I actually found it more Campy and charming, although in an “OHMIGOD WHY am I actually Enjoying THIS GOOFY DUMB SHOW?!!” way than in the way one can enjoy, say, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is the tone I Think they were going for
The actress playing Kay in this video, Katrina Lenk, won the Tony Award in 2018 for Best Actress in a Musical. So at least this show didn’t kill her career!
This was probably the weirdest thing to ever come out of Universal. And yet, as someone who genuinely loved the much-hated King Kong musical, I was having a blast just watching the clips of Creature of the Black Lagoon: the Musical.
@@BeMoreBroadway I didn’t know that people didn’t like the King Kong musical. I saw it once on Broadway with my brothers, my mom, a friend of mine, and his mom. I went in with an open mind, and I liked it.
Taylor Estremera is there even footage of that show? This and the Rugrats one are no where to be seen but they’re both often known to be worse than the Creature musical.
I had the chance to see this and it was worse in person . What was sad is it had so much potential and with a little tinkering it could have been a fun show
I feel like the campiness of the show was lost on a lot of people. This wasn’t going to work because mainstream audiences wouldn’t get it. This is a hilarious campy tribute, lampooning not only classic Hollywood horror but the musical theatre genre itself. Underrated and under appreciated. But ya, I get why many didn’t like it.
While the show might be terrible, I think the creature costume is great. The fact that the actor can sing and dance in it as well as do the swimming sequence is really impressive, and it seems reasonably emotive. Even the shots of the actor out in the park look good. I really hope they kept it for use during other events.
I just..I have no words. This seemed like it would be a good fit for Horror Nights but not a everyday show. Also the creature looks like Predator and I can't stop giggling
When I was younger, I actually enjoyed the musical always dragging my mom to watch it every time we went to Universal. I now just realized how unusual the musical is...
@@Weird_VHS universal already crapped on the original film a LONG time ago. At least the shape of water did something original with the series. And at least it was made and not cancelled for stupid reasons.
I dropped so many "whaaaaaaaat?"s seeing this. I am utterly baffled by this--and I've never seen the original movie. So glad I managed to skip out on this by going to Universal Orlando--in 2007.
One of the most unfortunate things about a bad stage show like this is you get the impression almost everyone is trying to put in good effort to make it work. Whether they're acting on stage, design or technical staff, I would suspect none of them went into work wanting to create a bad show. I feel sad their ambition and talents were dropped into a short-lived, poorly-received venture that was doomed to fail. As long as they all got their paychecks and have gone on to apply the positives of what they've learned during the production I guess some good came from it. How did making Creature from the Black Lagoon into a theme park musical stage show for something other than a Halloween special make sense in a pitch meeting? When ideas like this get greenlit, it makes me wonder what executives are thinking. Replace Back to the Future because it's based on a 1980s movie franchise but pick a movie from the 1950s as source material for an attraction. There may actually been good ideas that was passed on. I would blame the higher-ups at Universal Theme Parks for missing the mark on this attraction more than anyone but they were probably in the position at the time to make something relatively cheap with IPs owned by the studio. I could say this about Creature from the Black Lagoon musical show; it wasn't lazy. Through some of your expeditions, I've seen lazy efforts where attractions are created or operate without care for theming or enticement that is worse than bad.
Gill-Man: Turn Off the Dark Actually no irony at all, I would pay like $300 to see this show. I was so disappointed by King Kong the musical when King Kong didn't sing.
Ok. I’m gonna fess up .. I just discovered this mini documentary on OUR show. Yes I say our because. Well. I was the creature in the show ( there were actually two more guys cast we each had our performance days ). This I have to say was quite well reviewed and we knew during rehearsals there were some problems inherent with automated boats and flying and yes script. I will say n defense of the cast (s). There were some very very very talented people in the show I was lucky enough to work along side. Sometimes no matter the massive talent you can not transcend “ bad “. But it was great fun and I have some very fond memories of playing “Gill “ opposite some massive talent. Best to all. Grant aka Gill the creature
I saw it a bunch of times at the beginning and end of its run, with out of town relatives and friends. Each time, a good half of the audience would get up & leave. It was ridiculously cringey, and I'm a musical theatre nerd.
This musical sounds _very_ silly and I love it on concept alone. If they'd decided to try and take it seriously, or even just go full Rocky Horror, it could've been genuinely okay. The opening number definitely is way more promising than subsequent clips (Primeval should be forgotten, it's better that way) and everyone clearly has the pipes to handle an actually good score. I mean, IP musicals were starting to make a big-time resurgence before the lockdown happened. They could give this a second try, and maybe even make it good.
15:36 "Mega-Gill's giant animatronic could speak, grab, point and do one other thing you may not expect..." Me watching in real time: "I suppose you're going to tell me that muppet can eat the chickypoo." "...the show literally ends with Kay being eaten by the Creature." Me: "Good God Expedition! I was only joking." *laughs maniacally*
The way she holds the circus loop @15:33 gave me an anxiety attack. The way that's supposed to work is your hand going through the braided rope (the loop) and the cinching the leather bit calle a Keeper down to your wrist and then holding the loop. It's an industry standard for gymnast / acrobatic performers, and in her case if she fell from the swing, the only thing keeping her from fracturing her pelvis / spine at the safety belt. Ask the tangled thugs from Festival of Fantasy. You Always have one cinched to your wrist at all times. two if your switching sides of the axe / mallet before undoing the side they came from. spotters for the cable system shouldn't have flown her. sAFe DeE BeGiNS wItH Me!!1
As a tribute to the classic movie monster character, Gillman became the last name of the family of krakens including our main titular protagonist in the DreamWorks film "Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken" 🦑🔱🧜🏻♀️.
Little did people watching this know that in the midst of this chaos they were experiencing future Tony Award, Grammy and Emmy winner, Broadway legend and incredible violinist Katrina Lenk. This show baffles me to this day because part of it had legit intention, you can't cast people with such talent, invest so much in costume, set design and make up effects, and hire choreographers that will design a synchronized aerial duet (!!) if you're not willing to pull through. But the book, songs and overall perspective of it was as if they weren't taking it seriously and it brought it all down. You're either doing a legit musical or you're doing a funny revue. The ending makes me think they tried to Little Shop of Horrors it but walking that line between drama, horror and comedy like Howard Ashman and Alan Menken did isn't easy, let alone for a theme park musical. It's kind of sad that some people clearly gave their all into this and got ridiculed because the whole tone was terrible. Thankfully some of them moved on to better things. Awesome video, as always!!
I was at the employee preview for this...it was so bad and the show was stopped multiple times for technical difficulty. So bad. The Im Hung...hung hungry for love line in the show killed
I think ultimately the show was not right for Universal. Not only was the content of the show too graphic and inappropriate for families and younger theatre-goers, but a musical adaptation of an obscure property with self-aware humor and off the wall violence just didn't appeal to a theme park audience. Audiences at theme parks are more general and family-oriented, so something like Creature wouldn't have the right appeal. In addition, making it a permanent attraction would only further make the show more obscure and the demand wouldn't be as high, especially considering its a horror-based property. If it were a seasonal Halloween Horror Nights show like Bill and Ted, maybe it would have had more appeal to the horror seeking audience they market towards. Ultimately, I believe the show would have worked better as an Off-Broadway experience that played for smaller venues and niche theatres. That way it can more easily target their intended audience who would actively seek it out. Maybe it could have had a similar cult audience that Rocky Horror, Little Shop and Evil Dead the Musical got. The target audience is important to shows success and often the wrong location with the wrong demographic will deeply impact a shows success. For example, my college did a production of Toxic Avenger the Musical. My college is a liberal arts college that is strongly passionate about social justice, so performing a show with a twisted sense of humor just didn't work and many of the students found the show offensive. I remember parents taking their kids to see the show because they thought it would be a fun family experience (they tried to cover up the fact that the show was offensive) and they ended up walking out. The point is, doing a show as raunchy as Toxic Avenger in a mostly liberal area where families and senior citizens make up the general population wasn't the right move. Creature From the Black Lagoon had the potential to be the next Rocky Horror if it had decided to play for a different venue, but playing for a theme park ruined its chances of reaching the right audience and getting the attention it could have gotten. Also, I just realized that the actress playing Kay was Katrina Lenk, who later won a Tony award for her performance in The Bands Visit. It's so bizarre seeing her in a production of Creature from the Black Lagoon
I loved this show way too much. Probably saw it more than any other guest. 😂 I would use my annual pass multiple times a week and watch every performance throughout the day. I'm a sucker for musical comedy and giant animatronics and there were some really good singers in the show.
18:03 I don't know if it's STILL there, but when I saw the the newly moved Special Effects Stage for the first time, it was definitely back there, because you could see it. I actually had no idea what it was for.
I remember watching this on TH-cam when I was a little kid! I thought it was literally the coolest thing ever cause I was the only kid I knew who liked the original creature from the black lagoon movies! Now looking back at it, wow was this show bad, I had never realized that it was supposed to be a modern day sequel to the original story and as a kid I was like “I don’t remember the creature growing to 500 feet and eating the love interest” but anyways, at least I liked it as a kid.
Well then. Well if nothing else, the SFX and visuals in the show are fantastic and credit to those artists where it's due. But this...attraction was a completely bonkers idea from the get-go and was probably doomed from inception - though honestly with a bit of tinkering it could've been a really fun and campy stage show. I wouldn't have made it be year-round, though; it would've worked better as a yearly event around Halloween, maybe a slightly altered version for Xmas and New Year's if we're feeling daring.
This curses me with such a heavy urge to try and reboot/revive this work, because I genuinely think that it had some cool and fun concepts, especially with the campiness that they leaned into--the glittery streamers as blood, the fact that Kay gets eaten at the end (meaning the "Whole New Hunger" was foreshadowing the whole time)--and it's just that the writing is.........well, the writing is pretty fuckin painful, huh. But like. Salvageable in some ways? I'm so bummed they just canned it instead of at least TRYING to do rewrites.
As fan of musicals Black Lagoon is weird choice, Dracula or wolf man would make more sense. Hell even Frankstein. But this musical seems the one I watch after few drinks but yea it bad really bad
Fun fact: the lady playing Kay at 1:06 and seen other times throughout the video is Katrina Lenk, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress for the 2018 musical The Band’s Visit!
Oh my god, thank you for talking about this, one of my favorite, weird little nuggets of universal monsters-realted content. It was truly awful in just about every aspect but with the success of the shape of water I can't help but think parts of it were ahead of its time.
My god I remember seeing this at Universal Studios when I was about 9 or 10. I had no idea what to think of it. All I remember was being mesmerised by the amazing set, the beautiful lights and ... also having a crush on Gil (Disturbing I know)🤣 I’ll never understand why universal thought it would be okay to have kids come see this. It definitely seems more fit for people in their late teens and up.
The creature from the Black Lagoon has been my favorite movie monster since childhood. Seeing it singing and dancing was worse than any horror movie....
There's something rather wacky and cursed seeing a Gillman with Predator style dreads and speaking like an Aussie man along with a Villain Song that makes a roulette of pop culture references
It was a ham sandwich from the word go but that's why it's fun. Allso the creature looks like he's been kicked out of Lordi which you can take either way.
Sam. These songs are so. bad. I don’t know what else to say. I’m blown away by the terribleness. Another excellent video. But, wow. I can’t believe that existed. Especially with that badass animatronic! Damn.
I can’t help but feel like having this musical be shown year-round effectively killed it. Even though it was intended for an older audience, it was still extremely out of place in a family theme park, especially when there’s really no practical way to keep kids and unsuspecting parents out of it. It genuinely baffles me that they didn’t just have this be a Halloween Horror Nights exclusive show; if you wanted to make an adult-oriented horror musical, why not show it during the one park event where children are discouraged?
I think Universal made this purposely terrible. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a very successful film. But sometimes, people take that for granted. So, what better way to remind them of the movie than making a musical that completely fudges it up! It needed to be popular so that everyone would see it, but it also needed to be horrible so that everyone would go back to remember just how good the original movie was. True beauty never fades, you just need to be reminded of it once in a while.
Considering the history that Creature From the Black Lagoon franchise has with a certain wacky 90s show, this should been re-named Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Musical
"The only problem was, it was terrible"
Well there's your problem
Bit of a problem
Tiny problem
I actually found it more Campy and charming, although in an “OHMIGOD WHY am I actually Enjoying THIS GOOFY DUMB SHOW?!!” way than in the way one can enjoy, say, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is the tone I Think they were going for
The actress playing Kay in this video, Katrina Lenk, won the Tony Award in 2018 for Best Actress in a Musical. So at least this show didn’t kill her career!
Right and Spiderman !
That is one of the most inspiring stories I have ever heard...no joke!
She may have got eaten but in the end she got the last laugh
There's something hilarious about juxtaposing Katrina Lenk singing a beautiful song like "Omar Sharif" with the songs from Creature lol
You are very correct. Katrina is a massive talent and I am proud to call her “ friend “. We all survived “ the lagoon “ thank goodness haha
This was probably the weirdest thing to ever come out of Universal.
And yet, as someone who genuinely loved the much-hated King Kong musical, I was having a blast just watching the clips of Creature of the Black Lagoon: the Musical.
KING KONG MUSICAL?! WTF
@@lunahetfield Yes, it was a thing. And yes, I loved it. Critics didn't.
@@BeMoreBroadway I didn’t know that people didn’t like the King Kong musical. I saw it once on Broadway with my brothers, my mom, a friend of mine, and his mom. I went in with an open mind, and I liked it.
imagine if they gave all the other universal monster movies this treatment, like dracula or frankenstein.
Compared to Fast and Furious Supercharged, this is oscar winning material👌.
This is true
Ride or die 😆
Facts 🤣😂🤣😂.
I think this show would have work if they did this for Halloween Horror Nights but all year around was bad idea from the start
That's what I said ga
Expedition Theme Park Opps sorry! I was way too fast
"After the failure of spiderman Rocks...they did not learn their lesson:
Nor did some other people "spiderman turn off the dark"
Yep
I’ll still take those Spider-Man musical over TMNT: Coming Out Our Shells!
@@kyliethelittlespider-mangirl94 indeed!
Yeah but Turn off the Dark had that music number with the SHOES at one point so like. At least it's MEMORABLE.
only 1:30 in. already questioning if this is going to drain my emotional energy with horrible music. im so sorry you had to research this.
i know all the words now.
Expedition Theme Park my condolences
Ummm...that was a thing that existed..🤔 Why did he look vaguely like a Predator?
It did!
Expedition Theme Park can you talk about the land before time show that was at universal Hollywood?
Taylor Estremera is there even footage of that show? This and the Rugrats one are no where to be seen but they’re both often known to be worse than the Creature musical.
Taylor Estremera there’s like no info out there on that show :(
I thought the SAME thing.
Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Musical walked so The Shape of Water could run.
Yesss
Just... What? Why did anyone think this would work?!
Someone did
Life u finds a way
Either someone was really high or a big fan of... certain parts of the internet best left unmentioned
@Edward Lee Miller I could sort of see Dracula working more than The Creature. More camp at least :')
If it worked for Jesus, then why not the Black Lagoon.
Knowing universal im supprised they did not open 3 more at each park after they heard if was hated. Looking at you fast and furious and fear factor
Ha true
@@ExpeditionThemePark I’m fairly certain those were only opened due to contractual/licensing agreements.
I had the chance to see this and it was worse in person . What was sad is it had so much potential and with a little tinkering it could have been a fun show
Haha sounds right
I feel like the campiness of the show was lost on a lot of people. This wasn’t going to work because mainstream audiences wouldn’t get it. This is a hilarious campy tribute, lampooning not only classic Hollywood horror but the musical theatre genre itself. Underrated and under appreciated. But ya, I get why many didn’t like it.
+
If they made it a bit more obvious before entering than I think It would be fine
I dunno I think a lot of the jokes don’t land
@Vid Rama well yeah good singers work.. not there
Nah, it was pretty bad
Creature from the black lagoon: the musical: the series the sequel the animated series the series of series the ride the show
So good
At least the animatronic looked cool.
Right!
It wasn’t just cool it was awesome
Maybe they shipped it to Orlando and reskinned (refurred?) it for Skull Island Reign of Kong.
@@OrlanDave I think the king Kong animatronic is a little to advanced for it to be the same one, but I could be wrong.
While the show might be terrible, I think the creature costume is great. The fact that the actor can sing and dance in it as well as do the swimming sequence is really impressive, and it seems reasonably emotive. Even the shots of the actor out in the park look good. I really hope they kept it for use during other events.
I just..I have no words. This seemed like it would be a good fit for Horror Nights but not a everyday show. Also the creature looks like Predator and I can't stop giggling
Predator fish!
I feel like they had a leftover predator costume and just painted him green
I still have memories of people walking out during the show.
Not surprised
Lol is that true
When I was younger, I actually enjoyed the musical always dragging my mom to watch it every time we went to Universal. I now just realized how unusual the musical is...
Yeppp
The ‘swimming’ was quite effective. However...ouch!
Yeah haha
"No one would like a romance sea monster movie, or give it an oscar" said someone in 2017
Yuppppp
18:05 as someone who works at Universal Studios Hollywood who has gone back stage at Castle Theater, that rumor is false, Mega Gillman is not there.
But I work there and just last week when it re opened I had a walk around and Mega Gilman is there...
Reopened? The park is still closed.
It’s so weird to see one of your videos be about a show I worked. It was actually pretty fun.
I can't believe they turned Troy McClure's "romantic anomaly" into a full-fledged musical.
They did!
But not the superior Planet Of The Apes musical...
I wonder if they'll ever make "Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die" or "Gladys, The Groovy Mule".
The saddest part about it all is the main actress of Creature of Black Lagoon witnessed all of this.
Right
God, I feel like my life would've been a lot simpler without knowing this existed.
Never again!
Another reason it failed:
No Ocean Man
Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Musical walked so Guillermo Del Toro could run
Yes
Beat me to it!
In terms of crapping on the original film, I agree.
@@Weird_VHS universal already crapped on the original film a LONG time ago. At least the shape of water did something original with the series. And at least it was made and not cancelled for stupid reasons.
@@carsonsmith7314 I hated Shape of Water. Disgusting film. I'm glad it's not part of the official franchise.
The dreadlocks make the creature look like some sort of aquatic predator without its mask.
I thought that also
As a fan of the Creature, I think his design in this musical is a very beautiful remake of a classic horror movie character.
As someone who loves classic Universal horror films, and especially Creature, this physically hurts to watch lol
Right!
8:45 yeesh...looks like the signs were there for Matt Lauer.
Yupppp
Matt Lauer knew he was fired even before This Attraction Closed He would be fired years later due to "Reasons"
It's like the writers locked themselves in a cheap hotel with a mountain of coke and wrote it in a weekend. Then no one checked their work.
Maybe ha
Looks like I need to go watch the original movie so I can remove this from my brain... thanks.
My pleasure ha
I dropped so many "whaaaaaaaat?"s seeing this. I am utterly baffled by this--and I've never seen the original movie. So glad I managed to skip out on this by going to Universal Orlando--in 2007.
One of the most unfortunate things about a bad stage show like this is you get the impression almost everyone is trying to put in good effort to make it work. Whether they're acting on stage, design or technical staff, I would suspect none of them went into work wanting to create a bad show. I feel sad their ambition and talents were dropped into a short-lived, poorly-received venture that was doomed to fail. As long as they all got their paychecks and have gone on to apply the positives of what they've learned during the production I guess some good came from it.
How did making Creature from the Black Lagoon into a theme park musical stage show for something other than a Halloween special make sense in a pitch meeting? When ideas like this get greenlit, it makes me wonder what executives are thinking. Replace Back to the Future because it's based on a 1980s movie franchise but pick a movie from the 1950s as source material for an attraction. There may actually been good ideas that was passed on. I would blame the higher-ups at Universal Theme Parks for missing the mark on this attraction more than anyone but they were probably in the position at the time to make something relatively cheap with IPs owned by the studio.
I could say this about Creature from the Black Lagoon musical show; it wasn't lazy. Through some of your expeditions, I've seen lazy efforts where attractions are created or operate without care for theming or enticement that is worse than bad.
I feel bad for the vast
Gill-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Actually no irony at all, I would pay like $300 to see this show. I was so disappointed by King Kong the musical when King Kong didn't sing.
Turn on the dark
Gill Man could glow in the dark like his many toy interpretations!
Even as the end card was happening, I literally just stared at the screen, wondering what I had just witnessed.
Me too
This musical is more or less a rocky horror rewrite..I can see the parallels with the writing.
When you see the guy in the suit presenting an Universal product. You know you’re in for a good time!
Right!
Ok. I’m gonna fess up .. I just discovered this mini documentary on OUR show. Yes I say our because. Well. I was the creature in the show ( there were actually two more guys cast we each had our performance days ). This I have to say was quite well reviewed and we knew during rehearsals there were some problems inherent with automated boats and flying and yes script. I will say n defense of the cast (s). There were some very very very talented people in the show I was lucky enough to work along side. Sometimes no matter the massive talent you can not transcend “ bad “. But it was great fun and I have some very fond memories of playing “Gill “ opposite some massive talent. Best to all.
Grant aka Gill the creature
I came for the air conditioning. I stayed for the comfy bench.
I honestly could see something like this working. Things like Batboy the musical have a big underground following.
Featuring the showstopping songs
"SALMON -CHANTED EVENING "
&
"LIKE A STURGEON "
My sister absolutely loves this musical in a so-bad-its-good way so naturally the both of us were thrilled to see a video about it.
Hope you enjoyed
I saw it a bunch of times at the beginning and end of its run, with out of town relatives and friends. Each time, a good half of the audience would get up & leave. It was ridiculously cringey, and I'm a musical theatre nerd.
Not surprised
I'd walk out too if I had to sit through that
I guess nothing is safe from being turned into a musical
Nope!
This musical sounds _very_ silly and I love it on concept alone. If they'd decided to try and take it seriously, or even just go full Rocky Horror, it could've been genuinely okay. The opening number definitely is way more promising than subsequent clips (Primeval should be forgotten, it's better that way) and everyone clearly has the pipes to handle an actually good score. I mean, IP musicals were starting to make a big-time resurgence before the lockdown happened. They could give this a second try, and maybe even make it good.
It could of been so good!
15:36 "Mega-Gill's giant animatronic could speak, grab, point and do one other thing you may not expect..."
Me watching in real time: "I suppose you're going to tell me that muppet can eat the chickypoo."
"...the show literally ends with Kay being eaten by the Creature."
Me: "Good God Expedition! I was only joking." *laughs maniacally*
Well it could have been worse. I thought they were going to kiss.
The way she holds the circus loop @15:33 gave me an anxiety attack. The way that's supposed to work is your hand going through the braided rope (the loop) and the cinching the leather bit calle a Keeper down to your wrist and then holding the loop. It's an industry standard for gymnast / acrobatic performers, and in her case if she fell from the swing, the only thing keeping her from fracturing her pelvis / spine at the safety belt. Ask the tangled thugs from Festival of Fantasy. You Always have one cinched to your wrist at all times. two if your switching sides of the axe / mallet before undoing the side they came from. spotters for the cable system shouldn't have flown her. sAFe DeE BeGiNS wItH Me!!1
"Ah yes, let's turn a classic horror movie into a musical! What could go wrong?!"
They tried!
Perhaps they thought the camp and sillyness ala Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog would work here.
They thought wrong on both counts.
Worked with evil dead
As a tribute to the classic movie monster character, Gillman became the last name of the family of krakens including our main titular protagonist in the DreamWorks film "Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken" 🦑🔱🧜🏻♀️.
Little did people watching this know that in the midst of this chaos they were experiencing future Tony Award, Grammy and Emmy winner, Broadway legend and incredible violinist Katrina Lenk.
This show baffles me to this day because part of it had legit intention, you can't cast people with such talent, invest so much in costume, set design and make up effects, and hire choreographers that will design a synchronized aerial duet (!!) if you're not willing to pull through. But the book, songs and overall perspective of it was as if they weren't taking it seriously and it brought it all down. You're either doing a legit musical or you're doing a funny revue. The ending makes me think they tried to Little Shop of Horrors it but walking that line between drama, horror and comedy like Howard Ashman and Alan Menken did isn't easy, let alone for a theme park musical. It's kind of sad that some people clearly gave their all into this and got ridiculed because the whole tone was terrible. Thankfully some of them moved on to better things.
Awesome video, as always!!
Thank you!
I just saw an Australian man in a fish suit sing bad music and a giant animatronic eat a woman. God help me
True art
I was at the employee preview for this...it was so bad and the show was stopped multiple times for technical difficulty. So bad. The Im Hung...hung hungry for love line in the show killed
What next a musical about Godzilla that just the lyrics from the Godzilla soundtrack….
That sound like a good idea honestly.
The History of El Rio del Tiempo/Grand Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros at Epcot.
One day
'Creature' walked so Shape of water could run
Man I'm getting weird "COWABUNGA" vibes from this Fish fella. Wonder if he meet with some Young turtles that knows ninja skills and loves pizza?
Maybe he did!
And thus the first draft of "The Shape of Water" was born...
I remember watching this show when I was like 7 and being scared of it. I'm pretty sure I cried in the line waiting to go in the theater
Maybe as it was so bad ha
I think ultimately the show was not right for Universal. Not only was the content of the show too graphic and inappropriate for families and younger theatre-goers, but a musical adaptation of an obscure property with self-aware humor and off the wall violence just didn't appeal to a theme park audience. Audiences at theme parks are more general and family-oriented, so something like Creature wouldn't have the right appeal. In addition, making it a permanent attraction would only further make the show more obscure and the demand wouldn't be as high, especially considering its a horror-based property. If it were a seasonal Halloween Horror Nights show like Bill and Ted, maybe it would have had more appeal to the horror seeking audience they market towards.
Ultimately, I believe the show would have worked better as an Off-Broadway experience that played for smaller venues and niche theatres. That way it can more easily target their intended audience who would actively seek it out. Maybe it could have had a similar cult audience that Rocky Horror, Little Shop and Evil Dead the Musical got.
The target audience is important to shows success and often the wrong location with the wrong demographic will deeply impact a shows success. For example, my college did a production of Toxic Avenger the Musical. My college is a liberal arts college that is strongly passionate about social justice, so performing a show with a twisted sense of humor just didn't work and many of the students found the show offensive. I remember parents taking their kids to see the show because they thought it would be a fun family experience (they tried to cover up the fact that the show was offensive) and they ended up walking out. The point is, doing a show as raunchy as Toxic Avenger in a mostly liberal area where families and senior citizens make up the general population wasn't the right move.
Creature From the Black Lagoon had the potential to be the next Rocky Horror if it had decided to play for a different venue, but playing for a theme park ruined its chances of reaching the right audience and getting the attention it could have gotten.
Also, I just realized that the actress playing Kay was Katrina Lenk, who later won a Tony award for her performance in The Bands Visit. It's so bizarre seeing her in a production of Creature from the Black Lagoon
I've seen this show a couple of times and I always saw fangirls with tshirts from the play singing along. Don't know which was worse.
I'm not surprised!
I guarantee they weren’t fans of the show, they were fans of the performers.
Poor Julie Adams having to witness that trainwreck!
Right!
It killed her
That animatronic looked expensive. It's sad they could've fixed Kongfrontation but wasted that kinda money on the last part of a stage show.
Like caviar and champagne!!! 🐠 🎶 💃
Tartar sauce and fish sticks!
I loved this show way too much. Probably saw it more than any other guest. 😂 I would use my annual pass multiple times a week and watch every performance throughout the day. I'm a sucker for musical comedy and giant animatronics and there were some really good singers in the show.
18:03 I don't know if it's STILL there, but when I saw the the newly moved Special Effects Stage for the first time, it was definitely back there, because you could see it. I actually had no idea what it was for.
I think it's moved now
@@ExpeditionThemePark Probably, yeah. After years of no use, it was probably rotting away.
Shame for the animatronic to go to waste and the swimming 'effect' looked really good (at least on video). Otherwise...yeesh
The effects were really good
I remember watching this on TH-cam when I was a little kid! I thought it was literally the coolest thing ever cause I was the only kid I knew who liked the original creature from the black lagoon movies! Now looking back at it, wow was this show bad, I had never realized that it was supposed to be a modern day sequel to the original story and as a kid I was like “I don’t remember the creature growing to 500 feet and eating the love interest” but anyways, at least I liked it as a kid.
The effects are cool!
Well then. Well if nothing else, the SFX and visuals in the show are fantastic and credit to those artists where it's due. But this...attraction was a completely bonkers idea from the get-go and was probably doomed from inception - though honestly with a bit of tinkering it could've been a really fun and campy stage show. I wouldn't have made it be year-round, though; it would've worked better as a yearly event around Halloween, maybe a slightly altered version for Xmas and New Year's if we're feeling daring.
This curses me with such a heavy urge to try and reboot/revive this work, because I genuinely think that it had some cool and fun concepts, especially with the campiness that they leaned into--the glittery streamers as blood, the fact that Kay gets eaten at the end (meaning the "Whole New Hunger" was foreshadowing the whole time)--and it's just that the writing is.........well, the writing is pretty fuckin painful, huh. But like. Salvageable in some ways? I'm so bummed they just canned it instead of at least TRYING to do rewrites.
I wish it had stuck around and could of grown
As fan of musicals Black Lagoon is weird choice, Dracula or wolf man would make more sense. Hell even Frankstein. But this musical seems the one I watch after few drinks but yea it bad really bad
Haha right! It could work just not like this
Dracula in fact does have a musical and Jekyll and Hyde and they fit the format much better
Shoulderpads-mcgee Oh yea forgot about them, and think it also helps they some few who do talk so it less jarring
Fun fact: the lady playing Kay at 1:06 and seen other times throughout the video is Katrina Lenk, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress for the 2018 musical The Band’s Visit!
Great as coverage as always! I don't think I would have made it through this show.
Thanks
Man this was one of favorite attractions when I was 8. Now looking back...😬.
Haha
Oh my god, thank you for talking about this, one of my favorite, weird little nuggets of universal monsters-realted content. It was truly awful in just about every aspect but with the success of the shape of water I can't help but think parts of it were ahead of its time.
My pleasure!
My god I remember seeing this at Universal Studios when I was about 9 or 10. I had no idea what to think of it. All I remember was being mesmerised by the amazing set, the beautiful lights and ... also having a crush on Gil (Disturbing I know)🤣 I’ll never understand why universal thought it would be okay to have kids come see this. It definitely seems more fit for people in their late teens and up.
The creature from the Black Lagoon has been my favorite movie monster since childhood. Seeing it singing and dancing was worse than any horror movie....
This Universal's Creature Of The Black Lagoon Live At Universal Studios Hollywood Is A Bit Like Little Shop Of Horrors The Musical. Thanks Mate. X
A reboot done seriously would be great. This is just Universal undermining their own franchise.
There's something rather wacky and cursed seeing a Gillman with Predator style dreads and speaking like an Aussie man along with a Villain Song that makes a roulette of pop culture references
Oh hey! I saw Forbidden Broadway traveling last year and really enjoed it
That moment when you get a 46-minute fitness ad during a 21-minute video and you don't press skip.
That fire was divine intervention
Haha
First the "Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management" and now this.
Perhaps Providence can be kind to apply the same modus operandi to Fast & Furious?
I would love to see this come back but take the music out. Love the "swimming" and the giant puppet at the end!
It was a ham sandwich from the word go but that's why it's fun. Allso the creature looks like he's been kicked out of Lordi which you can take either way.
Sam. These songs are so. bad. I don’t know what else to say. I’m blown away by the terribleness. Another excellent video. But, wow. I can’t believe that existed. Especially with that badass animatronic! Damn.
Thank you
I wont have another restful night knowing this existed
I'm sorry
Krusty said it best “what the hell was that?”
Haha yes
I'm still waiting for 'Battlestar Galactica on Ice'.
Bad Theme park musical? Yes.
The next campy musical in the spirit of " The Rocky Horror Picture Show" ? 🤔
If they hadn’t had the horrible idea to give the creature a speaking/singing role it honestly might have worked.
Maybe
Have you done anything on Captain EO ?
I did a long time.ago
I took my little brother to see Captain EO. Michael Jackson came out of the screen and grabbed my little brother
I can’t help but feel like having this musical be shown year-round effectively killed it. Even though it was intended for an older audience, it was still extremely out of place in a family theme park, especially when there’s really no practical way to keep kids and unsuspecting parents out of it. It genuinely baffles me that they didn’t just have this be a Halloween Horror Nights exclusive show; if you wanted to make an adult-oriented horror musical, why not show it during the one park event where children are discouraged?
So I paused this and found the show online. and wow it was just wow XD
Wow indeed
I think Universal made this purposely terrible.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a very successful film.
But sometimes, people take that for granted. So, what better way to remind them of the movie than making a musical that completely fudges it up!
It needed to be popular so that everyone would see it, but it also needed to be horrible so that everyone would go back to remember just how good the original movie was. True beauty never fades, you just need to be reminded of it once in a while.
the shape of water musical is lookin great
Right
Went from Creature From the Black Lagoon, to King Kong, to Little Shop of Horrors. Musical style reminded me of Evil Dead: The Musical
Considering the history that Creature From the Black Lagoon franchise has with a certain wacky 90s show, this should been re-named Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Musical
this is what it feels like to die in the stockroom of party city
everything feels off brand and kind of racist but there's always one impressive animatronic thing.