Chick Flick

[Phantom of London]

Those musicals that appeal more to the ladies, which seem to do very well in London, opposed to New York. Any fans here?

Started this thread, as I have seen 3 over the last week. Which were The Bodyguard, Ghost and Dirty Dancing.

So here is what ai thought of the individually:

The Bodyguard
Jukebox musical of Whitney Houston songs. Preferred the current production, than the original, although neither really got me to extoll the show.

Ghost
I am not going to mention that Wimbledon farce, but I did love the original. Some of the best illusions I have seen on Stage. Original score by the Eurythmics.

Dirty Dancing
just pure fluff, but not that great, a jukebox musical that has made a fortune, but God knows how.

Mamma Mia
another Jukebox show based on Abba songs, great fun night out, it's an excellent book.

Sister Act
i was supposed to hate this, but fell head over heals in love with it, great original score.

Grease
Saw one production at the Piccadilly Theatre, a few years back, didn't send me out on the street with a smile on my face, but I do love the original score, didn't we all grow up on it?

Fame
I have never seen this.

Footloose
Saw the recent tour, love the title song, one of my favourite ever, however didn't like it sung as an ensemble piece, which they did on tour.

Saturday Night Fever
Never have seen this, based on the music of the Bee Gees.

Legally Blonde
Dizzy, Dippy and Excellent

Breakfast At Tiffanys
No one actually saw this, did they? Probably with good reason.

Hairspray
Big Heart, Big Hairstyle and Big Hit

Bend It Like Bexkham
A good attempt to translate this from the silver screen, but with very mixed results.

In The Works
Sleepless in Seattle
Bridget Jones Diary

Possible in the Future
Pretty Woman
An Officer and a Gentlemen
Cocktail
Love Actually

Have I missed any?

[viserys]

How do you qualify them as "chick flicks"?

Because they have female leads? Because ... what exactly? If you'd say "love story", that would encompass about 80 percent of all musicals. Aren't females generally the bigger target group? They drag unwilling boyfriends and husbands along or take hen parties to jukebox musicals, whereas men would drag unwilling females to sports things and stag nights go to the strip club (or so goes the cliche).

Personally I think there is a wide gulf between some trite banal love stories such as Grease that are meant to be pure fun and stories of personal growth and development such as Legally Blonde and Bend it like Beckham.

[Phantom of London]

They targeted at the female audience.

Where most others are targeted at couples. Except Jersey Boys, Spider-Man, Avenue Q or Book of Mormon which are targeted at men.

[shady23]

Jersey Boys is targeted at men?
Really?

[BurlyBeaR]

Are these really all chick flicks though? 



The Bodyguard
No

Ghost
Yes

Dirty Dancing
Yes very much 

Mamma Mia
No

Sister Act
NO

Grease
No

Fame
No

Footloose
Yes

Saturday Night Fever
No

Legally Blonde
Yes

Breakfast At Tiffanys
No

Hairspray
No

Bend It Like Bexkham
No idea 


Sleepless in Seattle - yes
Bridget Jones Diary -yes


Pretty Woman - yes 
An Officer and a Gentlemen - yes
Cocktail - no idea
Love Actually - yes 

[Phantom of London]

Whoops feel like I need to go and sit on the naughty step now, like my teacher when they used to write on my homework 'must try harder.' lol 😜😜😜

You can say Mamma Mia isn't, but how many hen parties go there? I am not saying these shows are exclusively for this group of people, but saying that is the highest demographic that would attend these events.

Also nothing wrong with being a chick flick.

[viserys]

My issue is that using the term "chick flick" feels a bit derogatory here, as if a female lead and a central love story automatically mean that it must be squarely aimed at women – whereas stories with male characters in the lead are automatically interesting for both sexes? So women care about a male lead but men don't care about female leads? Of course this is something you should ask the men here

As a female I really don't care about anything that's labelled chick flick. I seek the individual appeal of each story for me and I don't give a fig whether it's a love story or not. In this list for example many issues are thrown together.

I unashamedly love "Legally Blonde" for example, which for me is not a love story but a wonderful story about personal self-growth, about an individual learning that brain and education go a much longer way than shallow beauty. And while this lesson is probably indeed far more aimed at girls, who emulate dumb nitwits like the Kardashians and spend hours in front of mirrors to work out how contouring works, I don't see why men shouldn't be interested in this story either. Do I not care for Hamlet's story because he's a bloke?

"Grease" is a fun tongue-in-cheek homage to high school, skewering a lot of archetypes from the mouthy wannabe cool guy and the sassy tough chick to the dreamer with her head in the clouds and the goofball. Everyone recognizes these archetypes in some form or other, so why shouldn't men enjoy them less than woman?

And as for Mamma mia, I'd say, that the big appeal for the hen parties is the tuneful disco music and the sheer good fun of the show. WWRY or Thriller Live (to name other jukebox musicals) may recycle famous songs but they definitely don't have the same kind of party feeling. Of course I recognize that there are also some very strong "female" issues at play here, the mother-daughter relationship between Donna and Sophie and the three old friends rekindling their memories. Still, I'd say, why shouldn't enjoy men the same stroll down memory lane with tunes from their youth?

I don't know if I'd classify Footloose as a "chick flick" either. It has universal topics like youthful rebellion against the boring old folks and against small town values and the cool dude gets the chick. I don't see why this shouldn't appeal to men?
Bottom line, I don't see why things should be labelled "for women" and "for men" as each individual person has their own taste. While I have enjoyed almost every show on that list as a female, I usually avoid actual chick flicks (at the cinema) by a mile and don't even go near the "chick lit" shelves in a book store. Nonsense like Twilight or Fifty Shades of Dreck makes me want to barf and I never watched more than two or three episodes of Sex and the City. Instead I'm a huge fan of Game of Thrones (while I detest the nonsensical Outlander), enjoy watching The Walking Dead and thought that Breaking Bad and The Wire were masterpieces of television. When it comes to musicals I can't stand drippy nonsense like Miss Saigon or most of what Wildhorn comes up with, but I love Book of Mormon and went out of my way (literally) to catch Spiderman on Broadway. Do I need to revoke my membership in the girl club now?

[Deleted]

Sept 8, 2016 12:39:59 GMT viserys said:

My issue is that using the term "chick flick" feels a bit derogatory here, as if a female lead and a central love story automatically mean that it must be squarely aimed at women – whereas stories with male characters in the lead are automatically interesting for both sexes? So women care about a male lead but men don't care about female leads? Of course this is something you should ask the men here

I prefer stories with female leads.

The story of Lauren Faust and her work on Hasbro's animated series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is quite interesting. When Faust was growing up there was a division in style and quality between entertainment for girls and entertainment for boys, with the entertainment for girls being generally sappy and simplistic and any girl who wanted adventure stories and strong characterisation had little choice but to watch the shows that were aimed at boys, with male characters doing male things and perhaps a token girl on the side doing girl things like crying and being rescued. There was almost a complete absence of good, interesting female characters: perceived wisdom was that only girls would watch girls, and all the effort went into entertainment for boys.

So when Faust was offered the chance to revamp My Little Pony she created the sort of show she thought girls deserved, with strong female characters, adventure, humour, and a sprinkling of action: all the things that boys had had for decades, but with a cast that was 90% female so girls could better identify with the leads and not feel as though they were watching something that had been created without them in mind. The end result was astonishingly successful for a delighted Hasbro, who found that a show planned as a two-season promotion for girls' toys turned out to have an appeal right across the spectrum. Half a decade later there's now a spin-off set of movies aimed at teens, a million-selling series of teen/adult comics, adult clothing lines, collectable statuettes, articulated action figures, and so many other things that I've lost track. And all because, despite what children's TV planners thought, it turns out that having stories based almost entirely on female characters doesn't automatically inject them with an overdose of suck. Who'd have guessed?

I don't know if I'd classify Footloose as a "chick flick" either. It has universal topics like youthful rebellion against the boring old folks and against small town values and the cool dude gets the chick. I don't see why this shouldn't appeal to men?

'Cause it's crap.