Longest Running Broadway shows

[Johnno1980]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 6:40pm

Which of the top 10 longest running Broadway shows is your favourite?
Longest running Broadway musicals

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 7:51pm

Les Mis and A Chorus Line are the only shows on this list I still get excited about.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 7:59pm

A CHORUS LINE and CHICAGO are the only top-ten shows I find excellent (aside from their box office success, obviously).

Oh, for the day when the Top Ten included MY FAIR LADY, OKLAHOMA! and the like.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:07pm

^I found Chicago excellent but recently it's felt tired to me. A Chorus Line doesn't seem to age like that.

[ChildrenwillListen]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 9:02pm

Les Mis, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are the only really good ones on that list. I do enjoy A Chorus Line, Rent and Chicago too though.

[bobs3]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 10:33pm

I remember when a run of 1,000 performances was considered a very successful run. Now if you don't run at least 4,000 performances many people consider a show a flop.

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 10:37pm

Actually people call it successful if it recoups.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 11:20pm

Correct, that's the way the term has been defined for as long as I've known it. If anything, with premium tickets nowadays, it probably takes, on average, less time for a show to recoup than it used to, even with inflation. Depending on a show's budget and how well it sells, many shows can recoup in far fewer than 1,000 performances.

[RainbowJude]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 11:47pm

My favourites arunning shows among these are A CHORUS LINE, LES MISERABLES and CHICAGO.

ChildrenwillListen wrote: ... THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST are the only really good ones on that list.

THE LION KING has a mediocre book with too many fart jokes and a score that displays a vast disparity between its best material and its worst. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is all over the place, with inconsequential additions bloating what was an almost perfect film. There's no way these two shows can be considered two of the only good shows on this list. They'd most definitely appear in the second half of a list of these shows when ranked in order of how "good" they are rather than which might be one's favourites.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 11:50pm

^Those are subjective statements. While I and, I'd venture a guess, most people on here would tend to agree with you, there are many with contrary opinions, but that doesn't make them any less valid (ok, sometimes they are less valid.)

Also, Beauty and the Beast shouldn't be spoken in the same breath as The Lion King. It's a far better show in just about every possible way.

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 11:54pm

I hate how the top 3 are all mediocre shows. Though Cats is a guilty pleasure.

[RainbowJude]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:15am

broadwaydevil wrote: Those are subjective statements. While I and, I'd venture a guess, most people on here would tend to agree with you, there are many with contrary opinions, but that doesn't make them any less valid...

If you evaluate what's going on in either show basing your criticism on the techniques of lyric-writing, composition and play-writing, each is going to come up short. You may still like what you see, but both shows are flawed in all three departments. The pendulum swings closer to the objective side of the continuum when it comes to an assessment based on those criteria.

broadwaydevil wrote:Also, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST shouldn't be spoken in the same breath as THE LION KING. It's a far better show in just about every possible way.

In different ways, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is as flawed a show as THE LION KING. However, I suppose it could be argued that BEAUTY AND THE BEST is (perhaps not by the greatest of margins) a better show in terms of its book and score, although it lacks much of THE LION KING'S visceral theatricality when it comes to the staging of the piece. Fact is, thought, that both shows rely too much on spectacle to get from A to B, which can be (and is) satisfying in a sensory manner, but which are much less so when examining either show criticially.

Updated On: 5/5/12 at 12:15 AM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:26am

The question posed didn't ask for a critical analysis. It just asked which ones are your favorite. I'm pretty sure we're agreeing on which shows have critical merit (and to me, those tend to be shows I prefer) but just because a show doesn't have critical merit doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable to me or anyone else.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 1:27am

Can you guess my favorite show? Here with R. Lowe.

[AADA81]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 4:52am

"A Chorus Line" is definitely my favorite of the ones on that list, with "RENT" and "Chicago" in there as shows I enjoyed. I did see the original "Chorus Line" 4 1/2 years into its run in 1980 and found it a bit tired and very poorly sung, especially the actress who played Cassie. A friend who was a theater professional at the time said the production was struggling a bit to find performers who could dance-sing-act at the level needed as they had gone through so many NY dancers at that point.

[Matt2]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 5:00am

^Kind of ironic considering the plot to A Chorus Line is all about many talented singers/dancers who are all desperate to just get cast in the chorus, with only half getting the job at the end.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 9:38am

I like Chicago the best of this group. But I can't say I'm wild about any of them.

Interesting how none of the longest-running great musicals of the past now appear in the top ten.

The longest-running play list offers the reverse phenomenon. The most recent production on that list opened in 1978, and the top three have held that position snce 1947!

Here's the top ten play list:

Life With Father
Tobacco Road
Abie's Irish Rose
Gemini
Deathtrap
Harvey
Born Yesterday
Mary, Mary
The Voice of the Turtle
Barefoot in the Park

My favorites of these would be the last three. They were all beyond wonderful.

[lupone76]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 11:25am

Isn't the original production of 42nd Street like right behind the top 10? I remember it was one of my first shows in the early 80's and it was the musical that made me fall in love with Broadway. I will never forget hearing the first notes of that overture at age 6. It was heaven!! I dragged my parents back to see the show at least 9 more times during it's run and was so sad when it ultimately closed.

[lupone76]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 11:30am

I also remeber seeing A Chorus Line at around the same young age and enjoying but not loving it like I loved 42nd Street. As an adult I've come to appreciate A Chorus Line much more.

[ChildrenwillListen]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:17pm

Of course you losers neglected the fact that I had included Les Mis on my list. But since you're all jerks, you did that on purpose

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:54pm

That is also mediocre.