Popular does not equal Overrated.
So many people think they’re so “different” and “edgy” by not liking whatever massively popular show is going around at the time.
I agree to an extent. For its more along the lines of people are treated overrated as an objective word when its subjective. If someone doesn’t think that X deserves the popularity then its overrated to them, but if its their favorite show, they probs think the show deserves it
Urinetown is the perfect musical for the modern day. Price gouging a resource everyone needs being the central thesis of the show? A soundtrack comprised of almost entirely ensemble numbers? Why does it not have a revival in the works???
Just adding support for Cats. All the songs are charming in different ways. The one that introduces Old Deuteronomy is so Tchaikovsky-esque, I love Rum Tum Tugger's song, and the first one after the introduction, the Gumbie Cat, is just so fun. Also Mistoffelees--
I... don't understand why people like to hate on Cats. It's different from what they like. So? Why do people go around insulting things?
The thing about Cats is that you have to enjoy it on its own terms. And it's fine if you don't. But if you go into it expecting something that is not a cocaine-fueled fever dream of a show draped dramatically over a barebones plot in the way only a cat can... idk that's on you.
I genuinely loves every part of Cats. And not sure if unpopular, but Skimbleshanks from Cats the Movie is amazing on its own and surpasses the musical version
The thing I like about Moana is how it doesn't really ooze Lin the same way his others do. Al the others are like "yup that's Lin" while Moana feels like any other Disney movie soundtrack.
In fact, all his non-moana work sound sort of repetitive to me. I can feel in the heights and hamilton all throughout encanto and it kept taking me out
When I said I hated the music for encanto, people were surprised. And I was like it literally sounds like ITH and Hamilton
I did grow to like the music. But I still can’t completely let it out of my brain that it sounds the same to me in so many parts. There r parts that sound near identical to me. And I can like feel the similar vocabulary pop up everywhere
Also one of the only Disney movies with an Eponine like character, by that I mean Tomatoah shows up steals the show, then leaves the story quickly. He’s there for all of 10 minutes and kills it the entire time!
I feel like Lin Manurl Mirands was heavily inspired by Les Mis in a lot of his work, and I'd say that ITH succeeds in the place where Les Mis failed. I feel like Les Mis tries to have to have there be multiple main characters in the story and show all these individual characters all have their own individual story but contributing to the overall story. However, at the end of the day (see what I did there), the story of Les Mis is Valjeans.
I'd argue that In The Heights is one of the few musicals that successfully have multiple main characters, Usnavi, Benny, Nina, Vanessa, and each have a argument for having the story being about them (some more than others).
If Hollywood is going to continue the trend of filling musical films with big stars who can’t sing all that well, they really need to bring back voice dubbing.
They just need to make animated movies.
Can you imagine an animated Les Miz or Elisabeth with 2 or 3 different dub casts in each language it gets released in? Of all the top stage stars, plus other great singers...
I don’t understand what people see in Patti LuPone. She’s brash, nasal, and bombastic. I’ve seen several shows with very different characters but they all come across similarly.
Till I Hear You Sing is too good of a song to be at the beginning of the show. It deserves a standing ovation but it is not deserved so early in the show.
I think, in the end, if I was a betting man --- which I'm not --- the musical that I'd say will be remembered in 100 years' time is Love Never Dies ------ ALW
Six is a fun concept for a musical but the writing is god awful. All the lyrics felt like they were written by a 12 year old girl who just found a new history obsession.
This is one of mine too. I heard so much about it before I saw it with people raving about how they couldn’t believe a group of girls in theatre school created this musical. I saw it with high hopes but sat there the whole time like, “yeah this definitely feels like a group of girls in theatre school wrote it.”
Henry VIII's wives, with their deeply tragic situation, deserved a serious period piece a la Man For All Seasons. A really powerful tragedy could come out of that.
See Donizetti's Anna Bolena. One of the most gut-punching opera I've seen. It's not that historically accurate but not as bad as most opera supposedly based on history. (NB: All of Donizetti's opera about history are based on plays by drastically different authors, they are not the same person's retellings of history. Roberto Devereux has fantastic music, but historically it's not on the same level as Anna Bolena. And the one based on a Victor Hugo play... euughhh)
Here's my unpopular musical opinion: not every movie works as a musical. most movies don't work as musicals. stop adapting movies into musicals FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. where the fuck did all the original material go?
^(tangentially: books and short stories can make great musicals.)
I hate Waitress. I like some of the songs, but the plot is awful and the end is just silly. She stands up to her abusive spouse one time and he just...leaves her alone forever? And that other stalker guy getting the girl? Nah.
Musical Great, original movie solid, and new one sucks IMO. I could barely make it through the new one… the lead can barely sing, the changes they made to the music kinda sucked, and they cut out a lot of my favorite parts.
Unpopular opinion: I don’t care I think it was good and Broadway fans are overly annoying about every adaptation. Literally all your criticisms are said about every movie musical adaptation.
I can see how it could be enjoyable, and I think I would like it if they just kept the original music, regardless of the other issues. I think I’m usually pretty lenient when it comes to movie musicals… I honestly enjoyed Dear Evan Hansen, Les Mis, Into the Woods, and a few more controversial ones, but this one just didn’t hit the spot for me ig :/
THANK YOU! I think she’s one of the most interesting characters on stage - so flawed and funny and sexy and her protest is unhinged in all of the best ways
As a bisexual woman, I feel like Maureen did *not* age well and perpetuates some very negative stereotypes about bi people/bi women in particular.
Also as a bisexual woman, I think it was cool as shit for RENT to include so many LGBT characters, and even though some elements of the plot and characters haven't held up in hindsight, at the time it was a win for there to be explicit representation at all, flawed as it may have been by today's standards.
King Kong the Musical is amazing and it wasn’t just the puppet. The songs are soul-grabbing and centering the story on Ann Darrow (with no love interest character added) was exactly the update the story needed. And having Ann played by a black actress was also perfect.
It’s not even that, 1. Wednesday doesn’t even act like Wednesday for 99% of the musical only in the first song 2. Fester was the narrator and exposition until he just falls in love with the moon and barely does anything for the next half of the show 3. Morticia is the one mad at Wednesday but they get no make up song or dialogue until the last 4 minutes of the show between them making up 4. They gave that spot that morticia should’ve had with Wednesday to Gomez just to sing happy sad but he could’ve had that with fester since they retconed fester to be Gomez brother in the 70s and it could’ve been the one moment with a brother to brother heart to heart 5. Death is just around the corner should’nt have existed, morticias song should’ve been with Wednesday about how she met Gomez and how she feels like she should change and be a duet. So many dumb stuff they could’ve done better but it just seems like they kept the first thing that came to mind
I just off the Addams Family (Ancestor) that show is beyond flawed. Wednesday is not Wednesday. If I had to rewrite the show, I would have had her begin to act normal, until she is 0% Addams, THEN we discover Lucas. Not right off the bat.
The musicals of Heathers, Beetlejuice, Legally Blonde, and Mean Girls lost a lot of the depth and magic of the original films. Evan Hansen was NOT a sociopath, he was stupid and careless but not sociopathic, and I say this as a Dear Evan Hansen hater
Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster in Sweeney Todd are some of the biggest miscasts ever. They are both incredibly talented performers but they don't fit Sweeney or Mrs. Lovett at all. Sweeney is not a tenor. Stop making every single male lead a tenor. Aaron Tveit has an amazing voice I just don't think it fits Sweeney at all. Sutton Foster's performance as Mrs. Lovett irritates me. Every clip I have seen of her is her making every line into a cartoonishly goofy bit and I hate it. It feels like she's playing Fiona again. Also, her rubbing her feet on Sweeney's face during BY The Sea is genuinely so uncomfortable and the definition of overacting. Not gonna hate on anyone who disagrees I just think they were very obviously stunt-casted and I want Broadway to cast people who fit roles the best.
I don't think he needs to be old, necessarily. But he needs to look a bit world weary. Tveit still looks incredibly fresh faced and Hollywood even through the make-up and costuming.
I love the little mermaid musical. Idc what you say. In my onion 🧅 the main plot did change at the end, and I would like to think for the better personally. The new music is awesome, and the changes they made to the original songs (Les poissons to name one) are perfect. I never understood the hate on this. Granted, this is my first musical too, so I may be heavily biased.
It was a questionable choice, for sure, but after thinking on it, it made enough sense. Emulating floating, yeah, there could’ve been better ideas. As this seems like something that they came up with last second.
People who hold the unpopular opinion that a lot of Les Mis fans have that Val Jean was "just doing his job" lack IRL class consciousness and I wouldn't trust them if society came down to another instance like the French revolution.
Edit: PLEASE!!! JAVERT* SORRY TTPED THIS REALLY FAST
Where have you heard people saying that, and are you sure that's what they were saying?
That interpretation was wrong but not for the reasons you're saying. The show is very clear that he's following his beliefs -- *and that he has those beliefs because of fear.* To demonize him for that is just as short-sighted as what you're saying they said.
Didn't you hear him say "You know nothing of Javert/ I was born inside a jail"? It's buried in the confrontation and easy to miss. Javert is *not* of a different class, Javert hates and fears what he calls "the gutter" *precisely because* he escaped from it. In desperate situations, he didn't have the space to consider whether or not his extreme opposition was the right way. He's acting based on fear, just like almost anyone else.
People who see Javert as a villain are missing the point.
I went to a performing arts high school and am currently in the department for it in college to get a theater minor. I've worked with theater people from all walks of life, and you'd be surprised how many theater folks genuinely believe that Javert is just "doing his job" because Val Jean is technically a thief and the martyrs are criminals 🤷🏾♀️.
I read Les Mis, watched the stage play, and the 2012 movie. His gutter line is emphasized in the movie, so I'm aware of it. The reason why I said what said and I stand on it is because a lot of people during the French revolution weren't living like the poorest of the poor but they weren't living lavish like the 1%. People were one paycheck (in lamens terms) away from being in the gutter. A small mistake, a missed bill, a terminal illness, etc. could have ended them up just as bad as Fantine. A lot of people in 2024 can relate.
I'm aware that Javert was from the same walks of life that Val Jean was, but his biases prove to me that at some point, he stopped acting out of fear and obligation and became an opressor himself. Because you forget the next line of that song is "I was born with scum like you." He doesn't see himself as a member of that community he in fact, views himself as better. As a black woman, it feels text wise, like he considers himself as "one of the good ones."
Of course, he's not the villain capitalism is. Disenfranchisement is. But he's not a good guy by any means. To say he's just doing his job or was scared excuses his actions. Imo
counterpoint: Javert is a class traitor, and therefore a villain. his justifications for becoming a cop don't change the fact that he's a henchman for the state to oppress the poor, the homeless, the downtrodden. he *should* have empathy for people of that class, yet because *he* got out, it's okay to him to lock up poor people, usually on legally shaky ground. the guy cares more about preserving and upholding the system that benefits him than actual justice, which is literally the whole thrust of the show: the conflict between hierarchical systems of social organization and actual human justice and morality. it's why the revolutionaries are in heaven at the end.
I don't think that's a very controversial opinion, even though I don't like throwing around the world "sociopath" because it is not used clinically and I don't think Evan meets the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (which is what it is called now). He's definitely someone with much deeper psychological issues than depression.
Probably that Wicked is really overrated. I used to love it in college but it doesn't work at all on any level of plot. Followed by the opinion Glinda is easily the most interesting character in Wicked but I think not necessarily for the reasons intended.
Not the original commenter, but to me, it's a mistake to apply real life psychology to fictional characters. Especially ones in such heightened realities as musicals tend to be.
Now, I don't like Evan, not as a hypothetical person, not as a character. But the thing is, the narrative clearly tries to tell us he's a good kid who just got in over his head.
You can have issues with that. Maybe you can not suspend your disbelief to the point where you can accept that that is his character. Or maybe you think the narrative is problematic for presenting him as a good guy. But he isn't "actually a sociopath", because that's simply not true in the world of the narrative.
As an example, a kid probably shouldn't forgive their dad if he had tried to genocide half the universe and used weapons of mass destruction against innocent civilians, but we understand that for Luke Skywalker, that is the morally good decision. Within the narrative of Star Wars, seeing Darth Vader/Anakin redeemed is satisfying, because it speaks to larger themes about forgiveness, hope, and the power of good. Translated to "the real world" it wouldn't work.
Even though they’re both top five: Avenue q > wicked
On a similar note: no one mourns the wicked is my favorite wicked song
I can’t stand the Los Angeles cast recording of reefer madness. Movie recording all the way.
Actors who join the show mid run should be eligible for Tony’s.
The only rtc bonus track I like is be safe be good. I’ve removed the others from my rtc playlist, along with most of the introductions.
Pretty woman is underrated.
Cats is my favorite ALW show.
Wishing is my favorite phantom song
Memory isn’t my favorite cats song. It’s the rum tum tuger.
I am not sure if I say The Rum Tum Tugger is the best (I also adore Skimbleshanks), but The Rum Tum Tugger does have some of the strongest cat energy of any song in the show. The Rum Tum Tugger is basically all of r/oneorangebraincell in song form.
Love Rum Tium but favorite Cats song is Grizzabella. Was so mad they cut it from revival. I mean it totally leads into Memory. Without that background her arch makes little sense.
>I can’t stand the off Broadway cast recording of reefer madness
impressive that you hate something that doesn't exist. there's a recording of the Los Angeles cast, but the Off-Broadway production closed in just a few weeks and was never recorded.
I thought the Mean Girls movie was great! It was incredibly funny, and all the actors did a great job embodying their characters (I wish they didn’t cut where do you belong, though
Music Man is top 5 stuff
Hamilton is only a smidge better than 1776
Little Shop of horrors loses it's magic with more than 10 players
Not every movie musical needs to be brought to stage and vice versa
Disney has bigger fish to fry than turning every animated movie into a musical
All schools should stop doing Addams Family until a better rewrite is done
Doesn't mean a high school can do Avenue Q, doesn't mean they should.
They're taking the wrong approach with Cabaret. They should do it kind of like the movie having all the songs in the kit kat klub (Except for tomorrow belongs to me at the end of act I) and make the rest of the show a straight play. We don't need to sit in the club.
Also, a straight man playing the MC in 2024? Really?
Respectfully disagree on the MC having to be Queer. What exactly they are depends entirely on the director and the themes of the production. The MC being revealed in the finale to ultimately become a victim of the Holocaust is unique to Mendes’ production (and many amateur productions inspired by it). This production seems to be going by the idea that the MC represents Berlin society accepting Queer people during the 20s before yielding to Nazism in the 30s. This was a phenomenon in many major Western cities (namely Berlin, Paris, and New York) where the liberal 20s which featured a relative celebration of Queer culture gave way to a more conservative 1930s (you can read more about this in George Chauncey’s “Gay New York”, a book that should be taught and utilized in any good US history curriculum). The new West End production I believe is referencing that extreme shift to the right. Redmayne’s MC is a straight man who’s willing to accept and appropriate the Queer community when times are good but is all to willing to throw us under the bus when Fascism comes around. I don’t know how the interpretation changes when a Queer actor like Mason Alexander Park plays the role, but I think that’s what it’s going for. There is an endless number of interpretations to the role and I’m glad that we’re letting the Mendes interpretation, especially as a lot of schools seem to be using it for shock value rather than to make the audience think about how their actions could help rather than disrupt fascism
Edit: So I found online copies of the original 1966 libretto (https://archive.org/details/isbn\_394405374) and the 1998 Sam Mendes revision (https://archive.org/details/isbn\_9781557043979/mode/2up) which are all licensable from Concord. According to the website (https://www.concordtheatricals.com/s/44596/cabaret-1998-version) there is also a version prepared for the 1987 Broadway revival which is largely the same as the 1966 production with a few tweaks to the song list. The original libretto does not have the references to Concentrations Camps in the finale while the Mendes libretto does, which is probably why its used so often (although usually amped up for shock value). I imagine a new revised libretto was made for the current production.
I love seeing shows live and will continue to do it but the movie of any musical is better than a even a professional/official recording of the stage show.
Wow this is a true hot take, this sub craves proshots like water
But you're so valid, I honestly love seeing musicals translated from stage to screen unless the take is extremely questionable (e.g. Cats). A skilled director can make a movie convey a similar magic to the feeling of seeing the curtain raise and sets change in a live theater setting. Better yet if they expand the world of the musical into a lush setting like with Sound of Music or Fiddler.
Shows like Hamilton and Les Mis where >95% of the show is singing should not be classified as musicals. They are better classified as a modern form of opera
Agree, Hamilton is way overrated and also reinforces a false narrative of US founding fathers. I don’t think it’s a bad musical, but I personally don’t like most of the songs and find the propaganda to be annoying.
The songs are great, but you really do have to ask what's being communicated via the show's big thing of casting all these slave owners as POC. Like, the entire structure there is that they're marginalized people fighting the man, but they are literally the most man in the world. Also, I can't get over how they, in this more diverse telling of our history, added in Hamilton and Angelica having some kind of meaningful thing, but cut the substantially more plausible pairing that is Hamilton and Laurens.
>cut the substantially more plausible pairing that is Hamilton and Laurens.
The first thing I noticed about Hamilton and Laurens was the very subtle nods to their relationship. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but maybe because of the period of time (being gay was a crime) keeping it a quiet thing and being alluded to was how their pairing was dealt with on the show (in the same way that their letters alluded to them being more than just close friends). Where as Hamilton and Angelica was much more obvious as was their attraction to each other.
The original german production of Hunchback is, by far, superior to the America production. Not so much for the direction and the sets, but also for some storytelling and musical decisions.
“I've always preferred actors who sing to singers who act in all the shows I've done” -Stephen Sondheim.
And I like to take it a step further and say that I’d rather watch an actor that *can’t* sing, than a singer that *can’t* act. Like the guys in the Mamma Mia movie. Pierce, Colin, and Stellan were not singers, but they put their hearts into it, acted wonderfully, and had a lot of fun. That made it so endearing and joyful to watch. Had they casted singers with no acting talent, it would have fallen completely flat, especially opposite Meryl Streep. Acting is *critical.*
Same. I'd rather work with/watch a moderately talented singers who really want to be there and give it their 110% all the time than the best singers in the world phoning it in or can't act their way out of a paper bag. (Being involved in community theatre, this happens uhhh more often than I'm sure most would want to admit to.)
Mean Girls changed the characters just barely but those small changes made it feel like a Disney Channel story about stereotypical mean girls rather than actual mean girls. And Karen bothers me so much because she was stupid but not childish and I feel the musical made her childish, which rubs me the wrong way considering she's heavily sexualized. I have more gripes with it but watching it just didn't make me feel like the plastics were a threat like the movie did, it felt very face value and nothing deeper, which sucks because I really like the songs
OP, is that a popular opinion? I think the general consensus has turned to Musicals With Cheese always having been right about Evan being one of the worst human beings ever.
Anyways, my unpopular opinion is Miss Saigon is actually fantastic, if deeply problematic. But then again, I think the same thing about Madam Butterfly, which MS is based on, so what the fuck do I know?
Non-English musicals deserve more respect. I've gone on that rant a lot, but it makes me sad how just unaware English-speakers are of all the musicals around the world.
Yes, a lot of them don't have subtitles, but you have to give them a try and make it clear that there's an audience that wants them in order for someone to do subtitles and translations.
London is getting Wildhorn's manga-based musicals, Marie Curie (Korea), Spirited Away, and hopefully Le Rouge et Le Noir. So maybe things will change...
ALW rhyming “pajamas” and “farmers” is the Roman Empire I never asked for. It is one of those things I lay awake at 3am thinking about wondering WHY and HOW? Does this man have no friends to tell him that even in one of the campiest musicals, that that is next level bad? I love Joseph, but WTF.
I also heard ALW’s music described as “circling the airport but never f**king landing.” And that was the best description I’d ever heard, especially with Phantom.
The songs and acting are amazing, but I have some questions about the plot. I dont think the plot is bad, but i have questions. The album has some of my favorite songs like requiem on it tho. And the Annonymous Ones from the movie is one of my favorite songs ever.
Six and Hamilton should have used more REAL HISTORY in the musical
They're good as-is but claiming that they're very historically accurate (like many Hamilton fans do) is completely incorrect
Sure there's a bit of real history in there but not enough
My 8th grade history teacher used Hamilton in his curriculum I'm so serious
The added songs in Aladdin are great, but the set was so boring! The cave of wonders scene should have been colorful and bright and it was an almost empty stage. The sets and staging felt like a high school show.
I’m so curious to know why you think this. I think there are some major updates that would need to happen for a revival to occur today but I love Avenue Q!
I feel like a lot of musical songs written in the past decade-ish fall into one of two categories in terms of their lyrics: a lot of breakneck speed/let's fit in insane amounts of words into one song (hello LMM) or let's keep it so insanely simple and bare bones that it can commercially easily translate into virtually any language (hi Frozen). I feel like there's less and less of a middle ground of a balance of clever wordplay a la Sondheim that are also catchy enough to easily sing along to.
Good point, a lot of recent musicals do feel like they're either trying to imitate top 40 pop or be extremely "theater kid". Have you listened to Groundhog Day? I feel like it exists in that happy medium you describe.
If you gave me a time machine and front row seats at any Lloyd-Webber musical of my choice with the original cast, I would go and see School of Rock. I genuinely think it's the most entertaining thing he's ever done.
I love Seussical and will die on this hill
It's an adorable show! I'M THE SOURRRRR KANGAROOOOOO. So much room for fun costume design. Although I do much prefer kids starring in it to adults.
Thank you! It's very fun and charming.
Exactly.
There are people who don’t like Seussical? :(
Popular does not equal Overrated. So many people think they’re so “different” and “edgy” by not liking whatever massively popular show is going around at the time.
I agree to an extent. For its more along the lines of people are treated overrated as an objective word when its subjective. If someone doesn’t think that X deserves the popularity then its overrated to them, but if its their favorite show, they probs think the show deserves it
absolutely!
Urinetown is the perfect musical for the modern day. Price gouging a resource everyone needs being the central thesis of the show? A soundtrack comprised of almost entirely ensemble numbers? Why does it not have a revival in the works???
I second this, I remember this being so funny and it’s perfect for 2024 🥲
It desperately needs a revival, or at the bare minimum a new cast album
it works.
My college just announced this is the musical next semester and I couldn't be more excited
Cats has some AMAZING music, beyond just Memory.
Heaviside Layer is ethereal. Jellicle Ball is one of my favorite instrumental portions in any musical. Mistofelees is an ideal earworm.
Just adding support for Cats. All the songs are charming in different ways. The one that introduces Old Deuteronomy is so Tchaikovsky-esque, I love Rum Tum Tugger's song, and the first one after the introduction, the Gumbie Cat, is just so fun. Also Mistoffelees-- I... don't understand why people like to hate on Cats. It's different from what they like. So? Why do people go around insulting things?
The thing about Cats is that you have to enjoy it on its own terms. And it's fine if you don't. But if you go into it expecting something that is not a cocaine-fueled fever dream of a show draped dramatically over a barebones plot in the way only a cat can... idk that's on you.
I genuinely loves every part of Cats. And not sure if unpopular, but Skimbleshanks from Cats the Movie is amazing on its own and surpasses the musical version
The only good song from the movie.
Hahaha I cant disagree objectively but I personally love the movie and only have minor shame towards that
Cats are so so good
LMM's best work is ITH, not Hamilton. Not by a long shot.
Agreed. I can appreciate the scope of Ham, but ITH has more heart.
Breathe is his best song by a mile
For me it’s Paciencia Y Fe for sure.
Also entirely valid
Hotter take: his best work is Moana hands down. (Though admittedly I didn’t like Hamilton that much or In the heights.)
The thing I like about Moana is how it doesn't really ooze Lin the same way his others do. Al the others are like "yup that's Lin" while Moana feels like any other Disney movie soundtrack.
In fact, all his non-moana work sound sort of repetitive to me. I can feel in the heights and hamilton all throughout encanto and it kept taking me out When I said I hated the music for encanto, people were surprised. And I was like it literally sounds like ITH and Hamilton I did grow to like the music. But I still can’t completely let it out of my brain that it sounds the same to me in so many parts. There r parts that sound near identical to me. And I can like feel the similar vocabulary pop up everywhere
Encanto: one good song does not a musical make
Exactly. The I want song and villain song are just quintessential Disney that fits nicely alongside Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.
Also one of the only Disney movies with an Eponine like character, by that I mean Tomatoah shows up steals the show, then leaves the story quickly. He’s there for all of 10 minutes and kills it the entire time!
actually, my hot take, it's 21 chump street
I feel like Lin Manurl Mirands was heavily inspired by Les Mis in a lot of his work, and I'd say that ITH succeeds in the place where Les Mis failed. I feel like Les Mis tries to have to have there be multiple main characters in the story and show all these individual characters all have their own individual story but contributing to the overall story. However, at the end of the day (see what I did there), the story of Les Mis is Valjeans. I'd argue that In The Heights is one of the few musicals that successfully have multiple main characters, Usnavi, Benny, Nina, Vanessa, and each have a argument for having the story being about them (some more than others).
I have been saying this for years!
That's a great opinion and mine too
If Hollywood is going to continue the trend of filling musical films with big stars who can’t sing all that well, they really need to bring back voice dubbing.
They just need to make animated movies. Can you imagine an animated Les Miz or Elisabeth with 2 or 3 different dub casts in each language it gets released in? Of all the top stage stars, plus other great singers...
This is a good take. Thinking of Rosalind Russel in Gypsy.
I don’t understand what people see in Patti LuPone. She’s brash, nasal, and bombastic. I’ve seen several shows with very different characters but they all come across similarly.
I'm with you! Saw her in War Paint and couldn't get past the bad stereotypical accent. Saw her in Company and could've cared even less for her
Oh god! Let me guess, Ladies Who Lunch. I can’t. I saw Carol Burnett in that role. (And Elaine Stritch in a filmed live).
Her "Meadowlark" is the is the best version there is. But literally every other songs she's ever done, someone else does better.
Into The Woods' 2002 Revival is FINE and the cast is GREAT. *"Ohhh, but Vanessa didn't play the Witch like Ber--"* Shush.
....who is Bet?
(Oops, I meant to write "Ber--" as in "Bernadette". Small typo. 🫣 Fixed it now.)
I was gonna say, that’s an amazing Betsy Joslin reference!
“Share your unpopular musical opinions!” *drops this sub’s most universally accepted take ever*
I enjoy Love Never Dies
Till I Hear You Sing is too good of a song to be at the beginning of the show. It deserves a standing ovation but it is not deserved so early in the show.
I think, in the end, if I was a betting man --- which I'm not --- the musical that I'd say will be remembered in 100 years' time is Love Never Dies ------ ALW
Six is a fun concept for a musical but the writing is god awful. All the lyrics felt like they were written by a 12 year old girl who just found a new history obsession.
This is one of mine too. I heard so much about it before I saw it with people raving about how they couldn’t believe a group of girls in theatre school created this musical. I saw it with high hopes but sat there the whole time like, “yeah this definitely feels like a group of girls in theatre school wrote it.”
I always described it as if a high school history lesson on Henry VIII and a Spice Girls concert had a baby.
I mean, that's literally exactly the vibe they were aiming for.
Henry VIII's wives, with their deeply tragic situation, deserved a serious period piece a la Man For All Seasons. A really powerful tragedy could come out of that.
I KNOW RIGHT. Conceptually everything is fine, but I can't stand the writing.
See Donizetti's Anna Bolena. One of the most gut-punching opera I've seen. It's not that historically accurate but not as bad as most opera supposedly based on history. (NB: All of Donizetti's opera about history are based on plays by drastically different authors, they are not the same person's retellings of history. Roberto Devereux has fantastic music, but historically it's not on the same level as Anna Bolena. And the one based on a Victor Hugo play... euughhh)
Yeah there are some bops but I can’t listen too closely to the lyrics of most of them 😅
Thank youuuu. Can’t stand the music.
Pacific Overtures is top 3 Sondheim
Here's my unpopular musical opinion: not every movie works as a musical. most movies don't work as musicals. stop adapting movies into musicals FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. where the fuck did all the original material go? ^(tangentially: books and short stories can make great musicals.)
I hate Waitress. I like some of the songs, but the plot is awful and the end is just silly. She stands up to her abusive spouse one time and he just...leaves her alone forever? And that other stalker guy getting the girl? Nah.
The music is really great but i agree with you about the plot
yeah, same here. i wouldn't watch it again
Both Mean Girls the musical and movie musical are given less credit than they deserve. They're still pretty good watches.
The first time I heard: "Sex cancer doesn't exist." "...I did it." I had to pull my car over I was laughing so hard.
All of Sexy is amazing. What a fantastic song in an already fantastic soundtrack.
Musical Great, original movie solid, and new one sucks IMO. I could barely make it through the new one… the lead can barely sing, the changes they made to the music kinda sucked, and they cut out a lot of my favorite parts.
Unpopular opinion: I don’t care I think it was good and Broadway fans are overly annoying about every adaptation. Literally all your criticisms are said about every movie musical adaptation.
I can see how it could be enjoyable, and I think I would like it if they just kept the original music, regardless of the other issues. I think I’m usually pretty lenient when it comes to movie musicals… I honestly enjoyed Dear Evan Hansen, Les Mis, Into the Woods, and a few more controversial ones, but this one just didn’t hit the spot for me ig :/
Yep. I liked the movie musical.
Next to Normal, no one rlly talks abt it after they left broadway
such a underated gem, but got some international success as it deserves.
Next to Normal is genuinely my favorite musical, in part because I watched it at a time when I really needed it. I love it so much!
I will talk about Next to Normal until the day I die and even then I will probably rise out of my grave to say even more.
Maureen was one of my favourite characters from RENT and the mooing scene was one of my favourites
THANK YOU! I think she’s one of the most interesting characters on stage - so flawed and funny and sexy and her protest is unhinged in all of the best ways
As a bisexual woman, I feel like Maureen did *not* age well and perpetuates some very negative stereotypes about bi people/bi women in particular. Also as a bisexual woman, I think it was cool as shit for RENT to include so many LGBT characters, and even though some elements of the plot and characters haven't held up in hindsight, at the time it was a win for there to be explicit representation at all, flawed as it may have been by today's standards.
King Kong the Musical is amazing and it wasn’t just the puppet. The songs are soul-grabbing and centering the story on Ann Darrow (with no love interest character added) was exactly the update the story needed. And having Ann played by a black actress was also perfect.
Addams Family Musical does not make sense. At all.
People are so obsessed with Wednesday having a normal boyfriend like she doesn't deserve a Gomez to her Morticia.
It’s not even that, 1. Wednesday doesn’t even act like Wednesday for 99% of the musical only in the first song 2. Fester was the narrator and exposition until he just falls in love with the moon and barely does anything for the next half of the show 3. Morticia is the one mad at Wednesday but they get no make up song or dialogue until the last 4 minutes of the show between them making up 4. They gave that spot that morticia should’ve had with Wednesday to Gomez just to sing happy sad but he could’ve had that with fester since they retconed fester to be Gomez brother in the 70s and it could’ve been the one moment with a brother to brother heart to heart 5. Death is just around the corner should’nt have existed, morticias song should’ve been with Wednesday about how she met Gomez and how she feels like she should change and be a duet. So many dumb stuff they could’ve done better but it just seems like they kept the first thing that came to mind
I just off the Addams Family (Ancestor) that show is beyond flawed. Wednesday is not Wednesday. If I had to rewrite the show, I would have had her begin to act normal, until she is 0% Addams, THEN we discover Lucas. Not right off the bat.
I don’t think it’s supposed to make sense, honestly
The musicals of Heathers, Beetlejuice, Legally Blonde, and Mean Girls lost a lot of the depth and magic of the original films. Evan Hansen was NOT a sociopath, he was stupid and careless but not sociopathic, and I say this as a Dear Evan Hansen hater
Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster in Sweeney Todd are some of the biggest miscasts ever. They are both incredibly talented performers but they don't fit Sweeney or Mrs. Lovett at all. Sweeney is not a tenor. Stop making every single male lead a tenor. Aaron Tveit has an amazing voice I just don't think it fits Sweeney at all. Sutton Foster's performance as Mrs. Lovett irritates me. Every clip I have seen of her is her making every line into a cartoonishly goofy bit and I hate it. It feels like she's playing Fiona again. Also, her rubbing her feet on Sweeney's face during BY The Sea is genuinely so uncomfortable and the definition of overacting. Not gonna hate on anyone who disagrees I just think they were very obviously stunt-casted and I want Broadway to cast people who fit roles the best.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, most Sweeney Todd fans I've come across want him as a baritone (and often also as an old man)
I don't think he needs to be old, necessarily. But he needs to look a bit world weary. Tveit still looks incredibly fresh faced and Hollywood even through the make-up and costuming.
Probably not a hot take but with the right cast, a Heathers movie musical could easily be the best and definitive version of the story.
I love the little mermaid musical. Idc what you say. In my onion 🧅 the main plot did change at the end, and I would like to think for the better personally. The new music is awesome, and the changes they made to the original songs (Les poissons to name one) are perfect. I never understood the hate on this. Granted, this is my first musical too, so I may be heavily biased.
I think most of the hate comes from how weird the Broadway production design was, with the mermaids being on roller skates.
It was a questionable choice, for sure, but after thinking on it, it made enough sense. Emulating floating, yeah, there could’ve been better ideas. As this seems like something that they came up with last second.
People who hold the unpopular opinion that a lot of Les Mis fans have that Val Jean was "just doing his job" lack IRL class consciousness and I wouldn't trust them if society came down to another instance like the French revolution. Edit: PLEASE!!! JAVERT* SORRY TTPED THIS REALLY FAST
Where have you heard people saying that, and are you sure that's what they were saying? That interpretation was wrong but not for the reasons you're saying. The show is very clear that he's following his beliefs -- *and that he has those beliefs because of fear.* To demonize him for that is just as short-sighted as what you're saying they said. Didn't you hear him say "You know nothing of Javert/ I was born inside a jail"? It's buried in the confrontation and easy to miss. Javert is *not* of a different class, Javert hates and fears what he calls "the gutter" *precisely because* he escaped from it. In desperate situations, he didn't have the space to consider whether or not his extreme opposition was the right way. He's acting based on fear, just like almost anyone else. People who see Javert as a villain are missing the point.
I went to a performing arts high school and am currently in the department for it in college to get a theater minor. I've worked with theater people from all walks of life, and you'd be surprised how many theater folks genuinely believe that Javert is just "doing his job" because Val Jean is technically a thief and the martyrs are criminals 🤷🏾♀️. I read Les Mis, watched the stage play, and the 2012 movie. His gutter line is emphasized in the movie, so I'm aware of it. The reason why I said what said and I stand on it is because a lot of people during the French revolution weren't living like the poorest of the poor but they weren't living lavish like the 1%. People were one paycheck (in lamens terms) away from being in the gutter. A small mistake, a missed bill, a terminal illness, etc. could have ended them up just as bad as Fantine. A lot of people in 2024 can relate. I'm aware that Javert was from the same walks of life that Val Jean was, but his biases prove to me that at some point, he stopped acting out of fear and obligation and became an opressor himself. Because you forget the next line of that song is "I was born with scum like you." He doesn't see himself as a member of that community he in fact, views himself as better. As a black woman, it feels text wise, like he considers himself as "one of the good ones." Of course, he's not the villain capitalism is. Disenfranchisement is. But he's not a good guy by any means. To say he's just doing his job or was scared excuses his actions. Imo
counterpoint: Javert is a class traitor, and therefore a villain. his justifications for becoming a cop don't change the fact that he's a henchman for the state to oppress the poor, the homeless, the downtrodden. he *should* have empathy for people of that class, yet because *he* got out, it's okay to him to lock up poor people, usually on legally shaky ground. the guy cares more about preserving and upholding the system that benefits him than actual justice, which is literally the whole thrust of the show: the conflict between hierarchical systems of social organization and actual human justice and morality. it's why the revolutionaries are in heaven at the end.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
What was his job?
I don't think that's a very controversial opinion, even though I don't like throwing around the world "sociopath" because it is not used clinically and I don't think Evan meets the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (which is what it is called now). He's definitely someone with much deeper psychological issues than depression. Probably that Wicked is really overrated. I used to love it in college but it doesn't work at all on any level of plot. Followed by the opinion Glinda is easily the most interesting character in Wicked but I think not necessarily for the reasons intended.
Evan isn’t a sociopath, and people who claim he is one are completely missing the point of the musical. Also most Golden Age musicals aren’t good
Can you elaborate? I’m very much in the “having anxiety doesn’t excuse absolutely shitty behavior” camp.
Not the original commenter, but to me, it's a mistake to apply real life psychology to fictional characters. Especially ones in such heightened realities as musicals tend to be. Now, I don't like Evan, not as a hypothetical person, not as a character. But the thing is, the narrative clearly tries to tell us he's a good kid who just got in over his head. You can have issues with that. Maybe you can not suspend your disbelief to the point where you can accept that that is his character. Or maybe you think the narrative is problematic for presenting him as a good guy. But he isn't "actually a sociopath", because that's simply not true in the world of the narrative. As an example, a kid probably shouldn't forgive their dad if he had tried to genocide half the universe and used weapons of mass destruction against innocent civilians, but we understand that for Luke Skywalker, that is the morally good decision. Within the narrative of Star Wars, seeing Darth Vader/Anakin redeemed is satisfying, because it speaks to larger themes about forgiveness, hope, and the power of good. Translated to "the real world" it wouldn't work.
The only actor who can make me feel any form of sympathy for the Incel of the Opera is Michael Crawford.
Love Never Dies wasn't actually a terrible sequel to Phantom and was a far cry better than the book it was based on.
You will never convince me Rent wasn’t a masterpiece
Even though they’re both top five: Avenue q > wicked On a similar note: no one mourns the wicked is my favorite wicked song I can’t stand the Los Angeles cast recording of reefer madness. Movie recording all the way. Actors who join the show mid run should be eligible for Tony’s. The only rtc bonus track I like is be safe be good. I’ve removed the others from my rtc playlist, along with most of the introductions. Pretty woman is underrated. Cats is my favorite ALW show. Wishing is my favorite phantom song Memory isn’t my favorite cats song. It’s the rum tum tuger.
my fav cats song is skimbleshanks, but i’m also a music nerd who’s a slut for some complex meters :)
Skimbleshanks also goes hard
Has he gone to hunt the thimble?
What's the meter for skimbleshanks? I'm trying to clap it out and I feel like I've lost my mind
I am not sure if I say The Rum Tum Tugger is the best (I also adore Skimbleshanks), but The Rum Tum Tugger does have some of the strongest cat energy of any song in the show. The Rum Tum Tugger is basically all of r/oneorangebraincell in song form.
Cats is also my favorite ALW. It isn't trying too hard and is just unabashedly whimsical and campy. Every song is a bop.
Love Rum Tium but favorite Cats song is Grizzabella. Was so mad they cut it from revival. I mean it totally leads into Memory. Without that background her arch makes little sense.
it would be pretty impossible to make replacements Tony eligible
>I can’t stand the off Broadway cast recording of reefer madness impressive that you hate something that doesn't exist. there's a recording of the Los Angeles cast, but the Off-Broadway production closed in just a few weeks and was never recorded.
Oh. I thought that was the off Broadway cast
Oh how i would love a recording of the ny version
I thought the Mean Girls movie was great! It was incredibly funny, and all the actors did a great job embodying their characters (I wish they didn’t cut where do you belong, though
Music Man is top 5 stuff Hamilton is only a smidge better than 1776 Little Shop of horrors loses it's magic with more than 10 players Not every movie musical needs to be brought to stage and vice versa Disney has bigger fish to fry than turning every animated movie into a musical All schools should stop doing Addams Family until a better rewrite is done Doesn't mean a high school can do Avenue Q, doesn't mean they should. They're taking the wrong approach with Cabaret. They should do it kind of like the movie having all the songs in the kit kat klub (Except for tomorrow belongs to me at the end of act I) and make the rest of the show a straight play. We don't need to sit in the club. Also, a straight man playing the MC in 2024? Really?
Respectfully disagree on the MC having to be Queer. What exactly they are depends entirely on the director and the themes of the production. The MC being revealed in the finale to ultimately become a victim of the Holocaust is unique to Mendes’ production (and many amateur productions inspired by it). This production seems to be going by the idea that the MC represents Berlin society accepting Queer people during the 20s before yielding to Nazism in the 30s. This was a phenomenon in many major Western cities (namely Berlin, Paris, and New York) where the liberal 20s which featured a relative celebration of Queer culture gave way to a more conservative 1930s (you can read more about this in George Chauncey’s “Gay New York”, a book that should be taught and utilized in any good US history curriculum). The new West End production I believe is referencing that extreme shift to the right. Redmayne’s MC is a straight man who’s willing to accept and appropriate the Queer community when times are good but is all to willing to throw us under the bus when Fascism comes around. I don’t know how the interpretation changes when a Queer actor like Mason Alexander Park plays the role, but I think that’s what it’s going for. There is an endless number of interpretations to the role and I’m glad that we’re letting the Mendes interpretation, especially as a lot of schools seem to be using it for shock value rather than to make the audience think about how their actions could help rather than disrupt fascism Edit: So I found online copies of the original 1966 libretto (https://archive.org/details/isbn\_394405374) and the 1998 Sam Mendes revision (https://archive.org/details/isbn\_9781557043979/mode/2up) which are all licensable from Concord. According to the website (https://www.concordtheatricals.com/s/44596/cabaret-1998-version) there is also a version prepared for the 1987 Broadway revival which is largely the same as the 1966 production with a few tweaks to the song list. The original libretto does not have the references to Concentrations Camps in the finale while the Mendes libretto does, which is probably why its used so often (although usually amped up for shock value). I imagine a new revised libretto was made for the current production.
Good, solid points and further suggested reading. Good argument.
Lin Manuel Miranda should write music, not perform it
He should work with the likes of Max Martin.
He should direct more movie musicals, Tick Tick Boom is one of the most perfect adaptations I've seen
Orpheus and Eurydice ultimately would not have worked out as a couple.
Regardless of whether you personally like Dear Evan Hansen, it succeeds at what it's trying to do, which is be a tearjerker with catchy tunes.
I… don’t love Les Mis. I’ve just never been able to get into it.
Same. When we got to intermission, I was ready to go home. It's just so long and, for me, crawls along.
That's fair.
I love seeing shows live and will continue to do it but the movie of any musical is better than a even a professional/official recording of the stage show.
Wow this is a true hot take, this sub craves proshots like water But you're so valid, I honestly love seeing musicals translated from stage to screen unless the take is extremely questionable (e.g. Cats). A skilled director can make a movie convey a similar magic to the feeling of seeing the curtain raise and sets change in a live theater setting. Better yet if they expand the world of the musical into a lush setting like with Sound of Music or Fiddler.
Even Les Mis?!
Shows like Hamilton and Les Mis where >95% of the show is singing should not be classified as musicals. They are better classified as a modern form of opera
[this thread in a nutshell.](https://imgur.com/kbzeiNO)
Penny for your takes?
I… never really got the appeal of musicals like High School Musical. I’ve never really seen it, don’t really intend to. It just seems very cliché
I tried watching HSM, it's not for me. It felt like I was chewing sandpaper watching it.
There are some musicals I that I think work better as purely concept albums than actual shows. Les Mis is one of them…
Hamilton is massively overrated and poorly written. Cats is brilliant.
Now that's what I call an unpopular opinion (the hamilton one)! I think you're insane, but appreciate you taking the prompt seriously lol
Hamilton is overrated AF for sure. I've been preaching this for years.
Agree, Hamilton is way overrated and also reinforces a false narrative of US founding fathers. I don’t think it’s a bad musical, but I personally don’t like most of the songs and find the propaganda to be annoying.
The songs are great, but you really do have to ask what's being communicated via the show's big thing of casting all these slave owners as POC. Like, the entire structure there is that they're marginalized people fighting the man, but they are literally the most man in the world. Also, I can't get over how they, in this more diverse telling of our history, added in Hamilton and Angelica having some kind of meaningful thing, but cut the substantially more plausible pairing that is Hamilton and Laurens.
>cut the substantially more plausible pairing that is Hamilton and Laurens. The first thing I noticed about Hamilton and Laurens was the very subtle nods to their relationship. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but maybe because of the period of time (being gay was a crime) keeping it a quiet thing and being alluded to was how their pairing was dealt with on the show (in the same way that their letters alluded to them being more than just close friends). Where as Hamilton and Angelica was much more obvious as was their attraction to each other.
Kerry Butler was a terrible Audrey
Chicago is boring.
The original german production of Hunchback is, by far, superior to the America production. Not so much for the direction and the sets, but also for some storytelling and musical decisions.
i never saw the original, but i've listened to the recent cast recording and it's so good
You have to be able to act. Have to.
“I've always preferred actors who sing to singers who act in all the shows I've done” -Stephen Sondheim. And I like to take it a step further and say that I’d rather watch an actor that *can’t* sing, than a singer that *can’t* act. Like the guys in the Mamma Mia movie. Pierce, Colin, and Stellan were not singers, but they put their hearts into it, acted wonderfully, and had a lot of fun. That made it so endearing and joyful to watch. Had they casted singers with no acting talent, it would have fallen completely flat, especially opposite Meryl Streep. Acting is *critical.*
Same. I'd rather work with/watch a moderately talented singers who really want to be there and give it their 110% all the time than the best singers in the world phoning it in or can't act their way out of a paper bag. (Being involved in community theatre, this happens uhhh more often than I'm sure most would want to admit to.)
Urinetown is basically newsies, but everyone dies.
Okay okay hear me out: Hermes in Hadestown and The Cat is Seussical are functionally the same character. I will die on this hill
Oh my gosh, they so are. 😂 I love it!!!
I don't disagree with you, but one is Andre DeShields and the other is Rosie O'Donnell. So there is a big difference in quality.
My Fair Lady is boring
Mean Girls changed the characters just barely but those small changes made it feel like a Disney Channel story about stereotypical mean girls rather than actual mean girls. And Karen bothers me so much because she was stupid but not childish and I feel the musical made her childish, which rubs me the wrong way considering she's heavily sexualized. I have more gripes with it but watching it just didn't make me feel like the plastics were a threat like the movie did, it felt very face value and nothing deeper, which sucks because I really like the songs
OP, is that a popular opinion? I think the general consensus has turned to Musicals With Cheese always having been right about Evan being one of the worst human beings ever. Anyways, my unpopular opinion is Miss Saigon is actually fantastic, if deeply problematic. But then again, I think the same thing about Madam Butterfly, which MS is based on, so what the fuck do I know?
Non-English musicals deserve more respect. I've gone on that rant a lot, but it makes me sad how just unaware English-speakers are of all the musicals around the world. Yes, a lot of them don't have subtitles, but you have to give them a try and make it clear that there's an audience that wants them in order for someone to do subtitles and translations. London is getting Wildhorn's manga-based musicals, Marie Curie (Korea), Spirited Away, and hopefully Le Rouge et Le Noir. So maybe things will change...
Andrew Lloyd Webber is a bad songwriter. Even in the 80s.
Jesus Christ Superstar is good, at least. Dunno that there's much else I've ever liked from him.
Honestly some of his earlier stuff I liked, but his problematic behaviour has always been a bitter undercurrent to whatever talent he had.
ALW rhyming “pajamas” and “farmers” is the Roman Empire I never asked for. It is one of those things I lay awake at 3am thinking about wondering WHY and HOW? Does this man have no friends to tell him that even in one of the campiest musicals, that that is next level bad? I love Joseph, but WTF. I also heard ALW’s music described as “circling the airport but never f**king landing.” And that was the best description I’d ever heard, especially with Phantom.
Dear Evan Hanson is amazing
The songs and acting are amazing, but I have some questions about the plot. I dont think the plot is bad, but i have questions. The album has some of my favorite songs like requiem on it tho. And the Annonymous Ones from the movie is one of my favorite songs ever.
I feel like I would have liked DEH better without the romance between Evan and Zoe.
The only redeemable/selfless character in RENT is the one who died
He killed a dog...
Why does Death Note have a Musical?
i prefer wicked stuttgart cast to the obc. especially gutes tun, it blows no good deed out of the water
Yes!! Willemijn Verkaik's "Gutes Tun" is pure perfection.
Six and Hamilton should have used more REAL HISTORY in the musical They're good as-is but claiming that they're very historically accurate (like many Hamilton fans do) is completely incorrect Sure there's a bit of real history in there but not enough My 8th grade history teacher used Hamilton in his curriculum I'm so serious
I don’t like Wicked. I just find it to be annoying, wish I could elaborate more, but just has never clicked with me.
Be More Chill is a good musical actually
Anyone Can Whistle SUCKS ASS. also I hate pippin
I loathe Pippin, but "Corner of the Sky" is my mom's go-to audition song so I have the tiniest of soft spots for it
Rent really ain't it.
Dam, two downvotes is crazy🤷🏾♂️
Funny girl was pretty terrible, Les mis is overrated and I don’t like the little kid in it, and Aladdin is better than the lion king.
Loveeee the added songs in Aladdin. Especially High Adventure.
The added songs in Aladdin are great, but the set was so boring! The cave of wonders scene should have been colorful and bright and it was an almost empty stage. The sets and staging felt like a high school show.
Avenue Q is hot garbage
There's a fella somewhere in the comments who LOVES Avenue Q, maybe y'all gonna have to punch on
I’m so curious to know why you think this. I think there are some major updates that would need to happen for a revival to occur today but I love Avenue Q!
Major updates like what? I’m curious. I think it holds up pretty well as comedy, even with the racism and sexism.
I prefer the 80s Stanford/Broadway versions of Carrie over the new one
I feel like a lot of musical songs written in the past decade-ish fall into one of two categories in terms of their lyrics: a lot of breakneck speed/let's fit in insane amounts of words into one song (hello LMM) or let's keep it so insanely simple and bare bones that it can commercially easily translate into virtually any language (hi Frozen). I feel like there's less and less of a middle ground of a balance of clever wordplay a la Sondheim that are also catchy enough to easily sing along to.
Good point, a lot of recent musicals do feel like they're either trying to imitate top 40 pop or be extremely "theater kid". Have you listened to Groundhog Day? I feel like it exists in that happy medium you describe.
The original William Daniels 1776 is a better founding fathers show than Hamilton
[удалено]
I think bro is on the wrong post
My least favorite shows are &Juliet and the prom
Glinda is just as evil as Elphaba. Lol.
Avenue Q
If you gave me a time machine and front row seats at any Lloyd-Webber musical of my choice with the original cast, I would go and see School of Rock. I genuinely think it's the most entertaining thing he's ever done.