Am I the only one bored to death by plays? Prefer musicals instead...

[mormonsandglindas]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:36pm

I love musicals! I just can't seem to enjoy going to see just a play without the music and dancing. They always seem to bore me or put me to sleep.

[Huss417]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:38pm

Yes you are.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:44pm

I have seen a number of musicals that bored me to death.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:46pm

You are not the only one. I have two friends that refuse to see a play. They will only see musicals. It is a preference that they, and you, are certainly entitled to. I like both.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:47pm

I would like to think that, if you saw the right play, you would not be bored. Good writing, directing and acting should always hold your attention. BUT, having said that, now that Broadway has gone techno and is trying to attract audiences with a lot of action, light and noise, we do seem to be training a generation of audience members to expect to be distracted rather than provoked into thinking about a complex subject. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:50pm

Do you not watch movies or tv?  Those are non musicals.  

 

I love them both.  Funny enough, as a director I MUCH prefer straight plays to musicals.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:50pm

I don't think that it's fair to say that you won't enjoy any plays. A preference for musicals is fine, but a good play can be just as entertaining. Do movies and TV shows bore you? The majority of those don't include singing or dancing. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:52pm

I absolutely prefer musicals to plays, but still, I can list a large handful of plays that have truly moved, entertained, or enthralled me.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:56pm

Much prefer plays.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 3:58pm

songanddanceman2 said: "Much prefer plays."

Funny that's coming from the user with "song and dance" in their name

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:12pm

I've grown to prefer plays actually. Maybe you're just not seeing the right ones.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:15pm

No, you are not the only one. That's precisely why they have a separate line for plays at TKTS.

Good trolling work, though. B - 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:21pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "songanddanceman2 said: "Much prefer plays."

Funny that's coming from the user with "song and dance" in their name

I used to be that very thing, then quit to become a playwright and director. I still enjoy some musicals but I'm more a fan of plays. 

"

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:36pm

Before I actually started going to the theatre I could never imagine enjoying a straight play.

But then the first professionally produced straight play I saw was an incredibly moving experience and remains to this day one of my most fondly remembered experiences.

While I find musicals more fulfilling overall, here where I live there are simply more plays produced so I tend to see more of them.

[Comden Green]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:43pm

I am drawn to musicals but feel like I am missing something.   I want to understand what there is in plays.   So I go and see if I can figure it out.  (No, not the deepest thinker, here).  Glass menagerie, for example, I had read for school.  - interesting but ordinary.   The big revival a few years ago was so highly acclaimed I got tickets (um, did it matter that Zachary quinto was in it?, maybe).  I read the play again. I read reviews and commentaries.  I understood more what it was saying.  I went and was blown away by the production.  The play hit me emotionally in so many ways.    

Moral- I found that if I put time into it, I am not bored and can watch with a purpose.  And of course, plays are not merely entertainment but are to help us see life as we never have -   Musicals do that for me, too, but they are more accessible- mostly.  

I recently read long day's journey into night and checked out oneill's biography online.  And, again, I got more out of the production when I saw it last week.  

[Fantod]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 4:43pm

I'd much rather see a great play than a great musical, but I'd much rather see a bad musical than a bad play.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 5:01pm

Fantod said: "I'd much rather see a great play than a great musical, but I'd much rather see a bad musical than a bad id love to know what bad musicals you are comparing to bad plays.  To me, bad is bad, but I have seen some musicals that were even more painful than very bad plays.  I would cringe every time the orchestra started to play because the score was so bad

 

 

you?"

 

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 5:18pm

I feel kind of sorry for someone who feels this way. I have seen several musicals that were way more painful and boring to sit through than straight plays. 

[Dave13]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 5:42pm

I prefer musicals but War Horse, Curious Incident, King Charles III, just to name a few, were more enjoyable, entertaining and moving than most musicals I have seen.   

Updated On: 4/24/16 at 05:42 PM

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 5:56pm

I also prefer seeing musicals. Far more plays are produced where I live, but I never hesitate to buy tickets to get my theater fix. 

[John Adams]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 5:57pm

Are You a Musicals Addict? John Adams Picks the Perfect Broadway Plays for You!

If you like Wicked…
Go see: “The Crucible.”
It’s got witches. Goody! Goody!

If you like Aladdin…
Go see: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”
In the night-time, you need a lamp …just like Aladdin! And Aladdin is called a “street rat” and there’s a rat in the play, too.

If you like Fun Home…
Go see: “The Father.”
It’s a show about a girl’s father.

If you like Kinky Boots…
Go see: “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”
Because John Gallagher Jr. has been in a musical and Kinky Boots is a musical.

If you like Hamilton…
Go see: “The Humans.”
Yeah, there’s no real correlation here, but they both have a capital “H” in their titles.  I like the letter “H”.  I like it when British people pronounce it like, “haitch”.

And there you have it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 6:40pm

Sit down Mr Adams

Seriously, well done.

Updated On: 4/24/16 at 06:40 PM

[mpkie]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 8:33pm

I lost it at the reasoning behind pairing Kinky Boots with Long Day's Journey Into Night. Nice one.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 8:44pm

To the OP,

 

I understand your boredom at plays. A great many of them nowadays are indeed boring. Others are painful. Some are both. In the good old days, things were much better.

 

I'd say today's musicals are scarcely more satisfying. But at least you have an orchestra playing something at fairly regular intervals to interrupt the boredom or bad writing. You're more likely to keep awake during those moments. You might even get to hear a decent tune every now and then. There's also dancing, sets, costumes.... Every little bit helps.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 4/24/16 at 9:01pm

After Eight, you don't have to leave two blank lines between paragraphs anymore. The spacing issue has been fixed!