What's the very worst musical you ever saw?

[samhexum]

[bostonman]

When I saw it in previews Bette messed up during the song Hello Dolly and forgot a line and fortunately the company was singing with her and she just laughed and said "what the hell you guys all know the words". She pulled it off great. My friend and I thought it was part of the show but was weird they would do it during the biggest song and we asked an usher after and he said he had worked the show every performance and she really did mess up that night. She still got a standing ovation.

 

The problem, as I understand it, is that she went up on lines/lyrics often during previews, and perhaps even beyond opening. She would often punctuate such moments by telling the audience how tired she was.

 

This goes along with the stories of Elaine Stritch during the revival of A Little Night Music, often going up on lines and breaking character to shout offstage for the line. I can't remember if she completely refused an earpiece (to get prompted) or if they finally convinced her to do that.

[+ WilliamM]

The problem, as I understand it, is that she went up on lines/lyrics often during previews, and perhaps even beyond opening. She would often punctuate such moments by telling the audience how tired she was.

 

This goes along with the stories of Elaine Stritch during the revival of A Little Night Music, often going up on lines and breaking character to shout offstage for the line. I can't remember if she completely refused an earpiece (to get prompted) or if they finally convinced her to do that.

 

Elaine should have followed Mary Martin's lead in "Legends!".

[bostonman]

Elaine should have followed Mary Martin's lead in "Legends!".

 

I assume Martin was more honest about her needs. Stritch was too proud to admit she needed the help.

[+ WilliamM]

I saw "Legends" in Boston. The plot was such that the lines in Act One could have worked just as well in Act Two. But Carol Channing was fine, so Martin didn't have choice. Leaving wasn't an option, I guess. Martin deserved credit for staying with the terrible play

[Talented]

It was actually the last show I saw a couple of weeks before COVID shut Broadway down. Chicago with Erika Girardi. She wasn’t even trying! You could tell she was over it. Stayed throughout the whole thing. I was in the third row in the center orchestra. Our whole section did not stand up at the end but I was surprised to see about half the audience gave her a standing ovation. There were two really cute guys in the show that I wanted to stand up for lol I noticed one of them kept looking at me

[Islesguy]

On 9/13/2021 at 8:42 PM, Talented said:

It was actually the last show I saw a couple of weeks before COVID shut Broadway down. Chicago with Erika Girardi. She wasn’t even trying! You could tell she was over it. Stayed throughout the whole thing. I was in the third row in the center orchestra. Our whole section did not stand up at the end but I was surprised to see about half the audience gave her a standing ovation. There were two really cute guys in the show that I wanted to stand up for lol I noticed one of them kept looking at me

Broadway audiences are way too generous with standing ovations nowadays. I'm not sure when it started but I hate it especially since you have to stand if you want to see the curtain call.

That being said, I thought Jac Yarrow deserved a standing O for "Close Every Door" when I saw Joseph in London. The fact that he didn't get the final bow was criminal especially since the staging of the show was odd and both the Pharaoh and the Narrator were mediocre.

 

[Merboy]

I have seen I believe ten (Wicked was twice):

Carousel (1994, Vivian Beaumont)

Grease (1994, Eugene O'Neill)

Beauty and the Beast (1994, Palace)

Show Boat (1995, Gershwin)

Ragtime (1999?, Ford Center for the Performing Arts)

42nd Street (2001, Ford Center)

Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002, Minskoff?)

The Phantom of the Opera (2002, Majestic)

Wicked (2004 or 2005, twice, Gershwin)

Pippin (Christmas 2013, Music Box)

 

I'd rank them in order from best to worst by giving the #1 spot to Carousel, Ragtime, and Pippin (equally all 3 of these were absolutely terrific, Carousel my sentimental favorite- that's the Audra McDonald one), and the worst hands down was Grease with Rosie O'Donnell as Rizzo.  Phantom was surprisingly kinda boring in the operatic scenes but I found its strength to be the score (which is of course lovely and famous) and its staging (costumes, lighting design, special effects, stage and set design).

[+ Tygerscent]

Rent… especially the musical score~ 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Tygerscent

[pubic_assistance]

Cats.

Terrible, terrible show.

I have NO idea how it lasted as long as it did.

But then I generally find Broadway shows to be cheesy and not worth the price of the ticket.

Fortunately I had a friend who was a production manager on Broadway who used to get me into all the shows for free when I was a kid. So nothing lost when the show sucked.

[bostonman]

18 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

Cats.

Terrible, terrible show.

I have NO idea how it lasted as long as it did.

 

A relatively short time, considering its slogan, "now and forever." 

I've always had conflicting feelings about Cats. I don't mind the score - I think much of it is fun. It doesn't have the same edge that Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita had (which is at the time what had me loving Webber and Rice), but as the next Webber show, I was interested enough in his work to get to know it. What utterly baffled me was the visual production. Little did we know the the time that this was the start of the "mega musical" era - but it wasn't so much the sprawling size of the production (the Broadway version of Superstar had suffered the same fate), it was the sense that it was a cute and whimsical kids-oriented song cycle that seemed to think it was a horrid vomiting up of some nightmarish drug-induced amateur glam rock concert. And it took itself so god-damned seriously, instead of (IMO) embracing the whimsical nature of the poems. 

Personally, much like the intention of the original Joseph (before it, too, fell to the victimization of the mega-musical overtreatment), I think Cats might be a delightful concert piece, perhaps sung in true concert hall form with a symphony orchestra and without all the crazed junkyard/spaceship tire/glam rock stuff. if it were done earnestly, with a real sense of fun instead of the melodramatic bullshit, it could actually make a good show. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by bostonman

[pubic_assistance]

9 hours ago, bostonman said:

It doesn't have the same edge that Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita

Strangely "Superstar" remains my all time favorite show. ( Although admittedly I do prefer the movie version ). Yvonne Elliman brings me to tears every time. So...the irony is not lost on me that I find Cats to be a dumpster fire. One good song and the rest is garbage.

Edited December 30, 2021 by pubic_assistance

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:18 PM, Tygerscent said:

Rent… especially the musical score~ 

Strong agree.

Rent had the perfect storm of a PR campaign.  The score, lyrics and book were a mess.

Granted, it was a show that got a lot of younger people into the theatre and to this day was a break for many Broadway performers who have had solid careers.  I respect that.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

On 12/24/2021 at 11:18 PM, Tygerscent said:

Rent… especially the musical score~ 

I saw the first national tour in Chicago.  At intermission, I was ready to leave; however, my friends were all enjoying the show.  The second act was better, but overall, I was still disappointed.

[jeezifonly]

This was off-Broadway. 2,500 miles off. A 99-seat production in Hollywood in the late 90’s of a new piece called A Rockette’s Tail. Performed by the playwright, who played herself (a nice Catholic girl from NJ who achieved an early dream to be a Rockette at Radio City) and one other male actor, who played everyone else: her priest, fellow Rockettes, her grandmother, her gay BFF and all the shitty boyfriends and producers who abused her in one fashion or another for the next 30 years. The book, the music, the lyrics, the acting, the production ALL worse than abysmal and beneath the level of the theater which normally did good showcase productions. 

I went with a very funny friend, who got comps from his friend, the show’s director, who had been seated for this preview in the row behind us, ostensibly to take notes…. So, we had to be “good little boys in church” rather than normally be having a bit too much fun watching something this awful. Holding ourselves entirely in check became incredibly painful, with the amount of cheek-biting and kegels it took not to pee our pants. It was the longest 2 hrs of my life, and I’ve been fully awake for a colonoscopy (which was funnier and had better tunes)
 

 

[budlvsdk]

Had a great time reading this thread. Thank you.

Great experiences:

The original Broadway production of Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday. During AND I AM TELLING YOU I'M NOT GOING, people were lifted out of their seats and then standing on their seats, screaming as the curtain came down on the first act. Great show, great production. I used to second act it as well.

I saw that last revival of Carol Channing's Hello Dolly in Denver before it came into Broadway.  It's an old warhorse of a musical and I didn't have high expectations, however, it does have a good book and score. Channing was amazing. Seeing her up there carrying that musical so brilliantly actually brought me to tears.

The Scottsboro Boys was fantastic.

Music Man is my favorite of the older shows, haven't seen the current production yet.

 

Not so great experiences:

Contact was... oy. I thought, you gotta be kidding me. I thought that girl on swing number wound never end. Broadway ticket price with canned music, left at intermission.

Once. It seemed everyone I knew was raving about this show, crying, holding their hearts. I guess I'm a heartless bastard, I wanted to take the guitar away from the leading man.

Cats.

Oh, and I saw a regional production of 1776 I really liked except the actor playing Rutledge (sings Molasses to Rum to Slaves) had a bilateral lisp.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

13 hours ago, budlvsdk said:

The original Broadway production of Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday. During AND I AM TELLING YOU I'M NOT GOING, people were lifted out of their seats and then standing on their seats, screaming as the curtain came down on the first act.

So many people forget that as soon as Effie is done singing the song, Michael Bennett immediately rushed the new Dreams onto the stage to sing 16-bars of Love, Love Me Baby.  It was his way of taking away Effie's thunderous applause and giving it to Deena, tricking the audience just before curtain for intermission.

While I wasn't around yet for the early days of the show, reading stories on how Bennett wanted to play these kinds of mind games with the audience was fascinating.  It reminded me quite a bit of Cabaret when the Emcee, singing If You Could See Her, hits that last sentence and flips the whole audience on their ass.

[Guest MikeThomas]

Cats… horrible… the worst.

Hamilton… not nearly the worst, but highly overrated.  The adulation it received was like a mass psychosis.

 

 

 

[MikeBiDude]

11 minutes ago, MikeThomas said:

Hamilton… not nearly the worst, but highly overrated.  The adulation it received was like a mass psychosis.

+1

[budlvsdk]

2 hours ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

So many people forget that as soon as Effie is done singing the song, Michael Bennett immediately rushed the new Dreams onto the stage to sing 16-bars of Love, Love Me Baby.  It was his way of taking away Effie's thunderous applause and giving it to Deena, tricking the audience just before curtain for intermission.

While I wasn't around yet for the early days of the show, reading stories on how Bennett wanted to play these kinds of mind games with the audience was fascinating.  It reminded me quite a bit of Cabaret when the Emcee, singing If You Could See Her, hits that last sentence and flips the whole audience on their ass.

You're absolutely correct on all counts, thank you. As I wrote the comment, I wanted to remember being gobsmacked by Ms. Holliday and wallow in the memory. She was a force of nature like I'd never seen, and Bennett's work was gorgeous. However, I was remiss in describing the structure of the play. Dare I say it? I was lazy.

I was disappointed that the revival and "recent" tours of Dreamgirls weren't using Bennett's concept and staging.  His work was brilliant, and I felt it would be lost. I have been friends with a number of people who worked on that original Broadway production. Bob Avian being one. I asked him why no one uses Michael's blocking, keeping in mind the tight reign the Bennett estate holds on major productions of A Chorus Line. I assumed there was an artistic issue or the current producers didn't want to lease the choreography, something along those lines. He said it is not economically feasible to mount the same production today. Building the original set design, costumes... would make it impossible to recoup the investment. Perspecive, $11.5 million to mount Hadestown.

[+ WilliamM]

46 minutes ago, budlvsdk said:

You're absolutely correct on all counts, thank you. As I wrote the comment, I wanted to remember being gobsmacked by Ms. Holliday and wallow in the memory. She was a force of nature like I'd never seen, and Bennett's work was gorgeous. However, I was remiss in describing the structure of the play. Dare I say it? I was lazy.

I was disappointed that the revival and "recent" tours of Dreamgirls weren't using Bennett's concept and staging.  His work was brilliant, and I felt it would be lost. I have been friends with a number of people who worked on that original Broadway production. Bob Avian being one. I asked him why no one uses Michael's blocking, keeping in mind the tight reign the Bennett estate holds on major productions of A Chorus Line. I assumed there was an artistic issue or the current producers didn't want to lease the choreography, something along those lines. He said it is not economically feasible to mount the same production today. Building the original set design, costumes... would make it impossible to recoup the investment. Perspecive, $11.5 million to mount Hadestown.

I greatly enjoyed Bob Avian's  book.

Especially his experience with Kate Hepburn, who apparently couldn't sing or dance.

[bostonman]

4 hours ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

So many people forget that as soon as Effie is done singing the song, Michael Bennett immediately rushed the new Dreams onto the stage to sing 16-bars of Love, Love Me Baby.  It was his way of taking away Effie's thunderous applause and giving it to Deena, tricking the audience just before curtain for intermission.

This is one of at least 2 moments where the cast album gives one a completely wrong impression on how a scene actually works. The other is "One Night Only" where, on the album, the Dreams seem to "steal" the song from Effie right in the middle of her rendition - and it feels like a true theatrical coup. But unfortunately, in the show, there's a scene that happens between the two versions of the song, giving the scene a very different feel. (Whereas the actual show version makes more sense in terms of plot, the cast album adaptation has a certain theatricality/energy that I really love.)

Edited March 31, 2022 by bostonman

[handiacefailure]

20 hours ago, MikeThomas said:

Cats… horrible… the worst.

Hamilton… not nearly the worst, but highly overrated.  The adulation it received was like a mass psychosis.

 

 

 

Agree.   Wasn't awful but didn't get all the hype.   Can't believe people paid thousands to see it.   

[bostonman]

4 hours ago, handiacefailure said:

Agree.   Wasn't awful but didn't get all the hype.   Can't believe people paid thousands to see it.   

Frankly, I can understand the hype for Hamilton much more than for Phantom or Dear Evan Hansen, neither of which I think are very good shows. (Phantom needs much better lyrics and a few less ballads and reprises, DEH needs much better everything.)

I think hype is a winning combination of shrewd marketing and somehow tapping into the zeitgeist, especially for the younger generation. I think shows like Rent, Hamilton, and DEH definitely found that resonance with the younger crowds - and hype is born. 

I happen to like Hamilton a lot. But no one has to like it just because I do. Also, unrelated to that, the guy playing the title role on Broadway is a friend of mine lol. 

[kyleham]

Dance of the Vampire with Michael Crawford. Horrible!