BROADWAY SECRETS: Wherein we confess our controversial opinions- Page 14

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 1:21pm

I really do not get the love for Hugh Jackman. Yes, he's attractive and charming but I do not understand the praise for his singing. I find it very average and his vowels make me crazy. He's gotten better about the vowels over the years (listen to Beauty and the Beast) but it's still not great.

I don't think the revival of OTTC is laughably bad but it is quite boring at times and the material just isn't great. The lyrics are very repetitive and no one is really able to give a great performance because there's not much in the material (and what's there is convoluted and contradictory) for them to play. Kristin was better in The Apple Tree.

I like a lot of songs from Side Show but it's a very flawed show and if they really wanted to fix it, they almost need to start from scratch, not just change lyrics here and there. In fact, I'd welcome someone else's attempt to write a musical on the Hilton sisters.

I would welcome a remake of Brief Encounter.

[enjoyable2]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 2:00pm

Bernadette Peters - increasingly overwrought and shrill. Her version of Sondheim's Not a Day Goes By is appallingly histrionic. Such a lovely tune.

Les Mis and Wicked - the two worse musicals I ever saw.

Kelli O'Hara - I wish she would stop using accents in her performances. I think it is too much effort for her and it doesn't work. If she didn't do it, she'd free up her energy for other parts of her performance. I think she has a magnificent voice and sang my definitive "What's the Use of Wonderin" at the Ny Phil's Carousel.

I've never seen a musical of ALWs and my life is far better for it. Or at least my ears are.

My favorite performance ever - Angela Lansbury, London, Gypsy. She tore the house down. A great memory.

[acekatherineplumber2]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 2:11pm

I really dislike Patti LuPone.
I love Megan Hilty, but I hated her take on Glinda in Wicked--it felt very hammy and lacked depth.
Spring Awakening was boring.
I tried very hard to like Cabaret, but hated it nonetheless.
Updated On: 3/23/15 at 02:11 PM

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 2:18pm

"I love Megan Hilty, but I hated her take on Glinda in Wicked--it felt very hammy and lacked depth."


Oh thank God I'm not alone in thinking this!


Also, while I like Into the Woods, I'm always thrown off by the abrupt change in tone about halfway through the second act. At times it feels like the show is trying too hard to be "heart-wrenching" and "thought-provoking" at the very last second. (And yes, I understand the point of the show, with the whole "Careful what you wish for!" and putting fairytale characters in more realistic scenarios, but it still feels off to me.)

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 9:47pm

"Kelli O'Hara - I wish she would stop using accents in her performances."

Her accent is all over the place on the Bridges cast album.

[skies]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:24pm

I'm impressed by Assasins.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:25pm

I don't know if that's such a controversial opinion, skies. A lot of people think ASSASSINS is great, myself included.

Updated On: 3/24/15 at 10:25 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:33pm

Unless you mean literal assassins.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:34pm

Ok, that was funny.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:49pm

Well, I put the title in all caps, which means ASSASSINS: The Musical by Sondheim and Weidman.

But still. Cute, Fantod. Very cute.

[skies]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:56pm

LOL, I'm embarrassed.

You can judge me.

ASSASSINS.

Updated On: 3/24/15 at 10:56 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 10:57pm

Oh I didn't care that you capitalized it or not. I knew what you meant. This IS a theater message forum, after all. Don't be embarrassed.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/24/15 at 11:39pm

I think Ramin Karimloo's genre of "BroadGrass" sounds terrible. I like country (shocker, I know) and I love Broadway and I think they can mix. I just think he sounds bad when he sings in that style.

Also, the Assassins things was very funny.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 1:11am

I'm gonna try to do only positive ones. Here goes:

I liked Soul Doctor a lot, and thought it was very well-done

The recent Annie revival was beautiful and made me fall in love with the story

From this season: I thought The Last Ship, Constellations, The River, It's Only a Play, and A Delicate Balance were all excellent.
Updated On: 3/25/15 at 01:11 AM

[seahag2]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 2:04am

I agree with the Annie confession. I loved the sets from production still I saw and Lilla Crawford + the other little girls were mega talented. The OBRC made those worn out songs feel so fresh

[laurenmwendt]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 8:05am

-I don't really like ALW
-Side Show is one of the most amazing musicals I've ever seen and never should have closed
-Santino Fontana is extremely underrated and should have won a Tony for R+H Cinderella, and at least deserved a nomination for Act One ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZtLREYKxO0 )
-Rodger's and Hammerstein will always be my favorite composers
-Idina Menzel is awful

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 10:02am

Kristin Chenoweth is a fabulous vocalist, but her acting skills are extremely limited. If she wins awards for 20th Century I will be sick. Lol

I think it would've been fun for Chris Pine to get a Golden Globe nod for Into the Woods.

John Doyle's Company was the only show of his that worked.

Karen Cartwright > Ivy Lynn. Although I do prefer Hilty as a performer- I'm strictly talking about their characters.

I like Ramin Karimloo enough, but I don't think he's the Lord's gift to musical theatre- no matter what Tumblr thinks.

That one musical that desperately needs a film remake is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum- and Jim Parsons gets my vote for Pseudolus.

"Can That Boy Foxtrot!" is one of Sondheim's greatest songs.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 1:51pm

I don't share everyone's enthusiasm for casting Sierra Boggess and Laura Osnes in everything when speculating. I find them both talented but limited in range. I rooted for Laura on You're the One That I Want (remember that, kids?) but I don't think she's really exercised the potential I hear in her voice when she just appears on one of those Kennedy Center Awards shows. And she was a terrible Nellie Forbush.

This is very cathartic.

[hopefulundertone]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 10:39pm

-I'm not a huge fan of Ramin's Valjean. I love him as a person and he's not like horrible but I'm not a fan either.
-I loved the Phantom movie.
-I like Wicked enough but I think it's overrated.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 10:47pm

Because I don't want to get attacked by the people in The Crucible thread I'm posting here... I hate that play. The Salem Witch Trials are such an interesting subject and to me, that play is a big old zero. Death of a Salesman is better but I may just not be an Arthur Miller fan.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 11:25pm

I wouldn't attack you VintageSnarker! :)

[rcwr]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 11:30pm

I can't find any way not to be entirely creeped out by Phantom.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 11:48pm

"I can't find any way not to be entirely creeped out by Phantom."


That's not bad; if anything, I worry for anyone who DOESN'T find the story creepy. After all, the original book was written as a mystery/horror, not even a romance.

Updated On: 3/26/15 at 11:48 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/26/15 at 11:52pm

The Phantom is a sexy, bad boy, creative type. That's hot as hell. I think that's the allure.

Updated On: 3/27/15 at 11:52 PM

[rcwr]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 12:03am

Thanks, Elfuhbuh and Sutton! Both your answers are helpful.