I missed Hello, Dolly as a kid- saw so many others at that time- because I thought it was silly- saw it on Broadway with Channing in her last revivial- thought it was silly and over-rated. Saw Dolly with Barbra only to watch and hear Barbra- saw Dolly with Bette- third row center- to see Bette- she was great- the show is silly and the it is peopled by caricatures- not people- it is silly, and drags a lot- and I never recommend it.
SweetLips said: "Probably more in the catagory of 'what pisses me off'' is when reading who is in such and such play/musical/concert, before/after every persons' name is the list of almost every show they've been in, PLUS Tony award nominee/winner---far too many words--like my posts."
...you don't like that people's biographies are listed in the Playbill?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
A bio of a person in a program who is in a show giving background info, fine, but when reading a list of who is to be IN a production and their credits/Tony reported, not fine.
GeorgeandDot said: "I think most of the Dear Evan Hansen backlash comes from it's hype. Those who saw the show before the cast album and before it blew up seem to enjoy it more."
I actually saw Dear Evan Hansen in previews at Second Stage and I thought it was an extremely flawed show about an incredibly unlikable asshole. I thought Evan Hansen was a sociopath, catfishing the family of a dead kid so he could get with the sister. I couldn't believe we were supposed to care for him. And there were little consequences to his actions. The score was okay but every song was a weepy ballad that manipulated the audience into feeling bad for the characters. (And the song at the center of the big syrupy Act 1 finale reminded me too much of Beyonce's "Halo."
As word of mouth grew it was nice to see people getting excited over a new original musical-- I hope we see more original shows on Broadway and less movie adaptations-- but I'm still a little puzzled over DEH's rabid fanbase, as well as the hyperbolic praise.
As far as other unpopular opinions go, I'm a big Disney fan and I think Frozen is one of the weakest Disney films of the past 20 years. I'm still puzzled at that one's success too.
I cannot stand Carousel. "The vittles we et/were good you bet" oh please god no.
I don't like Jerry Herman shows or songs (written to hit every musical theater nerve in order!), although La Cage is a'ight.
Les Miserables is long and boring, especially without turntable antics.
American Psycho should have had a long Off-Broadway run and cut Jean's stand-n-sing ballads.
I think Laurence O'Keefe is brilliant and I love how he (along with lyricists) musicalizes plot. (Like or hate Legally Blonde, "What You Want" is how you smartly power through complicated exposition in groovy disco musical fashion.)
I love LaChiusa's Wild Party, and think the songs are fine-tuned to sit in the male and female power-belting sweet spot. The songs rival Sondheim for intricacy and craft. I cannot get past the Santana electric guitar solo in the opening of Lippa's Wild Party and thus have never heard it in full.
Oh, and I'm lukewarm on Hamilton. Good for it, but I had no desire to play it over and over and learn the lyrics.
mattyp4 said: "I thought Evan Hansen was a sociopath, catfishing the family of a dead kid so he could get with the sister."
I mean, the show tells you many times that, that's not the case, but.... alright. I'm pretty sure that Evan's supposed to be kind of a flawed character, but I would hardly call him a sociopath. He's kind of forced into a situation and can't really go back on it without hurting people. I mean it's ok to criticize the actual material, but I'm hearing opinions from people that must have seen a different show than me because the show that I saw showed a kid who doesn't know how to talk to people getting pressured into admitting that he knew a kid who killed himself and then doesn't know how to back out of a lie and it ends up messing with his whole life. I mean it's not like he planned it all out just to get in a girl's pants.
Also the act one finale shares little to nothing in common with Halo. Not in structure, theme, melody, or orchestration.
GeorgeandDot said: "mattyp4 said: "I thought Evan Hansen was a sociopath, catfishing the family of a dead kid so he could get with the sister."
I mean, the show tells you many times that, that's not the case, but.... alright. I'm pretty sure that Evan's supposed to be kind of a flawed character, but I would hardly call him a sociopath. He's kind of forced into a situation and can't really go back on it without hurting people. I mean it's ok to criticize the actual material, but I'm hearing opinions from people that must have seen a different show than me because the show that I saw showed a kid who doesn't know how to talk to people getting pressured into admitting that he knew a kid who killed himself and then doesn't know how to back out of a lie and it ends up messing with his whole life. I mean it's not like he planned it all out just to get in a girl's pants.
Also the act one finale shares little to nothing in common with Halo. Not in structure, theme, melody, or orchestration."
Of course I gave a crude, snarky summary of the show. I get what's it's actually about. It just do it for me. I didn't really sympathize with Evan Hansen. Different strokes for different folks.
And I still get "Halo" when I hear "You Will Be Found." But I guess that's just me. I don't think you're supposed to agree with every opinion in a thread that's called "Unpopular Opinions."
Have you heard his rendition of Beauty School Dropout?
HanonO, I love Laurence O'Keefe's shows and their lyrics, but I'm not the biggest fan of his music. It might be due to the way it's orchestrated, but it always sounds thin and anemic.
As much of bad fanfiction Love Never Dies is, I actually really love how they wrote Meg. It's such a different take on the character than in Phantom, it's a good concept.
^ I don't know if this is unpopular, but I actually think LND would have something going for it if ALW didn't try to force it as a sequel to Phantom. Change the characters' names, maybe a few key roles (the leading lady as an opera singer, the brooding leading man as...you know, the Phantom), and you've got yourself a potentially interesting show about love affairs and heartbreak and all that jazz. Or at the very least it's not dragged down by the fact that it's OOC Phantom fanfic.
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
mattyp4 said: "As far as other unpopular opinions go, I'm a big Disney fan and I think Frozen is one of the weakest Disney films of the past 20 years. I'm still puzzled at that one's success too."
Same here! I have been thinking about this a lot but I'm still puzzled. The only explanation I've come up with is that the new generation (born from let's say 1998 till 2010) has never seen or heard anything remotely beautiful in their youth. I'm from the early 80's and grew up with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. They all had glorious music and characters. I feel that after Hunchback and Tarzan nothing beautiful came out for over a decade (only 3d, pixar, bold, cars,meet the robinsons). Also combined with the popular music of this era, in the 90's we still heard beautiful ballads on the radio. Now it's only rap and moaning pop trash. Maybe that's why they got away with "Let it go"? If a kid has never heard a melody before, anything could pass as impressive for them?
While at the time I supported her and thought she was deserving of the Tony, Cynthia Ervio's Twitter behavior (and subsequently her part in great comets downfall) have turned me off of her. So I wish anyone else would have the tony for best actress that year. Probably Carmen Cusack who was amazing in Bright Star