The Town of Odyssey

I have a question for people who have seen this musical: Is it good?

I always thought yes; from what I heard in passing it seemed to be held pretty fondly by people. But recently I was considering checking it out and I looked online and saw primarily negative reviews about it not holding up at all. But in trying to parse the criticisms I thought it seemed they might have been talking about the movie (which I didn't even know was a thing) and the stage show may actually be considered good; but it's really hard to tell which is being referred to so I don't know for sure if that was the case.

I was really closely involved with one we did locally so I might be biased but I really enjoyed it! It is pretty high energy most the time and has some really great numbers.

I have indescribable nostalgia for the movie. It's tragically underseen.

Everyone with Disney+, go find it!

jelly wrote:I have indescribable nostalgia for the movie. It's tragically underseen.

Everyone with Disney+, go find it!

The movie? (1992) Or the filmed production?

I'm guessing you do mean the original movie since the other is too recent to be nostalgic, but this is where my confusion comes from because everything I've seen definitely says the movie isn't good. That much is clear. What I can't parse out is if they think the film of the play is better or if they mean that's bad too and one should just avoid the whole property.

I'm quite curious about this too. I've considered watching the movie (or the filmed stage show) and just never have. Some things really are most appreciated by those with nostalgic attachment that later viewers don't have, like bookworm referenced.

If you have to go with one over the other, I would pick the stage version, hands down. I've seen the 1992 movie version once and really wouldn't care to see it again. The filmed stage production, on the other hand, I could (and do ) watch over and over and over again. Aside from the phenomenal original cast (Jeremy Jordan on that last note of the Santa Fe reprise is just ), the plot of the stage version is quite different (replacing one major character for another altogether) and so, so much better, in my opinion.

And that's my two cents! Hope it helps!

bookworm wrote:

jelly wrote:I have indescribable nostalgia for the movie. It's tragically underseen.

Everyone with Disney , go find it!

The movie? (1992) Or the filmed production?

I'm guessing you do mean the original movie since the other is too recent to be nostalgic, but this is where my confusion comes from because everything I've seen definitely says the movie isn't good. That much is clear. What I can't parse out is if they think the film of the play is better or if they mean that's bad too and one should just avoid the whole property.

Well everyone's wrong.

Tbh I have no idea how much of my fondness for the original film is coloured by nostalgia, and perhaps if I saw it for the first time today I wouldn't think that much of it, but I do also think it got unfairly squashed by critics maybe partly because musicals weren't as trendy (like, at all) in the early 90's.

The stage version is great to see live, however the filmed version of the stage version bothers me for reasons I've ranted about before (see the Hamilton thread).


edit: a huge part of what I like about the 1992 film is how vividly the early 1900's New York City atmosphere is realized. Such subtle and immersive detail. Characters that are complete cartoons in the musical (like Pulitzer) are more weighty and believable in the film. But maybe that's still nostalgia talking.

Newsies the movie remains one of my favorite musicals. And the film soundtrack is by far superior to the recorded broadway version.

jelly wrote:Tbh I have no idea how much of my fondness for the original film is coloured by nostalgia, and perhaps if I saw it for the first time today I wouldn't think that much of it

Yeah they say the nostalgia is definitely real so people looking back on it remember it fondly, but looking objectively it definitely doesn't hold up.

Of course there really isn't objectivity in media so it's certainly possible they're being too harsh, but since there's a pretty apparent consensus around the movie if I'm going to check out one of these it's going to be the other version if I get enough indications that it's considered to be more worth seeing. If I do watch it and really like it maybe I'll then give the movie a try and see if my opinion differs from the reviews.