! When I saw the Loveland set, my first impression was "WTF? *This* is your best shot?"

[beagle]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 2:13am

I like Sondheim *and* Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[rougeduck]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 3:32am

I like Vanessa more than Bernadette as the Witch

Saycon Sengbloh was the fiercest Elphaba.

[OhTossums2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:05am

I thought Sutton Foster was an incredible Reno.

[OhTossums2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:06am

Double post

Updated On: 7/23/11 at 09:06 AM

[Skip2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:03am

Also loved The People In The Picture
Also loved Patrick Breen more than the leads in Normal Heart
Fell asleep twice in the second act of Spring Awakening
Sick of musicals about teenager's or twentyer's angst. I just don't care about their problems.
Liked Spiderman 1.0 more than 2.0 (maybe that's not too unpopular)
Think Book Of Mormon just isn't funny
Scratching my head about Follies coming to Broadway. Why? The production isn't much better than the awful Roundabout revival.
Like Baby It's You
Jerusalem? So what?
Night Music revival - boring physically, musically and casting-ly
Think How To Succeed succeeds. Great choreography and video.
Am afraid that video can take the place of skilled physical sets much too easily. and that shows will become semi-movies. (see Guys And Dolls revival)
Like Sutton Foster but she's just not enough of a "broad" for Reno. And think the choreography and direction of Anything Goes isn't snappy enough or Broadway-worthy. And Joel Grey?
War horse is a great puppet show. But about that plot...

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:28am

Ohtossums, how is loving Sutton's reno holding an unpopular belief?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:34am

bernadette, I've felt the same way about Company for a long time, but Price's understanding and treatment of the book and direction of the actors in the Lincoln Center production made me rethink that position.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:42am

The problem with Scarlet Pimpernel isn't so much the score, which has some wonderful songs (along with a few horrible ones - I especially love When I Look at You, Into the Fire, and Storybook). It's that the creative team didn't realize that this story works best as a romantic comedy, as Korda proved with Howard and Oberon, not as a historical epic turned 90s euro-style megamusical. Madame Guilotine, besides being a pathetic number, is a horrible opening that doesn't telegraph what the show is about, even under the misguided intentions I've already outlined.

Keeping this all in mind, with the right book, and some reworking, this could be a very fine show, which for me qualifies it as a near miss. And proves that Wildhorn had (maybe even has) strong potential to be an Alan Jay Lerner type composer.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:33am

--Sutton Foster is the most overrated female performer Broadway has seen in at least two decades.
--Raul Esparza is the most overrated male performer Broadway has seen in at least two decades.
--The score to SPRING AWAKENING has maybe two good songs; otherwise, it's a pretentious, anachronistic bore.
--Lily Rabe is untalented and would be nowhere without her parentage. Ditto all Gummers.
--Kate Baldwin has a mediocre voice and the stage presence of a wet diaper.
--The recent revival of THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON was excellent.
--Pretty much everything about the COMPANY concert sucked. I'm thankful I was comped in, especially knowing what others paid to be there.
--I've always enjoyed Brooke Shields' stage performances.
--With the exception of MACK AND MABEL and some of DEAR WORLD, I generally find Jerry Herman scores unlistenable, and seeing them on stage is a colossal waste of my time.
--David Hyde Pierce deserved the Tony for CURTAINS. Raul was not robbed. He lost. Get over it.
--Patina Miller is giving the best performance on Broadway right now.

Updated On: 7/23/11 at 11:33 AM

[Sauja]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 12:12pm

A couple more:

Ellen Burstyn wasn't very good in The Normal Heart.

13 and Women on the Verge were flawed...but totally enjoyable.

Everyday Rapture was terrible.

Norbert Leo Butz is great in plays but difficult to watch in musicals.

AC, I loved your post because of the complete back and forth on my agreement/disagreement point by point. "Yes! No! YES!!! WHAT?!"

Also, so nice that this thread hasn't devolved into people arguing against each other's points (did I just doom it?).

[Steve2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 12:17pm

I liked Will Swenson's performance in Priscilla.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 12:20pm

Thanks, Sauja!

(And I think you mean Ellen Barkin, not Burstyn--unless we saw two different productions of THE NORMAL HEART!)

[shrekster224]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 12:24pm

AC126748, I completely agree about Patina Miller.