Do you like the musical movie "Grease"?

[PatriceA]

Originally Posted by Cat

I'm not challenging you. I'm just curious about your reasons for not liking it (e.g., plot, characters, a song or songs, etc.)

It's often more useful to read the negative critics than the positive ones.

I find it contrived and I don't care for Andrew Lloyd Webber's compositions. I can't think of one musical by him that I actually care for. They're all just too busy and too much, it feels "forced".

[KevinAK]

Originally Posted by Jaypeeto4

RENT, except for the VERY last song, which I loved,
absolutely bored me out of my trees when I saw it on stage. I thought it was
absolutely an awful show, boring, stupid, with mostly lousy music.

HAIR, from the 1960s, had consistently terrific music throughout, although parts of the show were filthy and the overall message glorified rebellion for rebellions sake, which is awful, and also glorified drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. The songs, however, well 99% of them, were phenomenal. Galt McDermott was a musical genius.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, is a loving, sweet,
wonderfully written family musical based on Jacob, his 12 sons, and Joseph's coat of many colors. This show, and it's finale, brings tears to my eyes and at the end, the whole audience usually stands and cheers, because the finale, when Joseph is re-united with his dying dad and all his brothers is so moving and exhilarating that nothing can hold back the tears. Folks just stand and cheer, usually through several curtain calls. You leave the theatre with a lump in your throat and smiling from ear to ear.

I love GODSPELL (with a couple of reservations), first saw it at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC in 1973, and had the pleasure of being in a production of it once.
Prepare Ye The Way of the LORD, indeed !! Long Live God !!

And LES MIS? How could anyone hate Les Miserables? Nearly every song in this magnificent musical, is absolutely gut-wrenching. When Cosette and Marius sing Jean Valjean into heaven in the grand finale, there is not a dry eye in the house, and as the chorus cries out the final Tomorrow, Come!! there is not a dry eye and people are standing and cheering like mad. This is currently, and has been for years, my favorite musical, although the Victor Hugo's novel, upon which this glorious musical masterpice is based, was on The Index of the Forbidden Books and, to my knowledge, was never removed. I can't for the life of me imagine why, because this loving story extols the virtues of mercy, compassion and redemption -- to the hilt, from beginning to end.

The musical PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is a wonderful theatre piece, and was made into a fantastic movie version ((which usually do not happen -- directors, who think they have to put their own "touch" on everything,
USUALLY absolutely RUIN great Broadway musicals when they translate them to the screen. Case in point: THE WIZ.
THE WIZ, on stage, is an electrifying and exhilarating musical from beginning to end, not boring for a minute, and no condescending "white people's versions" of what a BLACK musical should be. IT is AMAZING. I saw it nearly 35 times on stage.
Then the movie, directed by Sidney Lumet, came out in 1979. I went to the movies with very great expectations, only to be, for the most part, angered at how Lumet has bastardized this fantastic all-black musical. Despite the films terrific cast ((including a performance by the unforgettable and beautiful Lena Horne), Nipsey Russell, Michael Jackson, et al, and some great choreography for the number "Everybody Rejoice," Lumet took a story set in Kansas, translated it to NEW YORK (of all places) had a silly looking SNOW Tornado go down the street, and filled the movie with stupid liberal cliches about how black people live, complete with numbers-racket runners (Miss One) and a host of other stupidities. Lumet RUINED this musical. If you only saw the movie version and to any degree liked it, I challenge you to see a revival of it on stage, and then compare that to the piece of garbage Sidney Lumet released in 1979. There is no comparison.
The movie was god-awful in comparison to the stage version,
and I am very worried that the movie version of LES MIS may well also
RUIN that gorgeous musical. I certainly hope not !!!

The Wiz was ruined by the studio not Sidney Lumet. He wanted the film to follow the stage version. He even planned on having Stephanie Mills reprise her stage role as Dorothy. Along came the diva Diana Ross who told the studio she could get Michael Jackson to play The Scarecrow -- as long as she played Dorothy. The film was saddled with two terrible performers in the central roles.

[JharekCarnelian]

Originally Posted by Cat

That's OK. That's how the arts are. People disagree and debate, and that's what makes it fun to be involved with the arts.

I am one of the half-dozen people in the world that really hates Les Miserables, which is often called "the world's most beloved musical." I absolutely hate it! I think it's incredibly stupid. A lot of fuss over nothing.

My husband tries to explain all the irony and fate, and I just don't get it at all.

I love the music ,though, and wish that someone would write a totally new book for the songs, something less idiotic. The very idea--everyone fighting and losing their lives over a garbage dump.

Have you read the original Cat? The musical skips out huge chunks of the work and I dislike the musical adaption myself for this reason, but the original work is another matter and contains some breathtakingly powerful writing.

[Cat]

Originally Posted by JharekCarnelian

Have you read the original Cat? The musical skips out huge chunks of the work and I dislike the musical adaption myself for this reason, but the original work is another matter and contains some breathtakingly powerful writing.

I tried, honest.

Couldn't get past the first chapter. Sorry.

Luckily for me in high school, I was in the English class that read A Tale of Two Cities instead of Les Miserables. Of course, that had a real downer ending.

My husband loved it, though.