To not understand what kind of person hates musicals

[CrotchBurn]

Love them. Love all musicals. I just don't understand how you can have people who like stories, and who like music, and they have this hatred of musicals.

There's also so many different types of musicals from Cabaret to Blood Brothers to Cats to Sound of Music, how could you dislike them ALL?

Is it about the singing preventing you from engaging with the story? Because it feels artificial? But surely all films and plays feel artificial? I just think there's no better way of getting huge amounts of info across quickly than in musicals. This scene from Les Mis for example, in one song you understand the conflict, both characters' motives and back stories.

Also isnt there a bit of snobbery here - theres no difference between opera and musicals except musicals are more fun.

But conceivably one could coincidentally be at an emotional scene in life while an apposite song happens to play on the radio

C’mon now, that barely ever happens in real life and that’s not what incidental music is trying to do. It’s highlighting the emotion, exactly like a song in a musical is. I agree there is a difference in intensity though.

@pelosi

What do people like about the singing? It bores me to tears.

Can you see this as an AIBU?

C’mon now, that barely ever happens in real life

There are 6 billion people in the world - just because it rarely happens to you doesn't mean someone else isn't walking through life with the best soundtrack imaginable... With numbers on that scale, it's almost inconceivable that someone out there isn't.

I'm glad you concede there is a difference in intensity between the level of suspension of disbelief required for incidental music and full musical song and dance routines. That was, after all, my point.

just because it rarely happens to you doesn't mean someone else isn't walking through life with the best soundtrack imaginable

That’s just ludicrous though.

How many radios are they encountering? How is it that they’re perfectly placed to compliment moments of high emotion. You’re sounding silly now.

And my point is that incidental music in film isn’t trying to replicate how in real life the radio might be on in the background. It is obviously and self professedly trying to heighten emotional response.

@chomalungma i’ve watched it live and it just leaves me completely cold. I’m a sucker for romantic movies and cry buckets at them but musicals leave me stone cold.

I love them on TV but don't like them live, find them a bit overwhelming

[quote pelosi]@chomalungma i’ve watched it live and it just leaves me completely cold. I’m a sucker for romantic movies and cry buckets at them but musicals leave me stone cold.[/quote]
But..it's so sad.

*Les Miserables spoilers

All those deaths.
Javert and his suicide
The students just wanting to make the world a better place
Eponine

*How many radios are they encountering? How is it that they’re perfectly placed to compliment moments of high emotion. You’re sounding silly now.

And my point is that incidental music in film isn’t trying to replicate how in real life the radio might be on in the background. It is obviously and self professedly trying to heighten emotional response.*

Ah, ad hominem attacks are always the sign of a sound argument. No, I never said that incidental music is an attempt to replicate the random music that people encounter in day to day life, which might be nearly non-stop, or almost non-existent, depending on their lifestyle, and might be very apposite, or very random, depending on their luck.

I said that it is theoretically possible that incidental music in a film could be background music which is common in life, and thus it is easier to believe. The fact that it is carefully arranged to heighten sentiment is irrelevant to this. All aspects of film and tv are designed to heighten the emotional reaction.

That's all entirely irrelevant to the idea that background music is more believable than people leaping into song and dance routines with apparent strangers on the street - as we are expected to believe in musicals.

My only recent experience with musicals (pandemic in mind) are the musical episodes of Riverdale which are dreadful. They were just a combination of being cheesy and cringe worthy, whilst doing nothing to advance the plot. A must skip.

@attictroll
I’m with you booboo.

I love a good musical and the ones that work for me best tend to be ones that are based around music like phantom of the opera, the sound of music, cabaret, moulin rouge and Id also put mary poppins into that category which I think works beautifully because it’s about children..and that’s what you do with kids, sing songs, dance and brings things down to their level of fun.

I felt good spell worked really well because a it had david Essex in it and also the story was a bit thin so the songs really padded it out and I enjoyed all of them.

I couldn’t stand wicked and blues brothers and Les mis..knock out the songs and hopefully you could get through all that misery in half an hour.
I expect to be shot down in flames for this and that’s fine

I hate most musicals. There are perhaps 3 alternative ones i quite like... and I do love the 'sound of music' but tbf its more a film that has some songs in it than a full blown musical... I dont mind Mary poppins either...
But in general id avoid something if it said it was a musical. Im not snobby I just genuinely dislike them and find them jarring.
The Andrew Lyod webber ones are my idea of actual Hell. I have tried to watch them... I like the book of the phantom of the opera... but its the songs... I cant deal with it at all. It makes me cringe. Im not entirely sure why.
I do like opera altho im not a serious fan. I saw salome in a theatre and enjoyed that fine. I enjoyed Tristan und isolde...
I dont know what it is about mainstream musicals...
I'm quite introverted and I dont like much pop music either, tend to listen to alternative music.. if that's relevant?

Just listened to quintet from west side story on full blast - goosebumps! With ‘we’re gonna have a rumble tonight’ under ‘tonight’ being sung - pure genius.
I’ve got a clear obsession with complex quintets and quartets eg ‘Marcelina’ marriage of figaro and cosi quartet. The different voices and emotions pulling and mixing are just brilliant.

Yes @Sertchgi123 I've seen quite a lot of opera and listened to much more. Some of it is brilliant and some of it not so much. Rossini's Cinderella is terrible for repeated lines - irritating in fact. Verdi's Aida is amazing. Do I think opera is better than musicals, no I don't. There are good and bad of both genres. Both have the ability to move you. Musicals you're more likely to come out singing a good song because it's in English .

Can't bear musicals, so cringe. Went to see the lion king musical, hated it 🤣

@imjusthereforthelols276

Can't bear musicals, so cringe. Went to see the lion king musical, hated it 🤣

I’ve actually seen the lion king twice

Loved the beginning...and it pretty much should end there
Then you get the ridiculous scenes with pumbaa, which I’m sorry but just do not work on the stage and just about work on film.
Another one I absolutely hated was starlight express.
Didn’t get it at all.

I just don't understand how you can have people who like stories, and who like music, and they have this hatred of musicals.

I don't like music that much either

@ineedaholidaynow

Background music in films can have the same impact on me *@chomalungma*, the film score for the film Witness for example

I agree. Witness was a brilliant score. I am quite interested in film scores, just not really in musicals!

My dislike of musicals, as documented in this thread, has come back to bite me on the arse. DS(12) has to watch 'Hairspray' for his Drama class. He's obviously working at home, so muggins here has been roped in to watch it with him. He has ADHD, so leaving him to his own devices isn't an option!

I managed half an hour this morning. And, OK, the corners of my mouth might just have twitched once or twice. By the end I'll either be a convert, or I'll have to lie in a darkened room for a week to recover.

I like Grease and I'd like to see it live, I enjoyed the UK version of the Sound Of Music live but the UK version of Elf the musical a few years back on TV left me cold.

I love a panto and at school I loved being on the stage in our Christmas plays/performances and took Drama for GCSE and A Level and Music as a GCSE so I am interested in the arts as it were.

Musicals as a whole (other than the 2 mentioned above) leave me cold though.

I LOVE musicals.
DH does not. He likes films about gangsters in the 1980s 🤣🤣🤣 I know - I should ltb!

I do think a lot don't transfer well to the screen, Cats for e.g. really hope they never make a Wicked film

@dowser you went in at the deep end There with starlight 😂😂 even musicals fans find singing trains a bit of a stretch imo lol

I saw blood brothers recently and hated it.

It was so hammy.

The narrator was unnecessary. Hated the way he was creeping around and then would suddenly start singscreaming in people's faces.

Some catchy songs though

I don’t understand why you’d get so wound up by someone having different taste in entertainment to yours. It affects you in no way whatsoever so why give a shit? People are allowed to like different stuff. Just because you like something, it doesn’t mean people who hate it are wrong.

It has nothing to do with snobbery, either. I’m pretty sure plenty of people who hate musicals aren’t fans of opera, so what on earth does that have to do with it?

Get a grip.

@lotusbell

Me, I hate musicals. I find the singing corny, OTT and hammy. Each song seems like extreme overacting and just a bit naff. But I'm perfectly OK with people who do enjoy them as we all like different things and it's not a personal slight if you do or don't. Hth.

And me - and it's not snobbery because I can't stand Opera either.

I love music, live, recorded etc in general but not musicals.

I saw evita about 40 years ago and enjoyed that, but generally the music is crap.
Nothing against people who like them except anyone that keeps trying to drag me along i accept that people have differing tastes.