|
|
Post by Laineee on Mar 10, 2016 23:03:03 GMT
Cats - saw it when I was about 9 or 10, and wild horses couldn't drag me back to see the revival. Rock of Ages is a close second.
|
|
57 posts
|
Post by mrcurry on Mar 10, 2016 23:28:45 GMT
What is the plot of Wicked ? Wicked is women gossiping in song for two hours.
|
|
471 posts
|
Post by mistressjojo on Mar 11, 2016 1:50:11 GMT
Surprised not to see Blood Brothers mentioned. Saw it a couple of years before it closed at the Phoenix. I thought it was boring and silly, I didn't like any of the songs, and the character of the Narrator irritated me beyond belief.
I'd forgotten I'd suffered through Blood Brothers until I read this.
Boring songs, completely unbelievable plot. I was hoping the Narrator would get killed off!
Not even Petula Clarke saved it.
|
|
3,557 posts
|
Post by showgirl on Mar 11, 2016 4:44:59 GMT
Oh yes, if we're allowed to cite the hallowed Gypsy, that was another show I just didn't get. I could admire the performances but it was more a question of enduring, rather than enjoying, the show itself.
|
|
2,676 posts
|
Post by viserys on Mar 11, 2016 6:11:23 GMT
Everyone using the word "racism" for this show is too dumb for words. Pardon my words, but I mean it. If this is how a "discussion" on this new forum is going to go, I'm done discussing here. You are welcome to turn two blind eyes to the racism and sexism of the show, just as everyone here is welcome to love and enjoy their favorite shows, but that gives you no right to insult others. I'm done talking about Miss Saigon and I'm out of this discussion. |
|
19,652 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 11, 2016 7:07:43 GMT
Book of Mormon - Cheap looking and unfunny. A load of cobblers.
Blood Brothers - Tell me it's not true. Sadly it was. Endlessly moaning scousers. Like we need more of those.
Cats - Dire.
Lion King - Pretty but boring. Pretty boring!
Spamalot - another comedy that wasn't. Tour casting absolutely hideous. Cheap tat.
|
|
170 posts
|
Post by jess173 on Mar 11, 2016 7:12:02 GMT
Cats - That was just horrible. Every single cat got to sing a song and then it was over. No thanks...
A gentleman's guide to love and murder - I wish I had listened to the music before I went and got tickets to that. Everyone around me was apparently loving it and people were laughing their asses off. I thought the music was horrible and the jokes were just lame and unfunny. I could have seen Hedwig with NPH for a second time but I chose to see this. Big mistake...
Once - This was the most boring thing I have ever seen. Everyone raved about it and we couldn't get rush seats so we paid a lot for those tickets just to see it. It was definitely not worth it. I nearly dozed off several times...
And finally Hamilton - This is a matter of taste I guess but I absolutely don't get all the hype. The lyrics are quite clever but the music is simply not my cup of tea. I never really liked rap music but I decided to give this a go because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. For me this show just dragged on and on. Definitely not worth paying hundreds of dollars for it like most people do nowadays.
|
|
651 posts
|
Post by greeny11 on Mar 11, 2016 7:12:23 GMT
I would agree with those who say anything Sondheim. I've listened to a number of his scores and I've yet to find one score of his that I like.
|
|
19,652 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 11, 2016 7:33:44 GMT
Cats - That was just horrible. Every single cat got to sing a song and then it was over. No thanks... A gentleman's guide to love and murder - I wish I had listened to the music before I went and got tickets to that. Everyone around me was apparently loving it and people were laughing their asses off. I thought the music was horrible and the jokes were just lame and unfunny. I could have seen Hedwig with NPH for a second time but I chose to see this. Big mistake... Once - This was the most boring thing I have ever seen. Everyone raved about it and we couldn't get rush seats so we paid a lot for those tickets just to see it. It was definitely not worth it. I nearly dozed off several times...
And finally Hamilton - This is a matter of taste I guess but I absolutely don't get all the hype. The lyrics are quite clever but the music is simply not my cup of tea. I never really liked rap music but I decided to give this a go because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. For me this show just dragged on and on. Definitely not worth paying hundreds of dollars for it like most people do nowadays. The producers of Once have asked for permission to use your review for the tour posters... "Everyone raved!" "Rush! Get those tickets!" "Just See It!" "Definitely Worth It, Several Times!" |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2016 8:37:04 GMT
The recent revival of Miss Saigon - first time around with Lea Salonga and co was great but I found this version to be very much ado about nothing.
|
|
5,795 posts
|
Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 11, 2016 8:45:06 GMT
I didn't laugh once during Spamalot. Absolute rubbish.
Cats- load of tosh.
Rent- tedious American whining. One good song.
I don't think it's an overrated musical but I hated the revival of Crazy for You in Regent's Park. A very naff rip off of what was a glorious original production at the Prince Edward. With a z list cast.
I loved Once for its brave simplicity. I thought it was a breath of fresh air in the west end.
|
|
240 posts
|
Post by Anniek on Mar 11, 2016 8:52:36 GMT
Cats.
|
|
274 posts
|
Post by emsworthian on Mar 11, 2016 9:24:26 GMT
Evita. Three or four great tunes but the plot! Woman comes from the slums to be a film star. Then she marries a Fascist dictator. Then she dies. Am I supposed to care about her?
Its analysis of the politics of the period makes "The Sound Of Music" appear positively sophisticated. |
|
573 posts
|
Post by Dave25 on Mar 11, 2016 10:10:58 GMT
You are welcome to turn two blind eyes to the racism and sexism of the show, just as everyone here is welcome to love and enjoy their favorite shows, but that gives you no right to insult others. I'm done talking about Miss Saigon and I'm out of this discussion. Good, you are welcome to turn a blind eye on history. |
|
3,057 posts
|
Post by ali973 on Mar 11, 2016 10:20:44 GMT
Dave25, are you Donald Trump?
|
|
2,848 posts
|
Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 11, 2016 10:34:11 GMT
You are welcome to turn two blind eyes to the racism and sexism of the show, just as everyone here is welcome to love and enjoy their favorite shows, but that gives you no right to insult others. I'm done talking about Miss Saigon and I'm out of this discussion. Good, you are welcome to turn a blind eye on history. Honestly, do you think that the authors made a good job at describing another culture? For Christ's sake, the wedding song (Dju vui vay, yu doi my, dju vui vay, vao nyay moy) is not even Vietnamese!! they picked random stuff that could pass for Vietnamese just because it sounded good! Do you think it's respectful? |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2016 10:40:05 GMT
Come on, it's not like it's just a handful of people on this board going "haha, won't we sound EDGY if we accuse Miss Saigon of being racist?", people have been protesting the show since the get-go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Saigon#Controversies You really want to be the one to accuse people of not being aware of history?  |
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Mar 11, 2016 11:08:36 GMT
Come on, it's not like it's just a handful of people on this board going "haha, won't we sound EDGY if we accuse Miss Saigon of being racist?", people have been protesting the show since the get-go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Saigon#Controversies You really want to be the one to accuse people of not being aware of history?
Miss Saigon is based pretty directly (and pretty badly) on Madama Butterfly, an opera in which a white American sailor marries a Japanese girl with no intention of taking the marriage seriously - indeed at one point he says he can't wait to get back to America and get married for real (or words to that effect). Was Puccini a racist for writing this? No. He was not condoning the inherent racism in the story, he was exposing it. The opera is in fact a powerful condemnation of racist attitudes. Does not Miss Saigon, a much inferior work to be sure, do pretty much the same thing?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2016 11:12:05 GMT
Looking directly at the plot when boiled down like that, sure. Looking at the way the plot was put across, not so much. I'd also argue that while South Pacific is at its core a damning indictment of racism, I could also spend a happy half hour explaining the aspects of the show itself that come over as racist. And I wouldn't say Puccini was a racist, or Boublil and Schoenberg are racists, or Rodgers and Hammerstein are racists, but I would go on record any day saying that these shows they have created are, at the very least, extremely problematic.
|
|
1,578 posts
|
Post by anita on Mar 11, 2016 11:17:44 GMT
The only good part of my visit to "Once" was seeing Ken Dodd browsing in Foyles before.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Mar 11, 2016 11:22:38 GMT
Looking directly at the plot when boiled down like that, sure. Looking at the way the plot was put across, not so much. I'd also argue that while South Pacific is at its core a damning indictment of racism, I could also spend a happy half hour explaining the aspects of the show itself that come over as racist. And I wouldn't say Puccini was a racist, or Boublil and Schoenberg are racists, or Rodgers and Hammerstein are racists, but I would go on record any day saying that these shows they have created are, at the very least, extremely problematic.
I'm sure I can guess what parts of South Pacific you consider problematic. So how do you feel about The King And I?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2016 11:24:57 GMT
Terrific score, problematic AS ALL HELL book. Is it any wonder they don't like it in Thailand?
|
|
3,057 posts
|
Post by ali973 on Mar 11, 2016 11:32:58 GMT
I'm so thankful there are people here who wouldn't think I'm crazy for having issues of racial stereotypes in Aladdin.
|
|
2,676 posts
|
Post by viserys on Mar 11, 2016 11:36:06 GMT
Ugh, I didn't want to wade back into this, but...
I guess personally I find it easier to forgive Rodgers/Hammerstein, Puccini or indeed Pierre Loti, whose "Madame Chrysanthemum" formed the basis for Madame Butterfly, than Boublil/Schoenbuerg because those shows were created in different times when the west was still very full of itself as the "superior" culture and very few people had come into contact with actual Asians. To some extent that may even ring true for Miss Saigon when it opened in 1989.
But in these days, with so many people travelling in South East Asia, including Vietnam, and the rising economic power of the area, the whole globalization, I would just expect there to be a broader mind and a better cultural understanding of Vietnam, the Vietnamese and generally South East Asia and not just the tired cliched white man's image of the meek sweet Asian girl, suffering, unable to do anything without a man to help her, pining for rescue by her white saviour.
Does that make The King and I less problematic? Nope. But at least it doesn't take itself so bloody serious or pretends to tell the truth of 19th century Siam. Nor would people (hopefully) confuse the caricature of the musical king of Siam with the current Thai royal family, whereas Miss Saigon perpetuates the godawful image of the meek suffering Asian female. A concept, by the way, that was brilliantly skewered by David Henry Hwang in his play "M. Butterfly", infinitely superior to the kitschy gloop that is Miss Saigon (and which came out in 1988, even earlier than Miss Saigon)
|
|
141 posts
|
Post by Mr Crummles on Mar 11, 2016 11:47:02 GMT
“Book of Mormons” for me - Not because it was bad - it wasn't bad at all -, but just because it failed to meet the impossible levels of expectations created around it. And I was fully aware, when I saw it, that it was highly unlikely I would leave the theatre in a state of ecstasy and filled with an overwhelming feeling of blissful elation… but I was still disappointed...
"Spamalot" and "The Producers" let me down as well. |
|
