Worst Revival Ever- Page 3

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 1:19pm

jewishboy-don't you mean Harvey Fierstein should not have gotten the Tony? Because, he WAS the one who won-not Brian Stokes Mitchell. I did love Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray, not so much the show. I do agree that Antonio Banderas deserved that Tony.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 1:31pm

Put my vote in for Sweet Charity.

[Producer2]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 1:51pm

I don't remember the witch turning into a snake in the woods revival!

[itsahopi]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 1:58pm

My vote goes to Into the Woods as well. The changes they DID do, I did not agree with....It felt like the "After School Special" version of ITW.

Does anyone remember the big fight between the Baker's Wife and the Baker? She sat down with Little Red an explained that it was ok for couples to have fights every now and then. That it did not mean they loved eachother less....Now forgve me, I saw this at the Ahmanson pre-Broadway tryout in L.A....Maybe they changed it?

I also thought that some of the best lyrics in the show were cut. "You're so nice, you're not good you're not bad, you're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not bad I'm just right..." What the HELL was that singing to the baby crap in "Last Midnight"???

Sometimes I wonder if Sondheim just listens to his stuff so much that he gets over analytical about EVERYTHING... (For example: cutting "where the sky is lead and the earth is stone" out of "Giants in the Sky")

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 2:20pm

I really loved the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, it wasn't my favorite ever but it was still great if you ask me...

[toomeytwopiece]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 2:50pm

How did I know that when I saw this thread that 3penny would be kicked in the groin ONCE again??

you can't put that show in the same category as Sweet Charity, Into the Woods, etc... it's a BRECHT play with songs...

it's not like the musicals that have been suggested here... it's a little tedious when 3penny is constantly compared to these other shows...

it is also hard to believe that someone who is 21-24 could say that it was the worst revival EVER LOL... I mean, how could they know? they have only been alive for 2 decades :) I mean that in a nice way!

Disagreeing with the way a show is directed or presented is one thing, but that doesn't make it the worst... the fact that so many people DID like 3penny means it mustn't have been bad... for example, I didn't like the movie "Lost in Translation" - but that doesn't make it bad..

what would make a revival (or a movie for that matter - or any performance) bad would be things like: cheap designs, cheap costumes, poor casting choices, poor timing of the revival, etc.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 2:51pm

I found the revival of WOODS very enjoyable but the Stratford production was an absolute revelation. If the 2002 revival had not just happened I would have campaigned to transfer Stratford's wildly inventive staging to New York. They did the original 1987 text with only the addition of "Our Little World" and the restoration of the segments that were trimmed for Broadway but left on the OCR.

As for worst Broadway revival, of recent years anyhow, my choice would be the Roundabout revisal of THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. A real travesty!

[americanboy99]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 3:04pm

I really dislike the CHICAGO revival. Ugh. But one cannot say it is the worst ever.

For me, I really hated the recent SWEET CHARITY revival.

The SHE LOVES ME revival was a bore, but then got a lot better with Ruthie Henshall across the Atlantic.

But personally, the revival I dislike the most is CHICAGO. Great film, but boring revival.

[wickedbway]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 3:33pm

The 3penny revival missed what it was supposed to be about. It was a great cast, but everything else was useless and detracted from the original intentions of the story. It was unfortunate for people to go in, never knowing anything about 3penny before, and to leave the theatre thinking they really understood 3penny.

I still loved nellie, jim dale, ana, alan, and cyndi <3!!

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 3:35pm

"But personally, the revival I dislike the most is CHICAGO. Great film, but boring revival. "

The revival came before the film.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 3:39pm

Christina Applegate in Sweet Charity.

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 3:49pm

That GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES revival from the early 90s wasn't that great, either!

Also, did anyone catch that ON THE TOWN revival from the late 90s?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 4:05pm

I don't know about the On The Town revival of the late 90s, but I have read/heard that the On the Town revival of 1971 starring Bernadette Peters, Phyllis Newman, and Donna McKechnie was disastrous, McKechnie talks about the bad experiences the cast had during the rehearsal/preview process during the show. Bernadette Peters still managed to get a Tony nod. though, did anyone see this revival?

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 4:17pm

The Threepenny hatred makes me sad. I loved the show and though it was brilliant and the translation by Wally Shawn is AMAZING! I have a recording of it and is by far my favorite translation I have heard, especially when compared to the horror that is the Donmar version. I know it was a polarizing show that you either loved or hated, but I still find it hard to believe it was the worst revival ever.

[kjklo]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 6:51pm

Ray, the 1971 revival of On The Town wasn't disastrous. It flopped, but it left a lot of fans. Ethan Mordden called it "superb," and said "it was in fact one of the most impressive revivals Broadway has ever seen." I've heard sound clips. I just wish it could have received a cast album. It would probably be a cult recording now, if it had.
Updated On: 12/3/06 at 06:51 PM

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 9:19pm

I love Bernadette and think she is an actress with more range than Vanessa Williams, but I thought Vanessa was better in Into the Woods. Stay With Me was so honest and after seeing her do that show made my respect for her and into the woods sky rocket.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 9:21pm

I really don't like Vanessa Williams but I thought she was great in ITW and the Bye Bye Birdie remake. I loved Bernadette more in ITW. No one could take her place for me!

[dancinfan]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 10:30pm

I absolutely second the nomination for Once Upon a Mattress starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Horrid casting, bad staging and designs, no humor...ugh.

[Londonskyguy]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:42pm

the current revival of EVITA in London,,, Bore, snore, goodbye!

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 1:01am

The ITW Broadway revival was pretty bad. I also hated the Gypsy revival- at the performance i went to, Bernadette looked like she was going to pass out any minute.

[larry64]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 2:05am

the Roundabout revival of Company.

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 8:28am

Evita in London - great sets, great lighting but direction which lacked depth and uninspiring choreography and too much expectation and just SO boring!

Gypsy w/ Bernadette Peters - just boring!

As for Chicago, it IS one of the best revivals EVER! But by saying so, the people who produced it also ruined it.... stunt castings.... still, it's still great! The film is great but CANNOT top the show!

I really RAELLY wanna watcht he ITW in Stratford! or even the Doyle or Donmar version a few years back!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 9:57am

I love that the title of this thread is Worst Revival Ever! and most posters are claiming revivals of the past 5 years are the WORST EVER! Weighing in with an opinion if your first broadway show was 5 years ago, doesnt make sense to me, respectfully.

I disliked the revival of ITW, some elements were good, some serviceable, many terrible. Jack's mother and Little Red were horrible, one unable to remember her lines or get the timing together in her songs, the other seemed to have no idea where she was or what she was doing. Compared to scene stealers like Danielle Ferland and Barbara Byrne, this was inexcusable to me. Noone else came close to the performances of the original, save for John McMartin, who found so much in the role that Aldredge never did. It was a fine production, for a very good community theater...and it was far too soon to be revived.

It, however was not as bad as many others I've seen (tho I'd be a fool to claim I knew which revivals were the "Worst Ever.")

The Man of LaMancha revival w/ Stokes Mitchell was not anywhere near a fiasco, though it was too soon since the previous revival, one of the worst revivals I've ever seen was the Raul Julia revival in 92 with Sheena Easton completely out of her element. It was embarrassing.

I would put the On the Town revival in 98 on the shortlist. It was awful, save for DeLaria and Testa.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 10:02am

I heard the revival of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES by National Actors Theatre (Tony Randall's group) was atrocious. The same for Roundabout's BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, which featured a badly rewritten book.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 10:15am

Doodle, you're right about the "worst" and how there's a vast history of awful revivals from which to choose (especially for those of us who are OLD!) However, I have a very sophisticated habit of "blocking" miserable experiences from my past in an effort to move forward in my life with some modicum of sanity in tact.

Therefore, my most vivid memories of "bad" are also relatively "recent." (I have not, however, been able to erase the painful memory of my brother rolling me up in a blanket and hanging me from hooks on the ceiling as a child. Actually, that wasn't as bad as 3Penny Opera.)