Matthew Morrison was unsettling in Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical!: "We live in bleak times, Morrison, but not that bleak"

The Washington Post

"I tried to banish every preconceived opinion of Matthew Morrison playing the Grinch from my mind before flipping to Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! on NBC on Wednesday night," says Sonia Rao. "I tried to look past his tenure on Glee as Will Schuester, a character so dreadful he turned Morrison into a TikTok villain. Mostly, I tried to forget the Broadway alum recently compared his Grinch’s style of dancing to Joaquin Phoenix’s 'carefree and raw' performance on the steps in Joker. But, it turns out, that all adds spice to the Grinch viewing experience, an otherwise middling two hours directed by Julia Knowles. Taped at London’s Troubadour Theatre in lieu of a live broadcast, this attempt at the heartwarming tale makes the Grinch’s hatred of song and dance seem reasonable. Halfway through, you might find yourself advocating for the Whos to adopt his way of life."

ALSO:

• Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! was a ratings bust with only 2.5 million total viewers
• Here are the highs and lows of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical!: Matthew Morrison’s random Grinch ad-libs was among the many lows
• Twitter passionately roasted Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical!, with many finding Morrison’s interpretation of the Grinch uncomfortably erotic
• What did GrinchTok—the side of TikTok devoted to Grinch cosplay and thirst traps—think of the musical?
• Matthew Morrison tweets a response "To all the haters"