Which Musical Numbers Helped — Page 2

Carousel was not a good choice, Mean Girls was just choppy and off (made me happy I saw the understudy for Grey Henson), and sadly, Bruce was a little boring (I know, heresy). I wish The Band’s Visit could have done a bit of a medley, but that may have made that kinda choppy too.

But surprisingly, the show made the season seem richer than it was. The new musicals may have been low on adult quality, but the plays and revivals (play and musicals) saved the season.

Updated On: 6/11/18 at 04:17 PM

Inspite of the lack of nominations, and lack of love on these boards, Frozen was far and away the best live performance of the evening, queen Caissie ruled the night.

Once On This Island's performance and win (STILL SO HAPPY) I'd like to think grabbed not only those on the fences' attention but the attention of the casual theatre goer's that tune in to see what's up with Broadway lately. Those folks that don't really know the shows, see it and think "I have NEVER heard of this before but wow I like the way it looks" They were so smart to recreate the intimate feeling of the production with the stage within a stage because it showed you how unique this production really is in this season of traditional overload. Big wins all aroung for them last night.

The last thing I wanted Frozen to do was to perform Let It Go. Now seeing it.... I am SO GLAD they did Let It Go. Their performance last night really showed off how they have taken the work that you already know to death and are doing something different and dare I say it better with it because yeah... Cassie does Let It Go better than Idina. I said it. Come at me bro. Idina has yet to prove that she can sing that song live and well at the same time. Cassie KILLED IT. Possibly the best single performance of last night.

On the FLIP SIDE Mean Girls really misused their time with a bad choice of number. I get that they wanted to highlight all their nominated actors but cutting up two good numbers to make one chaotic mish mosh number was a very bad choice. It was so rushed. I mean they even cut that comedic pause after Karen's verse in Meet the Plastics. THAT'S THE JOKE! That's what makes that moment so funny! Wow was a huge misfire. It's still gonna be fine for the name recogniztion alone but they did not win anyone that was on the fence over last night.

Carousel picked one of the most forgettable songs in the bunch. My mother watched the show with me. She has SEEN Carousel (not this production) and half way through the number turned to me and asked if they added music to the show because she didn't remember the song at all. There are other much more engaging and classic songs with just as good dancing in the show. I don't think anyone will ever be able to get into Rubin's head to figure out what he is thinking in moments like this because this one did a troubled word of mouth production NO favors.

Someone commented on the screeching in the Once on this Island number. Sadly, I saw this early in previews and Alex Newell was awesome. I had read his voice may be strained. That number is a tough one on the vocals (I saw Lillias White who killed it too).

The number they did was still fine for me, my favorite song, but was confused where the stage was... don’t remember seeing it roll out on main Center stage.

This is the first time in a few years I haven't seen any of the nominated musicals, so it was interesting to watch with my family without a rooting interest.

Mean Girls - A disaster, so bad that my teenage daughter, who grew up on the movie, expressed no interest in seeing the musical. Tuneless and unfunny. I'm sure it works better in the actual show, but it felt terribly amateurish on the telecast.

My Fair Lady - My wife knows the music by heart. I don't. My daughter was surprised to recognize the first two songs, and she liked them quite a bit. It did a good job of making me wanting to see the musical. I was surprised by Lauren Ambrose's voice.

SpongeBob Squarepants - It was OK, clever and amusing enough. It didn't make any of us want to see it, though.

Carousel - It was nice to see Joshua Henry, who we've seen in Shuffle Along and the Hamilton tour. But even if the choreography is the best part of this revival, the song felt like a misfire when there are so many other good options.

Frozen - It was probably effective at selling the show, but I'm not the right audience for it.

Summer - It also was reasonably effective at selling the show. It's "Last Dance." Hard to screw it up, and they didn't.

Once on This Island - I didn't love it as much as many others have, but the performance did a good job of selling an unusual and entertaining experience. My wife and daughter enjoyed it a lot.

The Band's Visit - It didn't entirely alleviate my concern that the show might be a little dull. I liked the performance more than my wife and daughter, but it didn't make me regret not going to New York this year for the musicals.

Springsteen - It was interesting enough, but I had to wonder: Is the whole show like that? Because all due respect to The Boss, it felt too much like he was reading to me.

Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban were surprisingly effective as hosts, taking advantage of their skills - except for the stupid part when they were stuck in that awful Chita Rivera/Andrew Lloyd Webber thing. But otherwise, they were great.