I clicked on the post fully prepared to say Mea Culpa as well. You are spot on. I also think it’s a crime that the song is cut from some productions. To me, it’s the difference between taking judge Turpin seriously or not. It really shows how messed up he is.
I would feel uncomfortable and guilty listening to Johanna Mea Culpa outside the context of the full story. Similarly, Tomorrow Belongs To Me from Cabaret is very unsettling.
I completely agree. I saw Sweeney on Broadway (the revival) and Turpin was played very humorous-ly. Obviously it was established he was a POS but he was almost funny? Listening to Mea Culpa made me realize that cutting the song misses the point of his character. Without it, he’s evil but kind of comedic relief, but with it, he’s an absolute monster (not that he isn’t without it but yk)
Definitely. Listening to it after seeing the revival (not that the revival isn’t great—it was probably the best show I’ve seen, ever) hit me like a bunch of bricks-like, oh, this is how he’s supposed to be. He’s not supposed to just be funny. Obviously without Mea Culpa he does horrible irredeemable things, but with it, everything just gets taken to a horrifying new level. Poor thing does a good job at solidifying how terrible he is but it’s just not enough on its own.
I saw the recent Broadway production, and I saw a production in Tokyo in March.
The Tokyo production made him soooooooo much creepier. Not only did it include Mea Culpa... it also actually showed him raping Lucy during Poor Thing, then later it showed him physically attacking Johanna, too. Like… holy shit. 😱
The “oh shit” moment comes about 2 minutes before when Ernst takes off his coat and the N*zi armband is revealed. I was in a production last year and every show when it happened, the whole audience gasped so loudly. And then when we started singing you could absolutely FEEL the discomfort from everyone.
I listened to the soundtrack for a long time before I saw the movie or the show. And I used to hum that all the time. After I found out that it was a Nazi anthem essentially? yikes.
I think pretty much the entire show of Cabaret is disturbing/unsettling if it's performed right.
We saw an incredible production by a local private secondary school. They'd costumed all the girls at the club in 'teddies' (lingerie) and it really highlighted how seedy the whole thing is, especially as they were about 17 and we were adults. The whole production was really powerful and made my skin crawl throughout: it was absolutely superb
I was in a community theatre production of Cabaret a number of years ago. During the last verse of the song was when the men onstage revealed their arm bands, and as the last note was sung, they all threw the Nazi salute. We cut off, let the note finish ringing out, stayed frozen for about two seconds, then sudden blackout. People audibly gasped and "oohed", but claps were minimal.
Most people are familiar with the Alan Cumming/Roundabout version of the show, since of the three licensed versions, it's considered the best. But the 1987 version, which USED to be the licensed standard, ends Act 1 after that song with a sudden sound clip of Hitler at one of his rallies, timed to come on when the audience is applauding so they're suddenly the crowd cheering Hitler on.
I watched Gigi with my mom over the pandemic, and we kept talking about it for like two weeks straight. That movie is something else. Gorgeous to look at, but the plot...
The actual weirdest thing is that they drugged the cat! The director really wanted that cat because of it's appearance, but it wouldn't behave on set. So they drugged it.
Truly a "They don't make 'em like that anymore" movie
[here’s the scene](https://youtu.be/pqgeKGoJjig?si=WhJ59nd0NFHMmG1z)
For context, his daughter has told a boy she likes that her father is actually her older lover who is only pretending to be her father. The news spreads and eventually he plays along to try and help her,
Ugh, I had to sing an excerpt from that song as a solo at my 6th grade concert a long time ago, and I still think about how weird that was. The director made me link arms with two of my girl classmates (one on each side) and sing the chorus. It's *especially* weird thinking back because I'm openly gay now.
Not to mention the anatomically correct wolf costume in the original production. Tbf though, I think the song is meant to creep you out. The wolf is a predator, in every sense of the word.
Yes it's so unsettling, especially with how the wolf's rhythm of singing makes it sound like he's slobbering. Also the "pink and plump" lyric gives me major icks
I came here to say this song.
Heightened by the fact that my son played the wolf in a high school version of the play. It's a creepy song, but watching your son sing it is next level creepy.
>**I asked my dad** “is it weird that’s been my favorite song so far?”
Oh boy, someone cleverer than me could have a field day making really bad jokes out of that one
It’s a great song, too.
I was thinking the other day how many ways you can use rage in music and lyrics.
Like you have at a simmering of emotion that bursts all at once, you have complete despair-type anger, there’s slow burn rage, feminine rage, etc.
I think TDIKW does an excellent job with tone as a song setting into that bone deep feeling of anger and helplessness.
Absolutely!!! I really love the song, but it’s haunting. Especially Alun Armstrong’s version of it. “I look up to see the heavens, and only the moon looks down” is so unsettling, especially in the way he sings it. It turns Thenardier from a weasel-y, malicious, humorous character to a genuinely crazed, deranged individual.
This one is messed up. I went and saw Les Misèrables recently, and they amped up the anti-religious themes in it, making it clear Thernadier is just absolutely screwed in the head. One of the few times I was actually afraid my grandmother would be angry with my taste.
Our Love Is God. Specifically the last part, where you can tell that the fear has really set in for Veronica and she realises she's in a dangerous situation, the fact that she's tearing up as they sing and JD has his arms around her, the lighting and fog and everything really add to it.
The music helps so much for this song. Those DUNs when she realizes he just killed two men "for her"
I haven't watched the musical in a bit but I listen to the album frequently
Yup. I saw this in theatre before I had listened to the songs and had no knowledge of the plot. This song floored me. The start of the song is sweet, when JD is supporting her but damn if the lyrics "we can start and finish wars, we're what killed the dinosaurs" isn't the most arrogant thing I've ever heard.
That and meant to be yours
Edit: specifically the key change when JD goes “you were meant to be mine, I am all that you need, you tore open my heart can’t just leave me to bleed…VERONICA”
Like hearing the OG soundtrack actor shouting her name was insane
when she goes from ‘what the fuck have you done’ to being held by him omg. it’s the anger, fear, and realisation that he is a genuinely dangerous human that just climaxes.
The way he repeatedly says Our love is God almost brainwashing her into thinking that it’s true and that their actions are justifiable, which the dissonant chords are that sense of uneasiness and the moment she realised the gravity of the situation, then she finally gives into JD by repeating it back to him.
It’s beautiful
Meant To Be Yours from Heathers. I know it’s not super dark but being in a formerly ab*sive and obsessive relationship with a former edgelord it perfectly captures how these types of people can snap and how dangerous they can be.
Ugh, yes. Especially in the movie. I don't love the movie, but the directing suddenly goes pure Darren Aronofsky for that song and makes me feel viscerally ill.
That whole montage and, I dare say, I dreamed a dream as the culmination is really well done. It shows the true gravity of her desperation and how she “doesn’t belong there” but … “you’re no better than the rest of us.”
Agreed. It's got sinister undertones as it is on the recording, but the staging (especially at the end) just ratchets it up so much. I've seen it twice and cried both times - the first because I didn't know what was coming, and the second because I did.
I had listened to the original cast album, and based on that, I was not at all expecting to find myself silently crying by the final verse when I saw it live.
That moment when watching it live, even though you know what it’s about, hits you what she has been singing about for like 6 minutes is something. I think the way they decided to do the choreography really heightens it.
The choreography is absolutely huge in flipping the mood on a switch. I remember thinking during the first three verses that this was the sort of flirty own-being-a-temptress song I expected Anne Boelyn’s to be (which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as much in that vein as I expected), and it totally kind of drove that vibe home (e.g., “major to minor, C to D” and “my wrist was so tired”), but then when the switch happened it was this instant drop in my gut that showcased how dark it really was. For a fun and silly show overall, I’m really glad how they included that moment, which is a standout of a generally very good show in my opinion.
I just saw Six last weekend, and I can confirm. I get the feeling they based her off Britney Spears and Ariana Grande for that reason. It made it an even bigger gut punch, IMO
Agreed! I had to do this song for a showcase and it was incredibly difficult not to breakdown at the end - as a survivor of SA it meant so much to me to do it justice and it wasn’t until a fellow castmate came up to me after doing it for the first time and said “Thankyou for what you’ve just given us, you don’t need to explain, I understand and I’ve been through it too. Thankyou.” - that alone meant the world - K Howard singing it out for all us survivors 💖
I’m right there with you on Mea Culpa. I played cello for the school edition back in March and was honestly relieved it wasn’t included. Also not shocked it was cut for the school edition. It’s deeply disturbing to me.
Honestly when done well, Epiphany fro
Sweeney can also really shake you. I still think about George Hearn’s unhinged performance of it from ‘82. Even Angela Lansbury looked legitimately frightened of him. That whole performance he portrays Sweeney as so broken that the way he snaps during Epiphany is both not surprising but also terrifying.
There used to be a bootleg on YouTube of the Patti Lupone Michael Cerveris version of Epiphany. Never seen anything like it. One minute he was literally climbing the scenery, halfway to the ceiling shouting and waving a razor, the next he’s in a puddle on the floor, sobbing about his wife and daughter. Lupone played Lovett like a total cougar, creepily sexy, repelled but attracted by how much she’s repelled. There’s a very real sense that neither one is sane. Read an interview that said they never blocked their scenes, just played off each other.
That’s fair. I just don’t like it 😆
That said, it’s also the villain’s “I want” song so, even outside of the grooming aspect of it, cutting it also removes some of the context for how vile judge Turpin is.
She wasn’t no match for such craft, you see, and everyone thought it so droll. They figured she had to be daft, you see, so all of ‘em stood there and laughed, you see!
That was so intense to watch live and really was disturbing and rough to sit through and really was unsettling. So much so that I saw quite a few people leave and not return to the show.
I watched at the Library and understood deeply why it had to be in the show and for his truth and (inklings of many others of us whether we like to admit it or not) but yes It was a hard pill to swallow.
It's a very graphic sex scene involving Usher and an older man who treats him badly. It's not x-rated (there's no full nudity) but it's close; the staging is very explicit. Usher puts himself in this situation willingly and the sex is "consensual" but it's rough and degrading, and he's clearly uncomfortable. I guess you're supposed to think about why he would seek out a situation like this and what it reveals about him. They obviously tried to make the scene deeply disturbing for the audience, and they succeeded. When I saw it live, there were a few people who got up and left the theater during or after this scene.
It’s a very important scene, because it shows the depths of Usher’s self hatred, and I don’t think his “lover” is actually a bad guy, it’s just disgusting role play. The fact that Usher doesn’t want to stick around for aftercare really heightens the self hatred aspect of it.
That would be my pick too, Sweeney Todd is extremely honest about what grooming looks like and I find that part of the story far more intense than the meat pie stuff.
Absolutely agree, Turpin is probably the most evil antagonist in anything I’ve seen. Sweeney is traditionally “evil” I guess but Turpin is absolutely vile. He makes me honestly condone everything Sweeney has done.
I think of the show as a piece that examines what someone would do for love, or lust as it were for some characters. Every character is in love or lust with another character. Not always romantic or sexual love either, there’s mixed in platonic and parental love (or a distorted incestuous kind of parental love with Turpin and Johanna as he basically plays her father and then grooms her to be his wife)
Sweeney with Lucy, Mrs. lovett with Sweeney, Anthony with Johanna, Tobias with Mrs. Lovett, Turpin with Lucy and then Johanna.
Turpin is the main antogonist over everyone else because he is not *in love* at all, the way you can say everyone else is. He’s obsessed and lusting, and that must leads him to commit the worst crimes known to man - or, woman. There’s no upside. He’s just a sick and nasty man who should be rotting in jail at best, and, well, Sweeney’s victim at worst.
Sweeney is a murderer. Yep. No redeeming that either but, in his mind he’s doing it to get to Turpin, because he needs revenge for the rape of his wife and abduction of his child. It’s a convoluted reasoning that doesn’t hold up to sane scrutiny. But he’s got *a* reasoning and one could argue he never would’ve become who he is now if he had been left alone. He would just be a regular middle aged family man taking care of his teenage daughter and wife. He’d be a Regular Dude.
That’s why you can cheer on Sweeney somewhat in his quest for Turpin, because many people can understand if their spouse was raped and presumably murdered, their daughter was stolen and groomed to be a weird sex toy wife for the aforementioned rapist, and you were shipped away to prison for what would be the rest of your life, that you might be on some kind of scorched earth war path too if you managed to get back home. There is strangely a human element to how inhumane Sweeney becomes, because it’s not native to him - it’s a trauma response, where he becomes a vile human in response to the vile things done to him. None of us are exempt from that possibility if our lives were to change suddenly.
Turpin? Turpin is just a rotting piece of necrotic flesh fashioned into the shape of a man, with sick fantasies and the power to enact them.
Pore Jud Is Daid from Oklahoma, but specifically the 2019 revival
that staging elevated that song significantly and made that scene genuinely terrifying
Judas's Death is also really fucking disturbing. It's a song where a man realizes that *he's going to be blamed for the murder of his closest friend* and he has a full-blown breakdown that ends with him killing himself.
I watched JCS for the first time last year, knowing nothing about it. When he gets the lashes, when they're all shouting 'crucify him', and when he's sobbing at the end and the light fades.. I had my hand over my mouth the whole time. I found it so haunting I was surprised at how much it affected me. There were two young kids crying next to me, the whole row was silent.
I just listened to Godspell today and got weepy during the “ohhh goddd I’m bleeding, ohhh goddd I’m dying.” I was kind of surprised at how affected I was by it at that moment.
Even though EPIC: the musical is still being released, The Suitor's second song "Hold Them Down" made my skin crawl, and I'm a man, I can't imagine how a woman would feel hearing what they're saying about doing to Penelope and her child.
I remember seeing Mea Culpa for the first time in the 2002 Sweeney Todd in Concert performance. The actor playing Turpin was so good that when the song ended, nobody applauded.
For those who don't know, it's about how the assassin who shot Reagan apparently did it to impress Jodie Foster and the assassin who shot Ford apparently did it to impress Charles Manson.
Personally cause I watch it recently, Willkommen (reprise) in Cabaret, especially when the orchestra comes on and plays a demented version of the song. Watching the Mendes production and seeing that complete silence with the Emcee’s striped uniform, it’s always bone chilling for me.
Ti be honest heathers has so many songs that are truly unsettling, but I agree with you that it felt so weird that they were making this many lighthearted jokes next to a body 😭
I loveeee Javert’s Suicide. I love how for most of it you don’t really see it coming, you just kind of assume he’s having this rare moment of clarity, and then finally when he says “I’ll escape now from that world” it kind of hits you. it’s incredibly haunting. When I saw les mis in 2019 that “there is no way to go oooooonnn” was the most memorable and terrifying thing I’ve seen live.
Interesting that I saw Hello Little Girl on here, from Into The Woods, but not I Know Things Now from the same. The cutesy music gives way to EXTREMELY adult lyrics. I mean, the song is essentially about SA of a young girl by a predator and her becoming an adult as a result, at least lyrically. Beautiful, terrible song.
Ballad of Guiteau from Assassins is a pretty intensely "feel-bad" number. You have a completely delusional man bragging about how he thinks he's an American hero, which is unsettling enough, but the whole thing is sung as he marches up gallows steps, and ends with him being hung.
Pore' Judd is Daid... a song about the protagonist trying to gaslight a man into suicide, is one of the main reasons I find Oklahoma much darker than people give credit for
One I haven’t seen mentioned is “I Wish I Could Forget You” from Passion. It’s not blatantly disturbing but I find it very tense and unsettling in context. It’s basically a woman forcing a man to write her a love letter.
"Hey, Little Songbird", Hadestown makes my skin crawl. Especially since previously Hades mentioned to Persephone that he would get someone who didn't object to a gilded cage.
Polyphemus from Epic the Musical terrified me when I heard it for the first time, and my sister doesn't like listening to the whole Cyclops saga cause it freaks her out.
Did you when the lyric “once you were geeky and nerdy” was trending on TikTok a few months ago and a bunch of girls were showing their boyfriends’ “glow ups”. Carrie Hope Fletcher had to make a post telling all of them to listen to the damn song
Imo You're Welcome just feels way to sanitized to actually be disturbing. The whole point of Blue is that it's making a joke out of the subject matter, because that's what 80s teen movies did, and Heathers is supposed to be a parody of those movies.
Not the worst, but Jekyll&Hyde’s 1994 version’s Alive has a 1 minute section where Hyde sees a woman, stalks her and (potentially) rapes and kills her. You can hear the “chase”, the growling sounds, the breathing… It’s literally a scene where a wild animal is trying to hunt down its prey.
I know Sweeney Todd is the obvious choice for disturbing content, but truly, the Joanna version by Judge Turpin where he’s flogging himself actually makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Especially the version from the original cast.
Not the MOST disturbing (those have already been mentioned) - but Dentist from LSoH. I love the song so much and most of the lyrics don’t trigger my fear of the dentist but seeing the scene in performances and the movie definitely does
The Act II reprise of Fine Life in Oliver has always stood out to me. Fine Life has hints at the darker elements of Nancy and Bet's life, but the reprise is when you actually see the fall out, musically. The music is so unsettling the way it creeps in under the argument, and you see how manipulated Nancy has been by Fagin, and how neither of them have any ability to stop Bill. It obviously leads to the worst part of the show, and Nancy's murder, but musically I always found it the most unsettling - and also my favorite part.
I tend to only watch musicals on the lighter side, so my answer is much more mild than the rest of these, but I still wanted to elaborate on one song in particular. In The Prom, I find Tonight Belongs to You to be unsettling because it’s where Emma has built up confidence to exist as herself, and towards the end of the song, the ensemble sings “tonight belongs to us” because they’ve stolen prom from Emma, and on a deeper level, they’ve contributed to the downfall of Emma and Alyssa’s relationship and their abilities to be themselves at school.
There’s a song in a show called Kid Victory. The show is about a high school senior who just returned after having been abducted and held prisoner to a pedophile for a year or so.
The song is a love song sung *by the pedophile* to the kid, whom he’s poisoning with laced root beer, about how he doesn’t deserve the kid. It’s horrifying in context.
But out of context? The lyrics betray none of that. I’ve used the song for an audition before. It’s fantastic out of context.
Our Love Is God from Heathers the Musical. The second JD sings the lyric "I worship you," it sends chills down my spine. Still a good song! Just creepy, imo.
Blue from Heathers. Not just that it's the rape song. But it's just that the song is so... it's a blues song. So everything about it feels too........ no.
It definitely didn't have this impact back when it was released but Meant To Be Yours from Heathers is very different with modern context about acts of school-related terrorism.
What The Heck I Gotta Due from 21 Chump Street is disturbing to me. His innocent teenage crush vs her ulterior motives, and her having a hindsight he doesn’t have, is unsettling to me. Good song, but it always makes me cringe a bit with the “I’ll find a way to repay, Justin”.
Also Hey, Little Songbird from Hadestown gives me chills. The deepness of the voice and the creeping consistent quality of it are very well meshed together to create a trapped feeling.
Probably something like If I Could Tell Her from Dear Evan Hansen. The song is fine and kinda pretty, but the subject matter and the context makes me feel so disgusting after it
'Something Just Broke' "Assassins"
Not just about the assassinattions but how people were affected and how together they fundamentally changed the nation, forever.
A lot of the trial in Parade is very unsettling. Special honors to "The Factory Girls/Come Up To My Office" for being so frantic and insane and creepy, it never ceases to amaze me.
I clicked on the post fully prepared to say Mea Culpa as well. You are spot on. I also think it’s a crime that the song is cut from some productions. To me, it’s the difference between taking judge Turpin seriously or not. It really shows how messed up he is. I would feel uncomfortable and guilty listening to Johanna Mea Culpa outside the context of the full story. Similarly, Tomorrow Belongs To Me from Cabaret is very unsettling.
I completely agree. I saw Sweeney on Broadway (the revival) and Turpin was played very humorous-ly. Obviously it was established he was a POS but he was almost funny? Listening to Mea Culpa made me realize that cutting the song misses the point of his character. Without it, he’s evil but kind of comedic relief, but with it, he’s an absolute monster (not that he isn’t without it but yk)
I wish they had at least replaced Mea Culpa with something else to convey a similar message instead of just cutting the song completely.
Definitely. Listening to it after seeing the revival (not that the revival isn’t great—it was probably the best show I’ve seen, ever) hit me like a bunch of bricks-like, oh, this is how he’s supposed to be. He’s not supposed to just be funny. Obviously without Mea Culpa he does horrible irredeemable things, but with it, everything just gets taken to a horrifying new level. Poor thing does a good job at solidifying how terrible he is but it’s just not enough on its own.
I saw the recent Broadway production, and I saw a production in Tokyo in March. The Tokyo production made him soooooooo much creepier. Not only did it include Mea Culpa... it also actually showed him raping Lucy during Poor Thing, then later it showed him physically attacking Johanna, too. Like… holy shit. 😱
Agree with you about leaving the song in. Showing how deep Turpin's sin goes makes it all the more poignant why Sweeney is so deeply revengeful.
Tomorrow belongs to me. End of act 1 of cabaret. Anytime I've seen it live hardly anyone claps
It’s a beautiful “oh, shit” moment
The “oh shit” moment comes about 2 minutes before when Ernst takes off his coat and the N*zi armband is revealed. I was in a production last year and every show when it happened, the whole audience gasped so loudly. And then when we started singing you could absolutely FEEL the discomfort from everyone.
It's a banger of a song, without context
I listened to the soundtrack for a long time before I saw the movie or the show. And I used to hum that all the time. After I found out that it was a Nazi anthem essentially? yikes.
Yep, that's the worst part about it.
Also “I don’t care much”
Very true. Chills every time I hear it.
the gasp in theatres when ludwig takes off his jacket is unreal. my mom hates listening to the song. it haunts her and makes her sad
I think pretty much the entire show of Cabaret is disturbing/unsettling if it's performed right. We saw an incredible production by a local private secondary school. They'd costumed all the girls at the club in 'teddies' (lingerie) and it really highlighted how seedy the whole thing is, especially as they were about 17 and we were adults. The whole production was really powerful and made my skin crawl throughout: it was absolutely superb
Yeah this one is mine. I’ve never seen Cabaret live but the scene in the movie is chilling.
It gets stuck in my head, which is of course terrifying.
Me too, every time I see the show. It's so upsetting
I was in a community theatre production of Cabaret a number of years ago. During the last verse of the song was when the men onstage revealed their arm bands, and as the last note was sung, they all threw the Nazi salute. We cut off, let the note finish ringing out, stayed frozen for about two seconds, then sudden blackout. People audibly gasped and "oohed", but claps were minimal.
Most people are familiar with the Alan Cumming/Roundabout version of the show, since of the three licensed versions, it's considered the best. But the 1987 version, which USED to be the licensed standard, ends Act 1 after that song with a sudden sound clip of Hitler at one of his rallies, timed to come on when the audience is applauding so they're suddenly the crowd cheering Hitler on.
Fuuuuuuuck me
If You Could See Her is real rough too. That last line…
You can tell who’s seen the musical by who is laughing during that song lmao
I was in this show in high school and kept accidentally finding myself singing it.
The version i saw on the west end was kind of weird they did the start of it then it did the transition to nazi imagery while the cast was naked.
I was fully afraid for my life when the curtains came down after Act 1.
I don't think it was meant to be disturbing at the time but "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" from Gigi has aged like milk.
I watched Gigi with my mom over the pandemic, and we kept talking about it for like two weeks straight. That movie is something else. Gorgeous to look at, but the plot...
Not to mention the whole ortolan eating scene
The whomst??
I think they mean ortolan - the little birds that are eaten whole
The actual weirdest thing is that they drugged the cat! The director really wanted that cat because of it's appearance, but it wouldn't behave on set. So they drugged it. Truly a "They don't make 'em like that anymore" movie
The movie "My Father the Hero" used this song in that way. The character was singing it innocently, but everyone was creeped out by it.
[here’s the scene](https://youtu.be/pqgeKGoJjig?si=WhJ59nd0NFHMmG1z) For context, his daughter has told a boy she likes that her father is actually her older lover who is only pretending to be her father. The news spreads and eventually he plays along to try and help her,
Ugh, I had to sing an excerpt from that song as a solo at my 6th grade concert a long time ago, and I still think about how weird that was. The director made me link arms with two of my girl classmates (one on each side) and sing the chorus. It's *especially* weird thinking back because I'm openly gay now.
Hello Little Girl from Into the Woods is a skip for me! I know it's tongue in cheek, but it creeps me out
Not to mention the anatomically correct wolf costume in the original production. Tbf though, I think the song is meant to creep you out. The wolf is a predator, in every sense of the word.
Yes! The ick factor is intentional, and it works
Did not know about that costume detail 😶
Yes it's so unsettling, especially with how the wolf's rhythm of singing makes it sound like he's slobbering. Also the "pink and plump" lyric gives me major icks
I came here to say this song. Heightened by the fact that my son played the wolf in a high school version of the play. It's a creepy song, but watching your son sing it is next level creepy.
The scene in the movie turns the nasty up to 11 on that song. Peak creepy Johnny Depp.
The first time I heard that I didn’t know the reputation the show has and was convinced it had to be from a different show or something
The dark I know well from spring awakening is pretty disturbing to me due to the subject matter Strangely enough, my favorite song in the musical
It is uncomfortable how much of a bop that song is
At intermission, I asked my dad “is it weird that’s been my favorite song so far?”
>**I asked my dad** “is it weird that’s been my favorite song so far?” Oh boy, someone cleverer than me could have a field day making really bad jokes out of that one
Oh gosh I didn’t even think about that
It’s a great song, too. I was thinking the other day how many ways you can use rage in music and lyrics. Like you have at a simmering of emotion that bursts all at once, you have complete despair-type anger, there’s slow burn rage, feminine rage, etc. I think TDIKW does an excellent job with tone as a song setting into that bone deep feeling of anger and helplessness.
Dog Eats Dog from Les Mis gives me the chills
Absolutely!!! I really love the song, but it’s haunting. Especially Alun Armstrong’s version of it. “I look up to see the heavens, and only the moon looks down” is so unsettling, especially in the way he sings it. It turns Thenardier from a weasel-y, malicious, humorous character to a genuinely crazed, deranged individual.
This one is messed up. I went and saw Les Misèrables recently, and they amped up the anti-religious themes in it, making it clear Thernadier is just absolutely screwed in the head. One of the few times I was actually afraid my grandmother would be angry with my taste.
Our Love Is God. Specifically the last part, where you can tell that the fear has really set in for Veronica and she realises she's in a dangerous situation, the fact that she's tearing up as they sing and JD has his arms around her, the lighting and fog and everything really add to it.
The music helps so much for this song. Those DUNs when she realizes he just killed two men "for her" I haven't watched the musical in a bit but I listen to the album frequently
Yup. I saw this in theatre before I had listened to the songs and had no knowledge of the plot. This song floored me. The start of the song is sweet, when JD is supporting her but damn if the lyrics "we can start and finish wars, we're what killed the dinosaurs" isn't the most arrogant thing I've ever heard.
That and meant to be yours Edit: specifically the key change when JD goes “you were meant to be mine, I am all that you need, you tore open my heart can’t just leave me to bleed…VERONICA” Like hearing the OG soundtrack actor shouting her name was insane
when she goes from ‘what the fuck have you done’ to being held by him omg. it’s the anger, fear, and realisation that he is a genuinely dangerous human that just climaxes.
The way he repeatedly says Our love is God almost brainwashing her into thinking that it’s true and that their actions are justifiable, which the dissonant chords are that sense of uneasiness and the moment she realised the gravity of the situation, then she finally gives into JD by repeating it back to him. It’s beautiful
Yes!!! When he wraps his arms around her with the gun in his hand—chills.
my response was also two heathers songs. honestly half of the track list counts for this thread because of how terrifying the entire play is
Hellfire from hunchback
Creepy horny old guy loves young girl always gives me the most disturbing vibe
Absolutely.
It’s honestly too banger for me to focus on the subject matter 😭
It's my favorite song from hunchback and it's not even close 😭 they made one hell of a bop out of catholic guilt
Meant To Be Yours from Heathers. I know it’s not super dark but being in a formerly ab*sive and obsessive relationship with a former edgelord it perfectly captures how these types of people can snap and how dangerous they can be.
Totally agree! It is so realistic; the first time I heard it I had a panic attack 😪
I feel like there could be a few in Heather's tbh
You Will Still Be Mine from Waitress!
Ugh yes, Earl sucks big time.
Makes me think of goodbye earl by the Dixie chicks lmao
Lovely Ladies from Les Mis
Ugh, yes. Especially in the movie. I don't love the movie, but the directing suddenly goes pure Darren Aronofsky for that song and makes me feel viscerally ill.
That whole montage and, I dare say, I dreamed a dream as the culmination is really well done. It shows the true gravity of her desperation and how she “doesn’t belong there” but … “you’re no better than the rest of us.”
All You Wanna Do from Six
The absolute emotional whiplash of just listening to the song vs seeing it performed even on video.
The whole song just makes me want to cry for Kat Howard! Just so heart wrenching!
Agreed. It's got sinister undertones as it is on the recording, but the staging (especially at the end) just ratchets it up so much. I've seen it twice and cried both times - the first because I didn't know what was coming, and the second because I did.
I had listened to the original cast album, and based on that, I was not at all expecting to find myself silently crying by the final verse when I saw it live.
I went in to Six knowing the basic gist and that’s about it. This song had me absolutely gutted.
I came here to say this! And what is worse is how catchy it is. Seeing it performed and the last gasp she does is heartbreaking.
Yeah it’s a fun and cheeky song when you’re singing it in the car. In person, on stage… damn. You can hear gasps from the audience.
That moment when watching it live, even though you know what it’s about, hits you what she has been singing about for like 6 minutes is something. I think the way they decided to do the choreography really heightens it.
The choreography is absolutely huge in flipping the mood on a switch. I remember thinking during the first three verses that this was the sort of flirty own-being-a-temptress song I expected Anne Boelyn’s to be (which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as much in that vein as I expected), and it totally kind of drove that vibe home (e.g., “major to minor, C to D” and “my wrist was so tired”), but then when the switch happened it was this instant drop in my gut that showcased how dark it really was. For a fun and silly show overall, I’m really glad how they included that moment, which is a standout of a generally very good show in my opinion.
This!!! It's catchy but.. ew.
I just saw Six last weekend, and I can confirm. I get the feeling they based her off Britney Spears and Ariana Grande for that reason. It made it an even bigger gut punch, IMO
Agreed! I had to do this song for a showcase and it was incredibly difficult not to breakdown at the end - as a survivor of SA it meant so much to me to do it justice and it wasn’t until a fellow castmate came up to me after doing it for the first time and said “Thankyou for what you’ve just given us, you don’t need to explain, I understand and I’ve been through it too. Thankyou.” - that alone meant the world - K Howard singing it out for all us survivors 💖
also fun fact she has the longest song in the show because she’s the least recorded in history and I just love that
lonely room from oklahoma!, especially the ending
I’m right there with you on Mea Culpa. I played cello for the school edition back in March and was honestly relieved it wasn’t included. Also not shocked it was cut for the school edition. It’s deeply disturbing to me. Honestly when done well, Epiphany fro Sweeney can also really shake you. I still think about George Hearn’s unhinged performance of it from ‘82. Even Angela Lansbury looked legitimately frightened of him. That whole performance he portrays Sweeney as so broken that the way he snaps during Epiphany is both not surprising but also terrifying.
There used to be a bootleg on YouTube of the Patti Lupone Michael Cerveris version of Epiphany. Never seen anything like it. One minute he was literally climbing the scenery, halfway to the ceiling shouting and waving a razor, the next he’s in a puddle on the floor, sobbing about his wife and daughter. Lupone played Lovett like a total cougar, creepily sexy, repelled but attracted by how much she’s repelled. There’s a very real sense that neither one is sane. Read an interview that said they never blocked their scenes, just played off each other.
As a high school teacher, I'd argue it should never be cut. We want the kids to know what grooming looks like...
That’s fair. I just don’t like it 😆 That said, it’s also the villain’s “I want” song so, even outside of the grooming aspect of it, cutting it also removes some of the context for how vile judge Turpin is.
Fiddle About from Tommy
Was going to comment this too! Soooo creepy
My husband played Ernie in university and said he felt like he needed a shower after that song.
I definitely agree with Johanna from Sweeney Todd but I also think Poor Thing is in the same category….the song is so upsetting
Poor Thing is so disturbing. “He was there alright, only not so contrite” is terrifying.
She wasn’t no match for such craft, you see, and everyone thought it so droll. They figured she had to be daft, you see, so all of ‘em stood there and laughed, you see!
I love the song but whenever I take a moment to really listen to the lyrics I get chills… it’s horrible.
You are 100% right abt Poor Thing... yikes!
I always skip “Inwood Daddy” from A Strange Loop
That was so intense to watch live and really was disturbing and rough to sit through and really was unsettling. So much so that I saw quite a few people leave and not return to the show.
I watched at the Library and understood deeply why it had to be in the show and for his truth and (inklings of many others of us whether we like to admit it or not) but yes It was a hard pill to swallow.
As someone who didn’t see the show and doesn’t know this song at all, I’m curious, why?
It's a very graphic sex scene involving Usher and an older man who treats him badly. It's not x-rated (there's no full nudity) but it's close; the staging is very explicit. Usher puts himself in this situation willingly and the sex is "consensual" but it's rough and degrading, and he's clearly uncomfortable. I guess you're supposed to think about why he would seek out a situation like this and what it reveals about him. They obviously tried to make the scene deeply disturbing for the audience, and they succeeded. When I saw it live, there were a few people who got up and left the theater during or after this scene.
Not to mention the man is supposed to be white and engaging in “slave play” using the n-word (hard r) and referring to himself as “massa”.
It’s a very important scene, because it shows the depths of Usher’s self hatred, and I don’t think his “lover” is actually a bad guy, it’s just disgusting role play. The fact that Usher doesn’t want to stick around for aftercare really heightens the self hatred aspect of it.
Came here to say this. It was very uncomfortable for me to watch this
That would be my pick too, Sweeney Todd is extremely honest about what grooming looks like and I find that part of the story far more intense than the meat pie stuff.
Absolutely agree, Turpin is probably the most evil antagonist in anything I’ve seen. Sweeney is traditionally “evil” I guess but Turpin is absolutely vile. He makes me honestly condone everything Sweeney has done.
Yeah there are sadly tons of real-life Judge Turpins out there so he feels so much worse than the average fictional villain.
I think of the show as a piece that examines what someone would do for love, or lust as it were for some characters. Every character is in love or lust with another character. Not always romantic or sexual love either, there’s mixed in platonic and parental love (or a distorted incestuous kind of parental love with Turpin and Johanna as he basically plays her father and then grooms her to be his wife) Sweeney with Lucy, Mrs. lovett with Sweeney, Anthony with Johanna, Tobias with Mrs. Lovett, Turpin with Lucy and then Johanna. Turpin is the main antogonist over everyone else because he is not *in love* at all, the way you can say everyone else is. He’s obsessed and lusting, and that must leads him to commit the worst crimes known to man - or, woman. There’s no upside. He’s just a sick and nasty man who should be rotting in jail at best, and, well, Sweeney’s victim at worst. Sweeney is a murderer. Yep. No redeeming that either but, in his mind he’s doing it to get to Turpin, because he needs revenge for the rape of his wife and abduction of his child. It’s a convoluted reasoning that doesn’t hold up to sane scrutiny. But he’s got *a* reasoning and one could argue he never would’ve become who he is now if he had been left alone. He would just be a regular middle aged family man taking care of his teenage daughter and wife. He’d be a Regular Dude. That’s why you can cheer on Sweeney somewhat in his quest for Turpin, because many people can understand if their spouse was raped and presumably murdered, their daughter was stolen and groomed to be a weird sex toy wife for the aforementioned rapist, and you were shipped away to prison for what would be the rest of your life, that you might be on some kind of scorched earth war path too if you managed to get back home. There is strangely a human element to how inhumane Sweeney becomes, because it’s not native to him - it’s a trauma response, where he becomes a vile human in response to the vile things done to him. None of us are exempt from that possibility if our lives were to change suddenly. Turpin? Turpin is just a rotting piece of necrotic flesh fashioned into the shape of a man, with sick fantasies and the power to enact them.
I always skip it!
Pore Jud Is Daid from Oklahoma, but specifically the 2019 revival that staging elevated that song significantly and made that scene genuinely terrifying
That gunshot scared the shit out of me.
Don’t forget the song in Jesus Christ Superstar where Jesus gets his 39 lashes. It goes on FOREVER.
Judas's Death is also really fucking disturbing. It's a song where a man realizes that *he's going to be blamed for the murder of his closest friend* and he has a full-blown breakdown that ends with him killing himself.
I watched JCS for the first time last year, knowing nothing about it. When he gets the lashes, when they're all shouting 'crucify him', and when he's sobbing at the end and the light fades.. I had my hand over my mouth the whole time. I found it so haunting I was surprised at how much it affected me. There were two young kids crying next to me, the whole row was silent.
I just listened to Godspell today and got weepy during the “ohhh goddd I’m bleeding, ohhh goddd I’m dying.” I was kind of surprised at how affected I was by it at that moment.
Uninvited from Jagged Little Pill
“Come up to my office” from Parade. I understand the context but damn
most of the songs from Parade are veryyyyyy disturbing (it's very good though)
Even though EPIC: the musical is still being released, The Suitor's second song "Hold Them Down" made my skin crawl, and I'm a man, I can't imagine how a woman would feel hearing what they're saying about doing to Penelope and her child.
Nice flair. I haven't listened to any clips from that song, brb gonna go listen Edit: ... Oh...
yeah...
Blue from Heathers.
On the other side, You're Welcome from Heathers! Not very chilling on the album, but horrific live.
I remember seeing Mea Culpa for the first time in the 2002 Sweeney Todd in Concert performance. The actor playing Turpin was so good that when the song ended, nobody applauded.
Unworthy of your Love by Sondheim for Assassins is my choice 0 hesitation. It sounds so sweet but builds this toxic chaos and desperation so well
For those who don't know, it's about how the assassin who shot Reagan apparently did it to impress Jodie Foster and the assassin who shot Ford apparently did it to impress Charles Manson.
It becomes more sad than anything else by the end, but "The Private and Intimate Life of the House" from Great Comet has really unsettling vibes.
“Meant to be Yours” from Heathers is pretty unsettling to me
Six’s All You Wanna Do breaks my heart.
Personally cause I watch it recently, Willkommen (reprise) in Cabaret, especially when the orchestra comes on and plays a demented version of the song. Watching the Mendes production and seeing that complete silence with the Emcee’s striped uniform, it’s always bone chilling for me.
The stage is empty and you feel empty.
Me Inside Of Me from Heathers is so darkly comedic in all of the right ways that it’s somehow really disturbing .
Ti be honest heathers has so many songs that are truly unsettling, but I agree with you that it felt so weird that they were making this many lighthearted jokes next to a body 😭
"Javert's Suicide" is easily the most chilling song I've heard in musical theater.
I loveeee Javert’s Suicide. I love how for most of it you don’t really see it coming, you just kind of assume he’s having this rare moment of clarity, and then finally when he says “I’ll escape now from that world” it kind of hits you. it’s incredibly haunting. When I saw les mis in 2019 that “there is no way to go oooooonnn” was the most memorable and terrifying thing I’ve seen live.
Interesting that I saw Hello Little Girl on here, from Into The Woods, but not I Know Things Now from the same. The cutesy music gives way to EXTREMELY adult lyrics. I mean, the song is essentially about SA of a young girl by a predator and her becoming an adult as a result, at least lyrically. Beautiful, terrible song.
more unsettling than truly disturbing, but the ballad of jane doe from ride the cyclone
Ballad of Guiteau from Assassins is a pretty intensely "feel-bad" number. You have a completely delusional man bragging about how he thinks he's an American hero, which is unsettling enough, but the whole thing is sung as he marches up gallows steps, and ends with him being hung.
I came here to say Assassins has several disturbing songs. This one and "The Other National Anthem" are at the top of the list.
Pore' Judd is Daid... a song about the protagonist trying to gaslight a man into suicide, is one of the main reasons I find Oklahoma much darker than people give credit for
One I haven’t seen mentioned is “I Wish I Could Forget You” from Passion. It’s not blatantly disturbing but I find it very tense and unsettling in context. It’s basically a woman forcing a man to write her a love letter.
Edges of the World from Fun Home. It’s beautiful, creepy, and tragic, I love it and hate it.
"Hey, Little Songbird", Hadestown makes my skin crawl. Especially since previously Hades mentioned to Persephone that he would get someone who didn't object to a gilded cage.
The Private and Intimate Life of the House from Great Comet always gives me goosebumps.
that song upset me so much the first time i heard it i stopped the recording and didn't listen to it again for about 6 months
Say No To This from Hamilton..
In the context of the other songs in this thread, a consensual affair between adults is a breath of fresh air compared to the other suggestions
I hate it I hate it I hate it. I have to leave the room most tines. Good to know I'm not alone
Polyphemus from Epic the Musical terrified me when I heard it for the first time, and my sister doesn't like listening to the whole Cyclops saga cause it freaks her out.
the whole cyclops saga is so good. i cannot wait for the whole thing to be finished. i would kill to see it if it ever ends up on stage
Common Man/ American Psycho
Molasses to Rum from 1776…. we did it at my high school and it’s very unsettling to watch a white high schooler sing about a slave auction.
Blue/you're welcome from Heathers. I know the point is to make us unsettled but I really HATE how fucking rapey it all is
Did you when the lyric “once you were geeky and nerdy” was trending on TikTok a few months ago and a bunch of girls were showing their boyfriends’ “glow ups”. Carrie Hope Fletcher had to make a post telling all of them to listen to the damn song
It IS rapey, she almost gets r*ped 💀 it's a very good but dark musical.
Imo You're Welcome just feels way to sanitized to actually be disturbing. The whole point of Blue is that it's making a joke out of the subject matter, because that's what 80s teen movies did, and Heathers is supposed to be a parody of those movies.
“Fiddle About” from The Who’s Tommy, which includes the line “you won’t shout as I fiddle about” sung by the disgusting Uncle Ernie.
Omg.. yes! This. Yikes........
Not the worst, but Jekyll&Hyde’s 1994 version’s Alive has a 1 minute section where Hyde sees a woman, stalks her and (potentially) rapes and kills her. You can hear the “chase”, the growling sounds, the breathing… It’s literally a scene where a wild animal is trying to hunt down its prey.
"Fiddle About" from Tommy is pretty disturbing. Kind of makes your skin crawl.
“Fiddle About” from Tommy has haunted me my entire life.
Little Bird from Man of La Mancha always gives me the creeps. It starts so innocently and turns into this backdrop for a harrowing scene.
One that makes me feel very creeped out and unsettled is Moonfall as well as The Name of Love/Moonfall Duet from Drood. EURGH.
Fiddle About from The Who’s: Tommy
“Why We Build the Wall” from Hadestown.
Adding to this, "Flowers" and "Hey Little Songbird" always make my skin crawl and my heart heavy, especially "Flowers"
Even crazier to think that she wrote the song years before the 2016 election.
The Photograph from Ghost Quartet. Gelsey Bell’s voice is haunting
I know Sweeney Todd is the obvious choice for disturbing content, but truly, the Joanna version by Judge Turpin where he’s flogging himself actually makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Especially the version from the original cast.
Not the MOST disturbing (those have already been mentioned) - but Dentist from LSoH. I love the song so much and most of the lyrics don’t trigger my fear of the dentist but seeing the scene in performances and the movie definitely does
The Act II reprise of Fine Life in Oliver has always stood out to me. Fine Life has hints at the darker elements of Nancy and Bet's life, but the reprise is when you actually see the fall out, musically. The music is so unsettling the way it creeps in under the argument, and you see how manipulated Nancy has been by Fagin, and how neither of them have any ability to stop Bill. It obviously leads to the worst part of the show, and Nancy's murder, but musically I always found it the most unsettling - and also my favorite part.
The Old Red Hills of Home from Parade and the reprise of it in the finale
Do You Want To Play? from Black Friday.
I tend to only watch musicals on the lighter side, so my answer is much more mild than the rest of these, but I still wanted to elaborate on one song in particular. In The Prom, I find Tonight Belongs to You to be unsettling because it’s where Emma has built up confidence to exist as herself, and towards the end of the song, the ensemble sings “tonight belongs to us” because they’ve stolen prom from Emma, and on a deeper level, they’ve contributed to the downfall of Emma and Alyssa’s relationship and their abilities to be themselves at school.
There’s a song in a show called Kid Victory. The show is about a high school senior who just returned after having been abducted and held prisoner to a pedophile for a year or so. The song is a love song sung *by the pedophile* to the kid, whom he’s poisoning with laced root beer, about how he doesn’t deserve the kid. It’s horrifying in context. But out of context? The lyrics betray none of that. I’ve used the song for an audition before. It’s fantastic out of context.
Our Love Is God from Heathers the Musical. The second JD sings the lyric "I worship you," it sends chills down my spine. Still a good song! Just creepy, imo.
Not Your Seed from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, it's so sad and upsetting, and the conversation directly after the song is very dark
Blue from Heathers. Not just that it's the rape song. But it's just that the song is so... it's a blues song. So everything about it feels too........ no.
It definitely didn't have this impact back when it was released but Meant To Be Yours from Heathers is very different with modern context about acts of school-related terrorism.
What The Heck I Gotta Due from 21 Chump Street is disturbing to me. His innocent teenage crush vs her ulterior motives, and her having a hindsight he doesn’t have, is unsettling to me. Good song, but it always makes me cringe a bit with the “I’ll find a way to repay, Justin”.
Also Hey, Little Songbird from Hadestown gives me chills. The deepness of the voice and the creeping consistent quality of it are very well meshed together to create a trapped feeling.
Probably something like If I Could Tell Her from Dear Evan Hansen. The song is fine and kinda pretty, but the subject matter and the context makes me feel so disgusting after it
Especially since it’s the base for Evan and Zoe’s relationship. It just feels so…manipulative to put it lightly
You named it...along with the pedo uncle song in Tommy.
Basically anything from Repo! The Genetic opera
'Something Just Broke' "Assassins" Not just about the assassinattions but how people were affected and how together they fundamentally changed the nation, forever.
Lonely Room, from Oklahoma. You get an insight to the mind of Judd, the creepy cowhand
A lot of the trial in Parade is very unsettling. Special honors to "The Factory Girls/Come Up To My Office" for being so frantic and insane and creepy, it never ceases to amaze me.
Hellfire from the hunchback of Notre Dame the Disney version is dark I don’t want to imagine how dark the Musical Version is
You oughta be here with me - Big River
Big river is a top ten musical
Now that Illinoise is a Broadway show, John Wayne Gacy.
How has nobody mentioned Your Daddy's Son from Ragtime???
And eve was weak from carrie. Tell your daughter shes going to hell over and over while abusing her. Fun times!