WORST Directed Musicals You've Ever Seen — Page 2

While I don't necessarily agree with the comments about Shrek, I do agree that the direction of the Seattle Finale "I Smell a Happy Ending," was superior to a lot of the show. I'm talking about the post-opening night staging, as opposed to the preview staging. If anyone saw this live, they will agree it was genius use of the turntables timed to the music. The current finale does not achieve this as well.

The original production of Ragtime. Terribly unfocused and schizophrenic. Overblown in one scene, then minimalistic in the next.

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"Do you guys no anything about directing, all 3 of those shows were well directed"

While I don't "no" anything....I think I might KNOW something...

In N2N if you are in the front few rows, you can't see ANYTHING on the 3rd level. And regardless of seat - you BARELY see any of the actor's whole faces. They are in profile the entire time. That is not particularly good directing. Thats what I was told in graduate school anyway...and I agree.

Oh God, YES, Dayao. And thank you for saying it about John Doyle!

After that Sweeney Todd debacle that board members were inventing new superlatives to achieve orgasm over, I would never see another show he was directing. When I actually saw the show, I think my jaw hit the floor and then had an anvil dropped on it. Was it the decision that many of the leads were garbed like they wandered in off the street? Or the decision that when some characters "interacted" they were at opposite ends of the stage and just pretended to exchange things? Or was it the fact that the entire production looked cobbled together for approximately $19.99? Or was it the actors doubling as the scenery movers plus the orchestra? The maddening spectacle of watching them clunk their instruments down to catapult across the stage to be ready for their cues for dialogue scenes and then back again to reclaim their unceremoniously deposited instruments for the next song was excruciatingly painful to witness. The only shock was that Doyle did not have the actors also in charge of the lighting and doubling as ushers. No, it was a combination of all these directorial decisions plus more not to be mentioned. I do, however, thank Doyle for the unique experience of noting that when placed in a production that resembles something put on in the local high school gym that Broadway performers the caliber of Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris could indeed lower themselves to the level of the event rather than elevating it.

I think Doyle's use of actors playing isntruments (which Iknow was originally for economic reasons) is a crutch that allows him to avoid actually making the actors move. His staging ove Brecht & Weill's "Mahagonny" had endless stretches where the performers JUST SAT THERE... as if he was afraid to ask opera singers to sing and walk at the same time.

McAnuff's Guys and Dolls. How can you take a classic and ruin it, ask Des McAnuff.

I agree Nick and Nora should have been light and bubbly, like champaign, and instead we got oatmeal, and really lumpy oatmeal. The music and lyrics were not the problem. The book and especially the direction were. I maintain that is a musical that could be reworked and saved with the right touch.

I saw neither of the Sundays in the Park on Broadway, but Ken Bloom, author of the Broadway musicals: The 101 greatest shows of all time, said he thought the Sunday revival as one of the few revivals that was better than the original...

Updated On: 10/27/09 at 03:23 PM

Very wrong.

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I didn't have a poor view at N2N, either in the fifth row at Second Stage or in the first row at the Booth. I'm not going to join in an artistic argument about the direction of the show, but I know it's total BS to claim you "can't see anything". It's not comfortable in the first row, and you don't get the best view possible, but I was not dissatisfied considering the price. Especially with the bonus of how well you see the facial expressions. Which are displayed at far more angles than "just in profile". I'm baffled by that.

I don't really feel qualified in the specifics of stage directing to write any emphatic criticism, but if I had to say something? Worst directed show I've seen is probably Little Mermaid. Of the smaller shows I've seen, I'd go with LoveMusik.

I almost forgot the hideous Broadway production of Jekyll and Hyde. What happened to that show was far worse than anything I saw in Thou Shalt Not.

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I think the staging for Shrek is horrid. The score and performances are the only bright spots.

I think the Rent staging was never as strong as the material.

Of revivals I especially hated Sweet Charity and La Cage for their pedestrian, negligible stagings.

And regarding the Doyle comments...

This something he originally did to save money. I wouldn't blame him for producers wanting him to repeat this. He seems to be giving this concept a rest.

I'd take a million of his actor/instrument stagings (I consider his stage pictures/movement quite wonderful) over some of the lazy directorial work in my aforementioned La Cage and Charity.