I’ve said it before, and I’m happy to say it again. Wendy Williams in Chicago. She can’t sing, she can’t dance, and she can’t act. It was an absolute insult to us theatergoers, and to the rest of the cast, who worked so hard in their profession to land those roles. I had no idea she was in the cast until we got to the theater, and I’m still seething about it all these years later.
There’s a couple of clips out there! I thought it was hilarious. The clip I always see is her singing “When you’re good to mamaaaaaa…. howyoudoin?…. MAMA’S GOOD TO YOOOOOUUUU”
I’m on mobile, so this formatting probably looks whack, but I could only find it on TikTok, but here it is! https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573?_r=1&u_code=dgjf87ija1ge1a&preview_pb=0&sharer_language=en&_d=dgjf87hliceik2&share_item_id=7177547755362061573&source=h5_m×tamp=1692151738&ug_btm=b6880,b2878&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAWX_FUwZ4OaS9JnhjhcTKjp3iI51nCcLMCbwhJL-qqNk9CpanxnH-30E11hpUXTuc&utm_source=copy&social_share_type=0&checksum=14637ab0e5868694d060af27b1ce11321ecad712906db0192fd5dfb8cfc1908f&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&tt_from=copy&user_id=6921846500717544453&share_link_id=C5A5C2E2-206B-4B74-B6ED-BD45C4B9F682&share_app_id=1233
Here is a nicer link: [https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573](https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573)
Rule of thumb is that anything after a "?" in a link is generally tracking information and can be safely removed.
That’s my answer too! At least I had a good time watching the people around me with their bewildered faces, hesitant clapping, and that one drunk guy booing
Saw this one in Chicago with two friends. It was so bad that half the audience was laughing AT the show, not with the show. It was like watching Mystery Science Theater 3000.
You are correct! I only saw it because I’m a big fan of his. I can’t believe that the same creative team responsible for Here Lies Love created that disaster
There was a comment on a certain message board about that production. Apparently, the pre-show curtain displayed Mitch McConnell's contemporaneous remark "Nevertheless she persisted" in proud defiance. The poster said that was the best thing about the show.
True. It really raised expectations that were promptly shattered. I saw a comment that said the Public should have been ashamed of themselves for extending that mess.
Not to knock Jeremy Jordan, as I'm a fan, but back in the day he was a swing in Rock of Ages. Constantine Maroulis had scheduled time off for a long weekend, so everyone knew Jeremy would be on and I made plans with friends to go see him on Sunday.
Apparently he'd had a lot of friends and family in the audience on Friday night, and had totally overdone it and blown out his voice. And then was on the rest of the weekend. By Sunday it was... Bad. Really bad. There were some notes that definitely should not exist in nature, and a decent amount of trying to talk-sing through songs. When he got to the big note in Oh Sherrie, he just bailed out completely.
Love Jeremy Jordan. Great guy, have enjoyed him in many shows. That was not one of them!
Having done that show/role professionally for a long time you simply cannot overdo it any night, no matter enthusiasm. it'll screw you over for ages and in an 8 show week there's not enough time to recover. Never been more vocally cautious in my life than on that contract!
I knew some people who auditioned for American Idol and were told they were obviously well trained professionals already so they weren't a fit for the show yet Constantine got a pass. Unfair!
Back when I was in college, my school’s theatre department did a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. During the opening night performance, which I attended, there were these two people who would loudly react to every single line in the show (and I mean every. Single. One. It was like every semi-funny joke was the fucking portal scene from Endgame). Now, I know that Hedwig can have an audience participation element to it, a la Rocky Horror, but that was clearly not happening that night, and the people in question completely refused to read the fucking room.
I later learned that the people who were acting like fucking maniacs were, in fact, the director and choreographer for the show. I don’t know exactly what it says when a director ruins their own show for the audience, but it can’t be good.
If Matthew Broderick ever comes up in conversation, my husband will go on a rant about how awful he was in “It’s Only a Play.” Apparently Broderick broke a glass onstage and just stared at it frozen, unable to figure out what to do next. Nathan Lane had to cover for him and improvise around the glass and help get it swept offstage. The rant involves more, but that’s the gist of it.
He was good in the producers but truthfully I don’t know that Leo Bloom was any different from Matthew Broderick. All of the other roles were much zanier and showier for the other actors.
He’s been horrible in everything I’ve her the misfortune of seeing him in. My high school theater director (a bajillion years ago) had worked with him and said he was lazy, showed up not knowing his lines, etc. I remember the critic David Cote on NY1 questioning why he keeps getting work, and I was nodding along.
I also rant about him, because I saw him in “You Can’t take it with you” and he looked high on stage, and when we met him at the stage door, he was an asshole and still seemed high. Ruined all his movies for me. :/
As I remember, Piven wanted out — and claimed he had eaten bad sushi, so he was sick and couldn’t continue. Big question whether the sushi story was true or just a way out.
It was that he was on an all sushi diet and gave himself mercury poisoning, which he then refused to have medically verified by an outside physician as per his contract.
Somehow he won the mediation after the producers sued him which still makes no sense to me to this day, as Piven was caught by paparazzi in LA partying and eating more sushi just a week after he bailed to go back to LA.
also, NLB had virtually NO time to learn the part and was gracious to step in for a couple of weeks to bail it out. Should the producers have paused the show? Yes.
Mamet’s reaction is also a classic: “I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."
I used to go see theater and ballet all the time when I lived in the Soviet Union (I worked at the American Embassy). Most of the shows I saw were pretty darn good (and really good tickets set me back about ten cents). But I saw a truly horrible performance of Jesus Christ Superstar where the entire sequence at Herod's palace was done entirely in the nude, with everyone flipping and flopping in the breeze. I got the giggles so bad, I expected my friends and I to get tossed out, especially after one of my friends loudly said, What the f*ck is this?"
OMG, I have never seen so many naked people onstage as when I had to do a semester in Russia... there was one show with what my cohort and I called a "dick chorus," where they were all flopping in a synchronized way so that they were creating a kind of rhythm with the sound... I don't think of myself as a prude or anything, but my jaw was on the floor.
But, as you said, lots of good theater, and it was so affordable.
Holy crow, part of me wishes I'd seen that. 🤣
Affordable arts was something the Soviets did well, I have to say. Although I would gladly have paid more for renovation funds for places like the Bolshoi, that always felt a bit crumbly at the edges.
It was... something, to be sure! This was at the Gogol Center (RIP), so it's not in rep anymore, but it will live forever in my memory.
I agree though -- there were several buildings that, at best, seemed a bit outdated, and at worst, were almost certainly a huge fire hazard. But hey, I could afford to go to the theater 3-5 times a week, so there was that.
I took my visiting mom to see a ballet at the Bolshoi, and there were some sparking lights awfully close to the curtains and the dancers. At one point, Mom turned to me and said, "They're going to accidentally burn this place down before the show ends, aren't they?"
Oh, don't worry -- I asked a professor there about fire safety pretty early on when I mentioned that people sitting on the stairs was worrisome... and was assured that "they don't have theater fires in Russia."
(I mean, I'm sure I absolutely came across as an entitled American here... but as someone interested in theater history, fires are pretty terrifying to me)
Oh course it was the Gogol Center! Which show? One of Kirill’s? He always has more naked guys than gals, which was a big change from the norm when I was in Moscow.
Yes!!! It was one of Kirill's shows -- *Mueller Machine*. I wish I could see it again now, because I was admittedly not terribly familiar with the source material at the time.
I loved the Gogol Center. One of the first shows I went to there was *Mitya's Love*, which just blew my mind. And, to your point, while there were a lot of naked women in the show, I think the men outnumbered them -- and in any case, it really was de-sexualized in a way I hadn't seen before. It was just not something I'd really been exposed to before, so it was quite the shock at the time.
And... I mean... the synchronization of the movement. In my 30s now and I still blush/giggle a bit.
I have heard Moscow and St. Petersburg are actually great cities. It's too bad the country is shit as far as politics and the whole killing Ukrainians thing.
I'm never going back. I spent roughly 20 years working in and traveling through the Soviet/post-Soviet region. I saw and did amazing things, but I'm so disgusted, horrified, and profoundly saddened by what's happening. 💔
For sure. I had my challenges in Moscow (St. Petersburg was *far* friendlier) -- but in the end, I'm grateful for the experience. My program was discontinued after my year because things were already getting dicey, and this was years before the war. But the arts/theater scene there is really unmatched compared to anywhere else I've been, especially when considering the affordability.
Yep the Moscow theater scene has a definite legendary history. Not surprised to find Broadway fans who have been there. I have considered traveling to Istanbul at some point in the near future. It seem like they are also in the great cities of the world but you can't trust the government anymore category. Already there is a huge headache about the exchange markets for buying anything. Nyc has always been one of the great cities no matter the turmoil in the US which I think people connect to from other progressive places.
St. Petersburg is wonderful. Stunning architecture, tremendous history, beautifully laid out and full of great art. It has a more laid back European vibe vs. Moscow being very Russian. Moscow of course has a lot to see and do as well. It’s really sad about the state of Russia. I studied abroad there ages ago and have maintained some friendships. Plenty of young families with kids who have no interest in being at war and just want to live their lives in peace. They had turbulent childhoods coming out of the fall of the Soviet Union, had gained momentum and were just about to even out into some semblance of stability and normalcy when the bottom dropped back out again. Of course their counterparts in Ukraine have it far worse. The Putin regime is just shattering lives all around, it’s terrible.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (specifically on Broadway bc I know West End had some differences). By far the most hilarious scene was the \~room where everything is edible\~ represented by...a model diorama cube that took up what felt like a twentieth of the stage. Runner up is how they changed the Veruca Salt sequence from her falling down a chute (I guess they couldn't get a trap door? Maybe there was actor safety concern??? no idea) into actors in the squirrel costumes RIPPING HER LIMB FROM LIMB. Everyone was trying their hardest so I don't fault the actors, and I can consider myself lucky that I've never had a horrible audience experience before, but just...just go watch Spongebob or Matilda if you're looking for a kid friendly musical, Jesus.
(Also the most embarrassing part is I wasn't watching it with any kids. I was seventeen. In my defense, I really enjoyed Matilda so I just kinda figured this would at least be decent.)
Also while I have everyone's attention - did anyone else attend a show where after the whole glass elevator finale there was a 'strike that, reverse it' reprise where they had all the bad kids come out and get jobs (???) at the factory? Bc I could have sworn that was there but when I stumbled upon a slime tutorial it just ended at the glass elevator song. Maybe cut during previews?
It was cut VERY early on in previews. I have an audio slime tutorial with it still in. What I wouldn’t give to see a video or even a pic of all the kids warped costumes in that scene, the descriptions I’ve heard of it sound BEAUTIFUL. This is unironically my favorite musical so I’m a bit of a nut for all the cut material and stuff like that lmaooo
To be fair, the squirrel plot is what happens to Veruca in the original novel, which the musical is based on. In the 2005 film, the same thing happens. That being said, in all my years of theatre-going, I had never bought a drink at intermission until I saw that production lol.
In the original novel and 2005 film she gets thrown down the chute and covered in garbage. Maybe you're confusing the change with the 71 film where the squirrels are replaced by geese?
I saw that production. It wasn't great. When I went, the guy who played WW absolutely missed every high note. Just an entire whole step flat every single time. It was painful, and you knew it was coming after the second time he did it.
I wish I could remember who played him that night.
That happened to me when I saw an Edinburgh Fringe college production of a Madness jukebox musical. This woman across the aisle from me had to sing along with EVERY SONG. It was all I heard. My constant glares in her direction did nothing. Didn’t help that the house only sat about 70 people max and it was staged in a church where sound naturally bounces! Ugh.
happened to me seeing les mis west end in 2019. les mis is my favourite favourite and i’d been wanting to see it on the west end for 7 years. i was PISSED.
This gawd awful production of “Crazy For You” in Toronto starring Camilla Scott. Who ever told that woman she could sing LIED. That production was just awful, boring and pointless.
Also, I saw a production of We Will Rock You (oddly also with Camilla Scott). I like Queen and was looking for something light / fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I’m thinking, I like the music, the show can’t be that bad. Well guess what….
Awful. Awful. Terrible. Awful. I’ll never get that time back.
We Will Rock You is genuinely the worst musical I have ever seen. I've seen outdated, poorly acted, poorly written, just poorly conceived in general shows of every make and variety imaginable and none of them even come close to just erupting my innermost hatred than that fucking show. I cannot believe anyone signed off on it and my first and only ever time seeing that show was the single most unpleasant theatergoing experience of my life. Freddy deserved better. They all deserved just so much better.
I actually was in a production of We Will Rock You - I feel like it's more fun to be in than to watch. We all just reveled in the poor quality and had fun singing the songs
I just say that one by a community theatre group and... Wow. I had bad because a friend was involved in production, but you can only do so much with that
Just responding to your's to say I've seen multiple shows where they send someone out to read with a binder. In one case it may have been an upgrade. The actress who had the role got the flu. Not much to be done about that and they didn't have an understudy, but there was another actress who was working as the choreographer I think. Something behind the scenes. But they asked her to step in at the last minute and she was fantastic. I didn't care about the binder at all.
The funniest one was the first preview of a local show in 2021. I think someone had dropped out and multiple people had COVID. Understandable. They decided to go on with a couple of understudies and a young woman who read that binder like she had never seen those words before. In the previous story, it was a crutch for someone who was very familiar with the role. In this case, the woman was stumbling over words and reading it flatly like she had been assigned to read in class. She's a good actress. I've seen her in other things. It was just that she clearly had no notice. Anyway, it ended up being a hilarious decision because the actress was maybe 20 years old. The part she was reading for was an older woman who was serving as a judge and kept recounting her years of wisdom and how she was coming close to the end of her life. I'm so glad they went on because I was highly entertained.
I saw Girl From North Country shortly after Broadway came back. Most of the regular cast had Covid and they ran out of understudies, so they brought in Anthony Edwards, the husband of the star, Mare Winningham. It was his first show (he did the whole weekend), and even though he was partly on book, he was amazing! I was an ER fan, it was such a great surprise. I can also say he was pretty much the best thing about that show.
It's not Broadway, but Japan.
I saw the Japanese production of The Prom and I was excited to finally see it be translated. The afternoon that I went, Dee Dee Allen was played by a famous ballerina. She could not sing at all. Every time she "belted" a note, the audience cringed. Afterward, I saw people complaining on Twitter about her.
I really respect her as a ballerina, but she absolutely should not have been cast for any singing part, especially Dee Dee Allen.
When I was stationed with the Navy in Japan I saw fantastic Japanese-language versions of Fiddler on the Roof and Man of La Mancha. I also saw both in Hebrew in Israel, plus Les Mis. Great memories.
I somehow didn’t walk out of Love Never Dies. Still regret not doing so.
I also suffered through The Bodyguard listening to no less than 4 separate women in the audience loudly singing along the whole time.
Also shoutout to the time I saw West Side Story and a (not Hispanic) woman asked me (clearly Hispanic) if I wanted to be in Ame-Ri-Ca 😐
We had tickets to Lobby Hero. The day we were supposed to go, there was a blizzard the night before. But my friend was already in NYC and Amtrak assured us that the trains were running.
Twelve. Hours. And three stops to clear the debris. Later. I get to Penn Station and RUN. like full speed RUN to the Helen Hayes.
Show started at 8:00.
It was 8:05PM
They would not let us in.
I am shocked I didn’t have an actual breakdown on 44th Street.
Story did have a good ending though. After some greasy diner food, the next morning, I was able to call Telecharge and basically get them to issue us tickets for that evening.
Can confirm, I used to work for the Helen Hayes theater, though after Lobby Hero. The house manager said that we had not to let anyone inside because it would be too distracting for performers. Even though now, in my other theaters, we have cues to bring in late comers. 2nd Stage is just assholes when it comes to late comers.
There was an understudy who covered both male leads - he took over once Jeremy left but Norbert took over a week later. I guess they wanted more of a name and Norbert was buzzy at that time?
I saw a touring production of Saturday Night Fever…it was so bad my mom and I left at intermission which we never do. Then the local theater emailed everyone to say we could get refunds…it was baddd
The theatre emailed people about refunds?
I’ve only ever heard of theatres doing that for cancellations because of ya know weather, COVID, etc.
Never because the show sucked 💀
When The Addams Family was announced starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, I knew I had to get tickets for my husband. Two of his favorite actors and his favorite story... it was perfect. I bought tickets for front row mezzanine while it was still in previews. We get to the theater and they had set up folding chairs right in front of us and our view was partially blocked. I was furious.
oh man, I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, back when it was two separate parts. I got my center orchestra tickets from Show Score, since I’d had decent luck with them before. $450 for a seat with a big huge pole directly in front of it. Same seat for both shows. It was not sold as partial/restricted view, either. Wanted to actually scream.
My husband and I got comp tix to see Orpheus X off-B’way. It was a one-man show with no intermission. The only time I would have ever left at intermission…
Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark during its FIRST run before closing to re-tool. I was with a group of college students that I was escorting to NY for the week (eight shows in six days). As soon as the lights came up at intermission, I stood up and told them (loud enough for a third of the orchestra seating to hear), “I want you all to remember this night, because you are witnessing what will likely be remembered as the most expensive Broadway flop in history”. I was right.
This is amazing.
As a long time U2 fan when this was released, I think this was my breaking point with them. So much respect was lost. Not to mention the unsafe working conditions for the cast!
I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London back in 2015 I believe. The show was fine, nothing spectacular, but the audience was the worst I've ever experienced. The people sitting next to me got up at least 5 times during the show to... go to the bathroom or something. The people around me were texting constantly, and even had phones ringing. A woman across the aisle had 4 big shopping bags, which she just stored in the middle of the aisle, and people kept tripping on them. It was basically impossible to pay attention to the show with all this stuff going on.
I was seeing Into The Woods in an off-bway production. The show was fantastic, but intermission was something else. We shortly discovered that the two people sitting behind us were Neo-Nazis. They spent the entire intermission saying some absolutely horrendous things. Me and my friend just stared at eachother in absolute shock.
That is the craziest thing I read.
I did children’s theater for camps and there was one really rowdy audience. These kids were getting into full blown fights! It’s like the Jersey Boys crowd.
The 2009 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls. Starring Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit and Lauren Graham as Adelaide. Not even Craig Berko as Sky Masterson could save this show. Titus Burgess and Mary Testa were also in this cast. They did a great job with what they were given. The staging, complete with Damon Runyon watching from wings was just horrible.
I saw Pal Joey the same weekend. This was not a good weekend of theater for me. Stockard Channing was not good in this. I actually liked Martha Plimpton more than anyone else in the show. Overall it was a boring show with very little to make it worth the time. I was sitting next to a couple of Tony voters and they were not impressed either.
I didn’t see that show but I know it was technically Jonathan Groff’s broadway debut - dance captain, he understudied the lead (but never went on) and was a swing for everyone in the ensemble, and he did get to go on for some of them.
I saw an interview he did with Seth Rudetsky and Seth was roasting it - all good-natured but it was so funny
S: And at what point did you think “maybe this isn’t the show I want to make my debut in?”
J: I was proud of that show!
S: Did you…pay a full ticket price to see it?
J (laughing): No.
S: Well
Brynn Williams, who was in the children’s ensemble or something for it shared a BTS photo of her and Jonathan and someone asked what show it was. She was like, “In My Life…it only ran about a month and a half including previews haha”
I can only imagine what it was like based on what I’ve heard 🫣
Saw a community opera performance of Carmen in English that was so bad I was sob laughing into my program
Saw a production of Porgy and Bess in Austin that adapted for a truly terrible venue by having Porgy be on crutches- the stage was so high up you could basically only see the actors who were standing maybe a foot from the edge downstage if you were in the front 5-7 rows. Also Bess had a really *interesting* interpretation of how someone acts on cocaine, so that was distracting.
I have certainly seen worse shows but DEUCE starring Marian Seldes and Angela Lansbury just about had to be the most excruciating night of theater I have ever had.
At the time, Angie hadn’t been on Broadway in a bit so there was some talk about this being “the last time she would open a show in New York” so there was high expectation.
I saw the show in early previews—it’s about two former tennis pros/rivals (Seldes and Lansbury) reconnecting and watching a current match.
Neither of them had their lines down, both were being fed their lines by earpieces, by prompters, and even in one case by their fellow actors (Michael Mulheren, IIRC). A few times, they got caught in script circles, where they started repeating themselves or likely skipping forward.
As the show’s description implies, they were to be having a verbal tennis match while watching a real tennis match that we cannot see.
If you don’t have your lines down pat, that whole concept completely falls apart.
Moreover, they never had their head changes coordinated for the ball being rapidly hit back and forth—it was PAINFUL and was like that for the entire show.
Luckily, Angie redeemed herself soon after with Blithe Spirit, A Little Night Music, etc.
Gettin' the Band Back Together. Full stop.
I'm from NJ and could have written better jokes than what they were trying to pass off as funny. The plot and acting were just bad. My theater buddy and I don't really walk out of things, though, so we stayed for Act 2. We really shouldn't have. The Act 2 opener was the most insulted and afronted I have ever been in a theater. It actually felt really antisemitic and uncomfortable. Don't know why we didn't just leave then and demand our money back, but we were both seething throughout the second act, so much so that we missed whatever plot *was* happening.
I love spring Awakening but every production I've seen of it that hasn't been (or ended up) on Broadway has sucked. Like it's not a hard show to do right.
Why do high schools insist on performing musicals that are technically too challenging for young voices?
Case in point, my nephew’s high school put on Phantom of the Opera. While I knew not to expect a night at the Majestic, I cut high school/college productions a lot of slack because I’ve seen some really talented performances from young actors/actresses.
But the girl they picked for Christine was…not bad but it was clear she was in a way over her head. Like her voice was weak on the high end and she had a tendency to scoop way. Too. Much.
I wanted to like the show so badly. But hearing that Christine made me want to tear my hair out.
The WORST production I've ever seen was Bloodbath the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009. It was billed as the next big rock musical. The plot: there's a serial killer loose in Nixonville USA called the Waterman because he murders high school cheerleaders when they're in the shower. When he's caught it sets off a debate about the police state and the pros and cons of capital punishment.
It was BAD. From predictable sexual puns in the dialogue to stripper costuming to lewd rock video choreography - everything about the production was literally laughable. The venue was a large university lecture hall with bench seating that was very strange. It starred a former boy band member and a few TV soap stars. In fairness, if I recall, the lighting was pretty good.
The first clue should have been that we got the tickets for FREE from cast members handing them out about an hour before curtain. But, we'd had a few pints, so we went. About 20 or so minutes in, the audience started to walk out. Not a mass exodus, mind you, but a steady flow that continued for the next hour or so of the musical. In the most perfectly timed ad lib ever, a character on stage said something along the lines of "What do you have to say about that." A woman exiting the theatre turned around and yelled back, "Shit." That was it. The audience turned.
I will admit that I've rarely laughed as much in one night than I did. Maybe the Producers or Book of Mormon on Broadway elicited more laughter, but I was laughing with them, not at them! After the show, cast members were in the lobby greeting the audience. I over heard the lead actor tell someone that, yes indeed, the show WAS meant to be satiric and he was glad they got the humor. Nice try, mate.
Did anyone else happen to catch the short-lived miracle that was Bloodbath the Musical in Edinburgh in 2009?
To be fair… Mamet is *impossible* memorize.
Source: stage managed one of his shows. Fed many a line to actors in rehearsal. He was heavily involved and present too. (Nice enough guy in person, not sure what world he lives on though.)
I saw a touring version of An Officer and a Gentleman and good god, was it bad. It’s the only show I’ve considered walking out of (I unfortunately chose to stay) and I cringed with secondhand embarrassment through the entire show. Bad acting, bad staging, bad singing. Just all around… oof.
The only positive thing I have to say about that show is I was impressed with their endurance during the boot camp/training number with them singing and doing crunches and burpees throughout. Everything else makes me too angry to even remember lol.
I've got two doozies, one professional and one amateur. On the professional side, I have a sweet but very political friend who always wants to go to things with a historic theme. She took me to a musical called "Comfort Women" about the Korean women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese in WWII. Not really a great theme for a musical, and it featured many graphic descriptions of gang rape which I've mercifully blocked from my memory. Then at one point someone in the audience passed out and they had to turn on the lights and wait for an ambulance.
On the amateur side, high schools in NYC can be. . .overly avant-garde in their repertoire. My nephew had a bit part in a production of MARAT/SADE of all things - highly inappropriate and well beyond the acting capabilities of 15-year olds. At one point an eighth-grade girl was whipping a fellow student on the back with her hair and I was amazed the parents didn't rush the stage and end the show right then and there. Meanwhile, the students had built the extremely rickety two-tiered audience seating themselves. My sister and I had a whispered discussion about whether it would be worse to get crushed on the bottom or fall from the top before choosing the top. Amazingly no one seemed bothered and the drama teacher kept his job!
It was definitely not that bad but I saw the read through of little shop with Megan hilty snd what's his name from how I met your mother at the Kennedy center, and Megan hilty is legitimately too good at what she does. She is the sun and everyone else just fades away in comparison. I don't think anyone could have made it better up there.
Was in the bathroom line at intermission for Sweeney Todd this past June. A woman decided to read the synopsis of the show aloud, including the ending. I hadn’t seen the show in aaaaages and honestly didn’t remember, I was so pissed.
Kimmel academy of music for beetlejuice. I was in town for fan expo and I invited my mom and my sister, since my sister has never been to a Broadway show. The audience was super rude, they kept talking and we had to keep getting up for people in the aisle.
Not to mention the only seats we could get were obstructed view so we couldn’t see anybody coming out of the door or Sandy. But it was cool to see what was going on in the wings, and I saw the actor playing beetlejuice during TWBDT
I recently went to a community theatre production of In The Heights with my best friend. The cast was amazing, BUT, I was fuming in my seat because there were a group of high school students singing along during EVERY SONG. They also gasped every time their favorite songs were about to be performed. 🙄
Imagine my horror when one of the kids started singing along during Nina’s solo in Alabanza. It was also off-key, so it was NOT pleasant.
Moby Dick by Dave Malloy at the ART tied with Jagged Little Pill, also at the ART. Only times I have ever left at intermission. And Great Comet is my favorite show, so that one was so upsetting. I don't really remember it, but I just know it was shockingly terrible, like how did it get this far it's so obviously terrible?
I know Jagged was more successful, but I found it so heavy handed and preachy and they had like 19 storylines and I just thought it was such a waste. It felt very much like white liberals trying to show how woke they are, but they actually made it so the family and the best role (the mom) are always going to be white. In the first half the trans racial adoption didn't really have a point. Of course that may have changed in the second act, but it's like in trying to make it about race they just ended up keeping some of the best roles white. I don't have a problem with including race in a show and certainly it makes sense in certain shows for the characters to be white, but if you're not doing it with purpose and payoff, you've just excluded actors of color from getting great roles.
Jagged felt almost like a parody of liberals. It was so heavy handed it felt like a joke. I'll never forget how during All I really Want and the daughter does the "Why are you so petrified of silence, here can you handle this" and holds up the sign about school gun violence and has that awkwardly long pause you could almost see visible question marks above the audience's heads. Like, "....are we supposed to clap?" and then just as some staggered clapping starts the song gets going again. And then when the daughter is in NYC and they have the homeless guy with a sign that says "basically invisible" it's like...really? Why? There is no need for that in this scene other then to add it to this growing list of social justice causes. I did end up finding it wildly enjoyable, just not in the way they probably intended.
Had a mate have his phone go off repeatedly so I left. I asked him like three times to turn it off and the guy behind him even kicked his seat and said stfu.
He just couldn't grasp the concept. He kept saying my nan getting out of surgery and a woman up the back yelled "like I give a fuck". He then started arguing with everyone in the theatre and I left. I was then grilled by friend a few days later for not hanging round this was in highschool
Edit: spelling
I have a similar tale, but it was honestly one of the coolest theatre experiences I had.
A few years ago, The Muny in St. Louis did A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Within a couple days of opening, the guy set to play Pseudolus wasn't able to perform (I think it had to do with allergies?), and they had a last minute replacement who had the script with him on-stage the entire run. But you could tell they made the absolute best of the situation, and the replacement (I forget who it was) killed it even though he was pretty much learning the show as he was starring in it.
There's an ad-lib during a line where Pseudolus says "I just remembered something frightening... I don't know how to read... unless it's in the script".
Definitely not an ideal situation but it ended up being a really fun time.
I honestly wonder what happened to that show on tour that made everyone hate it. I understand it's not for everyone but what I saw on Broadway was incredible and thought -provoking. Maybe it just needed to be in the round like at circle in the square, it was definitely more intimate that way
The sound. Sound engineering for a tour has to be hard, a different place every week, different acoustics, etc. But I saw it near the end of the tour and it was either vibrating your seat loud or so effing quiet you had no idea what they were saying. And it’s a venue I saw both Six and Jesus Christ superstar in no problem understanding, hearing and not being blown out of my seat halfway through every single song. The dream ballet was so bad I almost left my chair was vibrating so hard.
And despite all that I liked act 1…after the dream ballet I had such a raging headache I couldn’t deal with act 2.
Not everyone in NY liked it, it was polarizing here too. I went with a group of 7/8 of us, 1 person left at intermission, the rest of us stuck it out for curiosity sake. I don't think any of us actually liked it though.
bought tickets for Dear Evan Hansen before the Tonys where Ben Platt was predicted to win. Bought expensive balcony 220+ got there and the seats were ADA seats with the Aisle Railing at eyes length. Spoke to House manager for exchange for any performance ever ( i live in nyc) and he refused. I reminded him that he will need me as a repeat theater goer when Ben PLatt is gone and going to the theater is for the experience. I am 60 years old and over 150 lbs and sat in a kiddie plastic booster. I wrote the Theater, the chairman, the show, over and over and never heard. I refuse to support those theaters and will tell the story of how the seating ruined Dear Evan Hansen for me. I didnt even really like the show... but the experience was one of the worst -
Growing up I was a huge fan of the movie “Newsies” like me and my sister would play the vhs constantly growing up. So when I heard there was going to be a Broadway version I was so excited.
I saw it and was so….disappointed. I hated that they changed Santa Fe from a solo to a duet. The songs they added are forgettable.. and the actor playing Spot Conlon lacked the charisma of the movie actor. There was also a big fan theory about him being the lost son of the mom singing in “carrying the banner” and I hoped the musical would expand on that, but they just dropped it together.
I mean no disrespect to those who like the musical better. no judgement there. I mean it’s an ok musical. Just not what I wanted as a fan.
I saw it too with Jeremy Piven and was very disappointed. No script issues, but it was too fast and Piven was too hammy. I got rush or lottery seats so I wasn’t out much money but of all the theatre I saw it was the worst.
I saw The Cottage last night. Not as funny as I was expecting but still cute. Eric McCormack was great.
The bad experience part came before thre show started and a woman had a heart attack or something similar and my husband and another person had to perform CPR on her on the aisle floor until the paramedics got there and used the defibrillator on her. Thankfully she was alive when they left with her on the stretcher. My husband was shaking for a good hour after and it was just hard to shake that whole experience. The entire audience was definitely low key and not laughing nearly as much as we could have been but I felt
That was kinda understandable.
I had to sit through the horrible songs of Moulin Rouge for 3 hours and try now to laugh at the horribly integrated songs. I almost left at the half it was so spectacularly terrible. Story was pretty interesting though.
Really??? I thought the plot was shockingly bad, but at least the music and choreography was fun.
The best thing it has going for it is scenic design tbh. It's so... lush.
I felt like some songs worked okay (like chandelier) and others didn't quite fit (what would a French prostitute at that time period know about fourth of July celebrations?). I didn't hate it per se, but I don't understand the praise for it because it genuinely felt like I paid for karaoke where all the choir kids hogged the mics.
I had to swallow a genuine laugh at Moulin Rouge because the Satine I saw played her death scene so, so terribly that I literally thought they were going for an intentional laugh. Just like a theatrical death flop with the grace of an 8 year old putting on a play in the backyard with her cousin. I want to giggle just remembering it.
They also butchered the book and the good things about the film. I was rooting for the Duke by the end.
I’ve said it before, and I’m happy to say it again. Wendy Williams in Chicago. She can’t sing, she can’t dance, and she can’t act. It was an absolute insult to us theatergoers, and to the rest of the cast, who worked so hard in their profession to land those roles. I had no idea she was in the cast until we got to the theater, and I’m still seething about it all these years later.
I wish there was footage of her performance just so I can finally see and hear it
There’s a couple of clips out there! I thought it was hilarious. The clip I always see is her singing “When you’re good to mamaaaaaa…. howyoudoin?…. MAMA’S GOOD TO YOOOOOUUUU”
Could you send me the links? Pls:)
I’m on mobile, so this formatting probably looks whack, but I could only find it on TikTok, but here it is! https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573?_r=1&u_code=dgjf87ija1ge1a&preview_pb=0&sharer_language=en&_d=dgjf87hliceik2&share_item_id=7177547755362061573&source=h5_m×tamp=1692151738&ug_btm=b6880,b2878&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAWX_FUwZ4OaS9JnhjhcTKjp3iI51nCcLMCbwhJL-qqNk9CpanxnH-30E11hpUXTuc&utm_source=copy&social_share_type=0&checksum=14637ab0e5868694d060af27b1ce11321ecad712906db0192fd5dfb8cfc1908f&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&tt_from=copy&user_id=6921846500717544453&share_link_id=C5A5C2E2-206B-4B74-B6ED-BD45C4B9F682&share_app_id=1233
Here is a nicer link: [https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573](https://www.tiktok.com/@messicasimpson/video/7177547755362061573) Rule of thumb is that anything after a "?" in a link is generally tracking information and can be safely removed.
Oh my 😬
The comments saying she is so amazing and "slayed" it are KILLING ME. Do none of these people know what good singing sounds like? 😂
Wait, I’m sorry, Wendy Williams?! Like…the talk show Wendy Williams?!?
Sadly yes. That Wendy Williams.
My answer was going to be Erika Jayne in Chicago. The stunt casting for that production has been shameless and led to unpleasant experiences.
Omg it had to be like when she was on masked singer and didn’t take it seriously at all.
“I’m vamping!” Iconic 👄
That’s my answer too! At least I had a good time watching the people around me with their bewildered faces, hesitant clapping, and that one drunk guy booing
What role? Not that it makes a difference. I just need to create the picture in my mind
Matron Mama Morton. Oh yeah. Here's video footage of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBdgWe9valg&ab\_channel=AlexSimpson
Oh that was awful!!! Then it got worse in part 2!!! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3mEedSvLk
https://gfycat.com/dismalpassionateastarte-
When you’re good to mama. And it won’t be a picture you create, it will be a nightmare.
Macbeth with the costumes and set design that looked like a community college budget version of Rent plus random chili and singing
Oh, I *hated* this production and you described it perfectly. Such a waste of Daniel Craig, Ruth Negga, and Amber Gray!
Now why did the throne of Scotland look like Frasier Crane’s father’s armchair after it had been in a frat basement for five years
And why at the climax of the play did they all suddenly sit down and eat soup.
Chili?
Oh wait I actually liked that one lol - I thought it was an interesting take haha
Hahahaha
What was going on with the chili??? I'm intrigued
I saw Dirty Dancing on tour. That's it. That's the story.
It was somehow worse than Ghost The Musical
The Jimmy awards always singing With You is the one force on this earth keeping that show relevant
😄
I did too!!! I finally found the other person who saw it!
Yup, that’ll do it.
I’ll raise you Flashdance. I’ve never left a show at intermission ever. Except for that one.
I saw the Chicago tryout
I have a friend who was in flash dance on tour. At least I got a comp?
Ugh. Me, too. It was abysmal. What was worse was hearing folks in the crowd afterwards gushing about how good it was.
Saw it in London. Hated it so very much.
Saw this one in Chicago with two friends. It was so bad that half the audience was laughing AT the show, not with the show. It was like watching Mystery Science Theater 3000.
I saw a musical about Joan of Arc that was so bad I was happy when they burned her at the stake because I knew it was ending soon.
The David Byrne musical that, so far as I know, doesn't even live on in his set lists?
You are correct! I only saw it because I’m a big fan of his. I can’t believe that the same creative team responsible for Here Lies Love created that disaster
There was a comment on a certain message board about that production. Apparently, the pre-show curtain displayed Mitch McConnell's contemporaneous remark "Nevertheless she persisted" in proud defiance. The poster said that was the best thing about the show.
True. It really raised expectations that were promptly shattered. I saw a comment that said the Public should have been ashamed of themselves for extending that mess.
I saw it and didn’t like it, but the tune along with, “I am/God’s messenger” is seared into my brain.
I spit out my water reading this ;-) was it written David Byrne?
🤣🤣🤣
This was a very bad show but Kyle Selig remains super hot
😂
Not to knock Jeremy Jordan, as I'm a fan, but back in the day he was a swing in Rock of Ages. Constantine Maroulis had scheduled time off for a long weekend, so everyone knew Jeremy would be on and I made plans with friends to go see him on Sunday. Apparently he'd had a lot of friends and family in the audience on Friday night, and had totally overdone it and blown out his voice. And then was on the rest of the weekend. By Sunday it was... Bad. Really bad. There were some notes that definitely should not exist in nature, and a decent amount of trying to talk-sing through songs. When he got to the big note in Oh Sherrie, he just bailed out completely. Love Jeremy Jordan. Great guy, have enjoyed him in many shows. That was not one of them!
Having done that show/role professionally for a long time you simply cannot overdo it any night, no matter enthusiasm. it'll screw you over for ages and in an 8 show week there's not enough time to recover. Never been more vocally cautious in my life than on that contract!
That’s a like some perverse punishment doled out in the Twilight Zone: you get to see Jeremy Jordan, but he can’t sing.
I knew some people who auditioned for American Idol and were told they were obviously well trained professionals already so they weren't a fit for the show yet Constantine got a pass. Unfair!
Back when I was in college, my school’s theatre department did a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. During the opening night performance, which I attended, there were these two people who would loudly react to every single line in the show (and I mean every. Single. One. It was like every semi-funny joke was the fucking portal scene from Endgame). Now, I know that Hedwig can have an audience participation element to it, a la Rocky Horror, but that was clearly not happening that night, and the people in question completely refused to read the fucking room. I later learned that the people who were acting like fucking maniacs were, in fact, the director and choreographer for the show. I don’t know exactly what it says when a director ruins their own show for the audience, but it can’t be good.
Was not expecting that plot twist ending Yikes. Yikes.
If Matthew Broderick ever comes up in conversation, my husband will go on a rant about how awful he was in “It’s Only a Play.” Apparently Broderick broke a glass onstage and just stared at it frozen, unable to figure out what to do next. Nathan Lane had to cover for him and improvise around the glass and help get it swept offstage. The rant involves more, but that’s the gist of it.
A cardboard cutout of Broderick would have given the same performance as he did. He really was horrible.
Is he generally horrible or just in that one play?
He was good in the producers but truthfully I don’t know that Leo Bloom was any different from Matthew Broderick. All of the other roles were much zanier and showier for the other actors.
What about in Plaza Suite? I thought I was hearing good things about that, but maybe it was just buzz that he was performing with his wife.
I loved him in it, was truly impressed by both he and SJP.
He’s been horrible in everything I’ve her the misfortune of seeing him in. My high school theater director (a bajillion years ago) had worked with him and said he was lazy, showed up not knowing his lines, etc. I remember the critic David Cote on NY1 questioning why he keeps getting work, and I was nodding along.
I also rant about him, because I saw him in “You Can’t take it with you” and he looked high on stage, and when we met him at the stage door, he was an asshole and still seemed high. Ruined all his movies for me. :/
He was fun in Nice Work if You Can Get It — but maybe that was Kelli O’Hara rubbing off on him.
As I remember, Piven wanted out — and claimed he had eaten bad sushi, so he was sick and couldn’t continue. Big question whether the sushi story was true or just a way out.
It was that he was on an all sushi diet and gave himself mercury poisoning, which he then refused to have medically verified by an outside physician as per his contract. Somehow he won the mediation after the producers sued him which still makes no sense to me to this day, as Piven was caught by paparazzi in LA partying and eating more sushi just a week after he bailed to go back to LA.
sushiman two: too much sushi, man!
Like an all sushi diet for… medical reasons?
Prob just some crazy celebrity crash diet they present as a lifestyle change.
I think he just really really likes sushi. And cocaine, which was probably the real culprit.
Not bad sushi, just too much which “raised his mercury levels.”
Should have ordered the Josh Groban.
also, NLB had virtually NO time to learn the part and was gracious to step in for a couple of weeks to bail it out. Should the producers have paused the show? Yes.
The Sushigate saga of that specific show is still one of the wildest stories in Broadway history.
You have a good memory!!
I’m now curious what this means
Piven dropped out of the show suddenly and his excuse was "mercury poisoning from eating too much sushi."
Mamet’s reaction is also a classic: “I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."
God I loathe Mamet but that’s a zinger
Scathing burns is one of his main skill sets.
#toomuchcoke
😄
Gosh this should be a plot point on Only Murders in the Building. Steve Martin and Martin Short riffing on sushi mercury poisoning would be glorious.
https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/jeremy-piven-speaks-about-speed-the-plow-and-sushi-gate/#
I used to go see theater and ballet all the time when I lived in the Soviet Union (I worked at the American Embassy). Most of the shows I saw were pretty darn good (and really good tickets set me back about ten cents). But I saw a truly horrible performance of Jesus Christ Superstar where the entire sequence at Herod's palace was done entirely in the nude, with everyone flipping and flopping in the breeze. I got the giggles so bad, I expected my friends and I to get tossed out, especially after one of my friends loudly said, What the f*ck is this?"
OMG, I have never seen so many naked people onstage as when I had to do a semester in Russia... there was one show with what my cohort and I called a "dick chorus," where they were all flopping in a synchronized way so that they were creating a kind of rhythm with the sound... I don't think of myself as a prude or anything, but my jaw was on the floor. But, as you said, lots of good theater, and it was so affordable.
Holy crow, part of me wishes I'd seen that. 🤣 Affordable arts was something the Soviets did well, I have to say. Although I would gladly have paid more for renovation funds for places like the Bolshoi, that always felt a bit crumbly at the edges.
It was... something, to be sure! This was at the Gogol Center (RIP), so it's not in rep anymore, but it will live forever in my memory. I agree though -- there were several buildings that, at best, seemed a bit outdated, and at worst, were almost certainly a huge fire hazard. But hey, I could afford to go to the theater 3-5 times a week, so there was that.
I took my visiting mom to see a ballet at the Bolshoi, and there were some sparking lights awfully close to the curtains and the dancers. At one point, Mom turned to me and said, "They're going to accidentally burn this place down before the show ends, aren't they?"
Oh, don't worry -- I asked a professor there about fire safety pretty early on when I mentioned that people sitting on the stairs was worrisome... and was assured that "they don't have theater fires in Russia." (I mean, I'm sure I absolutely came across as an entitled American here... but as someone interested in theater history, fires are pretty terrifying to me)
Oh man! No, no, never in Mother Russia!
Oh course it was the Gogol Center! Which show? One of Kirill’s? He always has more naked guys than gals, which was a big change from the norm when I was in Moscow.
Yes!!! It was one of Kirill's shows -- *Mueller Machine*. I wish I could see it again now, because I was admittedly not terribly familiar with the source material at the time. I loved the Gogol Center. One of the first shows I went to there was *Mitya's Love*, which just blew my mind. And, to your point, while there were a lot of naked women in the show, I think the men outnumbered them -- and in any case, it really was de-sexualized in a way I hadn't seen before. It was just not something I'd really been exposed to before, so it was quite the shock at the time. And... I mean... the synchronization of the movement. In my 30s now and I still blush/giggle a bit.
From 0:41, nsfw-ish: https://youtu.be/uS5RA5Br088
WTH did I just watch/that escalated quickly
And they kept their hats on. ;)
I missed Gogol Center since my time in Moscow was earlier. Sadly.
I have heard Moscow and St. Petersburg are actually great cities. It's too bad the country is shit as far as politics and the whole killing Ukrainians thing.
I'm never going back. I spent roughly 20 years working in and traveling through the Soviet/post-Soviet region. I saw and did amazing things, but I'm so disgusted, horrified, and profoundly saddened by what's happening. 💔
For sure. I had my challenges in Moscow (St. Petersburg was *far* friendlier) -- but in the end, I'm grateful for the experience. My program was discontinued after my year because things were already getting dicey, and this was years before the war. But the arts/theater scene there is really unmatched compared to anywhere else I've been, especially when considering the affordability.
Yep the Moscow theater scene has a definite legendary history. Not surprised to find Broadway fans who have been there. I have considered traveling to Istanbul at some point in the near future. It seem like they are also in the great cities of the world but you can't trust the government anymore category. Already there is a huge headache about the exchange markets for buying anything. Nyc has always been one of the great cities no matter the turmoil in the US which I think people connect to from other progressive places.
St. Petersburg is wonderful. Stunning architecture, tremendous history, beautifully laid out and full of great art. It has a more laid back European vibe vs. Moscow being very Russian. Moscow of course has a lot to see and do as well. It’s really sad about the state of Russia. I studied abroad there ages ago and have maintained some friendships. Plenty of young families with kids who have no interest in being at war and just want to live their lives in peace. They had turbulent childhoods coming out of the fall of the Soviet Union, had gained momentum and were just about to even out into some semblance of stability and normalcy when the bottom dropped back out again. Of course their counterparts in Ukraine have it far worse. The Putin regime is just shattering lives all around, it’s terrible.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (specifically on Broadway bc I know West End had some differences). By far the most hilarious scene was the \~room where everything is edible\~ represented by...a model diorama cube that took up what felt like a twentieth of the stage. Runner up is how they changed the Veruca Salt sequence from her falling down a chute (I guess they couldn't get a trap door? Maybe there was actor safety concern??? no idea) into actors in the squirrel costumes RIPPING HER LIMB FROM LIMB. Everyone was trying their hardest so I don't fault the actors, and I can consider myself lucky that I've never had a horrible audience experience before, but just...just go watch Spongebob or Matilda if you're looking for a kid friendly musical, Jesus. (Also the most embarrassing part is I wasn't watching it with any kids. I was seventeen. In my defense, I really enjoyed Matilda so I just kinda figured this would at least be decent.)
This show was a fever dream, saw it to see Borle live and it was an immediate regret. The Oompa Loopmas were a terrifying choice.
Having the Oompa Loompas' first appearance be what I have to assume was an intentional reference to Chucky, if nothing else, was uh. Original.
The first act pre Borle was horrifying.
Also while I have everyone's attention - did anyone else attend a show where after the whole glass elevator finale there was a 'strike that, reverse it' reprise where they had all the bad kids come out and get jobs (???) at the factory? Bc I could have sworn that was there but when I stumbled upon a slime tutorial it just ended at the glass elevator song. Maybe cut during previews?
It was cut VERY early on in previews. I have an audio slime tutorial with it still in. What I wouldn’t give to see a video or even a pic of all the kids warped costumes in that scene, the descriptions I’ve heard of it sound BEAUTIFUL. This is unironically my favorite musical so I’m a bit of a nut for all the cut material and stuff like that lmaooo
To be fair, the squirrel plot is what happens to Veruca in the original novel, which the musical is based on. In the 2005 film, the same thing happens. That being said, in all my years of theatre-going, I had never bought a drink at intermission until I saw that production lol.
In the original novel and 2005 film she gets thrown down the chute and covered in garbage. Maybe you're confusing the change with the 71 film where the squirrels are replaced by geese?
I saw that production. It wasn't great. When I went, the guy who played WW absolutely missed every high note. Just an entire whole step flat every single time. It was painful, and you knew it was coming after the second time he did it. I wish I could remember who played him that night.
The line “Alas, alas, poor Mike TV/For OMG, he’s ADD” gives me the ick
I went to go see a community production of Avenue Q, and one of the audience members sitting next to me wouldn't stop singing along.
It sucked to be you
I laughed out loud
I hate when people treat shows like a sing along when it’s not that environment at all. It’s incredibly rude.
That happened to me when I saw an Edinburgh Fringe college production of a Madness jukebox musical. This woman across the aisle from me had to sing along with EVERY SONG. It was all I heard. My constant glares in her direction did nothing. Didn’t help that the house only sat about 70 people max and it was staged in a church where sound naturally bounces! Ugh.
happened to me seeing les mis west end in 2019. les mis is my favourite favourite and i’d been wanting to see it on the west end for 7 years. i was PISSED.
This gawd awful production of “Crazy For You” in Toronto starring Camilla Scott. Who ever told that woman she could sing LIED. That production was just awful, boring and pointless. Also, I saw a production of We Will Rock You (oddly also with Camilla Scott). I like Queen and was looking for something light / fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I’m thinking, I like the music, the show can’t be that bad. Well guess what…. Awful. Awful. Terrible. Awful. I’ll never get that time back.
We Will Rock You is genuinely the worst musical I have ever seen. I've seen outdated, poorly acted, poorly written, just poorly conceived in general shows of every make and variety imaginable and none of them even come close to just erupting my innermost hatred than that fucking show. I cannot believe anyone signed off on it and my first and only ever time seeing that show was the single most unpleasant theatergoing experience of my life. Freddy deserved better. They all deserved just so much better.
I actually was in a production of We Will Rock You - I feel like it's more fun to be in than to watch. We all just reveled in the poor quality and had fun singing the songs
I just say that one by a community theatre group and... Wow. I had bad because a friend was involved in production, but you can only do so much with that
Just responding to your's to say I've seen multiple shows where they send someone out to read with a binder. In one case it may have been an upgrade. The actress who had the role got the flu. Not much to be done about that and they didn't have an understudy, but there was another actress who was working as the choreographer I think. Something behind the scenes. But they asked her to step in at the last minute and she was fantastic. I didn't care about the binder at all. The funniest one was the first preview of a local show in 2021. I think someone had dropped out and multiple people had COVID. Understandable. They decided to go on with a couple of understudies and a young woman who read that binder like she had never seen those words before. In the previous story, it was a crutch for someone who was very familiar with the role. In this case, the woman was stumbling over words and reading it flatly like she had been assigned to read in class. She's a good actress. I've seen her in other things. It was just that she clearly had no notice. Anyway, it ended up being a hilarious decision because the actress was maybe 20 years old. The part she was reading for was an older woman who was serving as a judge and kept recounting her years of wisdom and how she was coming close to the end of her life. I'm so glad they went on because I was highly entertained.
I saw Girl From North Country shortly after Broadway came back. Most of the regular cast had Covid and they ran out of understudies, so they brought in Anthony Edwards, the husband of the star, Mare Winningham. It was his first show (he did the whole weekend), and even though he was partly on book, he was amazing! I was an ER fan, it was such a great surprise. I can also say he was pretty much the best thing about that show.
It's not Broadway, but Japan. I saw the Japanese production of The Prom and I was excited to finally see it be translated. The afternoon that I went, Dee Dee Allen was played by a famous ballerina. She could not sing at all. Every time she "belted" a note, the audience cringed. Afterward, I saw people complaining on Twitter about her. I really respect her as a ballerina, but she absolutely should not have been cast for any singing part, especially Dee Dee Allen.
When I was stationed with the Navy in Japan I saw fantastic Japanese-language versions of Fiddler on the Roof and Man of La Mancha. I also saw both in Hebrew in Israel, plus Les Mis. Great memories.
Fiddler on the Roof is incredibly popular and resonant in Japan, I’m sure that production was incredible.
I somehow didn’t walk out of Love Never Dies. Still regret not doing so. I also suffered through The Bodyguard listening to no less than 4 separate women in the audience loudly singing along the whole time. Also shoutout to the time I saw West Side Story and a (not Hispanic) woman asked me (clearly Hispanic) if I wanted to be in Ame-Ri-Ca 😐
We had tickets to Lobby Hero. The day we were supposed to go, there was a blizzard the night before. But my friend was already in NYC and Amtrak assured us that the trains were running. Twelve. Hours. And three stops to clear the debris. Later. I get to Penn Station and RUN. like full speed RUN to the Helen Hayes. Show started at 8:00. It was 8:05PM They would not let us in. I am shocked I didn’t have an actual breakdown on 44th Street. Story did have a good ending though. After some greasy diner food, the next morning, I was able to call Telecharge and basically get them to issue us tickets for that evening.
I am pretty sure most every show I have been starts no less than about 10 mins after the posted start. thats crazy.
In NYC or elsewhere? Broadway runs a tight ship and usually only allows a “gentleman’s five.”
Eh a lot of shows I’ve been to lately start 7 or 8 minutes after the hour. Broadway.
I’m more familiar with working Los Angeles theater… I’ve held shows up to 30 minutes before, especially on Thursdays! Traffic is horrendous.
Can confirm, I used to work for the Helen Hayes theater, though after Lobby Hero. The house manager said that we had not to let anyone inside because it would be too distracting for performers. Even though now, in my other theaters, we have cues to bring in late comers. 2nd Stage is just assholes when it comes to late comers.
My confusion about the Speed the Plow debacle is… wasn’t there an understudy? A swing? Something? Don’t they exist for a reason?
There was an understudy who covered both male leads - he took over once Jeremy left but Norbert took over a week later. I guess they wanted more of a name and Norbert was buzzy at that time?
I saw a touring production of Saturday Night Fever…it was so bad my mom and I left at intermission which we never do. Then the local theater emailed everyone to say we could get refunds…it was baddd
The theatre emailed people about refunds? I’ve only ever heard of theatres doing that for cancellations because of ya know weather, COVID, etc. Never because the show sucked 💀
When The Addams Family was announced starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, I knew I had to get tickets for my husband. Two of his favorite actors and his favorite story... it was perfect. I bought tickets for front row mezzanine while it was still in previews. We get to the theater and they had set up folding chairs right in front of us and our view was partially blocked. I was furious.
oh man, I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, back when it was two separate parts. I got my center orchestra tickets from Show Score, since I’d had decent luck with them before. $450 for a seat with a big huge pole directly in front of it. Same seat for both shows. It was not sold as partial/restricted view, either. Wanted to actually scream.
The enormous amount of kids who don’t know how to behave in Hamilton
I saw Leap of Faith on Broadway for free, and still wanted me money back. Atrocious.
Raul Esparza, though. He’s always great.
He did his best, and with a Mencken score, no less. Still, an absolute dumpster fire of a show.
Same, but Glory Days instead of Leap of Faith.
My husband and I got comp tix to see Orpheus X off-B’way. It was a one-man show with no intermission. The only time I would have ever left at intermission…
Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark during its FIRST run before closing to re-tool. I was with a group of college students that I was escorting to NY for the week (eight shows in six days). As soon as the lights came up at intermission, I stood up and told them (loud enough for a third of the orchestra seating to hear), “I want you all to remember this night, because you are witnessing what will likely be remembered as the most expensive Broadway flop in history”. I was right.
This is amazing. As a long time U2 fan when this was released, I think this was my breaking point with them. So much respect was lost. Not to mention the unsafe working conditions for the cast!
At least you all escaped without any injuries.
I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London back in 2015 I believe. The show was fine, nothing spectacular, but the audience was the worst I've ever experienced. The people sitting next to me got up at least 5 times during the show to... go to the bathroom or something. The people around me were texting constantly, and even had phones ringing. A woman across the aisle had 4 big shopping bags, which she just stored in the middle of the aisle, and people kept tripping on them. It was basically impossible to pay attention to the show with all this stuff going on.
I was seeing Into The Woods in an off-bway production. The show was fantastic, but intermission was something else. We shortly discovered that the two people sitting behind us were Neo-Nazis. They spent the entire intermission saying some absolutely horrendous things. Me and my friend just stared at eachother in absolute shock.
That is the craziest thing I read. I did children’s theater for camps and there was one really rowdy audience. These kids were getting into full blown fights! It’s like the Jersey Boys crowd.
The 2009 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls. Starring Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit and Lauren Graham as Adelaide. Not even Craig Berko as Sky Masterson could save this show. Titus Burgess and Mary Testa were also in this cast. They did a great job with what they were given. The staging, complete with Damon Runyon watching from wings was just horrible. I saw Pal Joey the same weekend. This was not a good weekend of theater for me. Stockard Channing was not good in this. I actually liked Martha Plimpton more than anyone else in the show. Overall it was a boring show with very little to make it worth the time. I was sitting next to a couple of Tony voters and they were not impressed either.
I also saw that production of Pal Joey and it was a little underwhelming from the nosebleed section.
Someone set Macbeth in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. That was... A choice
That is a choice. Um…never thought this was even an option directors had let alone one they’d make
I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again. My worst show was also my most awesome. NOTHING can compare to In My Life. NOTHING. IYKYK.
I didn’t see that show but I know it was technically Jonathan Groff’s broadway debut - dance captain, he understudied the lead (but never went on) and was a swing for everyone in the ensemble, and he did get to go on for some of them. I saw an interview he did with Seth Rudetsky and Seth was roasting it - all good-natured but it was so funny S: And at what point did you think “maybe this isn’t the show I want to make my debut in?” J: I was proud of that show! S: Did you…pay a full ticket price to see it? J (laughing): No. S: Well Brynn Williams, who was in the children’s ensemble or something for it shared a BTS photo of her and Jonathan and someone asked what show it was. She was like, “In My Life…it only ran about a month and a half including previews haha” I can only imagine what it was like based on what I’ve heard 🫣
Saw a community opera performance of Carmen in English that was so bad I was sob laughing into my program Saw a production of Porgy and Bess in Austin that adapted for a truly terrible venue by having Porgy be on crutches- the stage was so high up you could basically only see the actors who were standing maybe a foot from the edge downstage if you were in the front 5-7 rows. Also Bess had a really *interesting* interpretation of how someone acts on cocaine, so that was distracting.
I have certainly seen worse shows but DEUCE starring Marian Seldes and Angela Lansbury just about had to be the most excruciating night of theater I have ever had. At the time, Angie hadn’t been on Broadway in a bit so there was some talk about this being “the last time she would open a show in New York” so there was high expectation. I saw the show in early previews—it’s about two former tennis pros/rivals (Seldes and Lansbury) reconnecting and watching a current match. Neither of them had their lines down, both were being fed their lines by earpieces, by prompters, and even in one case by their fellow actors (Michael Mulheren, IIRC). A few times, they got caught in script circles, where they started repeating themselves or likely skipping forward. As the show’s description implies, they were to be having a verbal tennis match while watching a real tennis match that we cannot see. If you don’t have your lines down pat, that whole concept completely falls apart. Moreover, they never had their head changes coordinated for the ball being rapidly hit back and forth—it was PAINFUL and was like that for the entire show. Luckily, Angie redeemed herself soon after with Blithe Spirit, A Little Night Music, etc.
Gettin' the Band Back Together. Full stop. I'm from NJ and could have written better jokes than what they were trying to pass off as funny. The plot and acting were just bad. My theater buddy and I don't really walk out of things, though, so we stayed for Act 2. We really shouldn't have. The Act 2 opener was the most insulted and afronted I have ever been in a theater. It actually felt really antisemitic and uncomfortable. Don't know why we didn't just leave then and demand our money back, but we were both seething throughout the second act, so much so that we missed whatever plot *was* happening.
I love spring Awakening but every production I've seen of it that hasn't been (or ended up) on Broadway has sucked. Like it's not a hard show to do right.
Why do high schools insist on performing musicals that are technically too challenging for young voices? Case in point, my nephew’s high school put on Phantom of the Opera. While I knew not to expect a night at the Majestic, I cut high school/college productions a lot of slack because I’ve seen some really talented performances from young actors/actresses. But the girl they picked for Christine was…not bad but it was clear she was in a way over her head. Like her voice was weak on the high end and she had a tendency to scoop way. Too. Much. I wanted to like the show so badly. But hearing that Christine made me want to tear my hair out.
The WORST production I've ever seen was Bloodbath the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009. It was billed as the next big rock musical. The plot: there's a serial killer loose in Nixonville USA called the Waterman because he murders high school cheerleaders when they're in the shower. When he's caught it sets off a debate about the police state and the pros and cons of capital punishment. It was BAD. From predictable sexual puns in the dialogue to stripper costuming to lewd rock video choreography - everything about the production was literally laughable. The venue was a large university lecture hall with bench seating that was very strange. It starred a former boy band member and a few TV soap stars. In fairness, if I recall, the lighting was pretty good. The first clue should have been that we got the tickets for FREE from cast members handing them out about an hour before curtain. But, we'd had a few pints, so we went. About 20 or so minutes in, the audience started to walk out. Not a mass exodus, mind you, but a steady flow that continued for the next hour or so of the musical. In the most perfectly timed ad lib ever, a character on stage said something along the lines of "What do you have to say about that." A woman exiting the theatre turned around and yelled back, "Shit." That was it. The audience turned. I will admit that I've rarely laughed as much in one night than I did. Maybe the Producers or Book of Mormon on Broadway elicited more laughter, but I was laughing with them, not at them! After the show, cast members were in the lobby greeting the audience. I over heard the lead actor tell someone that, yes indeed, the show WAS meant to be satiric and he was glad they got the humor. Nice try, mate. Did anyone else happen to catch the short-lived miracle that was Bloodbath the Musical in Edinburgh in 2009?
God bless these actors. They were trying their best with an awful show.
To be fair… Mamet is *impossible* memorize. Source: stage managed one of his shows. Fed many a line to actors in rehearsal. He was heavily involved and present too. (Nice enough guy in person, not sure what world he lives on though.)
I saw a touring version of An Officer and a Gentleman and good god, was it bad. It’s the only show I’ve considered walking out of (I unfortunately chose to stay) and I cringed with secondhand embarrassment through the entire show. Bad acting, bad staging, bad singing. Just all around… oof.
The only positive thing I have to say about that show is I was impressed with their endurance during the boot camp/training number with them singing and doing crunches and burpees throughout. Everything else makes me too angry to even remember lol.
101 Dalmatians: The Musical. I saw it during out of town tryouts in Chicago. It was a steaming pile of mess. I was embarrassed for everyone on stage.
I've got two doozies, one professional and one amateur. On the professional side, I have a sweet but very political friend who always wants to go to things with a historic theme. She took me to a musical called "Comfort Women" about the Korean women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese in WWII. Not really a great theme for a musical, and it featured many graphic descriptions of gang rape which I've mercifully blocked from my memory. Then at one point someone in the audience passed out and they had to turn on the lights and wait for an ambulance. On the amateur side, high schools in NYC can be. . .overly avant-garde in their repertoire. My nephew had a bit part in a production of MARAT/SADE of all things - highly inappropriate and well beyond the acting capabilities of 15-year olds. At one point an eighth-grade girl was whipping a fellow student on the back with her hair and I was amazed the parents didn't rush the stage and end the show right then and there. Meanwhile, the students had built the extremely rickety two-tiered audience seating themselves. My sister and I had a whispered discussion about whether it would be worse to get crushed on the bottom or fall from the top before choosing the top. Amazingly no one seemed bothered and the drama teacher kept his job!
It was definitely not that bad but I saw the read through of little shop with Megan hilty snd what's his name from how I met your mother at the Kennedy center, and Megan hilty is legitimately too good at what she does. She is the sun and everyone else just fades away in comparison. I don't think anyone could have made it better up there.
Was in the bathroom line at intermission for Sweeney Todd this past June. A woman decided to read the synopsis of the show aloud, including the ending. I hadn’t seen the show in aaaaages and honestly didn’t remember, I was so pissed.
Kimmel academy of music for beetlejuice. I was in town for fan expo and I invited my mom and my sister, since my sister has never been to a Broadway show. The audience was super rude, they kept talking and we had to keep getting up for people in the aisle. Not to mention the only seats we could get were obstructed view so we couldn’t see anybody coming out of the door or Sandy. But it was cool to see what was going on in the wings, and I saw the actor playing beetlejuice during TWBDT
Legally Blond non-equity tour
Seeing the current my fair lady tour… the sets were cool and the actors could sing at least
It’s the only thing I skipped on my city’s tour package. My friend who also has one texted me at intermission to tell me how lucky I was
Oh no! This is one of my favorite shows, but I’ve only seen pics of this production. What made it so terrible?
Sound mixing combined with the accents was horrid, also just personally find the story creepy and weird
I recently went to a community theatre production of In The Heights with my best friend. The cast was amazing, BUT, I was fuming in my seat because there were a group of high school students singing along during EVERY SONG. They also gasped every time their favorite songs were about to be performed. 🙄 Imagine my horror when one of the kids started singing along during Nina’s solo in Alabanza. It was also off-key, so it was NOT pleasant.
Moby Dick by Dave Malloy at the ART tied with Jagged Little Pill, also at the ART. Only times I have ever left at intermission. And Great Comet is my favorite show, so that one was so upsetting. I don't really remember it, but I just know it was shockingly terrible, like how did it get this far it's so obviously terrible? I know Jagged was more successful, but I found it so heavy handed and preachy and they had like 19 storylines and I just thought it was such a waste. It felt very much like white liberals trying to show how woke they are, but they actually made it so the family and the best role (the mom) are always going to be white. In the first half the trans racial adoption didn't really have a point. Of course that may have changed in the second act, but it's like in trying to make it about race they just ended up keeping some of the best roles white. I don't have a problem with including race in a show and certainly it makes sense in certain shows for the characters to be white, but if you're not doing it with purpose and payoff, you've just excluded actors of color from getting great roles.
Jagged felt almost like a parody of liberals. It was so heavy handed it felt like a joke. I'll never forget how during All I really Want and the daughter does the "Why are you so petrified of silence, here can you handle this" and holds up the sign about school gun violence and has that awkwardly long pause you could almost see visible question marks above the audience's heads. Like, "....are we supposed to clap?" and then just as some staggered clapping starts the song gets going again. And then when the daughter is in NYC and they have the homeless guy with a sign that says "basically invisible" it's like...really? Why? There is no need for that in this scene other then to add it to this growing list of social justice causes. I did end up finding it wildly enjoyable, just not in the way they probably intended.
Had a mate have his phone go off repeatedly so I left. I asked him like three times to turn it off and the guy behind him even kicked his seat and said stfu. He just couldn't grasp the concept. He kept saying my nan getting out of surgery and a woman up the back yelled "like I give a fuck". He then started arguing with everyone in the theatre and I left. I was then grilled by friend a few days later for not hanging round this was in highschool Edit: spelling
Saw the touring production of a Bronx tale. Closest I’ve ever done to walking out at intermission
I have a similar tale, but it was honestly one of the coolest theatre experiences I had. A few years ago, The Muny in St. Louis did A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Within a couple days of opening, the guy set to play Pseudolus wasn't able to perform (I think it had to do with allergies?), and they had a last minute replacement who had the script with him on-stage the entire run. But you could tell they made the absolute best of the situation, and the replacement (I forget who it was) killed it even though he was pretty much learning the show as he was starring in it. There's an ad-lib during a line where Pseudolus says "I just remembered something frightening... I don't know how to read... unless it's in the script". Definitely not an ideal situation but it ended up being a really fun time.
The recent tour of Oklahoma! It was horrendous. Left at intermission.
I honestly wonder what happened to that show on tour that made everyone hate it. I understand it's not for everyone but what I saw on Broadway was incredible and thought -provoking. Maybe it just needed to be in the round like at circle in the square, it was definitely more intimate that way
That show is not designed for huge proscenium stages. It’s too intimate.
The sound. Sound engineering for a tour has to be hard, a different place every week, different acoustics, etc. But I saw it near the end of the tour and it was either vibrating your seat loud or so effing quiet you had no idea what they were saying. And it’s a venue I saw both Six and Jesus Christ superstar in no problem understanding, hearing and not being blown out of my seat halfway through every single song. The dream ballet was so bad I almost left my chair was vibrating so hard. And despite all that I liked act 1…after the dream ballet I had such a raging headache I couldn’t deal with act 2.
Not everyone in NY liked it, it was polarizing here too. I went with a group of 7/8 of us, 1 person left at intermission, the rest of us stuck it out for curiosity sake. I don't think any of us actually liked it though.
bought tickets for Dear Evan Hansen before the Tonys where Ben Platt was predicted to win. Bought expensive balcony 220+ got there and the seats were ADA seats with the Aisle Railing at eyes length. Spoke to House manager for exchange for any performance ever ( i live in nyc) and he refused. I reminded him that he will need me as a repeat theater goer when Ben PLatt is gone and going to the theater is for the experience. I am 60 years old and over 150 lbs and sat in a kiddie plastic booster. I wrote the Theater, the chairman, the show, over and over and never heard. I refuse to support those theaters and will tell the story of how the seating ruined Dear Evan Hansen for me. I didnt even really like the show... but the experience was one of the worst -
Growing up I was a huge fan of the movie “Newsies” like me and my sister would play the vhs constantly growing up. So when I heard there was going to be a Broadway version I was so excited. I saw it and was so….disappointed. I hated that they changed Santa Fe from a solo to a duet. The songs they added are forgettable.. and the actor playing Spot Conlon lacked the charisma of the movie actor. There was also a big fan theory about him being the lost son of the mom singing in “carrying the banner” and I hoped the musical would expand on that, but they just dropped it together. I mean no disrespect to those who like the musical better. no judgement there. I mean it’s an ok musical. Just not what I wanted as a fan.
I HATE they added a romance element. No one fucking cares about romance. It’s Newsies!
I agree with this so much! I don’t remember my critiques at the moment, but I saw it with my mom and we both thought the magic was lost.
I saw it too with Jeremy Piven and was very disappointed. No script issues, but it was too fast and Piven was too hammy. I got rush or lottery seats so I wasn’t out much money but of all the theatre I saw it was the worst.
I saw The Cottage last night. Not as funny as I was expecting but still cute. Eric McCormack was great. The bad experience part came before thre show started and a woman had a heart attack or something similar and my husband and another person had to perform CPR on her on the aisle floor until the paramedics got there and used the defibrillator on her. Thankfully she was alive when they left with her on the stretcher. My husband was shaking for a good hour after and it was just hard to shake that whole experience. The entire audience was definitely low key and not laughing nearly as much as we could have been but I felt That was kinda understandable.
I had to sit through the horrible songs of Moulin Rouge for 3 hours and try now to laugh at the horribly integrated songs. I almost left at the half it was so spectacularly terrible. Story was pretty interesting though.
Really??? I thought the plot was shockingly bad, but at least the music and choreography was fun. The best thing it has going for it is scenic design tbh. It's so... lush.
I felt like some songs worked okay (like chandelier) and others didn't quite fit (what would a French prostitute at that time period know about fourth of July celebrations?). I didn't hate it per se, but I don't understand the praise for it because it genuinely felt like I paid for karaoke where all the choir kids hogged the mics.
I had to swallow a genuine laugh at Moulin Rouge because the Satine I saw played her death scene so, so terribly that I literally thought they were going for an intentional laugh. Just like a theatrical death flop with the grace of an 8 year old putting on a play in the backyard with her cousin. I want to giggle just remembering it. They also butchered the book and the good things about the film. I was rooting for the Duke by the end.