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Post by Dawnstar on Jun 12, 2016 17:22:57 GMT
Disney shows. Only one should be allowed in the West End at any one time. And there should be scheduled kids free shows. (That's not where kids come free, like in some "restaurants", but where there are NO KIDS AT ALL ALLOWED in the audience.) Yes! I totally agree. Don't get me started on Kids "Week" which lasts a whole month. If I have to put up with that every year I want a non-kids week in compensation! Also agree with you on the puppets. I have a very low tolerance for on stage puppetry. I don't mind a minute or two if it's necessary but I refuse to see shows like War Horse or Avenue Q where it's puppets all show. |
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Post by viserys on Jun 12, 2016 17:24:35 GMT
 viserys I love Starmania and Le Petit Prince- do they count? Caiaphas I loved that ENO Pacific Overtures. Hated Michael Ball as Sweeney though. Of course they do  I wish someone would tackle a big revival of Starmania - it was the first French "spectacle" really but has become quite forgotten over Notre Dame de Paris and those of that period. "S.O.S. d'un terrien en detresse" is still one of my all-time favorites. Le Petit Prince was lovely, too. |
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Post by Jon on Jun 12, 2016 17:50:45 GMT
Stomp. Go away. You have had your fun so now go and bang dustbin lids in the open, like other like-minded folk, and let people watch you for free. (Or a couple of coppers chucked into an old guitar case.) I'm indifferent to Stomp but I'm hoping Cameron's plan for the Ambassadors/Sondheim gets approved so we can finally have new shows there. |
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Post by Hamilton Addict on Jun 12, 2016 18:03:25 GMT
I do not want to hear anything more about Hamilton.  |
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Post by horton on Jun 12, 2016 18:17:11 GMT
I'm glad this thread is proving useful...
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Post by CBP1 on Jun 12, 2016 18:19:42 GMT
Cats is the most pointless thing I have ever seen on a stage. I just don't get it and how it is still going, despite being so dated. Sorry Cats fans.
Totally agree!
I think this one may be quite a popular opinion! I just don't get it either. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 18:26:33 GMT
I'm glad this thread is proving useful... Useful? I don't know how we've managed without it now...! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 12, 2016 18:33:51 GMT
I think the word may be "cathartic"!
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Post by mallardo on Jun 12, 2016 18:41:19 GMT
So many otherwise intelligent people so totally wrong about Wicked - blinded by its success. It is, in fact, one of the smartest and most innovative shows of this young century, casting a long shadow and much influence on a myriad of shows that have followed it. It is Stephen Schwartz's masterwork, far more musically sophisticated than anything else he has done. It also has a brilliant book, full of genuine surprises and inventive solutions to the problems set up by The Wizard of Oz.
I think this way, I believe, because I saw it with its original cast a couple of weeks after it opened in New York in 2003 - knowing nothing about it! - and was absolutely blown away by it. That memory lingers on. If everyone could have had that experience no one would be dumping on it now.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 18:43:42 GMT
Disney shows. Only one should be allowed in the West End at any one time. And there should be scheduled kids free shows. (That's not where kids come free, like in some "restaurants", but where there are NO KIDS AT ALL ALLOWED in the audience.) Yes! I totally agree. Don't get me started on Kids "Week" which lasts a whole month. If I have to put up with that every year I want a non-kids week in compensation! YES! Yes yes yes yes yes. (Yes) |
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Post by Scots UK Theatre on Jun 12, 2016 18:43:56 GMT
To be honest I liked Wicked, but it certainly isnt up there as my favourite musical. Cant help but feel it is tiring now as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 18:47:39 GMT
Audiences are responsible for more negative feelings in a theatre than all the actors/writers/directors than I've seen put together.
Negative reviews are worthless in isolation, positive reviews in isolation can, however, be very useful.
Jerry Herman never wrote a good musical theatre score, only good songs that make for poor drama.
George Bernard Shaw never wrote a good play, not even Pygmalion or Saint Joan.
European theatre is years ahead of British theatre, we're only just catching up (and that gap may soon stop closing).
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Post by mallardo on Jun 12, 2016 18:59:45 GMT
I really don't get your dismissal of Shaw, CP. Do wit and intelligence and the ability to write entertaining scenes full of serious ideas count for nothing?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 19:03:20 GMT
I really don't get your dismissal of Shaw, CP. Do wit and intelligence and the ability to write entertaining scenes full of serious ideas count for nothing? Their merits are squashed by gross windbaggery. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 19:06:41 GMT
I really don't get your dismissal of Shaw, CP. Do wit and intelligence and the ability to write entertaining scenes full of serious ideas count for nothing? I feel like being beaten around the head with his ideas though and, for me, that negates all the other things you mention, I can see what he wants but to the detriment of character and story. Now Chekhov; subtle, humane and, for me, transcendent and second only to Shakespeare. Shaw is too certain for me, I prefer something a bit greyer. EDIT: another one I forgot, Grease is the worst musical to put on with or for young people. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 19:11:54 GMT
Cathartic... Is that like a laxative?
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Post by Jon on Jun 12, 2016 19:21:05 GMT
I really don't get your dismissal of Shaw, CP. Do wit and intelligence and the ability to write entertaining scenes full of serious ideas count for nothing? I feel like being beaten around the head with his ideas though and, for me, that negates all the other things you mention, I can see what he wants but to the detriment of character and story. Now Chekhov; subtle, humane and, for me, transcendent and second only to Shakespeare. Shaw is too certain for me, I prefer something a bit greyer. EDIT: another one I forgot, Grease is the worst musical to put on with or for young people. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 12, 2016 19:29:44 GMT
Cabaret (given the right production) is a fantastic stage show - and the film is simply awful. It rips the heart out of the show and stomps on it.
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Post by loureviews on Jun 12, 2016 20:07:33 GMT
Not strictly theatre (except for all the theatrics!) but I can't stand the last night of the Proms. Boo. We attended four of them and had a fantastic time. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 12, 2016 20:28:16 GMT
They should close Wicked ASAP
And replace it, ASAP with Michael Jackson's Thriller.
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Post by Coated on Jun 13, 2016 0:34:09 GMT
My heart sinks whenever Rory Kinnear shows up in a play I wanted to see. Hated his Hamlet, cringed at his Measure, detested his whiny Iago and don't even get me started on The Trial. The only thing I ever liked him in was 'The Man of Mode'.
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Post by emilyrose on Jun 13, 2016 9:33:09 GMT
Ooooh I love this thread! Saying what you think with no comeback!
I don't like Phantom. I found it very boring, quite tired and bland. I really cannot believe people sit through this tens of times.
I've seen a performance given by the genie in Aladdin in the US, James Monroe Iglehart, I found him lacking energy and flash and I was very unimpressed with how he ran out of breath at the end. I know he is larger, to me it doesn't matter, whatever size you are, you have to be up to the job of singing and dancing.
The soundtrack to Hamilton does nothing for me, neither does the subject matter. I don't understand the hype.
Harry Potter, well, I think it's just another way to milk that cash cow. I'm a fan of the books, but everything else is too much for me and the films are awful. To further milk that cow they have split it into two separate days, so the fans have to pay twice for the privileged. I sometimes feel quite sorry for die-hard Potter fans who feel they have to lap up every single morsel. To me they are being taken for a bit of a ride.
A pet peeve of mine with this is people not giving the actual credit to the people who actually wrote the play, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. This is their work with some input from JK Rowing. She didn't write it at all, but her name is put to it. She gave a freedom to the actual writers to do what they wanted within her world. They seem to have been pushed aside by most fans.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2016 9:56:25 GMT
Oh thank you for this thread:
1. One Man Two G'uveners was the most painful evening I've ever spent in a theatre. Cringe-worthy and not funny.
2. I spent Act 1 of Cats trying to work out what the holy hell was happening and the second wondering when it would be over.
3. Wicked is a decent show but it isn't the second coming of musical theatre.
4. I've yet to be really excited/engaged by a show at the Globe, I prefer the RSC And some shaking up of the place under the new AD will do it the world of good. (and some of the Globe hardcore fans are such idiots I've been put off wanting to set foot in the place ever again)
Phew. I'm sure there's more...excellent stress relief that was!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2016 10:13:22 GMT
So many otherwise intelligent people so totally wrong about Wicked - blinded by its success. It is, in fact, one of the smartest and most innovative shows of this young century, casting a long shadow and much influence on a myriad of shows that have followed it. It is Stephen Schwartz's masterwork, far more musically sophisticated than anything else he has done. It also has a brilliant book, full of genuine surprises and inventive solutions to the problems set up by The Wizard of Oz. I think this way, I believe, because I saw it with its original cast a couple of weeks after it opened in New York in 2003 - knowing nothing about it! - and was absolutely blown away by it. That memory lingers on. If everyone could have had that experience no one would be dumping on it now. I greatly respect your opinions on this forum, mallardo, and enjoy reading your posts... With this in mind, I feel I have perhaps missed something in Wicked. Something I should be appreciating, but didn't get. (I saw it soon after it opened in London, after reading all the hype. I remember it was sparkly. There was no Defying Gravity moment for me, alas, that night (something to do with the cherry picker???) and so it all felt a bit flat. Literally. Apart from that I was hoping to fall in love with it. I even bought the book, but didn't enjoy that either. (I have never been tempted to return for fear I should feel like everyone else's grandfather in the audience. I think you know what I'm getting at. I'm afraid this kind of audience leave me cold.) So... I set you a challenge: educate me and convert me! |
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Post by Ruby Sue on Jun 13, 2016 10:17:31 GMT
I love this thread, it just reminds of that episode of Friends where Joey works at the museum...
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I wish someone would tackle a big revival of Starmania - it was the first French "spectacle" really but has become quite forgotten over Notre Dame de Paris and those of that period. "S.O.S. d'un terrien en detresse" is still one of my all-time favorites. Le Petit Prince was lovely, too. 
