annoying things in shows- Page 2

[ahmelie]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:34pm

Another thing I hate is when a character doesn't say "bye" when finishing a phone conversation.

Oh dear lord, I hate that.

[Junior]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:58pm

ok. In my humble opinion, Tarzan is mediocre (at best) overall, but the biggest thing that bothers me about that show is that the hardware for the bungee cord/ cable/ "vine" things is so... OUT There. I mean I know it's not like Peter Pan or something where they try to hide the wires and stuff as much as they can, (I know you can't hide them COMPLETELY, but still) but they could have at least painted the hardware green or something in an ATTEMPT to make them at least blend in a little. I know it's nit-picky, but I was ALWAYS distracted by the two feet of shiny hardware at the bottom of the "vines"...

And it kinda bothered me how during "Nicest kids in town" from Hairspray, Tracy, Penny and Edna are on the big rolling "living room" unit, right in the middle of what they're "watching" on TV. I guess this staging could just be to show how "immersed" the girls are in the show, but I think you would get the same idea if they were off to the side...

[AnythingCanHappen]

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

the little white coffin in the sweeney rivival.

confused the hell out of me. nuff said.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 2:10am

Can't you understand any symbolism?

[AnythingCanHappen]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 2:25am

Please, explain to me COOOOLkid. I have friends who have spoken with cast members, and they weren't even sure.

And by the way, it would be *can you not understand any symbolism?* *Can't* would be *can not understand any symbolism?* got grammar?

If you are just talking about the fact that it was a chair I will explode.

Updated On: 12/4/06 at 02:25 AM

[Mistress_Spouzic]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 3:48am

i didnt 'get' the coffin either.

Posted: 12/4/06 at 7:46am

"In a play or movie when a character is opening up a present, but instead of unwrapping the paper like a normal person, they simply just lift off the lid."

in the Amy Sedaris & David Rakoff performance, one of Amy's "craft lessons" was HOW TO WRAP A GIFT LIKE ON A SOAP OPERA...which meant wrapping the box & the lid of the box seperatley for easy opening.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:44pm

"Are you referring to Aida's father?"

Yes.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:50pm

I hate when people don't say "bye" too. I always think, "in real life people almost always say bye on the phone". How does the other person know the conversation is over?

I also hate when there are sports references but the writer clearly doesn't know much about the sport. I can't think of an example off-hand, but that annoys me.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:58pm

I do hate contrived phone conversations in which you can't hear the voice on the other end, so the speaker just repeats everything the other person would be saying. Things like:

WHOEVER: Hello? What? John left you this morning? Why? You haven't taken a bath in 12 days? Well, get in the shower! It's broken? Then get it fixed!

Nobody talks like that. Nobody.
Updated On: 12/4/06 at 04:58 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 5:03pm

^ My mom actually did that a few days ago.

[actor]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 5:19pm

I've spoken with lots of people that talk like that...and it annoys the hell out of me.

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 11:10pm

The coffin was small and white, like the coffin a very small child would be buried in. When Sweeney recieved it, he was putting aside his dreams of revenge in favor of his siple bloodlust, and in this way, he was "burying" his hopes of reuniting with Joanna and the baby's coffin used as his fancy chair represented that. It's omnipresence on stage from that point is symbolic of how the loss of his daughter is what broke his mind. Hence his holding it all through the Joanna Quartet, the song wherein he surrenders his hope of ever seeing her again.



Oh, and it bothers me how in Wicked they changed it so that Madame Morrible doesn't have Doctor Dillamond killed. I'm not opposed to changes from source material when it works for the story. I love that Nessarose has her arms, and is in a wheelchair. It makes the shoe angle work better. The new characterizations of Fiyero and Boq work quite well for the show. But taking out the murder weakens the portrayal of the Wizard. Why would he sit aound and wait for the Goat to turn dumb? He wouldn't. He'd kill him, and it makes him a much more disturbing villain.

Oh, I just miss Grommetik in general. And I would have kept Fiyero's tattoos.

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 12/4/06 at 11:38pm

Whoa. That turned into a tangent. Sorry for the off-topicness, guys.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 12:31am

Game show contestants on Broadway with the exception of Mario Lopez!

[LyTeMyCanDyI]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 2:22am

"And I would have kept Fiyero's tattoos."

I totally agree. The line from the book, "They moved together, blue diamonds on a green field." is my favorite. I was hoping to see it.

What annoys me the most is when you can tell an actor is bored with thier part. I HATE IT!

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 2:34am

"That has almost driven me MAD over the years. I hate that! Another thing I hate is when a character doesn't say "bye" when finishing a phone conversation."

Even in the "Telephone Song" they have the decency to say 'bye'

Example:

Girl: Hello!
Boy: Hello!
Girl: Sitting all alone like that, you happened to catch my eye. Would you like to buy a girl a drink?
Boy: Sorry.
Girl: Ah! Goodbye.

[Yes, I listen to Cabaret waaaaaay too much. :)]

[jynni]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 11:05am

"That has almost driven me MAD over the years. I hate that! Another thing I hate is when a character doesn't say "bye" when finishing a phone conversation."

That drives me mad in real life too. My mom does it and it's very annoying.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 11:29am

In regards to that Sweeney coffin thing... I find stupid symbolism annoying.

"In a play or movie when a character is opening up a present, but instead of unwrapping the paper like a normal person, they simply just lift off the lid."

I ALWAYS notice that too. Drives me nuts.

Okay, this one's really stupid and nitpicky, but here goes: in "Flagmaker, 1776" from Songs for a New World, the woman sings "And his last letter says he's fighting in a ditch." The Revolutionary War used 18th century European style battle tactics; trench warfare didn't come about until the 20th century! Gahhh!

Another historical nitpick. In Parade, Frankie goes off to fight WWI at the end... several years before the USA became involved in it. Yeah.

Phantom of the Opera - Raoul's "ingenious" plan in which he plots how to capture the Phantom, because you know, it's been done so easily before. It not only makes the character look dumb (because he thinks it will work,) it makes the writers look dumb. For that matter, I'm also annoyed with how ALW actually wrote Don Juan which is supposed to be this amazingly awesome opera, and just made it consist of earlier melodies from the show and one ridiculously symbolic pop duet.

Another one from Phantom is the theme song which, while a cool melody, has lyrics that do not fit in with the rest of the show (for instance, Christine sings "Those who have seen your face draw back in fear" when she hasn't seen Erik's disfigurement yet.) That's what you get though for writing the song before the rest of the show, I suppose.

This one I CANNOT stand: "A New Life" in Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll warns Lucy to RUN FOR HER LIFE. What does she do? She sits there for FIVE MINUTES singing a ballad. The entire time you're like "Run, you idiot! Hyde's after you!" And then, of course, she doesn't get out in time and she dies. I like the song itself, but in the context of the show it's just too much.

Jane Eyre Broadway version - In "My Maker" Jane talks about how she will not be blessed by God because she's harmed the thing that she loves best. Doesn't that completely destroy the point of Jane leaving Rochester because she would be sinning, and therefore she chose God over him? I mean, what the heck?

Miss Saigon - Chris says that Kim cost the price of a Big Mac... but she cost $20-$50. I think it's safe to assume that Chris got overcharged at McDonalds back in the States. Then again, he isn't the brightest: the whole "Oh, we'll totally know ahead of time when the VC are going to come!" thing proves that.

Les Mis - How Valjean escapes from Javert in "Confrontation." I know that they can't do the whole "fakes his death" thing like in the novel, but a chair? SERIOUSLY.

... and I'm going to stop now before I look even more nitpicky.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 12:04pm

I know this is a bit off-topic -- but the post about how gifts are wrapped on TV or on stage reminded me of how I hate the way people open candy bar wrappers on TV! It is impossible to tear open the wrapper that way!


Ok now back to your reguarly scheduled on-topic discussion...

[jynni]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 12:44pm

"Okay, this one's really stupid and nitpicky, but here goes: in "Flagmaker, 1776" from Songs for a New World, the woman sings "And his last letter says he's fighting in a ditch." The Revolutionary War used 18th century European style battle tactics; trench warfare didn't come about until the 20th century! Gahhh!"

But that doesn't mean they didn't fight in ditches. Part of the reason the British had trouble with the Revolutionary armies was that they didn't conform to the standard battle styles - they hid in the trees, ditches etc and caught the enemy by surprise.

"Another one from Phantom is the theme song which, while a cool melody, has lyrics that do not fit in with the rest of the show (for instance, Christine sings "Those who have seen your face draw back in fear" when she hasn't seen Erik's disfigurement yet.)"

How does that not fit? She's merely commenting that other people who have seen the Phantom get the crap scared out of them.

[achancetofly]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 1:09pm

Enjolras, how do they open candy bar wrappers? I seriously am blanking and cannot picture how it's done on screen as opposed to real life. Is it like the presents, with just...sliding the wrapper off?

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 1:42pm

"But that doesn't mean they didn't fight in ditches. Part of the reason the British had trouble with the Revolutionary armies was that they didn't conform to the standard battle styles - they hid in the trees, ditches etc and caught the enemy by surprise."

The guerilla tactics didn't come about until later with Marion and Morgan, and even then they didn't fight in ditches. They hid in them and dug them to hold up the enemy, but they didn't actually fight in them. She specifically says "fighting in a ditch."

"How does that not fit? She's merely commenting that other people who have seen the Phantom get the crap scared out of them."

At this point, Christine does not know that he is the Phantom of the Opera. She still thinks that he is the Angel of Music.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 2:15pm

Umm, she's singing all about "The Phantom of the Opera" so I assume she realizes that he's the phantom somewhere along the way.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 12/5/06 at 2:29pm

achancetofly -- it is hard to explain. In Snickers commercials, they grab the wrapper with one hand from the top and pull on it so that it neatly tears across the front of the bar.