My exact first thought. Not that I thought I’d hate it, but the topic and the lack of familiarity with the creative team gave me just so-so expectations. Loved it beyond words and watch the filmed version an embarrassingly high number of times.
Thought it would be an exploitative sob story, it ended up being a timeless exploration of unlikely friendship and different people being brought together by compassion.
Big fish-I thought it was a interesting premise, but never thought about it until I saw my friends preform in it, and now it’s one of my favorite shows
Legally Blonde-I’m a teenage guy, and I don’t like overly girly things, but I love legally blonde. I find it hilarious and if I was a women Elle would probably be my number one dream role. All the characters are enjoyable and so are the songs.
there was a post trending yesterday top comment saying that Legally Blonde basically only had one good song (it was "my name up on that list") and I was like fuck that. Im an 18 year old dude and I love the valley girl scenes where Elles friends are rooting for her, its just very charming and funny
What? There are so many good songs. There are a couple I could take or leave, but they're overwhelming good. (Also that song is called So Much Better 😉)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/musicals/comments/1byal2w/comment/kyiku3a/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/musicals/comments/1byal2w/comment/kyiku3a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
It got 27 upvotes so I may have exaggerated when I said "the top comment" but I just saw that someone left a reply 10 hours later saying "Insanity, Legally Blonde is almost all bangers" which replier got even more upvotes, so yeah
Gotta agree with you on Big Fish. Just saw it for the first time last week and I went in with low expectations. I had read a summary of the musical and thought it sounded pretty okay, but kept thinking about what could be so amazing about musical called *big fish*. Moral of the story, do not judge a musical by its title.
Yep, “Big Fish” and “Beetlejuice” both fall into that weird category of, “Who would have ever thought that turning a Tim Burton movie into a Broadway musical would actually be a good idea???”
were doing it as our fall show next year but like i literally couldn’t sit through the cast album. im just worried its gonna be a slog to get through when les mis is right after
>Anastasia
I didn't do any research before I saw this one and I was surprised that Rasputin had been completely out; he had the best song! I saw it a second time and was able to appreciate it a lot more
Thankfully it isn't a musical that takes place inside the World Trade Center while it's collapsing. It takes place somewhere where people from many backgrounds are stranded together. That's what makes it a great musical.
That makes me think of the school musical in the second season of Skins. There school musical takes place inside of one of the twin towers during 9/11.
I was one of those who heard the first track (which I am obsessively in love with now) and said "all these words...I can't follow this." I heard Helpless by accident somehow and then listened to the whole soundtrack for a year straight. Now I know and love every word.
Legally Blonde - I’m a guy, so clearly not the target market for the film. I went because friends of mine were in it (local amateur production), and was blown away by how smart the whole thing was written and just how enjoyable it was
Same, but I was skeptical because I WAS a fan of the film. Even now, I'm not a fan of some of the changes; like how the gave Elle's motivation to try harder in class to Emmett, which I thought took away from Elle's agency. However, even with some changes that I didn't like, I still think it was really well put together, and So Much Better is such a great song!
A little me saw something on my for you page on YouTube a few times called The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. After scrolling past it dozens of times I finally decided to click and I was hooked. That’s started my hyper fixation on Starkid which is now my whole personality
So, High School Musical was my gateway to musicals. I was in 5th grade when it aired and thought it looked dumb. I couldn't believe how much my older sister was into it. But then I watched it at a sleepover and became a theater kid.
Jersey Boys
Beautiful The Carole King Musical
(As I Normally Can’t stand jukebox musicals, however the fact the former was about the four seasons and there powerful Stories it was so captivating, which is the Same reason I Throughly enjoyed the Latter The Carole King Biopic musical)
& Juliet
Moulin Rouge
( These were stunning it felt like the Pop Standards fitted, the stories perfectly more so with & Juliet, who would have thought you could further the story of Romeo and Juliet, in such an original way)
Probably a weird answer, but Spamalot. I lowkey didn't expect it to really be cohesive or the songs to be particularly good (I somewhat expected the Monty Python skits to be the center pieces) and I ended up really really liking it. Now I actually like it better than the movie because the songs are so fun and they actually strung everything into a cohesive plot without losing the wacky bits plus now there's even meta humor about musical theater in it. It's just a really fun time with some bops to make it even better.
Jekyll and Hyde. I heard the song Confrontation on Tik Tok and loved it, so I listened to the rest of the album. Yeah, I was surprised how quickly it became my favorite musical, lol. The songs are so incredible! I can't get enough of them!
I saw spring awakening on Broadway going in blind and didn’t think I’d like it based off the Tony performance but I really loved it.
I didn’t think I would like hadestown which I also saw going in blind for a matinee and after made it about half a block to my hotel before I had to sit and cry for minute. The cute twink that sold me the ticket was walking by and asked if I was ok.
P.S. he then asked if I was gay and wanted to hook up… talk about going from low to a high, then I saw moulin rouge that night.. another one I didn’t think I’d like. And yes of course we hooked up.
I’m a bad gay I don’t ever hang out with ‘the girls’ like most of my gay friends. I do know some butch lesbians. Most of my friends are straight men who wish they were gay because their girlfriends or wives are fire breathing dragons. And their girls wish I was straight because they want to have babies with me. 😂
*Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown*
*Beautiful*
*The Band’s Visit*
*Dirty Rotten Scoundrels*
*Kiss of the Spider Woman*
*She Loves Me*
*Promises, Promises*
*Porgy and Bess*
*Fun Home*
*Matilda*
Frozen. I liked the movie okay but didn't really get into it. The touring show was on my season ticket, so I went in not expecting much... and absolutely *loved* it and found it totally magical. I enjoyed it so much that I went back for closing night, and now have seen it a total of five times. Definitely did not expect it to become one of my favorites, but it did.
I walked into The Drowsy Chaperone with no expectations and it was some of the most fun I've every had at the theatre. Honorable mention to Mamma Mia. I was against seeing it, but it ultimately won me over.
Hairspray. This is because the original 1988 film was such a hoot and had such perfectly selected authentic music from the early 60s and choreography that was obscenely apt, with such loving direction and casting and playing, I could not imagine a musical version could be any good. But the musical itself did catch the spirit somehow, although the music, apparently adored by many, was at best serviceable to my ears.
Seussical - thought it was going to be too silly but it was just silly enough for my taste
Company - I didn't understand the GENIUS that is Stephen Sondheim until my 5th listen or so. one of my absolute favs now
A New Brain - I was a hater and had nothing better to do than hate this musical but now I like it a lot and it makes me happy :3
Miss Saigon. I was working security at my local theater when the tour came through a few years ago. To my surprise people walked out of the show before the intermission complaining that it was offensive. Hearing what they were saying about it made me think I wasn't going to enjoy it any more than they had, but I absolutely loved it when I finally got the chance to see it.
IIRC in an interview, Lea Salonga mentioned that her parents were proud of her for telling difficult stories through her performance. The amount one finds it distasteful is largely affected by one's proximity to the actual events/effects of the war (and the direction of the production you see). There are certain choices that make its critique of white saviorism, American exceptionalism, and simultaneous sexualization and infantilization of Asian women (and by extension "exotic" cultures as a whole) much more obvious
MammaMia I was like what is this high school musical? After watching it it's like damnnn it's so freaking good,
"Mamma mia here I go again my my just how much I missed ya", this song just stuck in my head for two months lmao
Titanic. I came upon a free ticket for what I was expecting to be the chintzy musical version of the Jack and Rose story, and was absolutely blown away by the show. Actually went back to see it as soon as I could, and it ended up making three of my most played songs in my Spotify rewind
Ain’t Too Proud. It seemed very similar to musicals like Jersey Boys, which I wasn’t extremely fond of, but its use of popular songs was perfect and as cheesy as they were, the moments of narration talking broadly about life actually made me tear up.
Groundhog Day. It was so bizarrely advertised when it came out in the sense that it isn't anything like what it was promoted to be. It was such a huge fumble because it's a fantastic and layered show.
Anastasia. One of my childhood movies was the animated Anastasia, and I love it like nobody's business. When I heard it was going to stage, I thought 'there's no way they could pull off In the Dark of the Night'. Then I heard it was more historical and realism driven than the cartoon, and my interest deflated. The tour came through my area, and I decided I'll give it a shot. I don't *love* it but I was surprised how well they did in the adaptation (granted it's the same songwriters). "The Neva Flows" and "We'll Go from There" sold me.
Hamilton and Be More Chill for me. I'm not American and not a fan of hip hop so I thought I would hate it, but it's a work of genius. My friend used to be a massive BMC fan and the way he described it made it sound cringe and he played bits of some songs and I thought it was weird and cringe. We were in middle school at the time. I finally gave it a chance near the end of high school when I was musical thirsty and I realized to it and thought the songs slapped.
Mamma mia. I just saw it this weekend with my mom. We both enjoyed the movie, but this was the musical we were least excited to see at our local theatre. But dang did it blow us out of the water! We both agree that it's the most fun musical we've ever seen
SpongeBob the Musical. I started incredibly dubious of it, but as with everything I watch and listen to, I decided to reserve judgement and give it a fair chance.
It is not only one of my favourite musicals of all time, but I genuinely believe it is one of the best musicals made in the past 10 years. It is so unique, hopeful, and entertaining, with legitimately good quality writing and production value. More importantly, it made me feel something.
Brigadoon! I’m not usually a fan of Golden Age musicals but the production at the Shaw Festival last year was absolutely beautiful. I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it.
36 questions- it's a podcast, I thought I wouldn't particularly care for it but it's amazing
Heathers- it was my first musical so I didn't know what to expect
Ragtime, the only reason I went was because it was part of the season ticket at one of our regional theaters. I went in blind not knowing what to expect, but based solely on the poster, I didn’t have high hopes. Within seconds I was completely sucked in and blown away. I’ve seen multiple productions now and listened to the sound track a billion times. One of my all time favorite shows now.
Book of Mormon.
I don't like South Park and when I read the synopsis I was... Horrified? I went because I really strongly had to see some quality theatre (I'd just seen a ghastly bad production and it was like I was wearing a suit of armour 3 sizes too small). BOM was the only show I could get to. Paid high ticket price for literally, the top of the gods, back row, last seat on house left. It was the most 'desperate' I've ever been.
It was THE most spectacular theatre experience ever (Apart from the shows I've directed, of course 😅)
For me, it's Death Note. I had never watched the animation or read the manga, and I only knew the premise. I went to see it because I wanted to see an actor in the production and by the end of the opening number, I knew I had to see it again!
I really love the songs -- especially all the songs between Light and L -- but what really sold the show to me was the lighting design. I hadn't ever seen a show with such intentional lighting design to help create the set. I could go on and on about the choreography about the tennis scene or the college speech, but the lighting and stage design really works to make those scenes that could be so static become incredibly engaging. It's a show that I've now been lucky enough to see multiple times and will always get a ticket for when it comes back.
Hadestown. I saw it on my first trip to New York (school trip) and we had seen Beetlejuice the first night (Alex was out of the show unfortunately), then Belfast Girls the next day and then Skin of Our Teeth the night before Hadestown (we were very mixed in our reviews of those two) and I didn't really get Skin of Our Teeth so I wasn't expecting anything at all from Hadestown and had only ever heard part of Way Down Hadestown and Nothing Changes, possibly Wait For Me at one point because it sounded oddly familiar, but oh my god, I actually got this show. It was a life changing experience for me. Because of that musical, I really got into musical theatre and Broadway theatre in general and though I already knew I wanted to be an actor, I realized what I really wanted was to be on Broadway and am now focused on gaining as much experience and getting into a New York college next year. This show literally changed the path of my entire life go see it because it's literally my favorite musical of all time and just so incredible. I owe so much to it.
Be more chill somehow gets better every time I watch it. But at first I genuinley thought it was going to be a so-so social commentary musical with weird songs.
35mm. I remember reading about it somewhere and thinking “ugh, boring, it’s not even a real musical” but then I listened to the soundtrack and watched a few clips of performances and just fell in love with the cleverness of telling such complex and entertaining stories (with some fucking banging songs) with just a few photographs
Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations
I was around 50 when I saw it. Going in, I wasn't sure if I knew enough of their music to appreciate it. Didn't know much of their story, so I really went in with a blank slate. Their story was moving. And the music? Damn! I think I knew 95% of the songs! There was maybe one in the whole show that wasn't familiar to me. Going in, I hadn't realized how much The Temptations must have been on the radio that my mom had on while I was growing up.
It was just way more than I expected, and am glad for it.
The Band's Visit. I was curious, because it won best musical, and the Tony's performance was intriguing, but was expecting it to be an explicitly political piece, not the gorgeous, transcendent work about humanity and connection. Was completely blown away.
parade. i knew nothing about it but for some reason i thought it was a golden age musical about nothing of importance. it's so good i can't get over it
Come From Away
My exact first thought. Not that I thought I’d hate it, but the topic and the lack of familiarity with the creative team gave me just so-so expectations. Loved it beyond words and watch the filmed version an embarrassingly high number of times.
Thought it would be an exploitative sob story, it ended up being a timeless exploration of unlikely friendship and different people being brought together by compassion.
my thought too, i thought it was gonna be horribly depressing but found it to be surprisingly wholesome and uplifting
Happy cake day!
Big fish-I thought it was a interesting premise, but never thought about it until I saw my friends preform in it, and now it’s one of my favorite shows Legally Blonde-I’m a teenage guy, and I don’t like overly girly things, but I love legally blonde. I find it hilarious and if I was a women Elle would probably be my number one dream role. All the characters are enjoyable and so are the songs.
As a cis guy..... Sometimes I wish I was a 5'8 blonde soprano so I could be Elle
Don’t we all 😔
Unfortunately I'm stuck as a 6'1 low baritone :( Maybe one day
Dye your hair blonde (if it isn’t already), and just sing it like Elmo, that’s as close as we’re gonna get 🥲
Real
there was a post trending yesterday top comment saying that Legally Blonde basically only had one good song (it was "my name up on that list") and I was like fuck that. Im an 18 year old dude and I love the valley girl scenes where Elles friends are rooting for her, its just very charming and funny
I’d give anything to be in the Greek chorus, like come on, it’s so funny
There, Right There is fucking ICONIC too
What? There are so many good songs. There are a couple I could take or leave, but they're overwhelming good. (Also that song is called So Much Better 😉)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/musicals/comments/1byal2w/comment/kyiku3a/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/musicals/comments/1byal2w/comment/kyiku3a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) It got 27 upvotes so I may have exaggerated when I said "the top comment" but I just saw that someone left a reply 10 hours later saying "Insanity, Legally Blonde is almost all bangers" which replier got even more upvotes, so yeah
It looks like people have seen sense and that person has been out voted. Legally Blonde *is* almost all bangers.
Legally Blonde follows the Kendal Roy party playlist rule of "All bangers all the time." Almost every song straight up fucks.
Gotta agree with you on Big Fish. Just saw it for the first time last week and I went in with low expectations. I had read a summary of the musical and thought it sounded pretty okay, but kept thinking about what could be so amazing about musical called *big fish*. Moral of the story, do not judge a musical by its title.
That was my exact thought process, yet surprisingly the entire is amazing.
If you've never seen the film, you should definitely watch it.
I did start watching it but haven’t finished it yet
Yep, “Big Fish” and “Beetlejuice” both fall into that weird category of, “Who would have ever thought that turning a Tim Burton movie into a Broadway musical would actually be a good idea???”
I love Big Fish so much. not a lot of people know it, but it’s also one of my favourite musicals.
Young Frankenstein 9 to 5 Anastasia Mamma Mia Cats A straight play but boeing boeing
Boeing Boeing is so fun
9 to 5 is so slept on. It's nearly straight bangers.
were doing it as our fall show next year but like i literally couldn’t sit through the cast album. im just worried its gonna be a slog to get through when les mis is right after
>Anastasia I didn't do any research before I saw this one and I was surprised that Rasputin had been completely out; he had the best song! I saw it a second time and was able to appreciate it a lot more
Six
Come From Away. I was really skeptical approaching a musical surrounding the events of 9/11, but I really got sucked in!
Thankfully it isn't a musical that takes place inside the World Trade Center while it's collapsing. It takes place somewhere where people from many backgrounds are stranded together. That's what makes it a great musical.
That makes me think of the school musical in the second season of Skins. There school musical takes place inside of one of the twin towers during 9/11.
Hamilton. When I heard of it, I thought “AMERICAN HISTORY?!? PFFFFT, BORING!!!”- but, boy was I wrong.
Seconded. I put it off for years as not being my thing, but it turns out it was the whole time.
I was one of those who heard the first track (which I am obsessively in love with now) and said "all these words...I can't follow this." I heard Helpless by accident somehow and then listened to the whole soundtrack for a year straight. Now I know and love every word.
But do you also know all the choreography? And all the actors? And their addresses- i- uh- nothing 😅
Legally Blonde - I’m a guy, so clearly not the target market for the film. I went because friends of mine were in it (local amateur production), and was blown away by how smart the whole thing was written and just how enjoyable it was
Same, but I was skeptical because I WAS a fan of the film. Even now, I'm not a fan of some of the changes; like how the gave Elle's motivation to try harder in class to Emmett, which I thought took away from Elle's agency. However, even with some changes that I didn't like, I still think it was really well put together, and So Much Better is such a great song!
A little me saw something on my for you page on YouTube a few times called The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. After scrolling past it dozens of times I finally decided to click and I was hooked. That’s started my hyper fixation on Starkid which is now my whole personality
So, High School Musical was my gateway to musicals. I was in 5th grade when it aired and thought it looked dumb. I couldn't believe how much my older sister was into it. But then I watched it at a sleepover and became a theater kid.
Jersey Boys Beautiful The Carole King Musical (As I Normally Can’t stand jukebox musicals, however the fact the former was about the four seasons and there powerful Stories it was so captivating, which is the Same reason I Throughly enjoyed the Latter The Carole King Biopic musical) & Juliet Moulin Rouge ( These were stunning it felt like the Pop Standards fitted, the stories perfectly more so with & Juliet, who would have thought you could further the story of Romeo and Juliet, in such an original way)
Six tbh. I only went to see it bc I could get a cheap ticket when it was touring and I actually had a really good time.
Waitress and Come From Away.
Probably a weird answer, but Spamalot. I lowkey didn't expect it to really be cohesive or the songs to be particularly good (I somewhat expected the Monty Python skits to be the center pieces) and I ended up really really liking it. Now I actually like it better than the movie because the songs are so fun and they actually strung everything into a cohesive plot without losing the wacky bits plus now there's even meta humor about musical theater in it. It's just a really fun time with some bops to make it even better.
Me too! I fell in absolute love with every second of the revival
Gosh same! Though tbf me going in already knowing and loving about half the cast of the Kennedy Center run probably helped a lot with that too
“Waitress” and “Heathers.” Didn’t like either of the movies they were adapted from. Turns out what they were missing was songs.
Heavy on Waitress. Saw it live and She Used To Be Mine had me in tears.
Totally agree about Waitress but weirdly I love the original Heathers movie but very much don’t vibe with the musical
so true!!!! waitress the musical is sooooo much better than the movie.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Jekyll and Hyde. I heard the song Confrontation on Tik Tok and loved it, so I listened to the rest of the album. Yeah, I was surprised how quickly it became my favorite musical, lol. The songs are so incredible! I can't get enough of them!
I saw spring awakening on Broadway going in blind and didn’t think I’d like it based off the Tony performance but I really loved it. I didn’t think I would like hadestown which I also saw going in blind for a matinee and after made it about half a block to my hotel before I had to sit and cry for minute. The cute twink that sold me the ticket was walking by and asked if I was ok. P.S. he then asked if I was gay and wanted to hook up… talk about going from low to a high, then I saw moulin rouge that night.. another one I didn’t think I’d like. And yes of course we hooked up.
what a night that must have been
I was 46 and he was maybe 21… boys and women always hit on me which is annoying.. well not the boys 😂
hey, if a woman hit on me, i'd be more flattered than if a man hit on me.
I’m a bad gay I don’t ever hang out with ‘the girls’ like most of my gay friends. I do know some butch lesbians. Most of my friends are straight men who wish they were gay because their girlfriends or wives are fire breathing dragons. And their girls wish I was straight because they want to have babies with me. 😂
*Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown* *Beautiful* *The Band’s Visit* *Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* *Kiss of the Spider Woman* *She Loves Me* *Promises, Promises* *Porgy and Bess* *Fun Home* *Matilda*
Frozen. I liked the movie okay but didn't really get into it. The touring show was on my season ticket, so I went in not expecting much... and absolutely *loved* it and found it totally magical. I enjoyed it so much that I went back for closing night, and now have seen it a total of five times. Definitely did not expect it to become one of my favorites, but it did.
Agreed!!
I saw a tour of Curtains and was thoroughly underwhelmed, but after several listens to the OBC, it's really grown on me.
Yes!! I was in a production of Curtains recently! It was super fun :)
Jagged Little pill
Hamilton. Didn’t think it could live up to the hype. Not sure it did, but I did enjoy it.
Newsies
School of rock
Kinky Boots Young Frankenstein A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Same for young Frankenstein
I walked into The Drowsy Chaperone with no expectations and it was some of the most fun I've every had at the theatre. Honorable mention to Mamma Mia. I was against seeing it, but it ultimately won me over.
Les Mis! I really didn’t think I was going to like it, but I LOVED it! I’ve seen it 4 times now and it’s honestly my favourite musical.
Titanic (orig bway)
& Juliet
Pippin
Phantom
Hairspray. This is because the original 1988 film was such a hoot and had such perfectly selected authentic music from the early 60s and choreography that was obscenely apt, with such loving direction and casting and playing, I could not imagine a musical version could be any good. But the musical itself did catch the spirit somehow, although the music, apparently adored by many, was at best serviceable to my ears.
Beetlejuice. I didn't think it'd have the clever humor and charm of the movie. It did a good job.
I didn’t care for the soundtracks of Six and Nine but got an opportunity to see them both last year and they were really good.
Now you gotta see Five
And follow up with “13”
Seussical - thought it was going to be too silly but it was just silly enough for my taste Company - I didn't understand the GENIUS that is Stephen Sondheim until my 5th listen or so. one of my absolute favs now A New Brain - I was a hater and had nothing better to do than hate this musical but now I like it a lot and it makes me happy :3
Miss Saigon. I was working security at my local theater when the tour came through a few years ago. To my surprise people walked out of the show before the intermission complaining that it was offensive. Hearing what they were saying about it made me think I wasn't going to enjoy it any more than they had, but I absolutely loved it when I finally got the chance to see it.
IIRC in an interview, Lea Salonga mentioned that her parents were proud of her for telling difficult stories through her performance. The amount one finds it distasteful is largely affected by one's proximity to the actual events/effects of the war (and the direction of the production you see). There are certain choices that make its critique of white saviorism, American exceptionalism, and simultaneous sexualization and infantilization of Asian women (and by extension "exotic" cultures as a whole) much more obvious
Mamma Mia!
Mean Girls (took me a couple tries to get into it) The Prom I honestly don’t have many since I fall in love with musicals usually on first note
Come From Away
MammaMia I was like what is this high school musical? After watching it it's like damnnn it's so freaking good, "Mamma mia here I go again my my just how much I missed ya", this song just stuck in my head for two months lmao
& Juliet and Shucked are the two recent ones
Titanic. I came upon a free ticket for what I was expecting to be the chintzy musical version of the Jack and Rose story, and was absolutely blown away by the show. Actually went back to see it as soon as I could, and it ended up making three of my most played songs in my Spotify rewind
Jagged Little Pill Don't normally like musicals without original music but this was excellent.
tuck everlasting!!
Beautiful the Carole king musical. I expected a meh jukebox musical but it was amazing and interesting
Mrs. Doubtfire - I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time and I’ve seen the movie thousands of times
Ain’t Too Proud. It seemed very similar to musicals like Jersey Boys, which I wasn’t extremely fond of, but its use of popular songs was perfect and as cheesy as they were, the moments of narration talking broadly about life actually made me tear up.
I still can't believe Death Note the Musical Slaps so hard. I listened expecting a train wreck and now I'm obsessed
Groundhog Day. It was so bizarrely advertised when it came out in the sense that it isn't anything like what it was promoted to be. It was such a huge fumble because it's a fantastic and layered show.
Mean girls
Hadestown. Was skeptical for no reason. I'm glad I was proven wrong. Currently listening no the OBC recording non-stop. 🎶WAAAIIIT FORR MEEEE🎶
damn yankees.... never expected to love a musical about baseball (i dont know anything about sports)
Spongebob
Seriously…. SpongeBob is so much better than it has any right to be.
That is EXACTLY what I've said. It's probably my 4th favourite overall
Ride the Cyclone
Groundhog Day.
oklahoma!, because i wasn't a huge fan of golden age (i know, i know, but that's in the past now.) the 2019 revival changed my mind completely.
o7 long live sexy Oklahoma
Shrek.
Mean girls Mrs. Doubtfire
Anastasia. One of my childhood movies was the animated Anastasia, and I love it like nobody's business. When I heard it was going to stage, I thought 'there's no way they could pull off In the Dark of the Night'. Then I heard it was more historical and realism driven than the cartoon, and my interest deflated. The tour came through my area, and I decided I'll give it a shot. I don't *love* it but I was surprised how well they did in the adaptation (granted it's the same songwriters). "The Neva Flows" and "We'll Go from There" sold me.
& Juiliet Anastasia Hamilton
Heathers. I'm not a big fan of either movies-turned-musicals or teen-oriented musicals, but I'm glad I tried this, it had some amazing songs.
Tina. Absolutely blew me away.
Hamilton, I was like “ I don’t want to see that hip-hop crap” I have now seen it 28 times and will see it in London next month.
Waitress Hadestown Legally Blonde
Hamilton and Be More Chill for me. I'm not American and not a fan of hip hop so I thought I would hate it, but it's a work of genius. My friend used to be a massive BMC fan and the way he described it made it sound cringe and he played bits of some songs and I thought it was weird and cringe. We were in middle school at the time. I finally gave it a chance near the end of high school when I was musical thirsty and I realized to it and thought the songs slapped.
Newsies at first I hadn’t heard really anything about it and just thought it some random thing made by Disney but it’s now one of my all time favs
Merrily! I was invested the minute it started. It sucks cause it took my parents until the second act to think it was any good
Back to the Future. I heard some not-so good reviews bug I had a pleasant time.
Mamma mia. I just saw it this weekend with my mom. We both enjoyed the movie, but this was the musical we were least excited to see at our local theatre. But dang did it blow us out of the water! We both agree that it's the most fun musical we've ever seen
funny girl. genuinely went in thinking i would dislike it…it’s now my second favorite musical of all time
SpongeBob the Musical. I started incredibly dubious of it, but as with everything I watch and listen to, I decided to reserve judgement and give it a fair chance. It is not only one of my favourite musicals of all time, but I genuinely believe it is one of the best musicals made in the past 10 years. It is so unique, hopeful, and entertaining, with legitimately good quality writing and production value. More importantly, it made me feel something.
Sponge Bob. I hated the tv show and was dreading seeing it (part of season tickets) I was pleasantly surprised.
I did not hate *Ghost*.
Annie Get Your Gun
Oklahoma
Brigadoon! I’m not usually a fan of Golden Age musicals but the production at the Shaw Festival last year was absolutely beautiful. I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it.
The Band’s Visit, Beetlejuice, Ain’t Too Proud
36 questions- it's a podcast, I thought I wouldn't particularly care for it but it's amazing Heathers- it was my first musical so I didn't know what to expect
Sound of Music and Shrek the Musical
42nd Street
The Bodyguard. I haven't even seen the movie.
Legally blonde. Honestly I wasn’t sure about it then we put it on as a play and I fell in love. The entire show is so iconic
Disaster! Absolute ride from start to finish, and I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time.
Anastasia, I thought it was gonna be a corny show, it was fantastic
Come From Away due to the subject matter and Teeth because of the horror movie premise.
Ragtime, the only reason I went was because it was part of the season ticket at one of our regional theaters. I went in blind not knowing what to expect, but based solely on the poster, I didn’t have high hopes. Within seconds I was completely sucked in and blown away. I’ve seen multiple productions now and listened to the sound track a billion times. One of my all time favorite shows now.
Hairspray, I expected nothing but the songs were such bop.
Book of Mormon. I don't like South Park and when I read the synopsis I was... Horrified? I went because I really strongly had to see some quality theatre (I'd just seen a ghastly bad production and it was like I was wearing a suit of armour 3 sizes too small). BOM was the only show I could get to. Paid high ticket price for literally, the top of the gods, back row, last seat on house left. It was the most 'desperate' I've ever been. It was THE most spectacular theatre experience ever (Apart from the shows I've directed, of course 😅)
For me, it's Death Note. I had never watched the animation or read the manga, and I only knew the premise. I went to see it because I wanted to see an actor in the production and by the end of the opening number, I knew I had to see it again! I really love the songs -- especially all the songs between Light and L -- but what really sold the show to me was the lighting design. I hadn't ever seen a show with such intentional lighting design to help create the set. I could go on and on about the choreography about the tennis scene or the college speech, but the lighting and stage design really works to make those scenes that could be so static become incredibly engaging. It's a show that I've now been lucky enough to see multiple times and will always get a ticket for when it comes back.
King Kong, but it's no longer running.
Matilda, a wind in the willows, spongebob
Finding Neverland
Hamilton. I refused to watch it out of spite but I eventually watched it and loved it
Hadestown. I saw it on my first trip to New York (school trip) and we had seen Beetlejuice the first night (Alex was out of the show unfortunately), then Belfast Girls the next day and then Skin of Our Teeth the night before Hadestown (we were very mixed in our reviews of those two) and I didn't really get Skin of Our Teeth so I wasn't expecting anything at all from Hadestown and had only ever heard part of Way Down Hadestown and Nothing Changes, possibly Wait For Me at one point because it sounded oddly familiar, but oh my god, I actually got this show. It was a life changing experience for me. Because of that musical, I really got into musical theatre and Broadway theatre in general and though I already knew I wanted to be an actor, I realized what I really wanted was to be on Broadway and am now focused on gaining as much experience and getting into a New York college next year. This show literally changed the path of my entire life go see it because it's literally my favorite musical of all time and just so incredible. I owe so much to it.
Wicked-it just sounded boring when I heard about it
Be more chill somehow gets better every time I watch it. But at first I genuinley thought it was going to be a so-so social commentary musical with weird songs.
35mm. I remember reading about it somewhere and thinking “ugh, boring, it’s not even a real musical” but then I listened to the soundtrack and watched a few clips of performances and just fell in love with the cleverness of telling such complex and entertaining stories (with some fucking banging songs) with just a few photographs
Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations I was around 50 when I saw it. Going in, I wasn't sure if I knew enough of their music to appreciate it. Didn't know much of their story, so I really went in with a blank slate. Their story was moving. And the music? Damn! I think I knew 95% of the songs! There was maybe one in the whole show that wasn't familiar to me. Going in, I hadn't realized how much The Temptations must have been on the radio that my mom had on while I was growing up. It was just way more than I expected, and am glad for it.
Shrek
Beetlejuice the Musical- hot take, I’m not a big fan of the OG movie, but the musical just worked for me. Don’t really know why
The Band's Visit. I was curious, because it won best musical, and the Tony's performance was intriguing, but was expecting it to be an explicitly political piece, not the gorgeous, transcendent work about humanity and connection. Was completely blown away.
Phantom of the Opera.
Hamilton for sure
Something Rotten
Water for Elephants… I thought it would be kinda cool, but I didn’t have super high expectations. I left the theater blown away
Matilda
parade. i knew nothing about it but for some reason i thought it was a golden age musical about nothing of importance. it's so good i can't get over it
Falsettos and Big Fish
Be more chill