Unpopular theatre opinions

[borlechristian]

I know there's probably already been a thread on unpopular theatre opinions, but I want to see some unpopular opinions, and see if I agree with them.

For my unpopular musical opinion, I've seen a lot of people say "Lin Manuel Miranda is bad at singing" but I honestly think he just has a voice that is different, so people don't care for it. If you've listened to his rendition of "green green dress" from tick tick... Boom, then you know he can sing

Share your opinions!!

[Sutton Ross]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was pure garbage.

I absolutely loved Big Fish.

I find Matthew Broderick to be wooden and boring as hell on stage.

Jordan Donica was the best Freddie Eynsford-Hill I have ever seen. 

[LizzieCurry]

This thread is 44 pages long: https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1034860

This one is 25 pages long: https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1061172

23: https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=987797

[Alex Kulak2]

I don't want to click through 44 pages.

Andrew Lloyd Webber plagiarizes half his music and the other half sounds as complex as nursery rhymes.

Be More Chill on Broadway was great, except for the annoyingly hammy performances.

Tootsie's not transphobic, and it's one of the funniest books for a musical I've encountered in a long time.

[skies]

Alex Kulak2 said: "I don't want to click through 44 pages.

Andrew Lloyd Webber plagiarizes half his music and the other half sounds as complex as nursery rhymes.

...."

That doesn't really qualify as an unpopular opinion.

[Sutton Ross]

Yeah, and Tootsie not being transphobic is NOT an unpopular opinion, it was a tiny minority of people that bitched about that.

Does anyone know how this works?

[Alex Kulak2]

Sutton Ross said: "Yeah, and Tootsie not being transphobic is NOT an unpopular opinion, it was a tiny minority of people that bitched about that.

Does anyone know how this works?"

Yeah, my unpopular opinions are kinda milquetoast.

I posted it in another thread, but I can't get into Chekhov, no matter what translation I read.

I thought If I Forget and Downstate deserved the Pulitzers over Cost of Living and Fairview, respectively.

Based on Kitt and Yorkey's subsequent work (If/Then, Superhero, Thirteen Reasons Why (just Yorkey but that is one of the worst shows on television and he was with it until the bitter end)) I'm starting to think Next to Normal was just a fluke.

[Jarethan]

I have seen at least 5 Dolly Levi's that I can think of who were better than Bette Midler.  I loved Bette since seeing her at the Palace in the late 70s and ws dying to see her in it.  I just felt that she was phoning it in at times.  BP -- pretty much the same age -- was much more energetic, so I do not know if she was tired the night I saw it or not in the mood.  Good, not great.

[Dolly80]

Lin Manuel Miranda cannot sing.

And Hamilton is great for 10 minutes and then falls apart, and is.. (whispers) boring for the entire second act.

[bwayphreak234]

- I love Frank Wildhorn's scores.

- I loved the most recent revival of Jekyll & Hyde.

- The Lion King is one of the most boring an overrated shows of all time. The first 5 minutes are absolutely magical, and then it's all downhill from there.

- Bullets Over Broadway is easily the funniest musical I have ever seen.

 

[Broadway61004]

I hate Tennessee Williams' plays.  I can appreciate them as well-constructed pieces of literature, but every time I sit through one I'm bored out of my mind.

I second that the first 5 minutes of Lion King are tremendous and then it's all downhill from there.

The Last Five Years is terrible, mostly because it's impossible to get invested in her story since she keeps going backwards and therefore has no arc in the show.

And Bernadette Peters' voice really annoys me.  I know, blasphemy.

[PutonyourWarPaint]

-Bootlegs are in my DNA

-Front Row seating is the only way to be fully engaged in a show nowadays (if you wish to hear more, inquire)

-Sometimes I DON'T skip "A Sentimental Man" 

-Plays aren't as good as musicals

-Jan Maxwell should have received a TONY for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

-Watching Christine Ebersole interviewed by Alex Jones on YouTube is as maddening to me, as letting a Broadway show GO ON  where an usher tested positive for COVID-19.

-I'm fine with Broadway being shut down until Summer 2021 if it means we get to keep Andre De Shields, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Glenn Close, Glinda Jackson, and about a hundred thousand others in the industry who I just want to keep SAFE!

-

[Broadway61004]

PutonyourWarPaint said: " -Front Row seating is the only way to be fully engaged in a show nowadays (if you wish to hear more, inquire)

-"

I used to always want to sit front row as well, but then I started sitting further back and realized you actually got a much better view of the show as a whole from mid-orchestra than you did in the first row.  Although I 100% agree it does really put you into the moment more if you're right up front which is also very exciting.

[Highland Guy]

I much prefer the vibe of London's West End Theatre District to that of NYC's Broadway Theater District.

[PutonyourWarPaint]

I think prior to my last trip to NYC in January, I would have agreed with you. We saw FROZEN from the Center Mezz J and Beetlejuice from front row. I know the shows are completely different styles, but I'm rating it for experience, not content.

I'm typically someone who can turn a blind eye to distractions in the theatre, but what I saw at FROZEN was beyond disrespectful. It's not about showing off being on the front row, bragging rights when you get home, etc. Sure, those are neat perks. But when I find having sat front row for shows like Hello, Dolly, War Paint, Once On This Island, WICKED, in the last few years its just so much MORE engaging. The liberties people take by pulling out their phones to check them (let alone use them for RECORDING!?) are too much to bear. Seated as far back as we were for FROZEN, I'm going to guess at least 5 or 6 phones screens lit up during Act 1, and a couple in Act 2. In fact, the people seated IMMEDIATELY in front of us were recording most of Dangerous to Dream.

The constant up and down of patrons, candy unwrapping, Playbill shuffling; on top of phone screens, texting, phones set to VIBRATE, etc...it just seems is amplified when it's in front of you, but minimized when it's behind you. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this!

It's just an unpopular opinion...  

[Broadway61004]

PutonyourWarPaint said: "I think prior to my last trip to NYC in January, I would have agreed with you. We saw FROZEN from the Center Mezz J and Beetlejuice from front row. I know the shows are completely different styles, but I'm rating it for experience, not content.

I'm typically someone who can turn a blind eye to distractions in the theatre, but what I saw at FROZEN was beyond disrespectful. It's not about showing off being on the front row, bragging rights when you get home, etc. Sure, those are neat perks. But when I find having sat front row for shows like Hello, Dolly, War Paint, Once On This Island, WICKED, in the last few years its just so much MOREengaging. The liberties people take by pulling out their phones to check them (let alone use them forRECORDING!?) are too much to bear. Seated as far back as we were for FROZEN, I'm going to guess at least 5 or 6 phones screens lit up during Act 1, and a couple in Act 2. In fact, the people seated IMMEDIATELY in front of us were recording most of Dangerous to Dream.

The constant up and down of patrons, candy unwrapping, Playbill shuffling; on top of phone screens, texting, phones set to VIBRATE,etc...it just seems is amplified when it's in front of you, but minimized when it's behind you. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this!

It's just an unpopular opinion..."

That's a really good point about distractions.  I was thinking more just in regards to seeing the shows themselves, but yes, other patrons are always a concern further back.  I still remember sitting in the mezzanine for Something Rotten (also at the St. James coincidentally) and the person in front of me loudly munching on a salad for the entire second act.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Ragtime is a cloying, shallow take on race relations.

[Broadway61004]

Highland Guy said: "I much prefer the vibe of London's West End Theatre District to that of NYC's Broadway Theater District."

I second this--It seems theatregoers in London are much more serious about attending the shows themselves, rather than the selfies and stage door experiences they'll get with it (of course this is a generalization).  With that said, I do love the Broadway theatres are closer to each other, rather than having to go from one end of the city to the other for some of the West End ones.

[joevitus]

Charles Busch's "performances" are comprised entirely of one facial expression: the wise-to-the-world's-ways-dame-tilted-smile. And it gets old fast.

[Jarethan]

Broadway61004 said: "PutonyourWarPaint said: "-Front Row seating is the only way to be fully engaged in a show nowadays (if you wish to hear more, inquire)

-"

I used to always want to sit front row as well, but then I started sitting further back and realized you actually got a much better view of the show as a whole from mid-orchestra than you did in the first row. Although I 100% agree it does really put you into the moment more if you're right up front which is also very exciting."

I prefer super-close with plays with small casts.  Musicals from the front mezzanine and plays from 10th row or so back, seats 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

That said, I was in the minority of people who loved the recent King Lear (despite some real unevenness in the acting) and I think the #1 reason is because I sat so close.  I am not usually a Shakespeare fan, and sitting close engaged me more.  When some of the dialogue flew right over may head, I could see the actors' faces so closely that I survived missing the dialogue.

To PutonyourWarPaint, I always skip that song and several others.  I love the score overall but there are 2 or 3 the I have removed from my playlist.  Don't even remember their titles.  Re the Christine Ebersole comment, could you please elaborate a little.  Not a fan, so I won't listen to it.

To Highland Guy, agree vis-a-vis the concentration of theatres in the Picadilly and Leicesster Square areas.  I don't like the fact that some theatres are so far away from the concentration in those areas. Resulted in some close calls for twice a day viewings.  Perhaps if I knew London the way I know NYC (I do know London pretty well).

To Alex Kulak Jr, agree with you re Tootsie.  I think some people just need to be contrarians.  That said, I still disliked Tootsie, because of its music, direction, choreography, cheesy sets, and one of the worst Act 1 closers I have EVER seen.

[fashionguru_23]

I think Come From Away should have won Best Musical over Dear Evan Hansen

I don't get all the hype and love for Caroline or Change. I saw it this past winter, and I have still yet to find out what everyone sees in it. There are moments that are great, but overall, I'm not sure about it.

I like Madonna in the film of Evita...although, I don't think in a production, her portrayal would work.

[Jordan Levinson]

I love Tom Kitt's music and orchestrations and I can't wait to see Flying Over Sunset, hopefully around late 2021-early '22. Some people on these boards dislike his work post-Next to Normal, so I thought I would share my honest opinion.

I hated Pretty Woman, but I will always have a soft spot for it because it was the first time I ever attended Opening Night of a Broadway musical- such a wonderful experience. Eric Anderson, Orfeh, and Alison Blackwell were all great.

If Broadway comes back next year, I think the first show to reopen will be The Phantom of the Opera, and the top ticket price for its first performance back will go for well over $1,000.

I hope Broadway will reopen mid-2021 like many users, but I realistically expect a reopening later in the decade. No vaccine has ever been approved and distributed to the masses in shorter than four years, and chances are upcoming Phase 3 trials for top candidates (Oxford, Moderna, Pfizer) will flop big-time. I'm preparing for a LONG shutdown.

I think we'll all be hearing a lot of familiar Broadway names doing freelance voiceovers in the years to come.

 

[Sutton Ross]

Yeah, you clearly don't understand this thread. At all. 

[stoptheworld38]

fashionguru_23 said: "I think Come From Away should have won Best Musical over Dear Evan Hansen

I don't get all the hype and love for Caroline or Change. I saw it this past winter, and I have still yet to find out what everyone sees in it. There are moments that are great, but overall, I'm not sure about it."

Agreed on Come From Away. I think that being up against Dear Evan Hansen (which I also love), it wasn't recognized in the way it should've been. I'm not saying DEH didn't deserve the recognition it got (and it is one of my favorites), but I also think that Come From Away (which is my top favorite show of all time), and other shows that year were kinda overshadowed by it...

[jvoom]

Dolly Parton's score for "9 to 5" is criminally underrated, I'm baffled as to how it didn't get more love.