Best Musical for each Decade- Page 2

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:38am

20's: Show Boat
30's: George Whites Scandals of 1931
40's: (3 way) Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific
50's: (4 way) Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, The Music Man
60's: Hello, Dolly !, H2$, Hair
70's: Company, Follies, On The Twentieth Century
80's: The Phantom of The Opera
90's: Ragtime
00's: Wicked

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:23am

20s Showboat
30s Porgy and Bess
40s Oklahoma!
50s West Side Story (tough decade)
60s Fiddler on the Roof/Hair
70s A Chorus Line
80s Les Miserables
90s Rent (though I feel very strongly about Ragtime)
00s Caroline, Or Change

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:09am

For shows that either established a trend or became a benchmark I would choose:

1920s - SHOW BOAT - what other show from the 20s is still performed with any regularity?

1930s - PORGY AND BESS - Gerswhin's masterpiece (or is this not considered because it was an opera?)

1940s - OKLAHOMA! - because it was so phenomenally popular. (I have no argument with choosing CAROUSEL but it did not influence musicals of the next 25 years the way OKLHAOMA! did. The success of OKLAHOMA subsequently brought out the best in Irving Berlin (ANNIE GET YOUR GUN), Cole Porter (KISS ME KATE) and influenced Lerner & Loewe (BRIGADOON), Julie Styne (GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONEDES) and Frank Loesser (GUYS AND DOLLS.)

1950s - MY FAIR LADY - the show that finally replaced OKLAHOMA! at the top of the long run list. (WEST SIDE STORY had more influence on director/choreographer shows of the 1960s and 70s)

1960s - CABARET - the seeds were sewn for the concept musicals of the 70s and it has the best score of the decade.

1970s - SWEENEY TODD - What PORGY was for Gershwin, so is SWEENEY Sondheim's masterpiece

1980s - LES MISERABLES - Another "opera" on Broadway. Hmm that makes 3 on this list. Unlike the ALW shows, LES MIZ commanded respect from critics, audiences and even many theatre fans.

1990s - a troubling decade with few really good shows but several strong ones: KISS OF SPIDER WOMAN, PASSION, a stunning revival of SHOW BOAT (almost bringing us full circle) but for me RAGTIME ranks as the finest achievement of the decade. (I think RENT is good but would have been much better if Larson had lived to do some polishing and rewriting.)

2000 - In terms of influence, PRODUCERS saw the return of the light-hearted irreverent musical comedy. It's good. It's fun. But it's not at the level of the shows form the 20th century. A few clever shows like URINETOWN and AVE Q are among the most original and well written shows so far. WICKED is fun but it is no classic and has not really influenced anything else so far.

How much trouble is the musical theatre in? Well here we are 5 years into the decade and no new Sondheim show has opened on Broadway since PASSION in 1994. Kander and Ebb's last Broadway show was the STEEL PIER, a quick flop in 1997. That was also the year of the last Cy Coleman show. More and more theatres are booked with Vegas-styled jukebox revues, & second rate revivals of older shows. Among the "new" musicals of recent seasons are re-treads of old movies (MILLIE, HAIRSPRAY - again both light-hearted fun but not influential and not at the level of any of the shows listed from 1920-2000) This past season with PIAZZA, SCOUNDRELS, SPELLING BEE and SPAMALOT at least gave us 4 good shows that are all big hits with audiences. But where is this decade's SWEENEY TODD or RAGTIME or MY FAIR LADY. I'll wait until 2010 before selecting the best of the current decade.

[jam_man]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:12am

While I understand your differing till the end of the decade to choose, I don't think it's really fair to compare the new shows with ones from past decades. I'm sure in the '70s, people said things like, "Well, A Little Night Music is great, but it's no Damn Yankees." Shows aren't classics over night. And while I don't think many, if any of this decade's shows could match ones from the past, it's not fair to judge them as such (if that makes sense).

And as for no Sondheim show this decade, look out - I heard that in a year or so they may start re-re-writing Bounce. With an overhauled(sp) book and a new Willie (I love Howard, but a different type of Willie automatically puts the show in a new light by itself), it could be on Broadway in a couple of years.

Also, Les Miz didn't demand critical respect for quite some time. Reviews were very mixed, at best, and while I love Les Miz (and it was my '80s choice), I recognize that it has a lot of faults, many of which are the same as those which people hate Llyod Webber for (which makes me a hypocryte, I guess for loving Les Miz and hating ALW).

And as for Rent, I love it too, but it also has many faults, and I do believe had Larson survived, many of them wouldn't be around today (though we could argue till the cows come home over if it would have been as successful).

[Cheno'sBiggestfan]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:20am

20's Show Boat
30's Porgy And Bess
40's Oklahoma!
50's My Fair Lady (i love julie andrews!)
60's Cabaret
70's Sweeny Todd
80's The Phantom Of The Opera
90's Hmmm...Rent
00's Wicked
though i have only seen 2 of these (Wicked, Oklahoma!) i do like the music and the storylines of the others

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 12:10pm

20's ~ SHOWBOAT
30'S ~ ANYTHING GOES
40'S ~ OKLAHOMA!
50'S ~ WEST SIDE STORY
60'S ~ CABARET / HAIR
70'S ~ A CHORUS LINE
80'S ~ LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
90'S ~ RENT

[Esther2]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 1:28pm

Hmm...It's a combination..of persoanl favorites, what had the most impact, and a show that best represents the kind of musicals that were being written at the time.
20's-Showboat
30's-Anything Goes
40's Carousel
50's-Gypsy
60's-Hello Dolly
70's-On the 20th Century
80's-Evita
90's-Miss Saigon
00's-Wicked

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:00pm

20s - Show Boat
30s - Porgy and Bess
40s - Oklahoma
50s - West Side Story
60s - Hair
70s - Sweeney Todd
80s - Les Miserables
90s - Rent
00s - Urinetown

[Sant]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 5:29pm

20s: SHOW BOAT
30s: ANYTHING GOES
40s: OKLAHOMA!
50s: THE KING AND I
60s: CABARET
70s: CHICAGO
80s: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
90s: RAGTIME
00s: WICKED

[leon1489]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 6:14pm

1920s: Showboat
1930s: Anything Goes
1940s: Oklahoma!
1950s: My Fair Lady
1960s: Fiddler on the Roof
1970s: Chicago
1980s: Les Misérables
1990s: Ragtime
2000s: Wicked

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 7:15pm

20's - Showboat
30's - Anything Goes
40's - Carousel
50's - Gypsy
60's - Caberet
70's - Sweeney Todd
80's - Sunday in the Park With George
90's - Rent
00's - Wicked