How The Grinch Musical Stole My Sanity 

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Fun story, the colorblind casting and consistently pink and purple costumes made me in the middle of a biology class start trying to figure out the dominant and recessive genes of Whos. I literally have a whole page in my notesapp with my conspiracy genetics rambling over goddamn Grinch Live.

I like how this, of all adaptations, was able to get me to go "wait, if there's a CHRISTmas, does that imply a Who Jesus?"

I can 100% remember tweeting "LEAVE MY COUCH OUT OF THIS" when he broke the 4th wall.

if you wanted to show his heart growing you could make it symbolic and use lights and expression, raising his arms, looking joyous, as a growing heart shaped lighting effect shows behind him. Not clutching your chest like a heart attack but expanding your arms like you want to give the world a hug because you are so full of love.

Turning Grinch into a femboy was something I never thought the human race would ever conjure up even though I know we are fully capable of it.

I wish that Alex Brightman played the Grinch in The Grinch. Anywho, you should totally talk about some of the other live musical telecasts (like Grease Live!, The Wiz Live!, or The Little Mermaid Live!) and give your opinions on them.

As terrible as it is, I'd love to see the Patrick Page version! A bit of tonal dissonance from his role in hadestown lol

The out loud “NOOOO” I gave when you said they followed up Patrick Page with Matthew Morrison rivaled Luke Skywalker.

The fact that I went "Oh wait this is the one where they made the grinch hot" really makes me question my insanity

The "Friends, Romans, countrymen" line is even more intense than that. That's from Julius Caesar which means that not only did ancient Rome exist but so did Shakespeare, which means that Who Shakespeare is now canonical. ETA: Also, because we have Who Shakespeare, that means we have Who Henry VIII, which means that we would also have Who Anne Boelyn. Very cool.

The wigs are what I'm focusing on. Like, some of the actors with shorter hair just dyed it, but everyone else has these neon pink and pastel purple wigs of vastly differing levels of quality and then theres just one girl running around with normal-ass black hair that's just done up in a creative style and it looks so much better and why didn't they just do that for everyone?

And I thought that seeing Will Scheuster as the Grinch was scary enough, but apparently not!

"i hate your couch 😲🤭" is the campiest introduction in history.

What's insane is that in the past year, 2-3 major theaters in my area have decided that How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a show that we needed to see live. I have no idea who is asking for this, but given how many promising shows have yet to tour in my area, I don't know why this no name show keeps getting booked.

Great. And now *I* broke my streak of going a day without thinking about the Roman Empire! Thanks, BRENDON! ಠ_ಠ

I never watched this when it aired. Matthew Morrison as The Grinch weirded me out way too much lol. Thank you for making me realize I made the right choice lol

I’d love to hear your opinion about the disaster that was Rent Live. Rent is one of my favorite musicals and I was super concerned when they announced that they were doing it live. It ended up being worse than I expected. 😅

The musical has many similarities to the actual on stage adaptation on broadway and probably in your town every Christmas. The sad part is this one has Matthew Morrison, he really didn’t do this role well. I live in San Diego where Dr. Seuss had written most if not all of his books. The show was put together because of his wife and the musical originated in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre. Which is still hosted there every year. I’ve been watching this musical since I was a child, when watching the NBC version it really crushed me. They made some serious changes to costumes, set design, the grinches personality, and more. It was really disappointing. If you want to see a better adaptation I would recommend looking for a bootleg/slime tutorial or showing some love to local performers near you. Happy Holidays! ❤️

I refuse to watch this but I did see the 2018 animated one, and I had the same questions when the Who's sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"..it implied they knew of Jesus (Who-sus?) and that it wasn't just about Santa...pulled me right out.

I remember watching this during it's first airing on NBC. It felt like a huge fever dream, but it was fun watching The Grinch Musical Trending on Twitter showing live reactions to it's airing. Moments like that makes me wish Elon Musk didn't fuck up Twitter/X because non-Twitter users can no longer check the trending sections unless you have an account. Wish I refuse to do.

I saw the American tour with one of the final performances from Stefán Karl Stefánsson. I had a good time, but the enjoyability of the show solely relied on the performance of Stefán. He was just so wacky and funny that it made the character likeable. Morrison......not so much

Just want to say the actual live production at the Old Globe in San Diego and the Broadway and tour versions are/were much better than this NBC production.

Obviously, I’m a huge fan of your normal deep-dive content. But MAN this quick lil commentary was so fun! More please!

As soon as the previews came out, I knew it was gonna be mid to bad. but the more I watched it, the worse it was. Knowing now that Matthew Morrison based his Grinch off of the Joker makes so much sense. There are elements that could’ve worked so well, but the rest of it crapped on the original story and message so badly. It’s just better to watch the originals (Movie, Musical, animated special, etc.) or the Grinchmas show at Universal Studios (my preferred version).

Every turn was a left. I had the emotional roller coaster of, “Oh hey! That’s Booboo Stewart as young Max, that’s fun” to, “MATTHEW MORRISON?!”

Definitely felt like they were relying heavily on nostalgia over other version to draw in audiences and it let a lot slip

I watched this when it aired. It was…certainly a way to end a marathon of bad Christmas media.

1) The Grinch in San Diego at the Old Globe is the best version. (May be biased because I've worked that show many times) 2) It was Faith Hill, not Sheryl Crow.

Did not expect a Doctor Who reference in this review! I did hear rumors of a Doctor Who musical episode next season with Jinx Monsoon. Maybe Wait in the Wings could review it if it is the case 😄

I may be alone in this, but I didn’t mind how creepy Morrison was in this, and that is for one specific reason. I was TERRIFIED of the Grinch as a kid. For me, it just validated my childhood fear!

So I saw this show in Boston back in 2008 with Stefán Karl Stefánsson (Robbie Rotten from LazyTown) as the Grinch and Andrew Keenan Bolger as Young Max, which was absolutely wild

I just saw this performance on Sunday with my mom, an avid Grinch lover, so kinda scary timing lol. The Grinch was funny, but his mic was muffled so we couldn't really hear him sing. Not to mention the amount of parents that brought their screaming kids that were way too young to remember a theater show.... but the snowing in the theater was pretty cool :]

I grew up seeing the Grinch musical in San Diego at the Old Globe Theater. I’m pretty sure it was the first live show my parents ever took me to for my 4th birthday. It’s such a shame to see them ruin a core childhood memory.

I feel like the moral of the story of literally every production of The Grinch is that it doesn't need to be more than 30 minutes long.

canned noises does work, Taskmaster UK used it over covid, and though you could tell there was noone there, it helped remind you how many people want to watch this stuff

Ah so Patrick Page just played a lot of big green hams under a ton of makeup

if this continues to be a tradition in the coming years, i suggest (and request) a drunk recap of this show.

I cant believe WITW has no idea about the Whonited Nations

Ive never seen the grinch live and i let out a primal yell at the visceral disguist i felt at "i hate your couch" and then i laughed so hard i cried. WHO LET HIM DO THAT?

Okay I saw this show and it felt like 3 hours with no intermission, and it was only and hour and a half. I did enjoy One of A Kind though.

1:03--What a perfectly apt description of every one of my family holiday dinners.

I would love to hear a full review with your thoughts on the 2000 film. Thank you for acknowledging that it has some really great themes and that it uses the character of Cindy to harken back to the original feelings that caused Seuss to write this story.

If you want to experience a good Grinch musical, I highly recommend the annual production at the Old Globe in San Diego!

I had erased this from my memory but now it shall haunt me till christmas x.x

they way i used a picture I took of the Grinch musical on my TV for my IG pic for years 😂

My sister and I watched 15 minutes of the show…when Matthew Morrison came out, we got so freaked out that we turned it off. Glad to know that was the correct choice!

3:28 as a drowsy chaperone fan, I appreciate the good work you’re doing out here

I’m using the line “ after you answer that question I’m gonna dip” to every play I see from here on out

Thank you for convincing me, once again, that the only people who should be permitted to do Dr. Seuss adaptations are Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett.

I l9ve how you constantly say "Morrison Grinch" and not "The Grinch", because it seems like this version doesn't feel like the the real Grinch 😂

I swear the version I saw on tour was better than the live tv version

the Grinch is pure unstilled *CHAOS*

I can't believe that thing is Cindy Lou Who or her family. Even Ron Howard got the Whos right, and he's considered "the worst." Like, I cannot stress how brilliant the Ron Howard version was despite the original potty humor.

Gosh, I remember when this was first airing on TV; I was switching back and forth between it and The Masked Singer.

"max in chair" lmao

This was hilarious, and we need more content like this, stat!

Something bout the wait in the wings outro song just feels like a nice high five :))

I genuinely think this may rival Mike Myers Cat in the Hat as the worst Dr. Suess adaptation

My first exposures to West End legend Gary Wilmot was the grandpa in this and Mole in Wind of the Willows (which was one of the musicals the ALW put on RU-vid for free mid-pandemic) so, yeah, weird first exposures. Billy Nevers was also in this and I liked him as Fred in Groundhog Day when I saw that earlier this year, he also just started playing Lafayette/Jefferson in the UK tour of Hamilton.

11:14 The Master: “Am I a joke to you?”

fun fact: in the Grinch parody horror movie The Mean One they have him die by his heart growing three sizes and exploding

I remember watching this. And trying to figure out, how many whoville cities/countries/locations there were. And there are some questions I have about this musical. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family.

Love this 😂what a truly dreadful production 😱I love the 2000 film and may have to watch it immediately to take away the images in my head of this one. Btw (different topic…) I went to see Rebecca in London recently having longed to see it for years and having followed it’s journey to date ….I loved it 😍 expectations had been managed regarding the staging and actually it was better than expected apart from a couple of bits - but the music and performances were all excellent and they had clearly worked on the scene changes since press night as it was all very smooth. 👏👏🎼🎭

This sounds…horrifying. But now I’m curious 🤣

The Morrison Grinch looks like a green Handsome Squidward. He’s uncanny. The Joker stuff doesn’t help.

The whoston line just makes me think of matt berry saying Tuscon arizonia

As someone proudly born, raised, and living in San Diego, where we have an acclaimed annual production of the Grinch running 25 years...this is an atrocity 😂😂 LORDY

6:01 jokes on him I don't own a couch.

was not ready for the plot twist of matthew morrison being in this

i saw a production of this when it was at the grand ol opry. i don’t remember a lot of it, but i still have my playbill. it was honestly a very good time, way better than whatever this was. i swear they changed the script or something because i do not remember like any of this being in the original.

To be fair. The Illimation grinch admits that they crucified the Who Christ

Where Are You Christmas was written by Mariah Carey but due to a lawsuit or separatation with Sony, she couldn't sing it herself so she wrote it and Faith Hill sang it.

ooo please review more of the live tv productions

I'll stick with the animated half-hour special.

TV musicals really are something else. The Mathew Broderick Musica Man could use an analysis.

Ah the Grinch, LITERALLY ME for kids.

Have you thought about doing a critique on Fox's musical broadcast of A Christmas Story?!

How potty humor was veto'd but someone kissing a dog's ass slipped by in the Howard film is beyond me.

best video title ever man

That he specifically cited Joaquin Phoenix's joker as a main inspiration for his Grinch performance is just...so...weird. He isn't even acting like Phoenix at all never mind he's supposed to be the Grinch! I have so many questions

rahhhh old globe production superiority 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

Hey, will you make a video of musicals based on The Jungle Book from around the world? The Japanese, South Korean, Vietnamese and Israeli musicals are my absolute faves.

My favorite RU-vidr

If there was a live musical telecast of Seussical the Musical, would it have been different from the 2020 Grinch or something similiar and horrifying?

I really must know how long Brendon's Roman empire streak was...

I love you, Brandon. Have I Said that recently? So here you go. I love you, and your content.

Horrifying musical aside I feel like the only way to make the grinch have a musical number (thematically) is when he’s eating dinner with the who’s or smth lmao

I hate the Grinch and all it’s related songs, shows and books. So thank you for this.

The Grinch’s Disguise’s seem confusing if he really is one of a kind

For God's sake casting Patrick Page as the Grinch would be the best choice!! Wrong move NBC.

Hilarious! The take away is that possessions from a store are the real meaning of Christmas.😒

Not sure how similar it is, but ive heard grinchmas at universal is pretty good

Ok I watched this whenever it came out and totally forgot I did. Seeing the fucking dog person brought back so many memories form this mess

thanks, now I‘ll have nightmares

Holy shit I COMPLETELY forgot this existed and saw on TV!

Good grief... this musical sounds absolutely horrifying. I am NOT a Christmas person. In fact, I generally really dislike the season and all of the incessant forced merriment. (I think it's lingering PTSD from working mall retail for 5 years. The only people who still like Christmas after working mall retail are people who have always loved and will always love Christmas no matter what.) That being said, one of the only holiday traditions I partake in is watching the original 30 minute tv special of the cartoon Grinch. I categorically refuse to watch any other version, but especially not that Jim Carrey monstrosity. Bless your heart for doing this hilarious recap/review, Brendon, but the musical just reinforces my point that the Grinch should have remained only a 30 minute special. There isn't enough material to stretch out the story any longer than that.

Great video! but ' where are you Christmas is Faith Hill not Sheryl Crow :). Happy Thanksgiving

The smile and sigh of defeat at 2:55 is everything to me

Hiding a pickle in the Christmas tree??