Best and Worst Show You've Ever Seen

[GlindatheGood22]

Simple.

Best: Ragtime revival
Worst: Cats

[madbrian]

Best: A Chorus Line (original)
Worst: Mamma Mia

[GatorNY]

Best is a bit tough. Either Les Miserables or Next to Normal.
Worst is easier...Hot Feet.
At least for me.

[broadwayjim42]

Best: too many to count, but most surprising based on low expectations? Metamorphoses...I was in tears several times.

Worst...or actually most disappointing: The original incarnation of "La Cage." I know I'm in a minority, but it's one of the few shows that ever made me angry...both due to quality and having paid full price.

[newintown]

Are we talking Broadway only?

Best: (ties) Sunday In The Park With George (original production, original cast), The Drowsy Chaperone, Death of a Salesman (Dennehy revival), Shirley Valentine.

Worst: (ties) Ring Of Fire, Lennon, The Times They Are a-Changin', High Fidelity.

[Bwaynerd]

best: Billy Elliot, Next to Normal
worst: grinch

[mamaleh]

Best: FOLLIES (1971 original)
Worst: NORMA DOESMEN (Off-B'way)

[bryan2]

BEST
GYPSY IN THIS ORDER
TYNE DALY -5 TIMES IN PERSON THE BEST/ ON RECORDING THE WORST
BETTY BUCKLEY-AMAZING
PATTI LUPONE-GREAT
NINE =ORIGINAL AND REVIVAL
DREAMGIRLS
REBA IN ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
SONG AND DANCE W/B PETERS AND WITH BETTY BUCKLEY
1ST ACT IS A VOCAL DREAM

WORST
GREASE ON BROADWAY -JOLEY FISHER----HIGH SCHOOLS DID THIS BETTER
THE NEWS-WORST SHOW EVER
LES MISERABLE -LOVE THE MUSIC ..SHOW TOO GREY
LION KING----WAY OVER DONE...REALLY REALLY DISSAPOINTED ME

[wexy]

The worst; "The Secret Rapture." by far in my 22 yrs of being into the theater.

[MusicAngel]

WORST

- Pippin (Deaf West Theatre production)

- Dirty Dancing: It was part of a season package unfortunately. I even think mother nature was against it because in the last 15 min of the show, we had a 4.7 earthquake and about 50 or more left the theatre. I was outta there!

BEST

- Ugh, so many!

[broadwayjim42]

Thanks for reminding me about "The Lion King." "Circle of Life" was amzing; the rest was unrelenting tedium.

[Jason Bennett]

I'm pretty fricking picky...so it isn't many...I can't choose worst, because I feel bored to tears by the vast majority of theater I see and my critiques are not appropriate for a public forum -- scathing though they can be...I've started to only go to live theater when I'm personally invited, made that decision years ago.

Best has to include the ingredient of feeling life-changing, to me...

Only one in New York: Sunset Boulevard. IT WAS NOT THE SHOW ITSELF. It was watching Betty Buckley in it. She was a Master. And I learned a LOT about performing from watching her work. I think you can learn a lot about acting from watching great acting.

Another life-changing show was "The Baltimore Waltz," in the basement of a church. Three actors, all BRILLIANT, in Cincinnati, Ohio. There was probably an audience of 15. And I'll never forget it. It made me understand that theater can truly change lives, when all the ingredients come together.

Another life-changing show was "Miss Evers' Boys," by Tovah Feldshuh's brother. This is SUCH an important show, based on the fact our government experimented on black people until around 1972, medically, without their knowledge. I saw it in a small theater, outside New York. It was devastating and life-changing, to watch those performers...that ensemble. Amazing!

Finally, "Keely and Du." Also, in a very small theater, small cast. It's about a woman who has been raped and is not allowed to have an abortion, after being kidnapped by a crazy right-wing group. Again, those performances were life-changing. And I learned so much about acting from watching these amazing actors.

I watched "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Angels in America" on tape at Lincoln Center. I watched both parts of Angels in America twice...same deal...amazing...life-changing.

That's why I go to the theater, or to films. To quote Glenn Close, "When it's done right, it re-arranges your molecules." Absolutely...I don't want to settle for less.

[munkustrap178]

I'm having a hard time thinking of best, but for the worst:

Good Vibrations
Brooklyn
Ring of Fire
The Times They Are A Changin'
Tarzan
The Woman in White

[luvbrdway]

Best: Wicked, Hairspray, South Pacific (if I have to chose one, Wicked)

Worst: Starlight Express, STOMP

[AC126748]

BEST
Long Day's Journey Into Night (2003 Revival)
Proof (Original Cast)
Caroline, or Change
Ragtime (Original and Revival)
Mary Stuart
Mother Courage and Her Children (Shakespeare in the Park)
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
The Coast of Utopia (especially SHIPWRECK)
A View From the Bridge (1998 and 2010 revivals)
Sunday in the Park with George (2008 revival)
Happy Days (Fiona Shaw)

WORST
Little Women: The Musical
The Drowsy Chaperone
Iphigenia 2.0
Paradise Park
Cats
A Tale of Two Cities
All My Sons
Deuce
A Little Night Music (current revival)

[singtopher]

Best:
Drowsy
Les Mis (original)
August: Osage County

Worst
Memphis

[wicked1492]

BEST: PATTILUPONEGYPSY
WORST: 101 DALMATIONS OR SH!TTY SH!TTY GANG BANG

[DRSisLove]

Best: Spring Awakening, Fela!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Worst: Bye Bye Birdie (Revival), Blood Brothers (London), Fantasticks (Off-Broadway)

[strummergirl]

Best: The Producers, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd revival (national tour) and South Pacific revival.

Worst (these shows were not necessarily bad themselves, I just saw bad productions):
Grease- National tour 200?, but before the most recent revival (Frankie Avalon as Johnny Angel in his mid-sixties was actually the best part)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels- National Tour(I adore to OCR but in this show the three leads, I don't remember their names and that seems right, were terrible and the timing was completely off)

[Mister Matt]

Broadway:

Best - Les Miserables; An Inspector Calls
Worst - Thou Shalt Not; Waiting in the Wings

West End:

Best - My Fair Lady (2001 Revival); Cloudstreet
Worst - Boyband; The Graduate

[ClapYo'Hands]

Is this worst and best in terms of production? Or actual show?

[Marquise]

BEST:
BOMBAY DREAMS

WORST:
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (2010 Revival)

[Katurian2]

The best: THE PILLOWMAN and THE COAST OF UTOPIA and SWEENEY TODD (revival)

The worst: THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING and CRY BABY

all OBCs.

[emilyfaye48]

Best: Patti LuPone Gypsy
Worst: reasons to be pretty

[I'mNOTthatGIRL72]

best: both times i saw rent....1st time cause it was my first musical ever and changed my life. the moment it was over i had this feeling of, i could die now and that would be ok. it was surreal. i was 15. the second time had adam and anthony, which was just so freaking cool.
best moment in my broadway life was the moment john tartaglia appeared on stage at the beginning of shrek. i LOVE!!!! him, and i was in the front row, and i was so excited. i loved shrek, i don;t care what anyone says!

worst: i have only seen 18 shows in my life so far (i am only 19) but i recently saw a high school production of beauty and the beast. the guy playing gaston and the girl playing belle actually had phenomenal voices. the rest of the cast, including the beast where SO MEDIOCRE it was laughable. it was also 45 mins too long because the students kept throwing in useless 'inside jokes' that only people from that school understood. the school had done annie the year before. the girl playing laphoo (sp?) was annie and she made a joke about the show. then she made another and another. it took SO MUCH TIME and literally the show was 3 1/2 hours long (that included a 1/2 intermission). not bad for a HS production, but i was kind of like, meh.

[TheatreFreak05]

Best: Sunday in the Park With George, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Gypsy (LuPone)