History MisaimedFandom / Theatre

** Iago in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is cruel, manipulative, abusive towards his wife, a murderer, and is quite possibly a compulsive liar. There's a popular theory that he might be a homosexual who was jealous of Desdemona and in love with Othello, though supposedly his motivation in the play is he is jealous because he wasn't promoted. Iago is an extremely early example of a DracoInLeatherPants character. Edmund from ''Theatre/KingLear'' gets this, too.

** It gets even worse when fans ship the Phantom with Christine and go on about how Raoul (who was an aspiring Arctic explorer in the book) is boring and less attractive and that Christine is an evil tease for choosing him by the end. Because heaven forbid a woman marry her sweet childhood friend instead of the raving murderous madman who stalked her, scared her half to death, and threatened to kill her boyfriend if she didn't marry him. The sequel to AndrewLloydWebber's musical, ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'', handled this matter by turning poor Raoul into a gambling addict and alcoholic and again raising the possibility of the Phantom and Christing getting together, [[spoiler: ultimately making the misaimed fandom pairing the ''legit'' one]]. The existence of the show serves as a ''massive'' BaseBreaker in the phan community largely because of this - those who view it as a legitimate sequel come into conflict with those who think it shouldn't be taken seriously, making this a case where the misaimed phandom have almost withdrawn entirely from the community at large to form their own groups.

* Nazi and Neo-Nazi Wagner fans. Wagner was indeed anti-Semitic, but believed that Jews should assimilate culturally and convert to Christianity, not that they should be wiped off the face of the Earth. He had a number of Jewish friends, including conductors of his operas. But the association of Wagner with Nazism has become so ubiquitous that some people who don't check their facts think Wagner actually ''was'' a Nazi, despite the fact that he died before Hitler was even ''born.'' Some Jewish couples take this to the point of not playing Wagner's [[LohengrinAndMendelssohn most famous composition at their wedding]]. It doesn't help that Hitler himself saw Wagner's operas as ringing endorsements of Nazism, and that many of Wagner's descendants from that time were close friends of Hitler and approved of his interpretation.

* The Tea Party likes to use "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" from ''{{Cabaret}}'' as a rally song for "taking back the country." It is unknown how many of them know that the song was used to symbolically represent the rise of '''NaziGermany'''. (This is partly AdaptationDisplacement: in the stage version, the song only became associated with Nazis in a reprise.)

* Creator/HenrikIbsen's intention in Theatre/ADollsHouse was to show that HumansAreFlawed '''no matter what their gender/social class/etc. are'''. Allegedly, when a group of Norwegian feminists praised the play in words that sounded a lot like what radfems say in modern times, Ibsen's reaction was a "... wait, what?!".

* In Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe's version of ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'', there's a scene in the restaurant "Auerbach's Cellar" where Faust and Mephistopheles meet a group of drunken students. One of them states "I praise my Leipzig! It's a little Paris and educates its people." Later used verbatim by many fans of the city in Saxony; however, they all forget that the guy saying this is drunken, as said, and also named "Bürger Frosch" (citizen frog), and rather supposed to be a JerkAss like ArchieBunker. Oh wait, Bunker actually had the same problem.

* Creator/HenrikIbsen's intention in Theatre/ADollsHouse was to show that HumansAreFlawed '''no matter what their gender/social class/etc. are'''. Allegedly, when a group of Norwegian feminists praised the play in words that sounded a lot like what [[StrawFeminist radfems]] say in modern times, Ibsen's reaction was a "... wait, what?!".

*** Actually, the problem with that line is that too many people don't understand what it means. They think Polonius is telling his son "Just be yourself." What he's actually saying is "Keep your own counsel. Don't tell anyone else what you are really thinking. Be true, i.e., truthful, only to yourself." That advice is of course completely in keeping with Polonius' character; there is no irony to it whatsoever.

** Falstaff, a lazy fat drunk whose main purpose in the ''Theatre/HenryIV'' trilogy was to show how dissipated Prince Hal really was, became so popular that (according to legend) Shakespeare was asked by Elizabeth I to write a comedy around him, which is how we got ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor''. (The Queen probably didn't make that request, but she might as well have; audiences really were clamouring to see more of Falstaff.)

* Nazi and Neo-Nazi Wagner fans. Wagner was indeed anti-Semitic, but believed that Jews should assimilate culturally and convert to Christianity, not that they should be wiped off the face of the Earth. He had a number of Jewish friends, including conductors of his operas. But the association of Wagner with Nazism has become so ubiquitous that some people who don't check their facts think Wagner actually ''was'' a Nazi, despite the fact that he died before Hitler was even ''born.'' It doesn't help that Hitler himself saw Wagner's operas as ringing endorsements of Nazism, and that many of Wagner's descendants from that time were close friends of Hitler and approved of his interpretation.

*** Except not really. Romeo and Juliet share only a couple of conversations on stage, all of which seem to be about how "in love" they are. In drama, "tragedy" is when someone tries to fight fate. This play is tragedy not because their relationship comes to a sad end, but because their relationship never should have been. It satirizes the immature notions of "love" frequently found in youths.

** Falstaff, a lazy fat drunk whose main purpose in the ''Theatre/HenryIV'' trilogy was to show how dissipated Prince Hal really was, became so popular that Shakespeare was asked by Elizabeth I to write a comedy around him.

* The Phantom in ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' has a dreadfully MisaimedFandom. In [[Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera the book]], he was so deformed as to be compared to a walking corpse. In the musical, he's as sensual as can be. He gets about as much of this as every other villain who has a tendency towards [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastardry]] and a fair amount of FetishFuel in their build, really. But somewhere along the line (around the time Gerard Butler played him, actually) some people forgot that the Phantom's primary physical characteristic is that he's ''ugly as Hell''. Nothing causes more of a collective facepalm in the phan community than someone saying something like "I didn't like [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925 the silent movie]]; the Phantom was so ''hideous''!"

* The Phantom in ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' has a dreadfully MisaimedFandom. In the book, he was so deformed as to be compared to a walking corpse. In the musical, he's as sensual as can be. He gets about as much of this as every other villain who has a tendency towards [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastardry]] and a fair amount of FetishFuel in their build, really. But somewhere along the line (around the time Gerard Butler played him, actually) some people forgot that the Phantom's primary physical characteristic is that he's ''ugly as Hell''. Nothing causes more of a collective facepalm in the phan community than someone saying something like "I didn't like the silent movie; the Phantom was so ''hideous''!"

* Some fans of {{Theatre/Wicked}} actually believe that ''Wicked'' is the actual story of what happened and hate on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', and making the Wicked Witch out as a total victim, and Glinda as a manipulative ChessMaster. This was ''not'' Gregory Maguire's intention in the book the play is based on. He stated he wanted to heighten the mystery of the witch not explain her. Elphaba is actually an AntiHero and WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. What makes it even worse is that ''Wicked''/''Wizard Of Oz'' is ''not'' a chicken/egg situation, ''TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' and [[Film/TheWizardOfOz its famous movie adaptation]] came first.

*** Sweeney ''isn't'' written as a "total" psychopath; that's the whole point of the story. He's profoundly evil person by the end of the play, yes, but this is because he is a TragicHero. The character journey behind any good tragedy focuses on showing how essentially good guy becomes a maniac and destroys himself and those around him. (Think of Macbeth and Othello.) Unfortunately, Sweeney's FreudianExcuse has the effect of making him into a colossal WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, and such characters are always susceptible to DracoInLeatherPants treatment. This makes up a large portion of the Misaimed Fandom for the play. The other culprits of FanDumb here are the people who buy into the idea that Sweeney ''is'' totally evil and fancy him because of it. Because EvilIsSexy.

** Mother Courage from the play ''Mother Courage and Her Children''. Admired by the audience for her courage, perseverance, and resourcefulness -- but Brecht wanted the audience to see her as a hard, unappealing person who puts financial security ahead of the safety of her children. This is not to say that Brecht wanted the audience see her as a villain or that he didn't want them to feel any pity or sympathy for her--rather, he wanted the audience to become outraged about how capitalism and war (which he saw as just an extension of capitalism) forced people to choose between personal survival and being a decent human being.

** It gets even worse when fans ship the Phantom with Christine and go on about how Raoul (who was an aspiring Arctic explorer in the book) is boring and less attractive and that Christine is an evil tease for choosing him by the end. Because heaven forbid a woman marry her sweet childhood friend instead of the raving murderous madman who stalked her, scared her half to death, and threatened to kill her boyfriend if she didn't marry him. The sequel to AndrewLloydWebber's musical, ''LoveNeverDies'', handled this matter by [[spoiler: turning poor Raoul into a gambling addict and alcoholic, and revealing that Christine realized too late that she made a mistake in choosing him over the Phantom, making the misaimed fandom pairing the ''legit'' one]].
*** The existence of LoveNeverDies serves as a ''massive'' BaseBreaker in the phan community largely because of this - those who view it as a legitimate sequel come into conflict with those who think it shouldn't be taken seriously, making this a case where the misaimed phandom have almost withdrawn entirely from the community at large to form their own groups.

*** Sweeney ''isn't'' written as a [[CompleteMonster "total" psychopath]]; that's the whole point of the story. He's profoundly evil person by the end of the play, yes, but this is because he is a TragicHero. The character journey behind any good tragedy focuses on showing how essentially good guy becomes a maniac and destroys himself and those around him. (Think of Macbeth and Othello.) Unfortunately, Sweeney's FreudianExcuse has the effect of making him into a colossal WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, and such characters are always susceptible to DracoInLeatherPants treatment. This makes up a large portion of the Misaimed Fandom for the play. The other culprits of FanDumb here are the people who buy into the idea that Sweeney ''is'' totally evil and fancy him because of it. Because EvilIsSexy.

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* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. Dear LORD! Of all the revenge tales that get a lot of fans due to the central character and how apparently "cool" he is, this one sticks out most. People idolized him (and still do idolize him) and thought he was cool for being vengeful, for slitting people's throats, often going "I wish Sweeney would slit my throat!". Problem is, Stephen Sondheim wrote him to be a complete psychopath. This is especially lampshaded in the line, "and I will get him back even as he gloats/in the mean time, ''I'll practice on dishonourable throats''." He is just as bigoted and flawed as the "filth of the earth" that he claims there are. Not to mention the message about revenge being just as horrible as the deed done to trigger it should be made clear when [[spoiler:'''he unknowingly kills his own wife''' at the end of the musical]]. But nope, people marvel at how "awesome" Sweeney is, wish they were him or that they were as cool as him, and quote him multiple times.

*** Sweeney isn't only just written as a psychopath; that's the whole point of the story. He's profoundly evil person by the end of the play, yes, but this is because he is a TragicHero. The whole point of a tragedy is that the protagonist is essentially good, but with one fatal flaw. ("What was his crime?" "Foolishness.") Benjamin Barker's flaw is that he is idealistic and naive. This flaw (like Othello's jealousy in Shakespeare) isn't a major thing at first, but it has awful consequences for the protagonist and those around him, eventually turning a good person with one bad trait into a murdering psychopath. No character in the musical itself is entirely bad; even Judge Turpin himself honestly loathes what he is doing to Johanna ("Mea Culpa", sadly cut from Tim Burton's version) and Beadle Bamford talks about going home to be with his children. The story has definitely achieved misaimed fandom status, though; a lot of people seem to buy into the fact that Sweeney ''is'' totally evil and fancy him because of it.