I’m afraid I’m not familiar enough to with the genre to speak about any particular category being good or bad, but I can give you an idea of what I like/hate.
For theatre, I loved Wicked. I saw it three times and would do it again. Hamilton was also brilliant but Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera were really hard on my ears. I think it’s the whole “We need some dialogue here, but it’s a musical, so let’s have them sing it” that does it. If that’s your experience with musicals, believe me when I tell you, they aren’t all like that. Some are heart-shatteringly beautiful with complex harmonies and the sort of music that makes you feel like you can fly right out of that theatre. Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” still gives me chills when I think about it, and the way Hamilton is stitched together with callbacks between each song: “my shot”, “running out of time”, “wait for it”, “that would be enough”… it’s just amazing work.
There’s also an excellent off-broadway musical called “Evil Dead: The Musical” and it’s as bad-in-a-good-way-campy as you think. There’s zombies, a splatter zone, and some seriously smart & funny songs in there, including my favourite: “What the Fuck Was That?”. I mean, it’s not good music, but it’s fun :-)
But Cats… that was cancer for my ears. It was my first musical and nearly soured me on them entirely.
But it’s not just theatre! I love movie musicals too! Moulin Rouge’s Ewan McGreggor is just jaw-droppingly talented. The finalé (until the curtains close anyway) is punch-the-air-feel-amazing. Another good one is The Greatest Showman: not quite as amazeballs as Moulin Rouge, but surprisingly inspiring, and the duet between Zac Effron and Zendaya definitely has that “life is beautiful” feel to it. Also, “Never Enough” is great too. I also have a deep, deep love for Pitch Perfect.
Then there’s tv! The Buffy musical kinda started it all, and while it’s not nearly as musically complex as the aforementioned, it’s clever, funny, and 20 years later I can still hear it in my head. “I think this line’s mostly filler” was a nice touch. Since then though, there have been a number of attempts at musical episodes of favourite shows. Most recently, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did a fantastic job with some right bangers. The reigning champion of course is Glee with some awesome stuff [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
So yeah, it ranges. I’d recommend Wicked & Hamilton to anyone not sure if they can get into musicals, largely because they don’t do that “sing dialogue” thing that I think grates on a lot of people. After that, look for shows starring people you know to be awesome. Kristen Chenoweth for example is a guaranteed win for me. She is absolutely delightful on stage.
lol I worked at a professional theatre for 5 years (and theatres in general for way longer) and you seem like you’re more well versed than I am.
Interesting point about Les Mis and Phantom. I enjoyed Les Mis the last time I saw it, but that was ages ago, during a time that I also liked Phantom (I still like a few songs in phantom, but hoo boy there’s a lot of grossly problematic themes in it). Phantom with a high budget can be a blast to watch though, from a technical standpoint. I saw it once in Las Vegas. The chandelier was in 3 pieces hanging above the audience seating, and it slowly lit up and came together above the stage during the overture. It was fucking crazy to see. (awful audio warning: I found a terrible quality video on youtube!)
Haven’t seen Wicked, Cats or Hamilton (or basically any broadway show. I’m a heretic, I know lol), so I can’t comment on those. I haven’t seen Evil dead: the Musical, but I’ve wanted to for ages. I’m big on Horror movies, and the Evil Dead movies are all wild.
I’m glad you mentioned Moulin Rouge. That movie is so fucking incredible. El Tango De Roxanne has lived rent free in my head since I first saw it and I’m honestly so glad about it.
As for recommendations to check out:
Sweeney Todd. The 2007 movie with Johnny Depp is great (and very bloody) but I’ve seen a few renditions of it live and it’s honestly always a great show. Checks a lot of boxes for me (good tunes, dystopian, and a surprisingly heavy story given that the theme is often horror-comedy-esqe).
Urinetown. Been a while since I’ve seen it, but it’s a great satirical musical (it makes jabs at a ton of stuff, but it’s mostly aimed at capitalism in general).
Little Shop of Horrors. This one has a special place in my heart because it’s the first musical I worked on in highschool that I actually enjoyed. Not much to say, it’s just a fun show.
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I’m afraid I’m not familiar enough to with the genre to speak about any particular category being good or bad, but I can give you an idea of what I like/hate.
For theatre, I loved Wicked. I saw it three times and would do it again. Hamilton was also brilliant but Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera were really hard on my ears. I think it’s the whole “We need some dialogue here, but it’s a musical, so let’s have them sing it” that does it. If that’s your experience with musicals, believe me when I tell you, they aren’t all like that. Some are heart-shatteringly beautiful with complex harmonies and the sort of music that makes you feel like you can fly right out of that theatre. Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” still gives me chills when I think about it, and the way Hamilton is stitched together with callbacks between each song: “my shot”, “running out of time”, “wait for it”, “that would be enough”… it’s just amazing work.
There’s also an excellent off-broadway musical called “Evil Dead: The Musical” and it’s as bad-in-a-good-way-campy as you think. There’s zombies, a splatter zone, and some seriously smart & funny songs in there, including my favourite: “What the Fuck Was That?”. I mean, it’s not good music, but it’s fun :-)
But Cats… that was cancer for my ears. It was my first musical and nearly soured me on them entirely.
But it’s not just theatre! I love movie musicals too! Moulin Rouge’s Ewan McGreggor is just jaw-droppingly talented. The finalé (until the curtains close anyway) is punch-the-air-feel-amazing. Another good one is The Greatest Showman: not quite as amazeballs as Moulin Rouge, but surprisingly inspiring, and the duet between Zac Effron and Zendaya definitely has that “life is beautiful” feel to it. Also, “Never Enough” is great too. I also have a deep, deep love for Pitch Perfect.
Then there’s tv! The Buffy musical kinda started it all, and while it’s not nearly as musically complex as the aforementioned, it’s clever, funny, and 20 years later I can still hear it in my head. “I think this line’s mostly filler” was a nice touch. Since then though, there have been a number of attempts at musical episodes of favourite shows. Most recently, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did a fantastic job with some right bangers. The reigning champion of course is Glee with some awesome stuff [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
So yeah, it ranges. I’d recommend Wicked & Hamilton to anyone not sure if they can get into musicals, largely because they don’t do that “sing dialogue” thing that I think grates on a lot of people. After that, look for shows starring people you know to be awesome. Kristen Chenoweth for example is a guaranteed win for me. She is absolutely delightful on stage.
lol I worked at a professional theatre for 5 years (and theatres in general for way longer) and you seem like you’re more well versed than I am.
Interesting point about Les Mis and Phantom. I enjoyed Les Mis the last time I saw it, but that was ages ago, during a time that I also liked Phantom (I still like a few songs in phantom, but hoo boy there’s a lot of grossly problematic themes in it). Phantom with a high budget can be a blast to watch though, from a technical standpoint. I saw it once in Las Vegas. The chandelier was in 3 pieces hanging above the audience seating, and it slowly lit up and came together above the stage during the overture. It was fucking crazy to see. (awful audio warning: I found a terrible quality video on youtube!)
Haven’t seen Wicked, Cats or Hamilton (or basically any broadway show. I’m a heretic, I know lol), so I can’t comment on those. I haven’t seen Evil dead: the Musical, but I’ve wanted to for ages. I’m big on Horror movies, and the Evil Dead movies are all wild.
I’m glad you mentioned Moulin Rouge. That movie is so fucking incredible. El Tango De Roxanne has lived rent free in my head since I first saw it and I’m honestly so glad about it.
As for recommendations to check out:
Sweeney Todd. The 2007 movie with Johnny Depp is great (and very bloody) but I’ve seen a few renditions of it live and it’s honestly always a great show. Checks a lot of boxes for me (good tunes, dystopian, and a surprisingly heavy story given that the theme is often horror-comedy-esqe).
Urinetown. Been a while since I’ve seen it, but it’s a great satirical musical (it makes jabs at a ton of stuff, but it’s mostly aimed at capitalism in general).
Little Shop of Horrors. This one has a special place in my heart because it’s the first musical I worked on in highschool that I actually enjoyed. Not much to say, it’s just a fun show.