What shows did you go in with low expectations but ended up really enjoying?- Page 3

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 7:50am

sparepart973 said: "I dragged myself to Mrs Henderson Presents thinking that it'll be another dreary war musical, but was absolutely delighted by how charming and entertaining the show was. 

 

"

 

Agree - I went because I could get a cheap ticket while on a business trip and thought it was just brilliant.

 

[Keiichi2]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 8:58am

Most recently, The SpongeBob Musical.  Was surprised by how entertaining the show was.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 9:33am

Nederland and The Last Ship

[newintown]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 9:58am

Play On (1997) - "another Twelfth night musical?" Luther Henderson's arrangements were, as always, the best, and the performances of Tonya Pinkins, Andre DeShields, Larry Marshall, and Lawrence Hamilton were a delight.

Jackie (1997) - a comedy about Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis? Her life wasn't at all funny - but the play was (thanks mostly to Kristine Nielsen and Bill Camp).

Death of a Salesman (1999) - I thought of Brian Dennehy as a reliable TV supporting actor of limited range, but his Willy Loman was very moving.

A Catered Affair (2008 -) - I had been underwhelmed by John Bucchino's work until this quiet, subtle, effective show.

Matilda (2013) - I was unfamiliar with Tim Minchin before this show, and was expecting treacly kiddie crap. Imagine my delight at the invention, the imagination, and the skill and heart of this show.

Updated On: 6/21/16 at 09:58 AM

[iowaopoly08]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 12:27pm

For me, two shows come to mind.  Once, because we couldn't see anything else at TKTS that we'd want to see and was set up to be underwhelmed and just loved it.  

The other was also a TKTS on a whim purchase with Peter and the Star Catcher.

[@z5]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 12:43pm

I LOVED King Charles III, but went in thinking not so highly of it. I was totally wrong. 

and Mamma Mia too, a few months before it closed last year.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/21/16 at 3:34pm

OlBlueEyes said: "...From what I remember of the few reviews I read of (BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY) it was generally agreed that the book of the musical had wasted too much time on Francesca's American family, which as I remember even from the original book was given little attention.

I wonder if it against Broadway law to rewrite the book to correct the emphasis of the book and juggle the score so that both play to the strengths of the musical. Play around with the rewritten production out of town and see what develops.

 

 

 

"

Thank you for the reply. If that's what the reviews said, there were simply wrong. In the first place and at least by the time the show toured, very little time was spent on Francesca's friends and neighbors. Each one gets a brief solo that tells us something more about Francesca's life and community in Iowa. And each of those songs is tuneful as well as insightful; they also contain all the humor that is to be found in what is not really a comedy.

More importantly, the ultimate issue of the play is which will Francesca choose? A life of travel to exotic places with the handsome photographer or life in a dull but close-knit farm community? Remove the time devoted to her children, husband and neighbors and we'd have no idea why she makes the choice she makes.

The duets between Francesca and Robert are still the highlights, but a show can't live on "highlights" alone.

If there's a problem with the show, and I'm not convinced there is, it may be one of size. There are basically 8 characters, only three of which make much more than "cameo" appearances. The Broadway production and the tour added the understudies to the cast to make a bigger vocal sound, but none of them are central to the story. If you cut back the family and neighbors, you might as well make it a two-character show.

BRIDGES probably always belonged off-Broadway. It would be nice to see it there someday, just as they did with PASSION a few years ago.

ETA: I didn't answer your question. No, there is no "Broadway law" against rewriting the book, but there is copyright law. I assume the copyright holders are the book writer (Marsha Norman) and songwriter (Jason Robert Brown), so any changes, no matter how small, would require their permission.

 

Updated On: 6/21/16 at 03:34 PM

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 2:34am

I just took a quick look at Brantley. He's such a Kelli-phile that, even in a show he doesn't like, he'll devote half his review to praising her. I can see where I got my idea from:

The script by Ms. Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “ ’Night, Mother,” is obviously aiming for a sense of broader social context. But the scenes outside the central love story can come across as glib space fillers....I would have been happier if “Bridges” had been a two-person show, with Mr. Pasquale provoking Ms. O’Hara into ever greater, exploratory heights of song. 

This is the real problem he had with the show:

Though neither of them actually says, “I never knew it could be like this,” they might as well, since they say a lot worse. (Him to her: “This is why I’m here on this planet, at this time, Francesca. Not to travel or make pictures, but to love you.&rdquo I earnestly tried to get through Mr. Waller’s “Bridges.” But though it’s short, and I have I fairly high tolerance for romantic swill, I had to stop halfway through.

"Romantic Swill" Any musical based on a book full of "romantic swill" is going to have a tough time of being accepted. I might have felt the same way. But there are all those uploaded vocals on YouTube and all those views and all that praise. Should be enough to sustain a musical.

[pacificnorthwest]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 7:34am

"The King and I"

I'd only seen a local production of it, and snippets of the film, It never grabbed me. But I was completely swept away by the Lincoln Center production. And it kills me to think that I might not have seen it at all if I didn't go with a visiting friend who had a relative working backstage.

 

Updated On: 6/23/16 at 07:34 AM

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 7:56am

Something Rotten...I don't normally like over-the-top, zany humor, but I loved it! 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 11:03am

I know many who won't agree, but the Gale Edwards' production of Whistle Down the Wind in London. Being a Hal Prince fan, I had followed his original production pretty closely and when it didn't go to Broadway as planned, I thought the musical was DOA. I was in London soon after it had opened there but it was so off my radar, I was surprised that a revised version even had opened and went partly because I thought it would be interesting to see a sure to be infamous flop. 

Am anyway, long story short, going on with such low expectations, I really was won over. I loved the production and, while far from perfect, a lot of the show itself. Of course it wasn't a flop in London, ultimately running nearly three years, though it's too bad that since then only the truly awful, and more supposedly "family friendly" Bill Kenwright version has made it to N America in a brief tour and not that original production and that the cast album plays up one of its most annoying aspects--those awful accents--but I certainly was glad I saw it. 

[bekk99]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 11:55am

I liked Tuck Everlasting more than I thought I would. And I actually had problems with the way the ballet was staged, a bit opposite of others' thoughts.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 1:02pm

CABARET- My only experience was a pretty rough community production, so I was a bit ambivilant about seeing it. Then Alan Cumming, Danny Burstein, and Emma Stone blew me the hell away!

LEAP OF FAITH- Hearing it was one, big turd on stage lowered my expectations as low as they could go. Then I ended up having a decent time. The energy was infectious. The performances were fantastic and Alan Menken wrote a few great songs for that score. The book was pretty terrible though. 

BRING IT ON- I was dragged kicking and screaming. I wouldn't say I really enjoyed it, but it was definitely a fun time.

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 1:42pm

FUN HOME: I had read the graphic novel years earlier and remembered it only enough to think it was too depressing to be source material for a musical. But TDF had tickets, and I thought, what the heck. I ended up loving it, and it is my favorite musical.

HAMILTON: Like many people, I couldn't see how a hip-hop treatment of a Hamilton biography could possibly work. The idea sounded nonsensical to me. But some posters on BWW had seen workshops at Vassar or the American Songbook concert, and they were saying, Don't miss this one.

[gfaustswa]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 5:26pm

American Psycho, Bright Star and Tuck Everlasting. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 5:43pm

OlBlueEyes said: "I just took a quick look at Brantley. He's such a Kelli-phile that, even in a show he doesn't like, he'll devote half his review to praising her. I can see where I got my idea from:

The script by Ms. Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “ ’Night, Mother,” is obviously aiming for a sense of broader social context. But the scenes outside the central love story can come across as glib space fillers....I would have been happier if “Bridges” had been a two-person show, with Mr. Pasquale provoking Ms. O’Hara into ever greater, exploratory heights of song. 

This is the real problem he had with the show:

Though neither of them actually says, “I never knew it could be like this,” they might as well, since they say a lot worse. (Him to her: “This is why I’m here on this planet, at this time, Francesca. Not to travel or make pictures, but to love you.&rdquo I earnestly tried to get through Mr. Waller’s “Bridges.” But though it’s short, and I have I fairly high tolerance for romantic swill, I had to stop halfway through.

"Romantic Swill" Any musical based on a book full of "romantic swill" is going to have a tough time of being accepted. I might have felt the same way. But there are all those uploaded vocals on YouTube and all those views and all that praise. Should be enough to sustain a musical.

 

"

Thank you for looking that up, BlueEyes. Based on the excerpts, it seems to me Brantley entirely contradicts himself. On the one hand, he dismisses "romantic swill"; on the other, he wants the show to cut everything else! Personally, I can't imagine what more Robert and Francesca could say to each other, so unless the show is to be 30 minutes long, something else is required.

I promise you the show spends plenty of time on the central couple. The other characters appear mostly in musical numbers which give the show its variety (country music, radio pop) and humor. Some of these are quite touching, too, as when Francesca's husband, alone in a bar, sings a short song admitting she has never loved him the way he loves her: "And to me she's still like something from a dream/And to her I'm like the guy who keeps the lights turned on..."

As I said at the time, the show has so many levels I couldn't really talk about it for several days afterward. (And we'll all agree that very little leaves me speechless!)

Updated On: 6/23/16 at 05:43 PM

[laurabenantilover]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 6:19pm

For me it was Curious Incident. I'm 13, and I won tickets through the lottery. My mom wanted to see it, so we went. I have never liked plays, and the only one I really enjoyed was Fully Comitted (which I got lottery tix to the week before). We went and I really enjoyed myself. Thought the ending was really funny.

[acekatherineplumber2]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 6:55pm

Gigi, Finding Neverland, and Beautiful.