Worst National Tour- Page 4

Posted: 9/3/17 at 12:17pm

Two come to mind.

Hairspray, maybe 10 or 12 years ago. It looked low-budget and lacked life. It felt to me like the performances had ossified. You know how you can tell when a big smile is fake? Like that. To be fair I may have gone in with a chip on my shoulder, as I thought it was a bizarre idea to turn a John Waters movie into a feel-good musical. Later, the film version helped me appreciate how great the music is.

The worst, though was Titanic. This was ages ago and the details have mercifully faded, but I remember being shocked at how cheap it looked.

 

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 9/3/17 at 11:24pm

Hands down.  Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Ace Young and diana DeGarmo was an abortion of theater.

I'm fairly certain there hasn't been nor will there ever be something as awful as that.  The set design was basically a bed sheet and I have never wanted to wet a bed more.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/4/17 at 12:40am

I think it's hard to decipher between a show that is, in my mind, terrible, and a bad production. I HATE "Cats." I saw the Broadway revival and was bored. Saw a tour about 10 years ago and was bored with it then too. I don't think either production was awful, but I just hate the show. 

 

[Bell0708]

Posted: 9/4/17 at 9:00pm

RippedMan said: "I think it's hard to decipher between a show that is, in my mind, terrible, and a bad production. I HATE "Cats." I saw the Broadway revival and was bored. Saw a tour about 10 years ago and was bored with it then too. I don't think either production was awful, but I just hate the show.

So why see it twice if you hate it?  Life's too short, RippedMan to waste your hard earned $ on something you hate, esp when there are so many other great shows to see!  JMHO ?
"

 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 9/4/17 at 9:03pm

It's been said many times already, but it truly cannot be stated enough how awful the 1st National of Titanic was.  I don't know how someone actually sat in a room and said "let's have a tiny model ship slide across the stage towards a cutout iceberg and have that be the huge dramatic moment that ends Act One".

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 9/4/17 at 9:27pm

Sertzo19 said: "Anybody here see the national tour of Bullets Over Broadway last year? i had the misfortune of buying discounted tickets at $25 a piece in Chicago and even that was too much for what I had to sit through. My bf and I contemplated walking out through most of it. I guess I'm not surprised looking it up now to see that it was a non-equity tour but God was it just TERRIBLE."

Yup, it was terrible, but "The Bodyguard" was even worse. Just laughably bad, particularly when either of the leading men were on stage (the villain was ridiculously over-the-top, the non-singing hero took himself way too seriously, considering the camp mess he was in).

[markypoo]

Posted: 9/4/17 at 10:03pm

Refresh my memory: Just what exactly was so terrible about the Bullets Over Broadway tour?

I don't remember it as being especially horrendous...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 1:47am

I didn't see the Bullets tour, but the Broadway version was physically impressive! 

And, to Belle, I went to the Broadway version with a friend who really wanted to see the show! I would not have gone on my accord. But I was curious to see "Cats" in a Broadway house with a Broadway budget. It was still terrible. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 1:47am

I didn't see the Bullets tour, but the Broadway version was physically impressive! 

And, to Belle, I went to the Broadway version with a friend who really wanted to see the show! I would not have gone on my accord. But I was curious to see "Cats" in a Broadway house with a Broadway budget. It was still terrible. 

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 10:17am

Broadway61004 said: "It's been said many times already, but it truly cannot be stated enough how awful the 1st National of Titanic was. I don't know how someone actually sat in a room and said "let's have a tiny model ship slide across the stage towards a cutout iceberg and have that be the huge dramatic moment that ends Act One"."

But isn't that basically how the first act ended on Broadway too? The details are fuzzy, but I remember thinking it looked kind of silly, especially considering the movie was still in theaters at the time as well.

 

The Bodyguard was truly horrific, but it was more the material and the asleep-at-the-wheel direction than the physical production. I also saw a non-Equity tour of Catch Me If You Can with an el-cheapo set and a Frank Jr. who just didn't quite have the voice for the score. The pacing in that one was awful, as the director had put no thought into scene transitions, other than how to get one piece of cardboard off stage and another one on.

Updated On: 9/5/17 at 10:17 AM

[markypoo]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 10:35am

Carolinaguy:

Ironically, the performer - whoever he was - that played Frank Jr. in the Catch Me tour, seemed to collect a set of very positive notices for himself, and was being touted as someone to watch out for.

I have no idea what has happened to him in the meantime, however.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 10:49am

His name is Stephen Anthony. There are a couple of Stephen Anthonys in musical theatre out there in Google-land. One of them is an ensemble member in Book of Mormon, but I don't think that's the one that was in the tour.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 11:38am

Limiting myself only to union tours rather than the occasional ambominations one finds in the land of Non-Equity, I'd say that ANYTHING GOES sticks out for just feeling incredibly tired. 

I rather enjoyed the adult performers on the Matilda tour but the kids were well-nigh incomprehensible. 

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 11:47am

carolinaguy said: "His name is Stephen Anthony. There are a couple of Stephen Anthonys in musical theatre out there in Google-land. One of them is an ensemble member in Book of Mormon, but I don't think that's the one that was in the tour."

He was actually the Frank Jr on that tour, it is noted in his Book of Mormon bio: 

Broadway debut! Stephen recently finished the 1st national tour of Catch Me If You Can, playing con man Frank Abagnale, Jr. Other favorites: Martin Charnin’s Something Funny’s Going On at 54 Below, Jesus Christ Superstar(Jesus), 25th...Spelling Bee (Chip). Love and thanks to family, MT12, Carrie and BRS/Gage.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 5:52pm

Bell0708 said: "RippedMan said: "I think it's hard to decipher between a show that is, in my mind, terrible, and a bad production. I HATE "Cats." I saw the Broadway revival and was bored. Saw a tour about 10 years ago and was bored with it then too. I don't think either production was awful, but I just hate the show.

So why see it twice if you hate it? Life's too short, RippedMan to waste your hard earned $ on something you hate, esp when there are so many other great shows to see! JMHO ?
"

"

Sometimes it's not the show itself, but the production that is bad. Seeing more then one production of a show can determine that..

[trpguyy]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 7:41pm

ClumsyDude15 said: "carolinaguy said: "His name is Stephen Anthony. There are a couple of Stephen Anthonys in musical theatre out there in Google-land. One of them is an ensemble member in Book of Mormon, but I don't think that's the one that was in the tour."

He was actually the Frank Jr on that tour, it is noted in his Book of Mormon bio:

Broadway debut! Stephen recently finished the 1st national tour ofCatch Me If You Can, playing con man Frank Abagnale, Jr. Other favorites: Martin Charnin’sSomething Funny’s Going Onat 54 Below,Jesus Christ Superstar(Jesus),25th...Spelling Bee(Chip). Love and thanks to family, MT12, Carrie and BRS/Gage."

Yes, Stephen went into Book of Mormon (and added the "Christopher" to his name) shortly after the CMIYC tour and has been in it ever since, along with some of the other guys from that tour.

[Bell0708]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 9:45pm

It just sounded to me liked he just hated "Cats", so if you hate a show, you won't want to see it again, no matter how different the production is.  But I've been in the same position he was in before, seeing a show cause ur friend wants to see it.  It's like, oh geez, I gotta sit thru this again.  So RippedMan I feel your pain!

[dwirth]

Posted: 9/5/17 at 10:48pm

The 90s Robert Goulet (as Arthur) Camelot tour, with Steve Blanchard as Lancelot, is at the top of my "worst" list. From the laughably long and self-congratulatory Goulet program bio which started something like "Mr. Goulet shot like a meteor to the stratosphere of the entertainment world" - to the 8x10 signed glossies on the lobby, this show was ALL about Goulet. (Oh, and words of advice..., don't post, say, 50 minutes of video from the show on YouTube, along with your thoughts on Goulet's performance .. or Goulet's widow Vera might take offense at your comments about "Mr. Goulet" and will write you and then report you to YT... and then you and your dozens of rare Broadway video posts will get deleted from YouTube... Not that that happened to me or anything... #hypothetical)

Oh, and the 90s La Cage tour reboot, which I saw at the Shubert in Chicago, with Leroy Reams (as an over the top, acquired-taste Albin) and Walter Charles (this time as Georges...) and Gypsy's Robert Lambert.. also creaky and bad

 Another bad one: A late 80s or early 90s Funny Thing... with malaprop comedian Jack Carter leading the cast. Prob non Equity.. and Awful...

Finally, though hardly bad, some tours just haven't captured the same feeling of the Bway show on the road..  the original Into The Woods tour with revised, unmagical set (and, um, Cleo Laine) and Will Rogers' Follies  (despite the great Carradine/Hoty... but without the essential Latessa and those backlit stairs) were among those that just didn't work as well... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 9/5/17 at 10:48 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 12:33am

I'm kind of interested in the shows touring in the early 90s/80s, etc. Like the original Into the Woods. I mean, were there always non-union versions of major shows? Did they trickle down to the smaller markets?

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 12:51am

The Equity tour of the Sweeney Todd Revival. Judy Kaye was amazing as was the guy playing Toby, the rest of the cast varied from boring to terrible. There were so many problems, but ultimately it was the late David Hess who really sank the show with his dull and lumbering performance in the title role. I was really disappointed, and I REALLY wanted to like it. I nearly left at intermission.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 10:26am

That David Hess is still alive.

http://www.playbill.com/person/david-hess-vault-0000056902

This David Hess, who did not play Sweeney Todd, is not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hess

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 12:59pm

LizzieCurry said: "That David Hess is still alive.

http://www.playbill.com/person/david-hess-vault-0000056902

This David Hess, who did not play Sweeney Todd, is not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hess"

Thank you, Lizzie.  I just had a brief moment of panic thinking, "Wait. Wasn't he just in Sunset Boulevard?"

[johannabarker]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:06pm

The current Phantom tour is atrocious. Done merely because they didn't want to pay royalties to the original creative team anymore beyond Maria Bjornson's costumes (which have been horribly butchered, decorations stripped off from existing costumes) and to prop up Love Never Dies.  Masquerade is bland and I've seen high school productions better than that. Both leading men are jerks and Christine is incredibly passive. The only good performances are in spite of the directing.

[MovieInMyMind2]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:48pm

johannabarker said: "The current Phantom tour is atrocious. Done merely because they didn't want to pay royalties to the original creative team anymore beyond Maria Bjornson's costumes (which have been horribly butchered, decorations stripped off from existing costumes) and to prop up Love Never Dies.Masquerade is bland and I've seen high school productions better than that. Both leading men are jerks and Christine is incredibly passive. The only good performances are in spite of the directing."

Christine is passive in the current tour? She literally slaps Raoul because she wants him to shut up, and, during PONR, she kicks the Phantom's hand off her leg every time he tries to touch her. Not to mention, she does this bizarre move where she walks up to the edge of the roof, almost as if she's going to jump right before All I Ask of You.

Masquerade isn't bland - it actually looks like a masquerade ballroom, now. The set for the masquerade is probably my favorite in the whole production. In reality, if one were to throw a masquerade ball, the majority of the dancing wouldn't be done on one giant staircase like in the Broadway production. In that regard, I do feel that the masquerade scene on Broadway is dated. A giant staircase with dummies can only go so far to convey the grandeur of a masquerade ballroom. Could the tour have made the ballroom more grand and with better quality sets? Sure.

But it looks more like a masquerade ball than the Broadway version, even if it is a bit stripped down. It is a tour and it was very expensive to travel with an ensemble big enough to fill up a giant staircase.


VS



In my opinion, the Broadway masquerade scene is dated. There needs to be more than just a giant staircase that everyone is singing and dancing on. And likewise, the tour's masquerade scene, while lavish in its own way, could benefit from more quality props to make the sets (not just the masquerade scene) look more rich and vibrant.

In many ways, the Broadway production's sets look dated. And also, in many ways, the tours sets look cheap and flimsy. I feel that if they somehow revamped the Broadway version to have the grandeur of the Australian Love Never Dies production, then it'd be a completely different story.

Also, the Phantom has always been a jerk. He stalks and murders people, remember? He's murdered several people... in both productions.

Trust me, I don't like the Phantom tour 100% but I also don't love the Broadway version 100%

I think they are both flawed. The tour did introduce set pieces I liked. The rooftop, for example, actually looked like a rooftop. The graveyard actually looked more like a graveyard. Masquerade looked like an actual ballroom and not just a giant staircase anymore. I do prefer the Broadway version, though. I just wish it got a bit of an upgrade and re-design. I feel like we've been seeing the same production of it since the 1980s and a change is due. Neither are perfect, in my opinion. Tour could use with higher quality sets and props and better stage blocking, DEFINITELY better stage blocking, but... Broadway could use a revamp, IMHO. 

Coming from a die-hard phan of 15 years who has seen the new tour 5 times, the old US tour 3 times, and the Broadway production 10 times. Just my two cents. 

Updated On: 9/6/17 at 03:48 PM

[johannabarker]

Posted: 9/6/17 at 4:15pm

The current Broadway production is using 30 year old sets and 10+ year old costumes, so yes, it looks dated.  If you go to the West End, which makes new costumes, it looks a lot better. I like the sets, however the staircase in the original is based on the actual Palais Garnier staircase. The chandelier looks like a reject from an 80s Vegas ballroom.

The costumes are probably the biggest atrocity. Maria Bjornson did not design this version of Masquerade. She designed everyone to have a specific character with custom wigs, masks, makeup, props. Everyone in the tour has generic, prom dresses and masks bought wholesale. The men have cheap looking tuxes and capes made out of discount bin fabric. This is not historically accurate.

The replica production induces gasps whereas this production could only impress people who have no context.