West End Gossip #5

FlowerOfTheEast said:

Yes I agree with Dear Evan Hansen, I really didn't like it! The storyline is obviously depressing given the theme but I don't think I (as a 40 odd year old woman) am the target audience. When I went to see it the rest of the audience were mostly younger people who seemed to be enjoying it.

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Dear Evan Hansen is my partners favourite and my least favourite. It's marmite!

kev1974 said:

Waitress advertising will tell you it's about a cute cake shop but in reality it is about someone trying to escape from an abusive relationship.

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Yes Waitress has some really depressing themes! I was kinda shocked given cutesy advertising for it.

Libbylulu said:

Interesting question somewhere online today asking what musical, despite the score, has the most awful story.
Dear Evan Hansen, Carousel and Rent was mentioned multiple times.

love your thoughts ?

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Carousel gets a hard time because of the dodgy domestic violence messaging but I love it because the story is so very real. Life can get very messy, very dark, people make huge mistakes that sometimes cost their lives, affect their descendants, etc.

The lines about being hit not hurting at all/feeling like a kiss are horrendous but... even in 2026 there will be people who actually think like that because that's what abuse can do.

Where the story goes wrong is not following along with the original it was based on, an Hungarian play called Liliom in which "Billy" goes to Hell in the end because it's actually a morality tale about how you should not live your life. Broadway/Hollywood turning the story into this sweeping romantic epic ruins the message.

In recent decades, stage versions have really tried to "fix" the whole domestic violence angle but it never quite works. Moving it to post-war from Victorian era was a pretty good idea but it's never really delved into how living through a war could lead to people being all sorts of screwed up.

It's one of those musicals where it's an adaptation and things got lost in translation. And also in general as the years pass, original messaging in a lot of older works of fiction can indeed age really poorly. It's unfortunately especially with Carousel because the music is so incredibly beautiful but, yeah.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

Why Am I So Single is the worst story I’ve ever seen on stage.

The problem was they decided to go with a plot that was entirely autobiographical (“isn’t it hard that we became ultra wealthy celebs really young, the fact we’re so rich we never need to work again has isolated us from peers and potential romantic partners, and our second show be a West End commission is a lot of pressure”).

Which could maybe work but they made the decision to make the characters that are literally supposed to be themselves working class and northern/Scottish, but with no attempt to understand those cultures or how isolating a sudden massive lifestyle change and wealth jump can be, and how wealth doesn’t necessarily equate to social mobility. It’s such a weird show.

SweetPerdita said:

Why Am I So Single is the worst story I’ve ever seen on stage.

The problem was they decided to go with a plot that was entirely autobiographical (“isn’t it hard that we became ultra wealthy celebs really young, the fact we’re so rich we never need to work again has isolated us from peers and potential romantic partners, and our second show be a West End commission is a lot of pressure”).

Which could maybe work but they made the decision to make the characters that are literally supposed to be themselves working class and northern/Scottish, but with no attempt to understand those cultures or how isolating a sudden massive lifestyle change and wealth jump can be, and how wealth doesn’t necessarily equate to social mobility. It’s such a weird show.

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Its like when a band release their 2nd album and it's all about the pressure to write a 2nd album and the hardship of touring. Totally not relatable and loses the audience.

Isn’t the behind the scenes chat that they’re also quite unlikeable as people? I’m sure I read that in this very thread!

bracrumbs said:

Isn’t the behind the scenes chat that they’re also quite unlikeable as people? I’m sure I read that in this very thread!

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I'm sure I've seen that somewhere, especially about Toby.

Just seen that Hadestown are touring, that’s been on my list for a while!

Kerrie86 said:

Just seen that Hadestown are touring, that’s been on my list for a while!

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Oh, I might make the effort to go see it since it's coming to my closest theatre around my birthday.

It’ll be interesting how they do some of the choreo in the second act in the different theatres.

You mean like the going underground or? Because I know from people whove seen it tour in America that they go off via the sides if platforms can't be used, and ive honestly seen a platform fail when I saw it in Amsterdam last summer (bc i can't ever have a normal show. Sjoutout to the one into the woods show where Jacob fowler went on as emergency cover wolf & cinderellas prince with only an afternoon of prep. Just as an example lmao) and they did it the same way then too

kev1974 said:

Awful as in rubbish writing (WWRY then, but the music saved it) or because the story covers grim and depressing themes? If the latter then Next To Normal takes the cake, they had about four different trigger warnings listed on posters around the theatre when I saw that! Utterly brilliant show though in spite of the themes!

Waitress advertising will tell you it's about a cute cake shop but in reality it is about someone trying to escape from an abusive relationship.

Let's be honest West Side Story is a romance sitting on top of gang warfare and numerous stabbings. And speaking of Carousel, well Oklahoma is really dark if the Judd Fry character is done right and properly sinister. Hell even Seven Brides for Seven Brothers they kidnap the women. Should I even mention Showboat?

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Yes but all of these shows are fabulous musicals.

West Side Story - Somewhere, Marie, Tonight, America

Oklahoma - oh what a beautiful morning, Surrey with the fringe on top, people will say we're in Love, I'm just a girl who can't say no

Seven Brides - when you're in love, wonderful wonderful day, the barn dance

Of course Carousel has the ULTIMATE show tune

You'll Never Walk Alone

And if we're talking about problematic musicals we need to include South Pacific!!!

But again Some Enchanted Evening, Nothing like a Dame, Happy Talk, Wash that Man right out of my hair.

We saw it a couple of years back with Julian Overden. My wee mammy was nearly in tears when he sang. Superb!!!

Miss Saigon is supremely problematic and I can’t believe it’s still being revived in 2026.

TravellingPants said:

Miss Saigon is supremely problematic and I can’t believe it’s still being revived in 2026.

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Omg yes!
The whole thing is just watching poor Kim being victimised at every opportunity.
A female character written by men.

Popcornshovel said:

Omg yes!
The whole thing is just watching poor Kim being victimised at every opportunity.
A female character written by men.

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Although I think one can argue that Kim is a very strong woman in as much as anyone in her circumstances can be. She fights for herself/her child at every turn.

And at least they don't cast white guys to play The Engineer any more (a low bar, I know, but it was ridiculous even in the 80s they did that)

Saw Mamma Mia yesterday in the west end. The cast seemed very thin on the ground . I didn't get a chance to look at the cast sheet though to see who was on ect annoyingly.

myra as ruth this will be camp

mrs mack handbag said:

myra as ruth this will be camp

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Absolute PERFECTION in casting. This will be so much fun!

RedFlagsAhoy said:

Absolute PERFECTION in casting. This will be so much fun!

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I know garath aka myra is a great quick witted stand up & does Christmas pantos. So it's so up there ally. Shame I won't b able to get down to see myra.