# What musical were you totally wrong about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593 "2009-06-03T16:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/21 "2009-06-04T02:49:01Z")
Not a musical, but a stage production. Back in the 1980s, the wife and I managed to score really good seats to a pre-Broadway performance of a play about two faded stars cast in a big comeback show. The play was called **Legends!** It was written by James Kirkwood, Jr., who wrote the book for **A Chrous Line** and starred Carol Channing and Mary Martin. I was aware that by that time that Carol Channing was old, and Mary Martin was even older. But the star power, combined with a script by the author of \*\*A Chorus Line \*\* was enough to convince me that the evening would be well worth the high ticket price. It wasn’t. It was a long way short of a community theater production. The script was awful, Channing was lifeless and Martin was worse. _Legends!_ never made it to Broadway, and what I hoped would be my one chance to see two of the best Broadway actresses in history was a terrible disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/22 "2009-06-04T04:21:14Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > I had the exact opposite reaction. All I heard for ages was Wicked-Wicked-Wicked, and since there was no easy way to see a performance of it, I bought the original cast recording and listened to it several times over the course of a cross-country trip. Needless to say, I was seriously underwhelmed. I’m open to fantasy revisionism in musicals (I love _Into the Woods_, based on the CD alone), but I found the songs mundane and pop-pedestrian, so I had to assume the appeal (like the hidious _Phantom_) was in the production values, since there was nothing I heard that made me want to go out and see it live. Sure, there were some undeniably talented peformers involved, but all at the service of some pretty forgettable material. Huh. Interesting, because I actually rather dislike Into the Woods (though I like A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd very much, so it’s not a problem with Sondheim). I’m aware I’m in the minority though. In my case, I’m betting that actually a large part of it was in fact expectations. I agree Wicked is (except for Chenoweth, who I still claim is spectacular) not exactly the most amazing thing since sliced bread (though I do find it fun), but because I was expecting it to be so entirely awful it turned out I thought it was quite good. I think I went into Into the Woods with much higher expectations, having heard that it was the best musical ever from a number of people, and that didn’t help either. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/23 "2009-06-04T12:19:53Z")
Please do not judge stage musicals by movie musicals. They could not be more different. The stage version of Mammia Mia is great fun. The movie was good, but it does not reflect the magic of the stage. When I saw Avenue Q in previews off-Broadway with 13 people in the audience, I thought “This is either going to sink rapidly or become a monster hit.” I’m glad it didn’t sink. Little Shop of Horrors? On stage? With music? Are you crazy? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/24 "2009-06-04T13:12:30Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > I object! The one redeeming quality is the song “Too Darn Hot”. That being said, it doesn’t exactly bring the musical up to the level of repeatedly watchable. Objection overruled. That’s one of the songs I hate the most from that show. That being said, maybe I’d hate it slightly less if I’d seen a production of it that was not community theatre. Then again, I’ve seen (or participated in) plenty of CT productions and liked most of them. _Kate_ consistantly comes up as my least favorite. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/25 "2009-06-04T13:38:50Z")
> [@FallenAngel](#): > > I figured Rent probably wouldn’t suck festering donkey balls. > > I’ve rarely been more wrong. > > The only good thing about the wretched piece of dreck was it gave us the “Everyone has AIDS” song from Team America. > [@panache45](#): > > Thank you for this. “Wretched piece of dreck” is a totally accurate description. > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I got up and walked out halfway through. > > Granted “got up and walked out” in this case translates as “turned off the DVD player,” but still. It made me want to vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/26 "2009-06-04T17:12:03Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I got up and walked out halfway through. > > Granted “got up and walked out” in this case translates as “turned off the DVD player,” but still. Ditto. Except I really do mean “got up and walked out.” Someone gave my girlfriend and I free tickets to the traveling production. Halfway through, we decided it still wasn’t worth the money. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593/27 "2009-06-04T17:25:52Z")
My husband and I got up and walked out on a professional musical version of _The Phantom of the Opera_. No, not the Lloyd Webber version. Public domain, you know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-were-you-totally-wrong-about/498593.md?page=1)