A little conversation today about shows I don't enjoy got me to thinking.
There's really no harm in listing the top ten shows I enjoy the least.
After all, these are shows that I would dislike regardless of how any individual production's merit.
So here they are--my top ten least favorite shows.
10. Lend Me a Tenor
I'm sorry, but any play with blackface in it should not be performed. I don't care that it's a farce. I don't care that it fits into the context of the story. I don't care that it can put behinds in the seats. It's poorly written and there's BLACKFACE. Not for me.
9. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
I know exactly what you're thinking. "Oh, but it's FUN!" Yeah, fun to perform in--dreary to watch. What was Andrew Lloyd Webber on when he wrote this show? A pharaoh as Elvis? A calypso number? Then a megamix to recap the show YOU JUST WATCHED? I've seen some spectacular productions of this show, but the show itself? Thumbs down.
8. Seussical
What a wasted opportunity. The Seuss estate wouldn't give the producers the rights to ALL of his work, so the show is really just Horton the Musical with the Cat and the Hat narrating. Still, when you do it, families turn out in droves, so theater after theater puts it on. After my last time seeing it, I promised that if my mother was in a future production of it, I wasn't going. And I mean it.
7. The Taming of the Shrew
Of all the Shakespeares to do, why oh why would you do a show where the message is "Women should be subservient?" Oh sure, you can reconceptualize and "wink wink" the message, but why not just...not do it? Aren't there enough wonderful Shakespeare plays to produce without having to take this dead horse and beat some life into it?
6. Kiss Me, Kate
Okay, this is a tough one. There is some fantastic music in here, but for the love of God, can somebody please revise the book to this show? It is a three-hour long, overwrought mess. Oh, and the fact that it has chunks of scenes from my #7 pick doesn't help either. Cut the Shrew, save Cole Porter, and get Paul Rudnick to give that book a kick in the ass. Just a thought.
5. Aida, The Wiz, and Hairspray Minus the African-American Actors
If you don't have minorities, don't do these shows. Otherwise, you have my blessing. Aside from that, I refuse to sit through a white Aida, and I don't care how "ethnic" she is.
4. The Star-Spangled Girl
When the author of the play writes in his autobiography that he hates it, and that it has no point, why would you want to put it on? Anybody? Anybody?
3. Lips Together, Teeth Apart
It's kind of crazy to think a play written in the early 90's could be dated, but oh boy, is this one dated. There was almost a Broadway revival of this play until Megan Mullally backed out. She might have done everybody involved a favor.
2. Bye Bye Birdie
Every time I try to listen to this show, it's like trying to show eighteen screaming teenagers into my head. I'm sure at some point the show was delightful, and I realize that Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera can do very little wrong, but now that their run in it has been over for decades, can the rest of us PLEASE stop doing this show?
1. Anything By Neil LaBute
"I'm not really a misogynist! Or a homophobe! And I don't need to write for thirty pages just to get three lines of plot! And my work isn't just for trumped up frat boys and girls who want to sleep with trumped up frat boys. I'm edgy!"
Please. Give it a rest.
There's really no harm in listing the top ten shows I enjoy the least.
After all, these are shows that I would dislike regardless of how any individual production's merit.
So here they are--my top ten least favorite shows.
10. Lend Me a Tenor
I'm sorry, but any play with blackface in it should not be performed. I don't care that it's a farce. I don't care that it fits into the context of the story. I don't care that it can put behinds in the seats. It's poorly written and there's BLACKFACE. Not for me.
9. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
I know exactly what you're thinking. "Oh, but it's FUN!" Yeah, fun to perform in--dreary to watch. What was Andrew Lloyd Webber on when he wrote this show? A pharaoh as Elvis? A calypso number? Then a megamix to recap the show YOU JUST WATCHED? I've seen some spectacular productions of this show, but the show itself? Thumbs down.
8. Seussical
What a wasted opportunity. The Seuss estate wouldn't give the producers the rights to ALL of his work, so the show is really just Horton the Musical with the Cat and the Hat narrating. Still, when you do it, families turn out in droves, so theater after theater puts it on. After my last time seeing it, I promised that if my mother was in a future production of it, I wasn't going. And I mean it.
7. The Taming of the Shrew
Of all the Shakespeares to do, why oh why would you do a show where the message is "Women should be subservient?" Oh sure, you can reconceptualize and "wink wink" the message, but why not just...not do it? Aren't there enough wonderful Shakespeare plays to produce without having to take this dead horse and beat some life into it?
6. Kiss Me, Kate
Okay, this is a tough one. There is some fantastic music in here, but for the love of God, can somebody please revise the book to this show? It is a three-hour long, overwrought mess. Oh, and the fact that it has chunks of scenes from my #7 pick doesn't help either. Cut the Shrew, save Cole Porter, and get Paul Rudnick to give that book a kick in the ass. Just a thought.
5. Aida, The Wiz, and Hairspray Minus the African-American Actors
If you don't have minorities, don't do these shows. Otherwise, you have my blessing. Aside from that, I refuse to sit through a white Aida, and I don't care how "ethnic" she is.
4. The Star-Spangled Girl
When the author of the play writes in his autobiography that he hates it, and that it has no point, why would you want to put it on? Anybody? Anybody?
3. Lips Together, Teeth Apart
It's kind of crazy to think a play written in the early 90's could be dated, but oh boy, is this one dated. There was almost a Broadway revival of this play until Megan Mullally backed out. She might have done everybody involved a favor.
2. Bye Bye Birdie
Every time I try to listen to this show, it's like trying to show eighteen screaming teenagers into my head. I'm sure at some point the show was delightful, and I realize that Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera can do very little wrong, but now that their run in it has been over for decades, can the rest of us PLEASE stop doing this show?
1. Anything By Neil LaBute
"I'm not really a misogynist! Or a homophobe! And I don't need to write for thirty pages just to get three lines of plot! And my work isn't just for trumped up frat boys and girls who want to sleep with trumped up frat boys. I'm edgy!"
Please. Give it a rest.
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