Disappointing productions

Biggest disappointments for me this year have been tours - Rocky Horror (Jason Donovan was a huge disappointment), the recent Wizard of Oz that toured before going into the Dominion (costumes looked cheap, some of the video projections were very poor graphics), and actually Disney's Aladdin on tour - not enough grandeur of set pieces and forgetful leads as Aladdin and Jasmine. Most disappointing show in London for me was Sister Act - no specific reason, just very underwhelming.

Contrary to what some others have said, Dolly and Kate were absolute highlights for me - Imelda brought exceptional emotional depth to the role in Dolly, and Kate (for which I had low expectations) delivered on every level except Adrian's singing (but he can act well so I'll forgive him).

Second this... some of the most baffling lyrics of all time also.

Another vote for "Hello, Dolly!" here. It could have been magnificent, but the set and flat choreography let it down whilst the changes were unnecessary. Staunton's central performance lifted it and gave it heart, but otherwise I found it disappointing.

Opening Night was more than disappointing. It was barely ready for a table read, let alone a West End house. Sheridan Smith worked so hard, but was severely let down by the material. The biggest disappointment from that production is that it may well put producers off staging big, new, experimental work when the issues here were really down to its core creative team: Van Hove and Wainwright lacked any experience of new musical theatre development, and they (rather naively and/or arrogantly) didn't see fit to bring in anyone familiar with the medium to help shape their show.

Sister Act was rather disappointing, too, but I think that's because I was spoilt having seen the original production at the palladium which still shines in my memory. Whilst it's still a fun show, the current version just pales in comparison.

Interesting thread!

The biggest recent disappointment for me I think is Aspects of Love at The Lyric. I think it's such a great musical with one of ALW's finest scores and a decent narrative (the "problematic" themes people talk about are massively overstated if you ask me). Dissected on the relevant thread, but this production just totally failed to capture the essence of the show and what makes it so great. When a version in a teeny theatre with only a piano as an accompaniment is much much better (Hope Mill/Southwark) that's a pretty suboptimal inditement on a version that had much more money.

Starlight Express I dunno. It was a bit disappointing to me but reflecting I think that's far more to do with my personal relationship to the show and attachment to the original rather than the production. I totally think they have succeeded in what they wanted to achieve and have delighted the majority of old fans (the FB masses rather than the theatre geeks) and new fans alike. And it's selling brilliantly.

Closer To Heaven could have been a bit better but it met my expectations as you know what to expect at The Turbine. I do think the Above the Stag version was more impressive and cohesive though. But still enjoyed it.

And then, not productions, but scores - the entire slew of recent Broadway new musicals. Have listened to OBCs of Notebook, Outsiders, Water for Elephants, Suffs, Gatsby, Lempicka. This is a comment purely on the scores as I have neither seen nor know the productions - but the music is so unremarkable. Gatsby was my fave and I enjoyed it while listening to it. But could I hum a single thing after listening twice? Nope. This is a general theme for me these days though. So many new scores that simply do not move me. Plan to go over to see Tammy Faye and Sunset (both fantastic scores IMHO) and kinda struggling with what else to see that excites me musically!

You guys are making me feel a bit better that I missed Hello Dolly! lol. Was a little gutted that I missed it because I wanted to see Imelda Staunton.

Sounds like Next to Normal was definitely the better choice.

Another vote for a disappointing Hello Dolly from me, too.

I loved Cake and that cast I saw that in its concert format then a year later at TOP (the night after seeing the other PTM production that I have forgotten!) and this should have had a far greater life that it was given it had so much more than a lot of things that were given better status, I was listening to the cast recording again today and still feel gutted for that cast (which I can’t see happening again) and the audiences that it was swaying in its favour! PTM has a lot to answer for as far as this is concerned!

As a side note I can’t believe how mad I get over this show closing early!

Hello Dolly - such an average unfunny show with terrible choreography in comparison to the recent Broadway production with Bette that was so lavish and hilarious!

And

Starlight Express - it was a cheap looking sci fi woke-fest version of a show I used to love so much. The costumes! Ugh! They removed most of the decent songs and all the magic from the show. No Bridge, no decent skating - and I didn’t have one goosebump

I can’t wait to see Devil Wears Prada!

As a big fan of the SpongeBob Musical, the recent UK tour production was a bit of a let down. The show itself is great, but they needed a more artistic director because the pantomime style took away from it

I'll still defend Opening Night - and Steve will do it a lot more eloquently than me!

Yes that was one of the things they got right with the studio cast recording, that is a great part of the show but I’m convinced that if Zizi was cast in Watching Paint Dry she would make it entertaining! There are not many like her around these days!

I still think they got the theatres wrong for this and that Gwyneth Paltrow one and this should have gone into the Criterion.

Sadly I think this is the last we will see of this in its current format and score