Posted: 6/6/16 at 1:29pm
After seeing nearly every musical on Broadway in the past 3 seasons, these are the ones I didn't like: shuffle along, American psycho, dames at sea, it shoulda been you, honeymoon in Vegas (though for some reason I saw it 4 times umm lol), the visit and hedwig. Out of that list, I would honestly consider American psycho to be the worst musical I ever saw.
Posted: 6/6/16 at 1:49pm
Miss Saigon. Saw it in London shortly after it opened. Lia Salonga had the night off, but that wasn't the problem. The terrible lyrics (or perhaps more accurately terrible translation), the derivative staging, the helicopter which seemed to exist only to top Phantom's chandelier...I just hated it.
Posted: 6/6/16 at 1:50pm
I hardly ever post, but this is the strangest thread I've ever read! I've been seeing Broadway shows for almost 30 years and acted for many years and I've seen and been in AWFUL shows! But really Once, Fun Home? Compared to In My Life, Lestat, Metro, Scandalous! Confused, it's one thing not to like something, but being the worst show you ever saw?! I didn't like Mary Poppins, 9 to 5, or Big Fish, But they were not the worst shows ever I just didn't care for them. Just my two cents. That's all. Everyone is free to their own opinion
Posted: 6/6/16 at 1:55pm
Lestat (SF - the very first preview pre-bway run). This was some epically bad stuff. We saw Jack Noseworthy in one of the few performances he actually did with an audience. It was not good.. not good at all..
Threepenny Opera (Broadway 2006)
Posted: 6/6/16 at 2:06pm
INTO THE LIGHT - a musical about proving the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, with dearly departed Dean Jones. Although I've seen many musicals that I didn't like, thought were misguided, and/or productions of shows I like but hated the production, INTO THE LIGHT takes the cake for WORST musical I've ever seen over decades of theater-going.
I have to add that the WORST show I've ever seen (would even win over Into the Light) was MOOSE MURDERS! My actress friend stood up at intermission and shouted loudly in great distress, "This is an outrage to the theater!" - she informed me she was leaving. I said I had to stay and see if it could get any worse. It did. I met her in a bar after to catch up with her. We both commiserated for Holland Taylor, who had taken over for the late Eve Arden, who had the wisdom to leave the show after the first couple of dreadful previews...
Posted: 6/6/16 at 2:08pm
Miss Saigon. Please stop everything, especially the terrible lyrics and that three chord progression meant to sound "Oriental" that is played every 3 seconds.
I was planning to leave at intermission, especially since my friend in the show who got me the tickets dies in Act One. Then I saw that his ghost comes back in Acto 2 so I had to stay
9 to 5 was a close second. Terrible songs, aggressively terrible choregraphy..and trying to get laughs out of third rate knock offs of great performances from the film.
Oh, and Urban Cowboy, which committed the cardinal sin of just being deadly dull.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 7:41am
Why was Scandalous so bad? I didn't see it but wasn't in development for like a decade?
Posted: 8/19/16 at 8:04am
I have never seen a show I "hated", but I was significantly underwhelmed by Matilda and Mary Poppins.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 9:06am
Besides Holler if Ya Hear me, the worst show for me by far was this little musical called The Pregnancy of Angela Freak. It was a science fiction musical about a creepy circus family and this fire dancer is pregnant and the father manipulates the genetic composition of the baby from the womb. From the description alone I should have known it would be bad, but hey the tickets were free.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 9:17am
I can answer this unusual question in three little words:
Band
In
Berlin
Posted: 8/19/16 at 9:36am
There comes a point when a show is so idiotic and/or badly written (usually the book, but sometimes the score), that there can be no worst, only one unvarying shade of unbearable, and you long for an opportunity to escape the theatre. Some awful shows have an unintended quality of hilarity in their badness, but some don't. For me, these shows reached that nadir (in no particular order):
Ring of Fire
The Times They Are A Changin'
Lennon
Lestat
Summer of 42
Jane Eyre
Hot Feet
A Class Act
The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm
The Capeman
High Fidelilty
February House
Bright Star
Rocky, the Musical
Leap of Faith
Ghost, the Musical
Bonnie and Clyde
The People In The Picture
Wonderland
Updated On: 8/19/16 at 09:36 AM
Posted: 8/19/16 at 9:52am
pg1287 said: "I have never seen a show I "hated", but I was significantly underwhelmed by Matilda and Mary Poppins.
"
I know Matilda is beloved here but it was my first Broadway show and I thought it was awful. The score was not very good. The time I saw it the girl play Miss Honey had a lot of voice troubles. But Christopher Siber was entertaining.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 10:06am
Spamilton - what a piece of junk, using cheap (but not effective) humor to capitalize off of a commercial success. They could have done so much more but knew they didn't have to because would sell out purely based on the source material.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 10:36am
Without a doubt it was Via Galactica (1972), a wonderful cast (Virginia Vestoff, Raul Julia, Irene Cara, Ralph Carter, Damon Evans, Keene Curtis, etc) in a truly awful show. 7 performances was a gift for this badly written and conceived musical.
Runners up:
Spiderman
Dance with Me (1975)
The West End version of Saturday Night Fever.
I didn't care for Fun Home, but it isn't nearly the worst show I have ever seen. I (like Diana Morales in Chorus Line) just felt nothing.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 11:20am
Jimmy
Spamalot
Cats
Posted: 8/19/16 at 11:45am
This thread really shows people ages 
Good Vibrations (though I couldn't stop laughing at how they messed this up so bad)
Lestat (I almost fell asleep)
Gone With the Wind (London production, so awful)
The Wedding Singer (UK tour a few years back, I actually thought the Broadway one was a lot of fun)
Flashdance (US tour, the London one felt like it was heading in the right direction, this was just bad and cheap)
Monkee Business (UK premiere in Manchester, I was reviewing that night and gave it one star. The show disappeard after Manchester)
Vampirette (Another premiere in Manchester that my review came with a one star. Again, the tour collapsed after Manchester)
nothibg however will ever top Rent Remixed in London. It was jaw dropoingly bad.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 11:46am
THOU SHALT NOT
SEUSSICAL
MOVIN' OUT
Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:35pm
newintown said: "
Ring of Fire
The Times They Are A Changin'
Lennon
Lestat
Summer of 42
Jane Capeman
High Fidelilty
February House
Bright Star
Rocky, the Musical
Leap of Faith
Ghost, the Musical
Bonnie and Clyde
The People In The Picture
Wonderland
"
Wow, was surprised to see February House, which on cd anyway I find charming, on that list
Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:48pm
I think maybe the worst I've seen was Ghostlight at NYMF a few years ago. It was long and boring and Michael Hayden hasn't aged all that well.
On Broadway, there are a handful of shows that I've seen that have been awful in different ways, but if I have to pick one it would be the Constantine Maroulis-led revival of Jekyll and Hyde. Some of the other bad shows I've seen, like Wonderland and Baby It's You, either had fun parts or camp value or some little thing to redeem them; not this production of J&H.
(I'm not anti-Wildhorn, though I just dissed two of his shows. I liked Bonnie and Clyde and actually enjoy some of the songs from J&H, outside of that production.)
Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:53pm
The Secret Annex. Off-Broadway musical of The Diary of Anne Frank, in the '90s.
On Broadway, maybe, The News.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:18pm
EricMontreal22 wrote: "Wow, was surprised to see February House, which on cd anyway I find charming, on that list"
As they say, you can't judge a show by its recording; I found poor February House to be a great idea, inertly realized. The book meandered with no discernible story, point, or focus, and the score followed suit, with a large disparate group of famous characters all singing in more or less the same musical language - meandering little tunes that neither told a story or illuminated the characters. It was 90 minutes (more?) of amiably wondering exactly why we were watching it all. I would go along with your assessment of "charming," but in the theatre, I felt it needed some kind of actual purpose.
Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:22pm
The Lion King (pure hatred with the exception of the opening number)
Phantom of the Opera (tired cast)
Guys and Dolls (boring and too much slapstick with some standout moments like "Sit down, you are rocking the boat" that nevertheless hardly justify the other excruciating 2 hours I had to sit through)
An American in Paris (love the style but the songs are not at all memorable)
American Psycho (Listening to "Selling Out" after the closing announcement was too ironic and other songs are quickly forgettable)
Tuck Everlasting (A snoozefest despite the breathtaking set)
Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:27pm
Romantic Poetry - The only show I'm aware of that received 0 stars from Time Out NY.
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/romantic-poetry
