Top 10 Classic Musicals That Have Aged Especially Poorly

Not everything is so fair for this lady! The 1956 musical “My Fair Lady” is a theatrical classic with a whole lot of problems. Inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”, the story sees professor Henry Higgins transforming Londoner Eliza Doolittle into an “educated” lady by changing the way she talks. Yes, you heard that correctly. That’s bad enough — leave her accent alone! But Higgins also treats Eliza like trash, berating and embarrassing her every chance he gets. Surprisingly, a bond grows between them and the story ends with him asking her where his slippers are. Yikes! The 2018 revival attempted to update the text to make it less problematic, but the original still leaves a bad taste.

The sixties brought “Bye Bye Birdie” to the Broadway stage, and it is very much a product of its time. The plot surrounds a big time teen musician, Conrad Birdie, who is about to be deployed to serve in the military. As a send off, his agent Albert sets up a deal to have him perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” where one admirer will get a chance to share a kiss with him. This show is packed with offensive and troubling plot points, namely the racist treatment of Rosie, Albert’s love interest. It also sees its titular character accused of inappropriate behavior with a minor. We are saying a big “Bye Bye” to all of that!

Although this musical helped make Barbra Streisand a bonafide star, we can’t help but call out its faults. Somewhat based on the life of Broadway legend Fanny Brice, the musical is all about show business, and follows Brice as she sings, dances, and belts her way to fame. Unfortunately, she spends a good portion of the runtime following and pining for Nicky Arnstein, who gets them involved in some shady dealings. In the end, the two go their separate ways, but it’s hard to watch someone as confident and electric as Fanny Brice fall for such a toxic man.

It’s the classic opposites attract “love” story. In “The Music Man”, librarian and musician Marian Paroo is bugged, agitated, and lied to, but also eventually wooed by, a con artist named Harold Hill. His constant pursuit of her is straight up annoying, not to mention a trope that we see far too often and that sends a very troubling message. In the end, she somehow forgives all his bad behavior, actually defending him. Frustratingly but sadly not shockingly, the two end up together in a huge outdated eye roll of a finale. “Music Man”, “Ya Got Trouble”, indeed!

Despite being regarded as a classic, “The King and I” is one of the most problematic works in the musical theater canon. The plot revolves around a white woman relocating to Bangkok to work as a teacher for a King of Siam’s kids. Firstly, it was created by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, two white men, who crafted a very narrow depiction of Thai culture. The show deals with colonialism but unfortunately, not by properly trying to unpack or criticize it in a fleshed out enough way. In addition, the original Broadway cast and the 1956 film adaptation both featured Yul Brynner, a Russian-born actor, playing King Mongkut!

In 1946, “Annie Get Your Gun” was among the hottest tickets on Broadway. After all, the tale of Annie Oakley, one of the West’s sharpest shooters, boasts some of musical theater’s most memorable tunes, including “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)”. However, the music also originally includes some truly disturbing lyrics, targeting Indigenous people and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. It was outdated then, and remains unacceptable, with numerous stagings making adjustments to remedy the situation. Overall, the one-note depiction of the Sioux tribe throughout is an unfortunate example of the industry’s troubling history of producing and showcasing racist content.

When “South Pacific'' first premiered on Broadway in 1949, it was praised for what many considered to be “progressive” thoughts on race. However, there’s no denying that the protagonist, Nellie Forbush, is racist! She falls in love with a French man, Emile, later breaking things off with him upon learning that he has two children who are half-Polynesian. In the end though, they end up together after she changes her mind. But the resolution basically excuses her earlier bigotry, centering her happy ending. Honestly, Emile should have never continued to pursue her after seeing her hatefulness. There’s definitely nothing “Enchanted” about this twisted story!

There’s no denying that “Oklahoma!” revolutionized the musical theater genre. Yet at its center, it really is just a story about two men fighting over a woman. And there’s a lot of toxicity and misogyny at play. Curly McLain and Jud Fry’s obsession with winning over Laurey Williams culminates in Jud losing his life. It’s at the hands of his own weapon, but it’s also during a throwdown with Curly. If you’re thinking there’s due process or a proper, legitimate trial though, think again. Curly is basically hailed a hero, and he and Laurey head off together. Between that, the sexism, and the underdeveloped female characters, the musical in its classic form has not aged well.

No matter how you try to spin it, there really is no defending “Gigi”. The plot is straight up unsettling, and the show does itself no favors when handling delicate subject matter. Based on a French novella, “Gigi” follows the story of the titular teen, who is studying to become a courtesan in Paris. It is not what she wants, though — and there’s a considerable age gap between her and her eventual love interest Gaston. Don’t even get us started on the latter’s uncle, Honoré, who has a song literally titled “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”, which reads super creepy. We wish we were making this stuff up.

Billy Bigelow might be musical theater’s most controversial leading man. He’s one of the most famous characters, with a challenging repertoire of songs including "Soliloquy" and the duet, “If I Loved You”. That being said, Bigelow is a role that carries a lot of emotional weight. Indeed, he is violent with his wife. It’s a horrifying, shocking development, made even more troubling when he later dies and ascends to the afterlife. There, he is awarded the opportunity to make up for his transgressions. He ends up harming his daughter Louise, and yet still, he’s ultimately “redeemed” and humanized. Thus, “Carousel” sends a disturbing message that abuse is forgivable, and we think it’s best if the curtain closes on that message.