What Was The Worst Musical You Saw — Page 7

frontrowcentre2 said: "Now I rather liked URINETOWN, and THE BANDS VISIT and PASSION. I did not like SUNSET BLVD. The performance I atttended in Toronto starred Diahann Carroll who appeared bored and uninterested in giving any kind of star performance.

The classic film is still a favorite, but Lloyd Webber used too much of the film dialogue as recitative and brought nothing new or innovative to the stage adaptation. According to an article in SHOW MUSIC magazine he chose to recycle a number of trunk songs which explains why the score is so wildly uneven."

Sunset Blvd is frustrating because so much of the music is excellent (the Hollywood pastiche is quite good!) and it often comes close to being a grand, gothic opera, but stretching it out to a two-act evening sucks all the witty, zippy energy out and too often it just feels like waiting around for the conclusion.

bryan2 said: "very strange that everybody hates CATS but it ran forever...mmmm I think people are afraid to admit they liked it or some of it....I know I loved seeing Betty Buckley belt out Memory also Lauri Beechman in the first National tour...it was worth the price of admission...."

Well, everyone doesn't hate it. Most Broadway aficionados do, but that's a smaller group. That it gets no lover here should come as zero surprise (it is a pretty terrible show, one or two good songs, tops).

A train wreck of a musical called "Paradise Found" at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London in 2010. Directed by Harold Prince and Susan Stroman and starring a very sweaty Mandy Patinkin it was dire to say the least. The excellent supporting cast couldn't do much to save it either.

Scarlet Leigh said: "if you have to said: "Sutton Ross said: "Lestat and Scandalous."

While not great shows, they at least had Carolee Carmello in them. And she was/is incredible."

Gosh.... this just made me realize. Some of the worst shows I have seen were Addam's Family and Tuck Everlasting... ALSO with Carmello. AND she was in Finding Neverland. How is is that one of the best talents in theatre has been in SO many awful flops in recent years?"

Aw, I love Tuck and FN. Addam’s Family was not great, but again, she was wonderful! Not only is she in the flops, but she manages Tony nominations from them too! I honestly think she should have won for a Parade and Scandalous.

I can't believe I haven't seen anyone mention James Joyce's The Dead. I don't think there was an intermission to escape. My friends and I literally ran away from the theatre when it ended.

Lennon, pre-Broadway in SF. We were shocked that it actually went to Broadway, and surprised that it even lasted 6 weeks.

Updated On: 5/16/20 at 08:15 PM

PatrickDC said: "joevitus said: "bryan2 said: "very strange that everybody hates CATS but it ran forever...mmmm I think people are afraid to admit they liked it or some of it....I know I loved seeing Betty Buckley belt out Memory also Lauri Beechman in the first National tour...it was worth the price of admission...."

Well, everyone doesn't hate it. Most Broadway aficionados do, but that's a smaller group. That it gets no lover here should come as zero surprise (it is a pretty terrible show, one or two good songs, tops)."

I long ago got over CATS but there was a time I adored it and listened to the double LP until I wore it out. It sat down in San Francisco for a year or maybe more and I saw it three times (then twice in NYC and once in London). It was the first true Broadway show I’d seen. Before that only some regional and local shows. So I was completely blown away by it. While I have no more interest in it and haven’t seen the recent film, I’m not ashamed in the leastto say I loved the show that ignited mylifelong passion for musical theater."

When I saw it on Broadway in the mid-to-late 80's, there was a female audience member at intermission who kept apologizing for the show to everyone at the bar and insisting when she first saw it around the time it opened it had been really good. I don't tell this story to mock the show but just to point out the difference between seeing a show when the cast has high-voltage energy vs. those who have gone thorugh the motions a million times.

I don't begrudge anyone for liking the show (if you like the movie, perhaps a rest at a mental health care facility is called for). When I was a theater kid growing up, every other person in my acting classes had a Cats t-shirt, and the sheet music was always on top of the rehearsal piano. It was a huge phenomenon. I saw it way too late to feel it. Ironically, I saw A Chorus Line on the same trip, and it worked just fine for me (and I got to see Donna McKechnie in one of the very few performances she gave when she returned to the show at that time--by far the greatest luck I've ever had in terms of live performances I've been privileged to witness). Also saw Little Shop, which I'd seen elsewhere. No longer very magical with all but (I think) the original Audrey II voice actor all long gone. You could see how it would have worked when it opened, but it just didn't.