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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is there something wrong with me? I hate musicals.

212 replies

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 20:21

AIBU? I'm 62 and all my friends seem to have developed a passion for musicals. I have been to quite a few with friends to be sociable and to see if I could get to like them but, with each musical, my dislike of them just grows. I find them contrived, and the music average and the whole experience very boring. I sit there hoping it's over soon. I go to be sociable but it's not an event where you chat or do an activity together. We simply sit, glued to a chair. Some musicals are better than others but overall I'd always rather be anywhere else, even home. Is there anyone else out there who gets my dislike? Am I destined to be a social pariah? My friends seem puzzled and a bit offended by my attitude.

OP posts:
Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 21:50

WildFlowerBees · 11/05/2025 21:36

Hate musicals, always the same type of melody and a similar type of warble voiced singer.

I tried to watch the Willy Wonker film that came out, I got as far as the first couple of minutes. Waste of a good film.

I loved that movie.

Perfectly whimsical: “noodle, noodle, apple strooodel…”

GreenFressia · 11/05/2025 21:51

I'd rather stab myself in the arm with a biro than sit through a musical. Honestly I have an adverse reaction to them.

And I LOVE romance, I am a sucker for cheese. But musicals make me want to vomit.

DisabledDemon · 11/05/2025 21:51

Might I recommend that you listen to a track called A Musical from (sorry about this) a musical called Something Rotten. I've reproduced below some of the lyrics (hope that's allowed!) but as you don't like musicals, I think you might find it quite entertaining:

What the hell are musicals?
It appears to be a play where the dialogue stops
And the plot is conveyed through song.
Wait, so an actor is saying his lines and then
Out of nowhere, he just starts singing?

Well, that is the
Stupidest thing that I have ever heard
You're doing a play, got something to say
So you sing it? It's absurd!

Who on earth is goin' to sit there
While an actor breaks into song?
What possible thought could the audience think
Other than, "This is horribly wrong?"

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 21:52

DisabledDemon · 11/05/2025 21:51

Might I recommend that you listen to a track called A Musical from (sorry about this) a musical called Something Rotten. I've reproduced below some of the lyrics (hope that's allowed!) but as you don't like musicals, I think you might find it quite entertaining:

What the hell are musicals?
It appears to be a play where the dialogue stops
And the plot is conveyed through song.
Wait, so an actor is saying his lines and then
Out of nowhere, he just starts singing?

Well, that is the
Stupidest thing that I have ever heard
You're doing a play, got something to say
So you sing it? It's absurd!

Who on earth is goin' to sit there
While an actor breaks into song?
What possible thought could the audience think
Other than, "This is horribly wrong?"

That's so funny!!

OP posts:
GreenFressia · 11/05/2025 21:53

I just need to caveat this with there was one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where they all became uncontrollably possessed by the musical force - that was good. But just that.

Fordian · 11/05/2025 21:53

I realised my hate of the ‘musical genre’ because of Elaine Paige (guttural chuckle) of a Sunday afternoon.

My DB and I were bringing our recently deceased mother’s house up to saleable standard over 6-7 months, 10 years ago. Scrubbing, scraping, painting etc. No wifi.

But a low point was EP of a Sunday afternoon. I hadn’t realised that my appreciation beyond Sound of Music goes no further. I particularly dislike the ‘stage-kid’ thing. That ’shouty’ confidence. (Guttral chuckle).

Nope. It’s a hard knock life.

Tiredalwaystired · 11/05/2025 21:53

I’d have thought by 62 you’d have worked out that we dont all like the same things. 🤷‍♀️

Ponderingwindow · 11/05/2025 21:53

I love them, but lots of people hate them.

I have noticed anecdotally that people who love them tend to have internal narrators. Showtimes give us an easy way to silence the running dialogue in our brains when we need a break.

CrystalSingerFan · 11/05/2025 21:53

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 21:48

Yes I agree the tunes in the older ones are better. The more recent ones do all sound so similar! Gilbert and S are quite cool x

G&S are indeed cool. Here's a link to a recent bit of wonderful English daftness.

PS Why are there so few links on Mumsnet on discussions like this? How can we discuss musicals/opera/operetta without examples? Style and Beauty seem to manage...

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejsyALvQxCc

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 21:54

Butchyrestingface · 11/05/2025 20:39

So after starting a thread entitled "I hate musicals", by post 3 you are proceeding to enumerate the types of musicals you DO like.

Okay. 🤷‍♀️

Lol very confusing
Someone asked me on thread if I preferred some more than others, and I thought it was worth considering. However, in conclusion even though some are less unbearable than others I'd rather not go!!

OP posts:
Mymanyellow · 11/05/2025 21:56

I like seven brides for seven brothers, but the story line is a bit dodgy. Anything with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Proper old school ones.

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 21:57

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 20:37

I think it depends.

Maybe play round with them. Some people like them tongue 👅 in cheek - like Gilbert and Sullivan. Others like heavier offerings like Les Mis. Personally I probably find the music and dancing an easier watch than theatre, though I actually like them all. How do you feel about opera? For me it’s the best of the lot.

Not really keen on opera either

OP posts:
Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 21:58

jay55 · 11/05/2025 21:04

I generally think of myself as someone who loves musicals but the last three or four I’ve been to have been utter tripe.
Ive been re-evaluating whether I like them at all.
I do, and I’ll continue to go but, there is so much shit being produced at the moment.

I do think they are progressively getting worse

OP posts:
thing47 · 11/05/2025 22:02

I like musicals, but I have plenty of friends who don't so I don't invite them to come with me on those occasions. It's fine, they're still my friends 😀

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 22:02

Ponderingwindow · 11/05/2025 21:53

I love them, but lots of people hate them.

I have noticed anecdotally that people who love them tend to have internal narrators. Showtimes give us an easy way to silence the running dialogue in our brains when we need a break.

That's an interesting. I have an internal dialogue and I find musicals don't distract me. Good story lines when I can enter into another reality do ( like a good film) but during a musical I'm sat stuck with my internal dialogue without the ability to distract myself .

OP posts:
Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 22:03

Mymanyellow · 11/05/2025 21:56

I like seven brides for seven brothers, but the story line is a bit dodgy. Anything with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Proper old school ones.

Definitely better ones

OP posts:
mumisfull · 11/05/2025 22:04

Mymanyellow · 11/05/2025 21:56

I like seven brides for seven brothers, but the story line is a bit dodgy. Anything with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Proper old school ones.

My sort of musicals too! I showed my preschool class Gene Kelly doing Singin in the Rain and they loved it! The next day I put on Donald O’Connor doing Make ‘em Laugh and they were in hysterics. All I hear now is ‘can we see the silly man?’!

deusexmacintosh · 11/05/2025 22:06

Try Stephen Sondheim's stuff. David Bowie didn't call him the Shakespeare of musicals for nothing.

He wrote beautiful, intellegient, challenging musicals for grown ups.

You might be familiar with Sweeney Todd - there was a Tim Burton adaptation of it with Johnny Depp - or Disney's adaptation of Into The Woods with Meryl Streep, Depp and other Hollywood celebrities... but both of them are truncated to fit the short running time of a film, and that kills most of the clever rhymes/pacing.

Pacific Overtures is my favourite - a musical about 18th century Japanese economics 🤣 (it's about the Americanisation of imperial Japan).

There's a fantastic song written in haiku where a brothel madam attempts to teach new sex workers about sex positions, a song where the Emperor's advisor sings about trying to assassinate his boss through 3 minutes of insane internal rhyme schemes, and a haunting string peice in which a samauri husband and wife bid farewell to one other before he is executed - both parts are sung by male actors, as they would be in a traditional japanese Kabuki theatre performance.

The big setpeice, a song called Someone In A Tree, follows an elderly man reminiscing about the time when he was a little boy who climbed a tree outside a government building and overheard a treaty being drawn up between European, American and Japanese officials. It deals with the foibles of human memory and how our perception of events can be distorted by time.

you could also check out Sunday In The Park With George - a musical based on the life of French painter Georges Seurat, which deals with the obsessive, addictive nature of being an artist and features a copy of a Seurat painting that literally 'comes to life'. There's a recent filmed production with Jake Gyllenhall, plus the original Broadway production with Bernadette Peters.

A lot of his shows are hard work, but rewarding if you enjoy witty rhymes. A Little Night Music, Company and Follies are great too - Follies was produced by the National Theatre in 2017 and they screened it in cinemas, if you can get hold of a copy of that, it's a fantastic show about middle age and the regrets that come along with aging (not recommended if you're feeling depressed)

Hope that helps!

Peachy2005 · 11/05/2025 22:08

Another one who can’t abide musicals here…including films that are musicals.

The UK Eurovision entry this year sounds like one of those pointless forgettable songs from a recent musical and I predict a well-deserved Nul points!

Lougle · 11/05/2025 22:12

Musicals are so varied. I love Phantom of the Opera. Can't sit through Les Mis, love Blood Brothers, didn't mind West Side Story...it's finding what you like.

Agapornis · 11/05/2025 22:13

Is anyone else getting ads for the Tina Turner musical? 😂

YANBA but I know quite a few musical fans and they always Very Insulted when they ask and you say that style of theatre/music is not for you - well, then bloody don't ask the question!

I like Greek tragedies, especially Medea. But I don't have children...not did I ever have children 😬😅 (sorry)

Is there something wrong with me? I hate musicals.
MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 11/05/2025 22:14

No, nothing wrong with you. I love musicals but I can totally see why some people hate them. That kind of cheesiness isn't for everyone.

CrystalSingerFan · 11/05/2025 22:15

Ittakeslonger · 11/05/2025 22:02

That's an interesting. I have an internal dialogue and I find musicals don't distract me. Good story lines when I can enter into another reality do ( like a good film) but during a musical I'm sat stuck with my internal dialogue without the ability to distract myself .

Well this is fascinating!

There are musical/opera viewers with internal dialogues (OP) and internal narrators (@Ponderingwindow). Are these the same as internal monologues? (I reckon I have that.) And being stuck with them is bad?

ohwhatadustyanswer · 11/05/2025 22:16

“Is there something wrong with me? I hate m….”
Thought you were going to say men - to which the answer is no, you’d be completely justified.
But musicals also 100pc not wrong. Although I love The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 11/05/2025 22:16

I feel exactly the same as you, OP. YANBU!