The "Most Overrated" Musical - Fall 2012

"Oh, my God. That show is soooooo overrated."

One thing that musical-theater majors are never short on is attitude. And when I started teaching musical-theater history at the Boston Conservatory, I decided I wanted to tap into that attitude. So, I developed two introductory writing assignments to help me develop a sense of what my students were capable of, as well as to give students a chance to figure out what I was looking for on the midterm and the final.

As regular readers will recall, this led to The Most Overrated Musical^TM and The Most Underrated Musical^TM, in which students choose, develop and support their candidates, all while developing a stronger sense of what makes for a quality show, using themes, structures, techniques and innovations that we discuss during the course.

Of course, the students' actual choices are just a conceit to get them thinking. It really doesn't matter, ultimately, which show they choose, so long as they're developing their analytical writing skills. Nonetheless, I always like to share the lists of shows with my readers, because the lists serve as a sort of unscientific barometer of the MT zeitgeist. 

A few caveats: this list is heavily influenced by the discussions that students have with me before they write their papers. There are certain shows that I steer students away from, and other shows that I point students toward. So, again, this list is anything but scientific. Also, students can only write about shows for which they have direct access to the libretto. Between my own collection and that of the Boston Conservatory library, the students have access to hundreds of scripts. But, for instance, neither I nor the library has a copy of the script to The Lion King, which comes up a lot as a candidate.

So, after much ado, here's this year's list, with my attendant comments, harangues, dogmas, digressions, and miscellany. These are the shows that received more than one "vote" (i.e. the number of students who chose to write about that show as being "overrated"):  

Legally Blonde 9
Phantom of the Opera 8
Annie 6
Anything Goes 5
Bye Bye Birdie 5
Les Miserables 5
Hair 4
Rent 4
Spring Awakening 4
Memphis 3
Pippin 2
The Wild Party (Lippa) 2
Sweet Charity 2
South Pacific 2

And here are the shows that received one "vote" each:

Evita, Annie Get Your Gun, The Music Man, Funny Girl, Children of Eden, Ragtime, Big River, Promises Promises, In the Heights, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, Damn Yankees, We Will Rock You

So, whaddya, think? Some pretty clear trends here. First, I tell students that there are essentially two classes of overrated shows: the "bloated blockbuster" versus the "shows that make MTs swoon." Clearly, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables fit into the former category, while The Wild Party and Children of Eden fit into the latter. In terms of sub-categories, there are the high-school perennials like Bye Bye Birdie and Anything Goes, and the modern-day power weepies like Rent and Spring Awakening.

And then there's Legally Blonde, which appears to be well on its way to becoming a high-school perennial. The show ran about 600 performances on Broadway, and as far as I can tell didn't recoup its original investment. The show received a much better reception in London, however, and recently ended a three-year run followed by a UK tour. It even won the Olivier Award for best musical. And yet my students clearly reflect the American attitude toward the show: not so much.

I must confess that, although I found Legally Blonde unbearably shrill when I first saw it, the cast recording is really starting to grow on me, mostly because of the work of composer/lyricist married couple Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin. (It's really no surprise that O'Keefe's work would become richer to me over time, since he's responsible for the score to one of my favorite shows of the last 15 years, Bat Boy.)

As I mentioned earlier, there are certain shows I steer students away from and others that I encourage them to consider for their papers. Over the ten years I've been teaching this course, I have found that, with certain shows, it's easier for students (generally freshmen in college) to figure out what's wrong and to provide specific support. With other shows, it's a lot harder to capture what's wrong. In fact, based on my life-long love of skiing, I've organized the usual suspects for the overrated paper into categories based on the trail-marking system that ski resorts use to steer skiers to slopes that match their level of ability. To wit:

GREEN CIRCLE (Easiest)
- Legally Blonde
- Annie
- Bye Bye Birdie
- The Sound of Music
- Spring Awakening
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Oliver
- Billy Elliot
- Anything Goes
- Newsies
- In the Heights
- Big River
- Sweet Charity
- Funny Girl

BLUE SQUARE (Harder)
- South Pacific
- Man of La Mancha
- Hair
- Les Miserables
- Thoroughly Modern Millie
- Mary Poppins
- Promises Promises
- 42nd Street
- Wicked
- Beauty and the Beast
- Rent
- Memphis
- The Music Man
- Pippin
- Miss Saigon
- The Wild Party (Lippa)
- Children of Eden
- Ragtime
- Evita

BLACK DIAMOND (Hardest)
- Cats
- Mamma Mia
- Passion
- Spamalot
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
- Grease
- The Drowsy Chaperone
- West Side Story
- Next to Normal
- Chicago
- Cabaret
- Gypsy
- Godspell
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Movin' Out

Bear in mind that these three lists have nothing to do with whether I personally find the shows in question good or bad. Some of these shows I love, others I despise. I'm just saying that, in terms of the criteria that we establish in my course (meaningful integration of song, demonstrable character arc, musical sophistication, etc.), it's a lot easier for my students to find something to criticize in Bye Bye Birdie or Spring Awakening than in Gypsy or Chicago.

Some of the more difficult shows are challenging because they represent some sort of satire or parody that the students have a more difficult time wrapping their minds around (e.g. How to Succeed or Grease). Others represent a sort of post-modern or meta show structure (e.g. Chicago, Cabaret, The Drowsy Chaperone) that we won't really get around to addressing until later in the course.

And then there's Cats. It might surprise some readers that I find Cats to be a black-diamond show, but consider this: What exactly is wrong with Cats? Is it bad because it has no plot? Well, it has about as much plot as Company. And it pretty much has the some plot as A Chorus Line. (A bunch of dancing performers get together to compete for a certain honor. They all get their moment in the sun, and at the end the sentimental favorite wins.)

I've only ever had one student who came close to capturing what is really wrong with Cats. She focused on the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber stuck too close to the original T.S. Eliot poems, which are mostly written in the third person. As a result, we rarely hear any of the cats singing about themselves, rather we hear about them from a third party. So, we never develop a bond with anyone on-stage, with the exception of Grizabella, who sings one of the few songs in the show that wasn't based directly on one of Eliot's poems. Pretty savvy, huh?

So, what do you make of the list, dear reader? Any surprises here? Any glaring omissions? Gimme a holler.

Comments

[Michael H]

Hi. Interesting read. Thanks for listing the criteria. What i think is interesting about the responses is that a musical can look ordinary or overblown on paper yet in the playing it becomes a rewarding night in the theatre. I think LEGALLY BLONDE. Is one of those shows. A production, based on the London version, has just opened here in Sydney. The cast are fantastic. The production, like the orig broadway (as per the mtv broadcast), is sharp and sassy. Yes you could describe it as relentless, but from that opening number you know exactly what ride you are on..
And yes for me its the score and libretto that lift the show beyond the ordinary..

[David Lane]

For truth's sake, "Memory" is based on Eliot's "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" from Prufrock. But to be fair, the lyrics are much more loosely interpreted than for the songs derived from Old Possum.

[Dave]

This is a great post, and thanks for including your criteria. Great reading.

I agree with your initial assessment of "Blonde", and it wasn't until I played keyboard in the orchestra for a production and really dove into the book and score that it started to grow on me. Commenter Michael H above hit it right on the money... from the first moment of the show you know what you're in for and it doesn't let up.

I would be interested in what criteria the student who wrote about "Eden" came up with. It really is a sentimental favorite of mine, but I'm always game for a debate!

[Joshua]

Personally, I think part of the problem with Cats is that it's essentially become a franchise, so every production I've seen of it is basically an imitation of Trevor Nunn's original direction, usually without the budget or dance talent to make it bearable. I would love to see some directors retool and reconceptualize the show - throw out the literal, yak fur costuming and pointless 80's dance breaks, and see what's left. What about a John Doyle actors-as-musicians version where Grizabella quietly and non belt-ily strums out Memory on just a ukulele? Or a version taking the back alley trash can world of the show, and filling it out with ingenious "Stomp"like percussion? You'd think the show's plot-lite nature would encourage directoral talent to find new and interesting ways to fill in the gaps, but instead they seem to live in fear of how Cats' built in audience would respond to any change in the general formula. One of the curses of a show that popular, I guess - there's not as much motivation to mess with something that's guaranteed to bring in money the way it's always been done.

[Geoff]

Every year I see this list and I always ask the same question, "Overrated by whom?" Critics, the cognoscenti, general theatergoers, BFA musical theater students? All of the above, I suppose. I realize this is an exercise to get students thinking, but it pains me to see "Legally Blonde" at the top of the hit list. Flawed? Oh sure, everybody is a cartoon, the plot is unrealistic and formulaic, the secondary romance is dropped in and underdeveloped, there's product placement, and on and on.

Yet for a show conceived with nothing but entertainment on its mind, it is startlingly good. The book is enormously efficient and genuinely funny (complete with some razor sharp social observations), the staging is lightning quick and cinematic, while the central romance is charming and subtly developed. And then there is that score: an exceedingly sophisticated (that's right, sophisticated) piece of social satire masquerading as an innocuous, fluffy musical. Okay, it's a tad uneven, but when it's good, it's stunningly good. What other lighthearted musical romp has the sophisticated musical storytelling of "Blood In the Water" or the delightful wordplay of "There, Right There" or even the repeated extended musical sequences? And what of the title song which is simply far more beautiful than it has any business being (what with all those gorgeous stacked 5ths that break your heart -- I call them "Bat Boy" chords)?

The show may appear loud, and peppy, and exceedingly pink on first blush, but I think there's far more substance than initially meets the eye. If I were taking your course, Chris, I might choose to write about "Legally Blonde" in the Underrated Musical category. Seriously.

[ccaggiano]

Do *not* mess with Dr. Greene, folks. He will cut a bitch.

;-)

[ccaggiano]

Joshua, will all due respect, you're focusing on the packaging and presentation of the show. In my course, I encourage students to focus on the show itself: the words and the music. Because that's where the true quality of a show lies.

The production elements can and do change over time. And, yes, the show itself can change as well as authors tweak and retool. But the essence of a show is its book and score, and that's where I ask students to focus in analyzing shows for their inherent quality.

[Caitlin]

My father directed me to your blog at this post, Chris, and naturally I was seething to see Legally Blonde at the top of the list. I'm blessed enough play Pilar (the token ethnic Delta Nu) in a local production right now. With the fear of reiterating my father's sentiments, with which I whole-heartedly agree, I will say this: the only glaring fault I find is the Paulette/Kyle subplot. "Ireland" is worth a good giggle, but it's RANDOM AS HELL. Interestingly enough, it's the London version of "Ireland" that MTI prints in the libretto, whose lyrics do give some indication as to why the hell Paulette wants to go to Ireland so badly. Something about her grandfather hailing from Dublin or everyone there is a descendant of a poet or a king... I don't know, I'm too busy catching my breath from "What You Want" to pay close enough attention. Then in the middle of "Legally Blonde remix" where Elle has finally accepted herself and become stronger, we stop all the action and do what? Irish dance? Just because Paulette realizes that the "B" in Kyle B. O'Boyle stands for Brendan? Shouldn't she have realized he was Irish from the O'Boyle immediately? It's weak! I don’t buy it. I could just be bitter because Irish dancing HURTS. But is one poorly developed secondary romance enough to qualify a show as "underrated?" I think not.

I do enjoy that the Bend and Snap is used as a plot device and not just a silly gag. I think in the movie, Elle simply notices that the pool boy's shoes are Prada. Again, efficient writing. It’s nice that Elle gently rejects Warner when he finally does propose to her, instead of leaving him as the jerk.

The score is by far the most challenging I’ve had to sing; our music director affectionately refers to the sopranos as “screechers” when spelling out a chord. My father and I were also commenting how wonderful “Take It Like A Man” is, a moment not present in the movie where Elle’s preoccupation with fashion and Emmett’s desire to become professional collide in the perfect place—a mall—for a really nice song that develops their relationship and their likability. It’s a lot of care for such fluffy source material.

Please let me audit your class.

[Forrest]

I love these lists, and the fact that you didn't enjoy Legally Blonde on stage, but you think the cast album is listenable just makes me want to see a list of your favorite cast albums, specifically the ones you think are better than the actual musical itself.
Great post.

[john r.]

Me too, Forrest.

[harry]

That's a wonderful idea for a post, Forrest. My list would begin with The Baker's Wife, Chess and Working.

[Forrest]

I think Bat Boy is a big one. I think the show is too campy, but the score is incredible.
Chess, is a good one as well.
Songs for a New World means a lot to me, even though I've never seen it. The "show" itself has no plot, but the musical is very listenable.

[Middlebrowmusicals.blogspot.com]

I'm not sure that this third person thing is the problem. Cats is a series of character portraits, not characters. As such we're not being asked to develop a bond with the characters so much as delight in the imagination that's portraying them. We're not bonding with the kitties; we're bonding with the whimsical mind of TS Eliot.

If Cats has a problem then I think it's more to do with the straight-jacketing effect of the light verse which sometimes forces the music into a predictable tum-ti-tum-ti-tum pattern. Sometimes Lord Andy can overcome this problem with inventive little bits of rhythm (as in the phrase: "The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat"). But the verse still doesn't quite offer the flexibility of an original lyric.

Even so, it's still a very entertaining miaow-sical.

(PS really enjoying your blog)

[Julie]

This was a great post. It's always fascinating to hear what theatre students think are overrated/underrated.

I love that so man you readers seem to have a soft spot for BLONDE. I went to the theatre (Broadway) totally resistant, ended up having a great time, and yes, it's one of the recordings I most listen to (my favorite guilty, guilty pleasure).

I also second Forrest's request... but it's a tricky question simply because if the show has only had one (not so great to awful) major production, it might, unfortunately, just have a bad rap.

Also, I'd love for you to post the "most underrated" list.

[Garrett]

The list of cast albums that outshine their shows is endless, and usually come from shows with a close-to-unworkable core concept (e.g., DEAR WORLD, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG) or a show where horrible direction ruined whatever chance it had (WOMEN ON THE VERGE).

I'm impressed that BLONDE made it to the "overrated" list. That age group (which I just got out of) tends to flock toward light shows with bubblegum-pop scores, the type BLONDE exemplifies. Although I don't think they get that certain shows get reputations based on the ground they broke (e.g., BOTH of the couples in SOUTH PACIFIC were interracial in a heavily segregated, pre-civil rights society).

[wchoi]

Ireally enjoyed your article! I personally think Joseph is an underrated show. Would you mind sharing your opinions about the show? Why do you think it's difficult to write about "Joseph" being overrated?