Worst Broadway Show of 2017- Page 3
Worst Broadway Show of 2017
#50Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/17/17 at 5:58pm
Loved the Glass Menagerie revival. Thought it did a great job delivering the essence of the text in a hauntingly provocative way, despite changing some of the original play’s settings..
The first act of bandstand was insufferable. I liked the second act more, but it is far from redeemable.
War Paint was disappointing at best. It could’ve been far more interesting if they focused more on how the two giants influenced other women than on their vapid relationships with men. The latter could’ve worked with a mor nuanced approach though.
I found A Doll’s House Part 2 sacrilegious to the original masterpiece. I read A Doll’s House right before seeing the sequel. I was provoked not by what it had to say but how it tried, not to challenge, but to undermine some points the first play made. It felt snarky but not funny.
Jitney. Not a bad play, just not good enough for an August Wilson play. It seemed to me somewhat structurally sluggish.
Amelie. Mediocre and uninspired. A waste of opportunity and talent.
#51Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/17/17 at 7:46pm
I wouldn't have had anything to post in here, but then I saw Meteor Shower yesterday...
#52Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 11:40am
For those of you who have voted for Great Comet (either on this board or as a "write-in" vote or both) -- it opened on Broadway in 2016, and thus not eligible for this list.
Besides that, I'm baffled that anybody would find it the absolute worst of the year.
#53Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 11:51am
If you make something a year-end list, that seems to indicate the metric is the calendar year, whereby Great Comet was a show for 8ish months of 2017. Otherwise, you could just run this list after the Tony deadline, no?
Otherwise, I'm saying limited to saying something is the worst show of this season, despite most of the season's big shows having not yet opened?
#54Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 12:06pm
I say right in the (very brief) text -- twice -- shows that opened on Broadway in 2017.
If you wanted a list of shows that were running on Broadway in 2017, then why exclude Cats or Kinky Boots or Wicked?
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#55Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 12:50pm
NewYorkTheater said: "Besides that, I'm baffled that anybody would find it the absolute worst of the year."
And I'm baffled that you would include The Play That Goes Wrong which got generally positive reviews and has an 84 Show Score. I'm also baffled by the need people have to start these worst this, worst that threads. I guess we're all baffled by different things.
#56Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 1:16pm
Yes many things are baffling to many people. I'm baffled that you're baffled that I Included The Play That Goes Wrong, since (as my review makes clear) I thought it could just as easily have been 20 minutes as two hours. I'm not the only one who thought this, since it has gotten votes in the poll.
To clear up some of your bafflement: I started my worst show poll six years ago to offer the tiniest bit of counterbalance to the theater community's surfeit of undifferentiated boosterism.
But I was talking about Great Comet. In your reply, you don't address my point at all. What did YOU think of Great Comet?
#57Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 1:34pm
NewYorkTheater said: "I started my worst show poll six years ago to offer the tiniest bit of counterbalanceto the theater community's surfeit of undifferentiatedboosterism."
Yeah, positivity needs to be kept in check!
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#58Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 2:05pm
NewYorkTheater said: "Yes many things are baffling to many people.I'm baffled that you're baffled that IIncluded The Play That Goes Wrong, since (as my review makes clear) I thought it could just as easily have been 20 minutes as two hours. I'm not the only one who thought this, since it has gotten votes in the poll.
To clear up some of your bafflement: I started my worst show poll six years ago to offer the tiniest bit of counterbalanceto the theater community's surfeit of undifferentiatedboosterism.
But I was talking about Great Comet. In your reply, you don't address my point at all. What did YOU think of Great Comet?"
Let's be honest then, this is really your bottom 10 list which is fine. You're not the only person who publishes one. But most don't make the release of their list a big production with a poll to find the worst show of the year. They give their opinions and let people respond to it as they wish. Of course, that approach wouldn't drive as much traffic to your site.
Your methodology mixes 2 objectives. If your goal is to publish your bottom 10 list and see what people thought of that, you should give your list and let people share comments and reactions as they see fit. If your goal is genuinely to see by poll what people in general thought was the single worst show of the year, list every show that opened this year and let people vote as they wish, uninfluenced by your choices and your subjective framework. As far as your review of TPTGW making your opinion of that show clear, if one doesn't read your reviews, one wouldn't have known that. And if you survey a large enough group, I'm sure a few would say they hated Dear Evan Hansen. That doesn't mean it should be included in your list.
As far as Great Comet is concerned, I don't see every show that opens. I see shows I think I will enjoy that appear to be well done AND have a subject matter of interest to me and/or cast members of whom I am big fans. Comet fit neither of those 2 latter criteria so I didn't see it.
#59Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 2:33pm
^ Which was actually my basic point too. If we're lucky, we've successfully AVOIDED seeing the worst shows of any given year. In my mind, only an idiot (or a masochist) would subject himself to CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY or 1984 after the lambasting both got on BWW. I bought pricey tickets to GREAT COMET precisely because so many folks on this site thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Had it showed up on anyone's worst list of 2016 as the OP would prefer if at all, I would have been suitably warned.
#60Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/18/17 at 3:04pm
NewYorkTheater said: "I say right in the (very brief) text -- twice -- shows that opened on Broadway in 2017."
This only affects the minority who click through to your site, though. Most of us just use it as a discussion topic here without clicking.
#61Worst Broadway Show of 2017
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:54am
To respond to these last few comments:
1. It's a fair point that the savviest theatergoers avoided the shows with bad buzz, which might skew the results. The actual poll results do seem to reflect more or less the general public and critical consensus, at least when it comes to the high-profile musicals. But maybe this explains why the lower-profile plays didn't get as many votes; people avoided them in the first place.
2. Sorry you felt hoodwinked into seeing Great Comet.
3. Yes, it's my "Bottom 10" list -- I use that very phrase in the post -- and yes I am also curious what show most disappointed poll-takers. The idea of listing every single show on Broadway in this poll makes no sense to me. That wouldn't make the poll any more scientific -- there's no way to make this online poll scientific. I'll also point out, as an analogy, that nearly every theater award you can mention selects a list of finalists/nominees first, from which the winners are chosen. (The one exception I can think of is the Obies.)
