Favorite Musical Revival & Dramatic Revival Ever

This makes a case for "Guys & Dolls" and "Death of a Salesman"

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2012/10/the_best_broadw_1.php

I have a few favorite musical revivals. Cabaret 98 , Chicago(1996-present) Tyne Daly Gypsy, LuPone Gypsy.

Updated On: 11/3/12 at 11:23 AM

That's tough, but the ones that instantly come to mind are LuPone Gypsy and Top Girls at MTC.

I started to think about my favorite musical revivals and I realized that they are many of the recent Sondheim ones (Sunday, Sweeney, Follies to be exact).

As far as plays go, I think the current production of Virginia Woolf takes the cake.

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Oh, how could I forget the Hair revival? So fantastic.

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Cabaret and South Pacific would be my musical picks.

The Brian Dennehy Death of a Salesman had a bigger impact on me than the more recent one. However, I loved the revival of The Real Thing with Jennifer Ehle. I think that would be up there for me. (Normal Heart is, too.)

Kiss Me, Kate (1999)
A Little Night Music (2009)

For me, the fact the 2006 A Chorus Line revival was a faithful recreation of the incredible original production is what made it great. To have such an iconic and awesomely theatrical classic return in its original form, giving new audiences a chance to experience it for themselves, was a gift.

It's my 3rd favorite musical and I was so happy to see it honored and its integrity preserved and respected, a celebration of some of the best Broadway has had to offer that is also homegrown. It's sad that some people consider it a rehash of something old.

Nuh uh. It was a true REVIVAL! =)

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For me, the 2009 HAIR would be the best musical revival; thrillingly staged and magnificently cast, it genuinely felt that the show's time had come again and the piece resonated politically and spiritually with the world at large in a way that earlier revivals hadn't. My favorite play revival would have to be THE NORMAL HEART in 2011: passionate, powerful, emotionally shattering, stunningly well acted and tragically still relevant. One of the most draining yet exhilarating experiences I have ever had in the theatre, although the current WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF runs it a pretty close second. I thought I knew Albee's play like the back of my hand but this new production made me think again, and all of the new shades and nuances that this astonishing staging reveals feel 100% right.

The ones that instantly popped in my mind were HAIR (2009) and THE NORMAL HEART (2011). There was true theatrical magic happening nightly at the Hirschfeld when HAIR was there. They absolutely caught lightning in a bottle with that production. And while there are a number of exceptional musical revivals that are swimming around in my head (RAGTIME, LuPone's GYPSY, etc...), THE NORMAL HEART trumps any dramatic revival that I personally have ever seen. Nothing even comes close. That production was seriously flawless; not an accolade I throw at very many shows at all. I've seen a lot of wonderful theater, but THE NORMAL HEART was just perfection in every single aspect. How that cast did what they did eight times a week is something I will never understand. Mark Rylance should return that Tony to its rightful owner, Joe Mantello, pronto.

Updated On: 11/5/12 at 04:55 PM

The recent productions of South Pacific, Follies, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I have to agree with Wickedrocks, I also think Mantello should have got the Tony over Rylance, although it was a close-run thing. At least John Benjamin Hickey and Ellen Barkin got the accolades they deserved.

Chicago (mainly because I saw the original revival cast in previews) and An Inspector Calls.

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