Cry-Baby (2008)

Alex Kulak2
#1Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/10/20 at 11:18pm

I recently discovered this show after the passing of composer Adam Schlesinger (who I'm convinced will go down as one of the greatest songwriters to ever live), and I'm fascinated that it's Broadway run was so short, with only 68 performances.

A lot of reviews compare it to Hairspray, which I find fascinating. While I like both shows, Cry-Baby has better songs, a better script, and it feels more like a musical based on a John Waters film.

Did you get to see this show on Broadway? Was there something that just didn't click in the full production?

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Jordan Catalano
#2Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/10/20 at 11:32pm

Oh God, this show was awful. Everything that made Hairspray great was lacking here and they so desperately (obviously) wanted to recreate that magic. Snyder and everyone else was fine but the score wasn’t at all memorable and the book lacked any and all of the humor that made the film so great. Just a flop in every sense of the word.

ARTc3
#3Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/10/20 at 11:38pm

I saw and enjoyed Cry Baby. It had Spencer Liff in the ensemble. (I love watching Spencer Liff dance.)

It was good, but not remarkable. Fun, but not enduring. It suffered from just not being magical enough. Good, but not great.

 


ARTc3 formerly ARTc. Actually been a poster since 2004. My name isn't Art. Drop the "3" and say the signature and you'll understand.

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blaxx
#4Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/11/20 at 3:29am

Just like Young Frankenstein after Producers, it would have never lived up to Hairspray's hype. 

I didn't hate it as much as others did, but let's remember this was a stacked season of great new musicals and astonishing revivals. 

I do wonder why you think the book was better than Hairspray's - it was not at all. In fact, you could hear crickets during the painfully long and calculated text scenes, which was opposite to the John Water's raw and quirky film. The songs were much better, but I remember the punch of the joke to come so early that it was hard to find the musical numbers witty after a while.

Maybe one day this will fare better in an unpretentious and in-your-face Off Broadway production.


Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

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trentsketch
#5Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/11/20 at 5:56am

It wasn't terrible. It's just weird. Cry-Baby was an odd film to adapt even with it being one of John Waters' tamer stories. It had some good moments. Screw Loose is great and I like that number they picked for the Tonys where the convicts are tap dancing with printed license plates on their feet (A Little Upset.) Really, I think it just wasn't a match for Broadway. It was weird, but not really weird enough to serve the story it was telling. The original film is a musical and I think those kooky songs did a whole lot more to make the story sing.

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MrsSallyAdams
#6Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/11/20 at 6:51am

The plot lacked stakes. The libretto lacked jokes. There were some great clowns in the cast but their material wasn't up to par. Even the celebrated "Screw-Loose" is a one-joke song.

The part that stood out for me was the cynical finale. It was sort of an anti-"You Can't Stop the Beat."


threepanelmusicals.blogspot.com

Alex Kulak2
#7Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/11/20 at 10:10am

blaxx said: "Just like Young Frankenstein after Producers, it would have never lived up to Hairspray's hype.

I didn't hate it as much as others did, but let's remember this was a stacked season of great new musicals and astonishing revivals.

I do wonder why you think the book was better than Hairspray's - it was not at all. In fact, you could hear crickets during the painfully long and calculated text scenes, which was opposite to the John Water's raw and quirky film. The songs were much better, but I remember the punch of the joke to come so early that it was hard to find the musical numbers witty after a while.

Maybe one day this will fare better in an unpretentious and in-your-face Off Broadway production.
"

I think it may perhaps come from a sense of being burned out by Hairspray. When every high school and community theatre in the world has done it, I feel like I'm missing something that made it special when it first opened. You have a source material that comes from a director known for raunchy, off-beat humor, and the musical adaptation has always felt like this safe, cookie-cutter crowd-pleaser that betrays the original spirit of John Waters' work.

Cry-Baby on the other hand has more edgy humor, self-aware music, and a much more realized identity. When the Drapes mock the Squares in this musical, it feels like they're mocking the safe status-quo that Hairspray is in the thick of.

Owen22
#8Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/11/20 at 10:51am

I actually think the songs were worse than the book. Except for the finale number which was actually the kind of satire that was missing from the rest of the play. It was great!

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Scarlet Leigh
#9Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/12/20 at 12:53am

The only good thing about Cry Baby was the character of Lenora. Everything I can look back on and think to myself "Wow, that was a good moment" involved her. From Screwloose to All In My Head, they were hands down the best numbers in the show. And Alli Mauzey was perfectly cast in the role and to this date I think it's a crime she didn't get nominated for best featured actress for ANY awards that season.

Other than that? Ekk. The difference between this and Hairspray and why one worked and the other didn't was Hairspray while still a flashy musical was grounded in some real deep issues of race relations and being proud of who you are in your own skin. It made the show very endearing and the characters ones you wanted to root for. This show was trying to be full on camp but it's tone was super uneven and most of the characters were annoying, rude, spoiled, and just overall bad people you didn't care to... care about. And the songs are just mostly bad and at times awkward to sit through because it's they are trying to be funny but don't understand what makes something funny. And it just comes off as trying too hard. The song and performance of "Girl, Can I Kiss You...? (With Tongue)" is to this date one of the more cringe moments in a Broadway theater I paid good money to sit through.

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blaxx
#10Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/12/20 at 1:30am

Scarlet Leigh said: "The song and performance of "Girl, Can I Kiss You...? (With Tongue)" is to this date one of the more cringe moments in a Broadway theater I paid good money to sit through."

A lot of the songs in the show were like that. You got the joke but it didn't stretch enough to fulfill the need of a full musical number. Instead, the songs came off as if written on the spot. 

The awful staging didn't help either. 


Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

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Sutton Ross
#11Cry-Baby (2008)
Posted: 7/13/20 at 5:36pm

It was just a terrible show all around.