Is it just me - Musicals?

[Kazzyhoward]

Am I the only one who just doesn't "get" musicals? I like to go to the theatre for plays, I like to go to pop/music concerts. But I'd rather eat my own vomit than go to watch a musical. I have a few friends/family that love them and always pestering me to go, but I absolutely hate them.

I just don't "get" it when actors who suddenly burst into song or leap into dance every few minutes. The last I went to, that probably finished me off, was Cats - yes, I don't deny the fantastic scenery, costumes, etc., but it was really repetitive, no obvious story, just loads of people dressed up pretending to be cats. Once I'd seen the costumes/scenery, I was bored rigid.

Yanbu. With the exception of Rocky Horror and Barnum all musicals suck. I’d rather stay home and watch paint. Much prefer straight theatre.

@scampimom

Anime???? That's the genre where everything is drawn in the exact same style abd there's only ever a single same overarching plot, right?!

Each to their own but I'd rather read War and Peace backwards than go to one

YANBU, I really can't stand musicals, pantomimes kill me too, I've never been so bored in my life!

If you want a storyline and something a bit different, may I recommend Hamilton? :)

A lot of musicals are shit, the music's shit, the plot is shit. Almost any LW falls into that category, imo. But I have never seen such an amazing show as Les Mis, on the proper revolve, in London. My friend turned up with tickets as we had a friend working backstage one evening in its first year. Gobsmacked, and yes, the music is good too. I've seen it a few times, mostly in London, but after we moved to Devon I took dd to see the touring version at Bristol (it was good, not so good without the revolve but he, serves us right for leaving London!).

You need to pick musicals with care. These days they're all better than the ones I grew up with, b&w Hollywood stuff on tv on a Sunday afternoon. Though I did love Fred Astaire

Loved The Greatest Showman and La La Land.
Really neee to see Les Mis and Phantom properly live.

But a theatre production of some whodunit etc would cause my soul to wither and die.

Each to their own field I say

I love them - you don't

Surely that's just life, we are different and like different things YABU to think other than this but AIBU doesn't come into preferences

@Jux
Really, Les Mis is my absolute favourite. I've seen in countless times. Love everything about it. It really is closer to light opera than a musical IMO.

I get it, OP. There are some lovely tunes in these shows and I am in awe of the sheer breadth of talent and the amount of effort that goes into producing them - but I'm not over-fussed about watching them and never have been.

Agree, OP. The one exception is Book of Mormon which was fucking hilarious and well worth seeing.

I’m not keen either. People love them though!

See, I love Musicals, I'm trained for them and I run a theatre group with a heavy focus - but I would give my eye teeth to never have to watch the film version of West Side Story again. :-)

Cats is awful.

Agree about the Greatest Showman though. A little samey in places but on the whole.... RumAppleGinger have you seen the Youtube video of Hugh Jackman's table read. He wasn't supposed to be singing at all, but.... Unrehearsed, absolutely cold, but... just wow. Proves himself a true gent with it with his respect for the other performers as well.

You think the songs from Les Mis are plastic and cold?!

It's basically opera.

It's really not! I love musicals, and I love opera. Les Mis is not opera.

My top choice for musical-haters would be Guys and Dolls. I honestly can't imagine anyone sitting through Guys & Dolls and hating it. It's glorious.

Go to see Wicked and then see what you think. So so so so good! I am a massive musicals fan and have seen loads and it was honestly the best thing I have ever seen on stage

I quite fancy seeing Book of Mormon. And seen Avenue Q twice. It's the swearing, you see. The juxtaposition, just plain old teenage humour, I dunno.

I think it depends on the story and the quality of the songs. The best is 'The Sound of Music' which has a good story, albeit sugar-coated. 'South Pacific' isn't bad, or 'West Side Story'.

There's a scene in either 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' or 'Olkahoma!' (can never recall which) where the cast are building a log cabin and the wretched song goes on forever with a dance routine. Now that really is irritating.

Hate them. I was given tickets to Les Mis by a client. After the first 30 seconds I realised I was going to hate it, their no talking, it's all stupid songs. I had to sit out the whole effing show as .it was a gift. It was torture.

Care to elaborate?

Grizabella doesn't get reborn.

Guys and dolls is indeed glorious.

There's a lot to love in the recent crop too. Book of Mormon, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton are all extraordinary.

YANBU

I hate musicals, I mean they would be OK if there was no singing! And as for the ones like Sweeney Todd and Les Mis where there is no speaking, my worst nightmare.

DD adores them, has seen dozens, knows all the words, and watches them several times over. Me? meh.

But Its A Musical!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvF6A2DCAE

Les Mis is basically not opera at all.

Opera is brilliant. Les Mis is OK if you like that sort of thing. I do not.

For those that dislike 'classic' musicals along the lines of Cats, maybe try a more modern film adaption. I saw The Bodyguard in Cardiff a couple of years ago without holding out too much hope but it was fabulous.

I’m with you OP, can’t stand them. DH is a fan and keeps trying to make me go see them/watch them on TV - he hasn’t succeeded yet.