A musical I liked

 I've had a short break from Long and Short Reviews, but I had to have a go at this one since I've just started getting back into musicals. 

I loved them as a teenager and was in "Annie" in school, plus I won the school talent show with a song from a musical (which really ticked off the drama teacher, since I gather she got grief for not giving me a better role). However, my favourite is one which can't be done as an amateur performance - Starlight Express.

I owned both the soundtracks as a teen and would sing and dance to them in my room, but it wasn't until July of this year that I actually saw it live. I loved it, although the woman next to me stated that previous versions had had better stunts. I'll take her word for that - I do remember in the past reading stories about how the race tracks collapsed into the audience, which might explain why the cast only raced round the stage in this version. However, I thought it was great, and the atmosphere was incredible. 

So which musicals have you liked?

My thoughts on the mystery genre

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one.

I've been reading murder mysteries more often recently, although I tend to be quite selective as to which authors I read - I love Agatha Christie and Richard Osman, but some other authors just don't work for me. That said, I only really have one criterion for mysteries, and it's one that I first noticed while watching an episode of Jonathan Creek, a show which is a bit dated now but was famous for its convoluted methods of killing.

It's quite simple. I never make any effort to try and guess who the killer is - I know this is part of the fun for many people, but I'm happy to just watch and enjoy the journey. So if I manage to figure it out before the big reveal, then the writer clearly isn't trying hard enough. I want to be surprised, and if I'm not surprised, it's a failure for me.

I'm not sure why I have this criterion specifically for mysteries, since for other genres I'm perfectly fine with knowing the ending beforehand. But when it's a murder mystery, I don't want to know and I won't try to guess, so there's no excuse for not surprising me.

So what are your thoughts on the mystery genre?