Buckle up for a wild ride through the most bizarre, mind-bending, and downright bizarre musical plots that will make you question reality! From killer plants to singing locomotives, these shows are anything but ordinary.
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00:00This is the golden opportunity. You are the lightning in your news.
00:04What will you say tomorrow? Tomorrow you won't be ignored."
00:10Welcome to Ms. Mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the musicals with the most bizarre,
00:16unhinged, and confusing storylines.
00:18Under the circumstances, formal dress is to be optional.
00:24Number 10. Little Shop of Horrors
00:27Despite being one of the most beloved shows of all time, this science fiction comedy musical
00:32about an extraterrestrial plant who eats people is not your typical Broadway fare.
00:37You are a plant, an inanimate object.
00:39Does this look inhuman to you, punk?
00:43If I can talk and I can move, who's to say I can't do anything?
00:51In it, bumbling flower shop employee Seymour Krelborn makes a Faustian bargain with a plant.
00:56He starts to feed unworthy and unsavory people into its jaws.
01:00He's so nasty, treating her rough. Smacking her around and always talking so tough.
01:05You need blood and he's got more than enough. You need blood and he's got more than enough.
01:13Seymour gets rich and wins the woman of his dreams.
01:16But as he finds out, when you hitch your wagon to a plant with a bloodlust,
01:19things can turn out very, very wrong for you.
01:22Rife with satire, the show sometimes feels
01:25like it's trying to find ways to top itself without landish plot points.
01:28This can be bigger than a hula hoop.
01:33What do you say, Mr. Krelborn?
01:42Number 9. The Who's Tommy
01:44Tommy Walker's traumatic childhood sets the stage for a very trippy rock musical,
01:49courtesy of the legendary English rock band The Who.
01:51You know her daddy gave her magic, I can tell by the way she walks.
02:00You know her daddy gave her magic, I can tell by the way she walks.
02:07As a child, Tommy loses his sight, hearing, and ability to speak after witnessing a murder.
02:12His parents send him on a journey of tests and treatments in search of a cure.
02:16Meanwhile, Tommy rises to fame for his prodigious pinball prowess,
02:20and becomes the inadvertent leader of a cult.
02:28This show throws us from one insane number to the next.
02:32With its themes of spirituality, celebrity, and self-actualization,
02:36Tommy is not afraid to go to some extraordinary places to make its points.
02:40If you want to follow me, you've got to play pinball.
02:46And put in your earplugs, put on your eye shades, you know where to put the cork.
02:53Number 8. Ride the Cyclone
03:02In this cult musical, several Canadian teenagers meet their end at the hands of a rickety old
03:07roller coaster. A creepy carnival fortune teller machine promises to grant one of them the chance
03:11to return to life. But who should it be? One by one, they make their case through song as
03:24to why they should be given another chance to live. It's kind of like Final Destination set
03:29to music. Ride the Cyclone is a gruesome, funny, and tragic story that's constantly shifting between
03:35tones and blows right past realism and lands squarely in the surreal.
03:47Number 7. The Frogs
03:54No, it's not a sci-fi horror story about a bunch of killer toads, although that also sounds awesome.
03:59This obscure musical was written by Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods composer Stephen Sondheim.
04:04I don't mind writing a musical that doesn't work as long as I have a good time writing it,
04:08as long as I think it was worth trying.
04:09The Frogs was first performed in the Yale Gymnasium's swimming pool,
04:13which should give you some idea of how odd it is already. The Frogs follows Dionysus,
04:18the Greek god of wine, festivities, and theater, who ventures into the underworld to save the arts.
04:23He is then besieged by a group of frogs who detest intellectualism and social progress.
04:29It may not be one of Sondheim's classics, but it's for sure one of his weirdest.
04:34Number 6. Cats
04:52There's really nothing about how weird the show is that hasn't been said already,
04:56yet it would feel crazy to leave it off a list like this.
05:05Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega-hit show is surprisingly off-the-wall,
05:16given its widespread popularity. Essentially, the cats are singing and dancing to earn their
05:20spots in the Heaviside lair, a sort of paradise-like second life that only a few
05:25select cats gain entry to. What plot there is is pretty thin, stretched across agile
05:31dance numbers and filled with songs full of feline facts and even a few nonsensical words.
05:51Number 5. The Rocky Horror Show
05:53Brad and Janet are a square couple who happen upon an old, dark house where they meet Dr.
05:58Frankenfurter, a seductive, androgynous extraterrestrial.
06:11The ominous doctor invites them into his lab, where he's built himself a muscle-toned lover.
06:16Then things really start to go crazy.
06:19The opening number really sets the tone, as science fiction double feature throws
06:32a bunch of references to classic science fiction B-movies at you.
06:35The Rocky Horror Show is a Frankenstein's monster of bits and pieces from a bunch of other movies,
06:40stitched together to form a lurid and boundary-breaking musical horror comedy.
06:45Number 4. Assassins
07:04Half concept musical, half history lesson, this Stephen Sondheim show is a review-style
07:19comedy about a cast of successful and attempted presidential assassins. A proprietor goads them
07:24into a carnival shooting range and sets the stage for a carnival ride through different
07:28attempts on a U.S. president's life. Assassins is a funhouse mirror of American history,
07:39an exploration of the promises and failures of the American dream as told by the misfits
07:44who feel cheated by it. The musical boasts very dark humor, incisive social commentary,
07:49and one of the most twisted romantic duets ever.
07:59Number 3. Raggedy Ann
08:01Marcella is the unluckiest girl in the world. She comes from a broken home, her pet dog died
08:07after eating her pet bird, and her father with alcohol use disorder gives her the
08:11creepiest little doll ever. Raggedy Ann is exactly as described. Raggedy.
08:19I'm not planning to let you die! I can't! I'm dying!
08:25Marcella and her living doll go on a cross-country road trip where they encounter horrors such as a
08:30wolf, a witch, and reanimated skeletons. At the climax, Marcella eats her friend
08:35Raggedy Ann's heart in order to survive. The lights gonna shine, the lights gonna shine,
08:44the lights. Critics describe the plot, if you can even call it that, as incoherent.
08:50The show closed on Broadway after 20 performances.
09:00Number 2. Starlight Express
09:02This is control! Listen up! Race time minus 10 minutes!
09:07Sorry, we have a technical problem.
09:14Andrew Lloyd Webber strikes again. This time, he decided to take on the exciting,
09:19romantic, drama-filled world of locomotives. Fitting its actors in bulky, metallic costumes
09:25and roller skates, Starlight Express is as hard to pull off as it is confusing to follow.
09:30You must confess, are you real? Yes or no?
09:39Inspired in a roundabout way by Thomas the Tank Engine, it tells of Rusty, a steam engine who
09:44enters into a race to win the heart of a railway coach named Pearl. What all of this has to do with
09:49them being actual trains is anyone's guess. Starlight Express is a convoluted musical
09:54extravaganza on wheels that you kind of have to turn your brain off to fully enjoy.
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10:23Number 1. Jerry Springer – The Opera
10:26Vulgar and blasphemous in tone and subject matter,
10:29this three-act epic scandalized audiences from the moment it debuted in the early 2000s.
10:34What do you want? Champions fighting. What do you want? Open crotch signing.
10:42Jerry Springer – The Opera sees the notorious TV presenter hosting what starts out as a normal
10:47episode of his show. Well, normal except for the show tunes. But at the end of the first act,
10:52Springer is shot and his spirit sent to purgatory, then to hell itself,
10:57to atone for his exploitation of his guests. Whoa, whoa, time out, time out. Let's rewind this a
11:02little. Now, I don't want to serve in hell. At this stage of my career, that would be a sideways
11:07move. At first, the ensemble cast includes the usual suspects, poor people, exotic dancers,
11:13people with eccentric hobbies. Then the Ku Klux Klan members and irreverent reimaginings of figures
11:18in Christianity show up. Let's just say it's as elaborate as it is controversial.
11:23Is it me? Well, somebody help me out here.
11:32You really gotta help me out. I don't know what to do.
11:34Did one of your favorite shows make the list? Tell us in the comments.
11:38If you offer me cream, then I sniff and sniff. But I only like what I find for myself.
11:47Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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