Am I the only person who can't stand musicals?

[spiderpig]

I've never been entertained by blah-blah-blah dialogue leading into...a song! Once they start singing, I start sleeping.

The incomparable Monty Python and the Holy Grail had goofy interludes where they broke into song, but they were self-knowing and wonderfully ridiculous, so it doesn't count.

Oddly, I enjoy opera - but they sing the whole thing and don't stop to talk a lot.

I don't like most westerns either, but there are a few that IMHO are outstanding: Silverado, Tombstone, The Big Country, and Butch Cassidy (kinda-sorta a western). Old western classics just don't do it for me.

Just off of 4 hours with tech trying to clean up our iPad which they told us was subject to 28,000 hack attempts yesterday. So I'm sulking.

[elleng]

1. YES!

[spiderpig]

11. This is not an ad hominem attack

[Lint Head]

2. I'm no fan if musicals but enjoyed West Side Story because I loved

Leonard Bernstein. I'm a musician.

[madaboutharry]

3. No, you're not.

I hate them.

[rurallib]

4. no you certainly are not

Most seem way too contrived.

[LeftInTX]

5. I'm such a musical freak that when I discovered Bollywood, I thought I died and went to heaven.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. No, I don't like them either.

Most of the music is forgettable crap and the singers tend to sing in an unpleasantly harsh Ethel Merman-ish chest voice. Some of the older ones weren't bad - those of the My Fair Lady era - and West Side Story is brilliant. I love opera (especially Mozart), but modern musical theatre leaves me cold.

[unblock]

7. ah, so you dislike all of them, except the ones you like, i see.

hmm, how do you feel about, the wizard of oz?
hair?
fiddler on the roof?
the sound of music?

if you like monty python's irreverence, you might like gilbert & sullivan, e.g., the pirates of penzance.


i don't like "all" musicals, and a number of long-running ones i have zero interest in.
but i like plays, and i like music; so with the right story and the right music, i can get into some musicals.

when i was a kid, i memorized the entire soundtrack to my fair lady. barely remember it now, lol!

[Mme. Defarge]

12. "What in all of heaven could prompted her

to go after such a triumph at the ball? What could have depressed her? What could have possessed her?..."

Well, I'm sure we could both go on.

[spiderpig]

13. Actually (rolling up sleeves) I can't stand the singing in the first 4 your mentioned.

G&S are operettas without long boring stretches of singing between long boring stretches of talking, so they are OK. I make my own rules as I go along.

You are welcome to view my quota of musicals and I will happily view your quota of zombie apocalypse cinematic efforts.

[pangaia]

18. I've conducted a bunch of G&S and trust me there are LOOONG stretches of singing

between boring stretches of dialogue. LOL!!

[spiderpig]

21. I don't remember. I must have been asleep!

[pangaia]

23. LOLOLOLOLO!

Weekend winner !!!

[pangaia]

29. I remember doing a run of Patience in the 1970s.

STAR WARS had just come out.
There was a spot somewhere that just cried out for that Star War brass fanfare.. just 2 bars worth, and the changes worked. So I had the horns blast it one night. The orchestra cracked up.

However, the stage director, a G&S purist of the first water ( the worst kind), didn't like my brilliant idea one bit, got royally pissed and threatened to get me fired.

I told him to get lost. Without me he was dead in the water. (The company personnel manager liked me.)
He never spoke to me again. Which was fine with me. His direction sucked.



Another Patience I did had a fantastic director, so there you are..

Eh, it wasn't Mozart or Puccini, but it was money. And I was young.

[spiderpig]

41. Fun times!

I have to add that I am the biggest fan of film scores ever.

Can you even imagine the most moving/joyous/funny/heartbreaking/nostalgic scenes done in complete silence?

OK - I'll bet good money somebody here will come up with something in about 30 seconds.

Last night I was watching the kiss montage at the end of Cinema Paradiso. Ennio Morricone. 'Nuff said.

[pangaia]

47. Oh that is a fantastic film and score.

(Don't think I am any kind of film score expert.. ZERO..)

I knew Takemitsu a bit, and his film scores are stunning.. he wrote the music for KAIDAN, HARAKIRI, WOMAN OF THE DUNES, RAN...many others...Brilliant.. But he was a 'composer' first, who also did film scores....

[spiderpig]

51. I spent a fortune on a VHS tape of Ran back in the day

Kurosawa was a genius.

I also saw that Takemitsu did scores for Black Rain and Rising Sun. Who can forget the power of the taiko drums?

I should get some to block out the sound of the leafblowers on Monday mornings.

[pangaia]

56. Here is a Takemitsu piece for you....

"..from me flows that which you call time..."

[GWC58]

77. I'm not a big fan of musicals, either.

Never have been. My thinking is "wouldn't be funny if, at times during our day, we broke out into "song & dancer?" Don't care for that either, the dancing. Hey, to each their own. Now if I could have said that in a "catchy tune" way?

[tblue37]

22. I loved "Hair," but if course I'm an old hippie. nt

[spiderpig]

43. There is no such thing as an hold hippie.

I are one.

[tblue37]

44. Darn autocorrect! nt

[Rhiannon12866]

81. I feel the same way, all musicals are not the same

The ones you named are real classics, I'd probably watch The Wizard of Oz every night if it was on, LOL. And when I was in college, I saw it on the big screen and noticed a lot of things I missed when I watched it on TV. And I used to watch it with my Cairn Terrier.

My other real favorite is The Music Man. When I was a little kid, my whole family went to see a live performance in a huge outdoor tent, I have no idea where. Professor Hill was played by Van Johnson, can remember him marching up and down the aisles in his uniform at the end. My cousin and I listened to the album over and over, memorized all the songs. And we both loved Shirley Jones...

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. No, you're not the only one.

They were more common when I was a kid, and I'm not surprised that they're not produced as often anymore.

[Mme. Defarge]

9. I don't know what your history is

with musicals, but, imo, the '40's, '50's & '60's featuring the works of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe was the golden age for that style and it has been very much downhill since then. I recently watched Mamma Mia for the first time awhile back, at the prompting of my best friend, and I simply don't have the heart to tell her I couldn't stand it. Absolutely dreadful. But that's just me.

[Lochloosa]

10. This will change your mind

[tblue37]

24. O. M. G.!! nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

25. The Simpsons nailed this years ago:

[Lochloosa]

36. Lol perfect.

[Warpy]

14. I despise them, too.

Oh, I can watch the stage productions and enjoy those, but forget the movies. They're always deadened compared to live stage productions, they just don't translate well to film.

There are a few Westerns that I like but Mankewitz either hasn't discovered them or is too conventional to like them. He likes musicals and 50s crime and the stuff he'd watch with his dad when he was a Hollywood kid.

Or maybe I'm just grumpy because it will be wall to wall piety tomorrow, spilling over into Monday. I saw those flicks when I was a kid and they were awful then. At least they're showing the 1925 Ben Hur late tomorrow night, the silent chariot race was much, much better than the 50s remake.

[rock]

15. No. No, you're not.

But I never met the other guy either.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. I'm REALLY picky. If it takes itself too seriously, I'm out of there.

Can't stand that Rogers and Hammerstein -type shit or the old MGM movies. But throw in some humor like Guys and Dolls or Little Shop of Horrors and I'm OK.

[pangaia]

17. I would never go to a musical.

1- Most of the music is trite and shallow.
2- The "musical singing style' to me is insufferable, ugly and screechy. I simply can not listen to it.

I had a friend who played the entire original run of HELLO DOLLY 1964-1970. Something like 10 shows/week. Then he had as nervous breakdown.

That said, I have played and conducted many musicals (played more than conducted).
And actually enjoyed it, in a 'fun' and/or challenging way. Also, the pay is.. super!!!

Here are a bunch of percussion pit set-ups. See why it's fun? :&gt ))

https://www.google.com/search?q=mary+poppins+percussion+set+up&espv=2&tbm=isch&imgil=EoWQLM-MAZ9NuM%253A%253BySpgVI20pdOAGM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.themillermachine.com%25252Fsetup-shots%25252Findex_files%25252Falec-wilmart-mary-poppins.php&source=iu&pf=m&fir=EoWQLM-MAZ9NuM%253A%252CySpgVI20pdOAGM%252C_&usg=__plhjYB6eXfKdD-yMMLzzOaeKICE%3D&biw=1080&bih=728&ved=0ahUKEwiW3Pbm76fTAhUO24MKHat5B2IQyjcINw&ei=Yc_yWNanD462jwSr852QBg%20-%20imgdii=ZOBnM#imgrc=_&spf=217

[Warpy]

32. Take "Fiddler on the Roof"

I've seen a few productions including a local theater production full of people I knew and a summer stock production with Leonard Nimoy rather miscast as Tevye--although he almost pulled it off. I enjoyed them all.

The film? YAWN, change the channel fast, it's good music but I just can't do it. It's stilted and plodding compared to a stage production.

Worst film musical of all time? ROSE MARIE, and they've done 3 of them. I throw things at that one if I can't find the remote fast enough.

I do, however, love opera, the grander the better, and I adore Gilbert & Sullivan---but again, only on stage.

There are just things that don't translate to film. Musicals are one thing. Stage plays that haven't been fully adapted to film are another--you don't have to project to the nosebleed seats on film, guys, and mugging at the people in the first rows doesn't work if that camera isn't rolling.

But I'm grumpy.

[pangaia]

33. Opera, of course. That's an entirely different thing.

Did you hear AIDA broadcast from the MET today?

[Warpy]

38. No, I missed it, I was out buying drugs

because that's what's holding me together these days. No, nobody ever had a good time on any of them.

[pangaia]

45. Hope things go better for you...

Listen to Figaro if you can.
That may help.

:&gt ))))

[spiderpig]

49. I know what you mean about stagey stage plays adapted as stagey movies

Most plays require an intimacy between actors and live audience, and film adaptation is extremely tricky.

I went to every West End play I could in the 70s and 80s to watch the great old British icons strut their stuff before they bought the farm. Lots of Chekhov and O'Neill and Stoppard...

Best by far was Amadeus, starring the legendary Paul Scofield. It was also one of the most successful stage to screen transitions, yet nothing in the film achieved the power of Scofield's onstage angst.

I can feel someone out there ready to accuse me of liking a musical.

[Warpy]

52. "Amadeus" was a little different

since it wasn't snippets of lame dialog punctuated by singing at each other. Music was part of the story, but it wasn't the whole story.

I never saw it on stage, probably why I loved it on the screen. And yes, it wasn't the least bit stagey. Stage plays can be adapted to film, but it takes a lot of cooperation between all parties.

[longship]

19. Me, too. I make two exceptions...

Singin' in the Rain -- just because of its lunacy. It doesn't take itself seriously, which is a plus. Also, the Cyd Charisse scenes. A fun flick.

The Music Man -- yeegods! Robert Preston and Buddy Hackett???? Shirley Jones, too. And Hermoine Gringold. Plus, Ronnie Howard. Great film. "There's always a band."

[lordsummerisle]

20. Sorry, I can't wrap my head around that

you don't like musicals but enjoy opera. A friend of mine made his kids listen to opera every Saturday as they were growing up. In some states that could be considered child abuse. I recognize the artistry of operatic singing but I just can't sit through it.

There are uncountable musicals, probably most of which are forgettable. On the other other hand there are productions like West Side Story which I'm sure I've seen at least 15 or so times or so over the years. There are other great musicals as well.

I really liked La La Land but none of the musical numbers stayed with me.
Just my .02$

[spiderpig]

27. I never could figure out how 2 kids raised by the same people in the same house

each refused to eat something the other had no problem with.

Raising 2 girls we had green beans (like/hate), mushrooms (like/hate), mayonnaise (like/hate), mustard (like/hate)...

Even ordering pizza was an ordeal.

They were 14 months apart in age. Go figure.

[pangaia]

34. I can certainly see where someone would like musicals but not enjoy opera.

And I can see the opposite...

They are two totally different things.

[tblue37]

26. Even "Man of La Mancha"? nt

[spiderpig]

28. There was no bigger Peter O'Toole fan than moi, but...

...I rest my case.

Never saw the stage production, but I did have to sit through 1776 in London back in the day before every production was a musical, so I've paid my dues.

[tblue37]

31. I saw Mandy Patinkin play Sancho Panza here at KU when

Patinkin was an undergraduate. I also saw him play Rosencrantz in both "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead."

I basically got to watch Mandy Patinkin "grow up" here at KU. He was always brilliant!

[spiderpig]

37. The first time I saw Mandy Patinkin was in Ragtime

I was working in Midland, TX in 1982, and every Tuesday everybody went to dollar night at the local cinema.

Toward the end of the movie, everybody exclaimed "He was the silhouette guy!!!".

Now he is "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

[pangaia]

42. I've both played and conducted Man of La Mancha and had a great time...

One time I was playing it, the orchestra was back stage being mic'd.
There was a torrential downpour, which would not necessarily be a big issue. Except we were at or maybe even slightly below ground level. Get the picture?

Water started seeping across the floor. What is on the floor. WIRES !!!!!!!!!! Lots of them !! Music stand light and mic WIRES !!!

[spiderpig]

46. Hee.

Did you manage to retain any body hair?

[pangaia]

48. YUP Still have a pretty full head of hair at 73.

We finished that night with just piano, bass and drums. Got the wires off the floor.

[jack69]

30. No!

[LuvLoogie]

35. Marlene Dietrich sings the closing love song from My Fair Lady...

[LuvLoogie]

39. And how could you not love this.?!

[LuvLoogie]

40. Okay. Last one. One of my favorite numbers from Glee...

[whistler162]

50. Heathen!!!!!

[spiderpig]

55. I'm telling mo-om!!!

wah wah wah

[whistler162]

71. She will probably shake her head and

wonder where she went wrong.

[Binkie The Clown]

53. I love musicals.

I have musicals on DVD going back to the late 20s and 30s up to about the early 1960s. I can't get enough of them.

Rio Rita (1929), South Pacific, Show Boat, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Music Man, Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma, and the list goes on and on. Oh, and the classic Once More with Feeling (Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will know what I'm talking about).

[still_one]

54. There are so many amazing musicals. From rodgers and hammerstein, lerner and lerner and loewe, to

musicals, where they "sing the whole thing" like Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom, or Claude-Michel Schönberg Les Mis, and Mis Saigon.

[pansypoo53219]

57. i like moulan rouge & that is about it, ilike arias. not operas.

hell. i hate talent shows & wish it was the old gong shows instead. also not into LIVE.

[Duppers]

58. Most of them but with many great exceptions.

When they're good, they are fantastic!

[genxlib]

59. Call me crazy but I love them

I think this topic is pretty broad. Like all forms of media/art, there is a wide variety of types and quality so opinions should be all over the place.

For one, I think there is a big difference in live versus movie. For me, musicals belong in the theater. There is something about the limitations of a stage production that changes the dynamics. It isn't supposed to seem realistic. It is a "snow globe's" view of life through story telling. By nature, stage productions are surreal, life-size dioramas. In that environment, the idea of breaking into song is a much more reasonable part of the story telling. When done well, it amplifies emotions and draws the audience into the story.

On the other hand, movie musicals don't work as well to me. By nature, they are trying to be more realistic so breaking into song seems much more out of place.

I also have two other major complaints about movie musicals. For one, I find that the casting often favors big names over actual talent. For instance, LaLa Land was OK but was severely undermined by the fact that the two leads were only marginal singers and dancers. Every, now and then, I am truly amazed by a big name actor that actually has the singing chops (Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson and Emily Blunt come to mind) But more often than not, I am left thinking that a lesser known broadway talent could have done better. To this day, I don't know why they keep casting Meryl Streep in singing roles.

The second thing is that the music in movies is typically over-produced. Rather than just let the singing be what it is, they insist on lip syncing to slick studio produced versions of the songs. It makes it feel false and lends to the unnatural feeling of breaking into song.

Above all, quality matters. Not all shows or performers are good. And the nature of musicals is that the quality of the performance matters more than most. Since it is best experienced live, there are pretty narrow opportunities to see the best that the art-form has to offer. But when you get into a great theater with the right music and great performers, it can be magic. I consider myself very lucky to have seen top notch productions of Book of Mormon, Chicago, Rent, Wicked and a bunch of others.

[femmocrat]

60. I love them, especially the ones from the 1950s and 60s.

Musicals are the one kind of film I can watch over and over.

Not much for westerns though.

[Paladin]

61. I love them.

Seems to me that I had that "blah-blah-blah dialogue leading into....a song!" attitude when I was a kid, but I outgrew it by the time I was in high school.

You're perfectly entitled to your attitude, of course; I watch musicals by myself, because my wife doesn't care for them. My personal favorite: "Kiss Me Kate."

[Orrex]

62. As a genre, they don't appeal to me

There are a few that I like, though.

But that's okay. I like comic book movies, but I understand that some people hate them.

[uriel1972]

63. Not a fan... buuuuut....

The Rocky Horror Picture Show and it's "sequel" Shock Treatment. Love them to bits.

[catbyte]

64. No, I've always hated them. Even as a kid, I'd get so annoyed when things would be

progressing nicely when all of a sudden they'd burst into song. I thought it was strange and downright odd because real people don't do that, lol.

[NewJeffCT]

69. real people don't slay dragons, cast magic spells or use the Force, either

but, movies with that happening are pretty popular as well.

[catbyte]

72. I'd be just as turned off if that action stopped & they started belting out a tune.

[JonLP24]

65. amen

I think Les Miserables would be a good movie withoutall the singing.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

66. But in Simpsons the Musical

They will have a spiderpig number. You will have to go🕷🐷

[doc03]

67. I liked Paint You Wagon that's about it nt

[NewJeffCT]

68. I like some newer musicals

but, I've tried listening to some older Broadway stuff with my daughter on the Broadway channel on Sirius and a lot of it gets very repetitive and boring to me. That said - even among some older musicals, I tend to find some good stuff like West Side Story, the Sound of Music or Fiddler on the Roof that I like.

[NewJeffCT]

70. Did you see Rent at all?

Rent is based on the opera La Boheme?

[irisblue]

73. South Pacific.

You have to be carefully taught.
ahem.

[pressbox69]

78. Priceless.

[Codeine]

74. I hate them utterly. Insipid nonsense. nt

[Laffy Kat]

75. I like plays in person.

Not crazy about musical movies, although I sometimes enjoy the old black and white musicals. I did suffer through "LaLa Land" ok because my friend wanted to see it and she was feeling sad. It was fine.

[Kaleva]

76. You'd hate Bollywood war movies then.

For some reason, hybrid war and musical movies are popular in India.

[pressbox69]

79. I love musicals.

All kinds of musicals. And horror movies, all kinds of horror movies.

[demosincebirth]

80. I like good musicals... loved Chicago.

[ailsagirl]

82. There's only one musical that I will always love

"My Fair Lady"

The songs are too memorable to ever be forgotten

[OriginalGeek]

83. Is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a musical?

Because I've loved that since I was like 5.

I loved Momma Mia and I'll watch Rocky Horror Picture Show any time it's on (or when I play my Blu-ray of it).

Not necessarily only in musicals but I am a sucker for a well-choreographed dance number. Like the Thriller style thing in 13 Going on 30 - but that could just be because I love Jennifer Garner from Alias. I loved it when the Drew Carey show did a dance-off between RHPS and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

As for westerns, sometimes I love them and sometimes I don't. Mushy romance ones bore me but tough-guy action flicks are cool. Although sometimes they trick me by sneaking some romance into tough-guy action flicks.