Worst bookwriter in musical history- Page 3

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 4:05pm

We're not "fighting." We're disagreeing.

Maybe someday you'll learn to do it a little less disagreeably.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 4:36pm

Edward Albee for musical Breakfast At Tiffany's

Hiring him to rewrite the book is akin to having the idea for a musical called Via Galactica

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:18pm

"He's not the worst, but let's talk about Terrence McNally's book for THE FULL MONTY. Wooooooooof."

Excuse you?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:22pm

James Lipton. He's the worst professional at everything he does excepting kissing up to stars. Seriously, I dunno how he gets so many opportunities to fail (the man was also the headwriter for FOUR soap operas all of which died under his writing, plus one, his daytime adaptation of The Best of Everything which barely lasted a year.)

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:27pm

I saw Via Galactica!

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:43pm

I'm in complete agreement with person who said Joe Brooks. I mean, come on!

Things like Aida and Legally Blonde might have had bad books, but they didn't sink their respective shows.

In My Life on the other hand...Brooks' book is so wretchedly awful and out of control that there are no words to describe it. Via Galactica! makes little sense, but at least it's trying to say something.

"Lemon! Isn't it just perfect? So dysfunctional. It's perfect...for an opera."

I mean a former accountant turned angel is using a guy with (rhyming) Tourette Syndrome as inspiration for a "reality-opera" that he's preparing for God, who happens to write Volkswagon and Dr. Pepper jingles.

What COULD be worse?

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:57pm

Who wrote, Got Tu Go Disco? That had the worse book I've ever encountered, and I've seen most of the shows listed in this thread.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 5:59pm

John Zodrow. I vote for him. The spoken dialogue for, Got Tu Go Disco, was surreal it was so bad.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:05pm

Yes, but you have to admit it was in sync with the whacked out lyrics in the songs!

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:09pm

I remember a scene between the wicked step sisters that was so poorly written that I and most of the audience was literally rolling on the floor laughing. If I'm not mistaken, they were repeating the word, "never" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. It was beyond bizarre.

Absolutely, John Zodrow, is / was the worst book writer in the last 40+ years of Broadway musicals.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:17pm

Man, oh man I wish I had seen Got Tu Go Disco. It's doubly bizarre that it was Casablanca Records' doing and that for a label that had so many great disco songs and writers in their catalog--they some how delivered the worst possible disco score imaginable.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:22pm

I have the fun and fortunate ability to type, I've seen, Dude, Via Galactica, Carrie (Broadway), Got Tu Go Disco, In My Life and many many more of what is considered the worst of Broadway.

Got Tu Go Disco was simply the most fun piece of sh!t as it was SO bad it was hysterically funny. I mean it was a laugh riot. Hands down the most laughing I have ever done in a Broadway theater. I mean, it was so bad, that it was impossible to be respectful to the cast on stage and contain the laughter.

And, it had one of the best opening costume effects ever: the cast coming out in nude body suits and being clothed by pieces of day-glow colored stretch fabric.

Yup, John Zodrow, is the correct answer to this thread.

Updated On: 3/15/14 at 06:22 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:23pm

There are some fun songs in Got Tu Go Disco. The title song is pretty great, as well as "It Won't Work," "All I Need" and "Bad, Glad, Good and Had."

Irene Cara's character was named Cassette btw.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:31pm

And, lets not forget that she wanted only to go to Studio 45.

There were some fun musical moments. I remember the stage deck and the effect that never quite materialized - color water being pumped throughout the floor as it raked to a rather steep angle.

But, it was when the music stopped and the actors spoke that really made this one stand out, and the reason for my vote that John Zodrow wins the award of worse book writer in the musical history.

For those thinking I was kidding, I wasn't. There was a scene with the wicked step sisters (this was a modern take on Cinderella) sitting staring at themselves in a mirror and they repeated over and over, "I'd never never never never never..." and this went back and forth between the sisters. I remember sitting there unable to contain myself. I didn't want to insult the actors, but I had only two choices, leave - I was mid row - or squeal. And, it seems that I wasn't alone. The entire audience was in uncontrollable fits of laughter. The kind where it actually physically hurts.

Updated On: 3/15/14 at 06:31 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:36pm

I need to get a hold of a recording of the show. I admit, I do love the title song (I have the 12" vinyl from Pattie Brooks though even that pales compared to her epic After Dark from the Thank God it's Friday soundtrack.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyz-nJK2ENM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 10:14pm

GOT TU GO DISCO sounds like the most fantastically terrible show ever! It never stood a chance with a title like that.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 10:34pm

I think Hach's book was actually right-on-the-money for the source material they were using.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 11:29pm

Sorry, but those who saw "In My Life" know it was the worst mess ever put onstage. The producers should have been arrested for charging money to see it.

At least you can laugh about Got Tu Go Disco. In My Life was like having your tonsils pulled out with rusty tweezers while passing a kidney stone and having scissors jammed in your ear. It caused physical damage to those who saw it.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 11:44pm

Who were the schmucks who wrote Good Vibrations!

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:04am

Gothampc, I saw both, In My Life, and Got Tu Go Disco, and I assure you, John Zodrow wrote the far more incompetent book. Honest. In My Life was a bore. I grant you that, but Got Tu Go Disco was a whole new level of awful. Hands down, I vote for John Zodrow as the worst book writer in the last 45+ years of Broadway history.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:06am

I saw Via as well. I just wish I had seen Dude so I could have hit the daily double.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:17am

Dude was interesting. It was a mess, but as it was the first time I attended a Broadway musical in a theater that had been totally transformed, it was fascinating. I think Dude's biggest issue was it made little sense. As an audience member, I wasn't really quite sure what I was watching. Sort of a psychedelic trip without the drugs.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:21am

From the 2 cds of the score,MacDermotts music was fine.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:25am

Actually, the music was sort of good. If I remember correctly it played better in the theater than on the album. The cast was energetic and fun to watch. The set was wild and so very different for its time. (Of course, they'd put back the Broadway Theater only to tear it apart again for Candide.) All-in-all, Dude fascinated me. I knew it was a train wreck and had no chance of finding an audience, but it stay with me for quite some time.

I think it also was the beginning of my fascination with alternate seating and immersive theater, something that stays with me to this very day.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 12:31am

Re Gotta which I also saw, one character was called (I kid you not) Cassette. It was played by Irene Cara .I believe she has long since vanished from the scene. Phillip Michael Thomas went on to Miami Vice when he than disappeared from the scene.