Worst show YOU HAVE BEEN IN? — Page 5

I was in a bad production of Big River. We had an amazing chorus, but the production was not good. I did however, have a WONDERFUL time performing it and made many lifelong friends. It's one of my fondest memories.

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A HORRIBLE production of A Midsummer Nights Dream where the alcoholic director also cast himself as Oberon AND Theseus, and never showed up for his entrances. I played Hermia. He hated me. A lot. No real or apparent reason. It sucked. Thank god the kid playing Demetrius was REALLY cute.

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Picture it.

1997, a small town in Minnesota's beautiful lake country. I was in college then, and had just returned from singing Mozart's "Requiem" at Carnegie Hall with my conservatory.

I couldn't get a summer job, so my Mom said, "They're doing Crazy For You-- audition". Now, CFY is a fun show, when it's done professionally. (My family had seen it both in London and Broadway, and I saw the Nat'l Tour with Kirby Ward).

I laughed hysterically at my mother for suggesting such a thing. I'm like, "You know, this show is all about tap dancing. Look where we live, none of us can tap. I got the pipes and that's it."

Well, I auditioned anyway, got cast as one of the cowboy trio (don't ask), and we all tried learning basic tap. Out of the entire cast of 10 women and 7 men (I kid you not)-- only three people could literally tap dance.

I was so embarrassed. Vocally, I loved singing Gershwin, but dancewise, it was like, "Why are we doing this". Our local director yelled at us for not being like Broadway. That made me bust out laughing.

Modified choreography helped, and the show did well for a small town audience, but still.... community theatre is not a place for an ultra dance show with people you KNOW can't dance. Yourself included.

There was this stock production of My Fair Lady, where the director decided to revert to the ending from Pygmalian and not have Eliza return to Higgins.

Then, because it was a serious ending, he decided there would be no curtain call or bows.

The audience just sat there in their seats with the house lights up, waiting for Eliza to return, not realizing the show was over. The stage manager had to go out on the stage and tell them to go home.

And that was before the night the set began to topple over during the Ascot Gavotte.

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I've been in two horrible shows. "Barnum" and "Fame". The worst part about the shows was that we didn't even sing the songs in either show or really dance. The program was cut due to budget problems. Some kids from my school used to do it and they were talking about how the director might have gotten the scripts without permission. Now I do a different summer theatre program at a local theatre and it's so much better. We're doing
"Footloose" right now and it's so much fun!

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When I was in the 8th grade I was cast in the chorus of a community theatre production of FOLLIES. Even in rehearsals, it was the worst thing I had ever seen in my young life. And why was a 14 year old boy cast in FOLLIES to begin with?

So I bailed. I went back to see the show, and to this day, it may be the worst show I've ever seen. The Sally played the entire thing like she was doing a MARY MARTIN impersonation. Phylis's wig fell off during LUCY AND JESSE (No she didn't remember the lyrics) and the LOVE LAND costumes were made out of dust ruffles from the 99 cent store. I was so embarressed for the cast. And so thankful I bowed out.

Cinderella. It speaks for itself...

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The King And I in 8th grade was just awful. I can't listen to the music from it anymore because it was just so horrid. Our "director" expected way too much from us. The fact that none of us could play a believeable Siamese person didn't help either. I was one of The King's wives and the King looked about 10 years old. It was bad. REALLY bad.

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A musical version of Treasure Island... just awful. Bad songs, terrible book and a lot of the principles couldn't act. The director would kick people out one day and then re-hire them the next day... opening night we were miserable because we all knew how bad this production was!

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A communit college production of Cabaret that hurt me so much because it was that bad. Our Emcee was so terrible, he did the standard mime make-up which looked horrible and then he did a flying dutchman cheerleading move in the middle of an introduction for Sally Bowles. Oh and one of the performances all the light went out on stage and just randomly our Light Board Op hit the board with a fist and they all went back on... BAD!!

I changed my mind. How could I have forgotten the ATROCIOUS production of "The Sound of Music" I did in the late 1990s?

The chorus PLAYED THE MOUNTAINS. That's right. They were all dressed in green/brown leotards, red capes, and white fencing masks. The set was a large set of steps that stretched across the stage (it looked like football stadium bleachers) and when the lights came up, the chorus was lying face down on the steps. No music. Then they began making strange noises, moaning and buzzing, etc., as they rose and Maria entered singing "The Sound of Music". As she sang, the chorus distorted themselves into Twyla Tharp-ish positions, trying to act out the bubbling brook, the lark learning to pray, God only knows what. In every outdoor scene, they were standing in the background waving their arms and scaring the poor von Trapp kids.

The director also added little "inspiring" (embarrassing) scenes to the text--when the Nazis invade the abbey at the end he had them shouting at the nuns, calling them "dogs" and slapping and shoving them around. Then three of the nuns began singing "Ave Maria" a capella, which apparently frightened the Nazis off. Ugh. Most of the cast did surprisingly well, with the exception of Captain von Trapp, who was about fifty-five to Maria's twenty-six--their love scenes were supremely creepy.

I really hope this is my worst show ever. I wouldn't want to go lower than this.

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LOL! Funniest...thread...EVER!!!!