Why do so many people hate......- Page 2

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 1:58pm

re: the book: I believe that the book is pretty much taken directly from the 1890s play, which was sort of expressionistic/Brechtian. "Spring Awakening" is pretty much that classic play, with modern songs.

re: the fangirls: From some boards such as this one, I would almost be scared to see the show based on the fans. I would be afraid that the audience would be almost all screaming pre-pubescent girls. In reality, this has not been the case at all when I went. The audience was quite diverse and not much different form that of any other show. Even the crowd outside the stage door was not even close to the mob of groupies I expected.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:00pm

But that doesn't mean the authors had to stick so closely to the book. They could have done it differently.

[ulkis]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:01pm

I was expecting to like it, but eh. The songs sound like the rest of Duncan Shiek's music, not bad but not particularly memorable. I actually think Wendla's non-rock songs are the best ones.

I haven't seen it on stage, just listened to the music. But I had to read the original play for class once, and none of the characters were very likeable either. Melchior was creepy, Wendla was a cipher and Moritz was annoying.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:01pm

I like the show but think it's incredibly overrated. It has the potential to be better than it is.

IMO-the award it truly didn't deserve was best book.
Ditto. I also don't think it deserved best choreography, no matter how well respected Bill T. Jones is in the dance world.

[jg4892]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:07pm

The thing that makes me mad is that the show is exactly the same as it was in november when it started previews. It never asked for the fans and praise, they just came to it. And suddenley people started freaking out and calling you a fangirl. I fell in love with the show in november, way before the cd even came out. I still love it, and I haven't let a few 13 year old girls who think Jonathan Groff is hot ruin the experience for me.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:15pm

I love the show, but I was puzzled by the best book award. The book was writtten in 1893 or whatever!

I didn't care about, or relate to, any of the characters either (and I generally abhor teen stuff) , but I loved the show! The music, staging, etc. all came together to move me somehow.

I am not sure you have to like any of the characters to like a show (or book or whatever). I can't relate, or care much about, crazy cat ladies either, but I liked Grey Gardens!! As for SA, I believe it was written that way on purpose. (i.e., Brechtian). It's different from the modern notion of empathizing with the protagonists. If one still doesn't like it, fine, but I think it's unfair to say SA was somehow badly written.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:19pm

If one still doesn't like it, fine, but I think it's unfair to say SA was somehow badly written.

To say that Sater's book was badly written is unfair? He didn't adapt it well, IMO.

[BobbyErikValjean]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:23pm

From what I have witnessed, the dislike is based on the young kids who make up the fanbase of this show. Same thing with Rent and Wicked. What these older people don't realize is that in 50 years from now, Broadway itself would be dead without those kids. Yes, they may be annoying and may not know much about Sondheim, but the future of Broadway lies in their hands.


Its not the show itself, in my opinion.

[Anakela]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:25pm

I also don't think it deserved best choreography, no matter how well respected Bill T. Jones is in the dance world.

Ditto- *that* is the biggest award I felt it didn't deserve...someone (on here, I believe?) said it pretty brilliantly- something along the lines of yeah, so I can mosh and touch myself too, so where's my Tony? That post made me laugh for days, whoever you were.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:28pm

Haha, that is brilliant (and absolutely true).

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:30pm

I liked the show, but I didn't think it was anything special. Some of the songs were enjoyable and some were just stupid. ("Blah blah blah...") I found a lot of what little choreography there was to be very pretentious and I thought Groff over-acted. I did like Gallagher. I just don't think it deserves the title of "Best Musical of the Year" and the over-zealous fans do put me off.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:33pm

re: the book: I believe that the book is pretty much taken directly from the 1890s play, which was sort of expressionistic/Brechtian. "Spring Awakening" is pretty much that classic play, with modern songs.

Just because it's taken from something else doesn't mean I have to like it. I do like other things about the show, but the book really ruins it for me. But just because it's based on something else doesn't mean I have to like it.

I am not sure you have to like any of the characters to like a show (or book or whatever). I can't relate, or care much about, crazy cat ladies either, but I liked Grey Gardens!!

I sure can't relate to crazy cat ladies, but damn if that show didn't make me care about them more than anything I've ever seen. I could even relate more to the teens in SA, but I think that GG did so much of a better job getting me to care about the characters.

[Sargar]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:35pm

I was excited to see this show, and at the end of it, my friend and I looked at each other and said "well, i'm a little scared to see just how much the new york times is going to rip it apart!" Imagine our shock when it got rave reviews. The show is overrated. The music is nice, the lyrics are COMPLETELY laughable, even going beyond the "blah blah blah" stuff...and some of the acting is like a high school play...probably because half the kids are of high school age or a little bit older. And I'm not a big fan of spending a ton of money on a broadway show when I could pay $5 and see a local high school production.
I think it's an okay show with an interesting idea that I don't think fulfilled it's potential.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:46pm

I personally think that the dialogue is trite, the lyrics are godawful, the score is mediocre if not annoying ("The Bitch of Living" makes me want to kill someone,) the plot is just about a bunch of horny overdramatic teens, whom I can barely stand as it is, let alone care about them. I also think that the song breaks get annoying because they interrupt rather than move along the story; it's like a Wildhorn show, only worse.

[logan0215]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:48pm

"The Bitch of Living" makes me want to kill someone

I'm literally LOLing in my office from that line.

Thank you SporkGoddess, finally something good came out of SA for me.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:50pm

To say that Sater's book was badly written is unfair? He didn't adapt it well, IMO.

I see your point, I really do, but that's it...he adapted the play that Widekind (sp) wrote. I am mainly responding to those who don't like the characters, the plot, etc. and think that someone wrote it from scratch five years ago. To re-write it would make it a new work, and it would not be "Spring Awakening".

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:55pm

To re-write it would make it a new work, and it would not be "Spring Awakening".

Not necessarily. While it wouln't have stuck as closely to the play, you could easily cut some of the subplots people have problems with and still call it "Spring Awakening".

[Liverpool]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:58pm

because its a bad show.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 2:59pm

I get what you're saying, but revisions could have been made that allowed it to still stick to the original play, but to work better as a musical. He didn't have to re-write the whole thing from scratch.

[gman07]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:03pm

Answering the original question.

Not getting what you want generates anger, hence feelings of hate. Jealousy comes to mind.
Updated On: 7/17/07 at 03:03 PM

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:04pm

You're joking, right?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:05pm

Jealous of what?

[gman07]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:07pm

The word "jealousy" is frequently used to describe what is more properly envy, fixation on what someone else has.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:09pm

I'm familar with the word jealous. Could you please tell me what I'm apparently jealous of?

Updated On: 7/17/07 at 03:09 PM

[gman07]

Posted: 7/17/07 at 3:10pm

Hatred is an emotion of intense revulsion, distaste, enmity, or antipathy for a person, thing, or phenomenon, generally attributed to a desire to avoid, restrict, remove, or destroy the hated object.