20 Broadway Shows that Everybody Should Know Well

[ilovebroadway2]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 8:43am

Hey everyone,

I am trying to expand my list of shows that I am familiar with before I go to MT college, and I thought it would be cool if we could make a list of 20 or so shows that you think everybody in the field should know well. 20 shows that are classics, important in some historical sense, or just your favorites

Thanks

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:02am

Show Boat: generally considered the first "book musical" on Broadway.
Of Thee I Sing: first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize
Porgy and Bess
The Threepenny Opera
Pal Joey
Candide
Fiddler on the Roof

COLE PORTER
Anything Goes
Kiss Me Kate

R & H
Carousel
Oklahoma
The King and I
South Pacific
The Sound of Music

SONDHEIM
West Side Story
Gypsy
Company
Follies
A Little Night Music
Sweeney Todd
Sunday in the Park with George

KANDER AND EBB
Cabaret
Chicago

I'm sure I've forgotten some, but this should be a good jumping-off point.

[JOak]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:05am

^^ No Jerry Herman?

ilovebroadway2 add Hello Dolly! and Mame to the list. Updated On: 8/9/10 at 09:05 AM

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:25am

A Chorus Line
Hair
Rent

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:31am

Show Boat
Oklahoma
My Fair Lady
Guys & Dolls
Gypsy
The Sound of Music
West Side Story
Fiddler on the Roof
Cabaret
Hello Dolly
Company
A Chorus Line
Grease
Godspell
Evita
Dreamgirls
Les Miserables
The Secret Garden
Falsettos
Rent

[neil30043]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:32am

i'm approaching this issue from a slightly different angle...i want to provide my 12 year old daughter with a great base of knowledge of the musical theatre, so she will love it in the future...and i know the list is slightly skewed toward sondheim:

Showboat
Oklahoma!
The King and I
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
A Chorus Line
Evita
Gypsy
West Side Story
Follies
A Little Night Music
Sweeney Todd
Into the Woods or Sunday in the Park with George
Les Miserables
Hello, Dolly!
Guys and Dolls
Ragtime
Cabaret
Chicago
Hair or Rent

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:33am

Cabaret
Camelot
Caroline or Change
Dreamgirls
Guys & Dolls
Nine
Ragtime
Pal Joey
South Pacific
Updated On: 8/9/10 at 09:33 AM

[DefyGravity4]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:34am

Rent - Has Great music and a great message
Wicked - Just plain amazing :)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:38am

Yep. Before you study the classics make sure you know WICKED.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 9:45am

I like Goth's list, though I might replace Godspell with Jesus Christ Superstar. I would also replace the Sound of Music with 1776. 1776 is an absolute MUST.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 10:12am

Also, be familiar with some of the early works of Gershwin, Berlin, and Kern. They were pivotal in the transition from operetta to book musical in the early 20th century.

[TrpleThreat89]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 10:18am

It's so hard to pick 20. There are so many that were/are innovative, but here's my opinion.

Show Boat
Anything Goes
Porgy and Bess
Oklahoma!
Carousel
Guys and Dolls
My Fair Lady
The Sound of Music
West Side Story
Gypsy
Fiddler on the Roof
Cabaret
Company
Chicago
Sweeney Todd
Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods
Les Miserables
Rent
The Producers
Wicked

[algy]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 10:54am

I like TripleThreat89's list, but I'd definately be Sunday in The Park With George, and would probably swap Sweeney Todd for La Cage - because of all the controversy about SITPWG and La Cage for best musical that year.

And for all that he's unpopular here, Andrew Lloyd Webber should be represented there somewhere - maybe Phantom in there instead of one of the Sondheims. Ick.

It is problematic trying to pick 20.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 10:56am

I would switch out Company for A Chorus Line

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 11:09am

Gypsy
My Fair Lady
West Side Story
1776
Guys & Dolls
Cabaret
Oklahoma
Les Miserables
A Chorus Line
Rent
Hair
Phantom of the Opera
Sweeney Todd
Company
Follies
Hello, Dolly
On The Town
Jesus Christ Superstar
Showboat
Dreamgirls

Updated On: 8/9/10 at 11:09 AM

[algy]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 11:17am

Oooh. I forgot A Chorus Line. That should definately be in.

But I think it depends on what you mean by "Know Well"

If it's 20 shows that chart the development of musical theatre it's a slightly different proposition to 20 scores that you should be familiar with.

[BwayBoundJoe]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 11:38am

Gypsy
Sweeney Todd
Mame
A Chorus Line
La Cage
Phantom of the Opera
Baby
Showboat
Promises Promises
Rent
Fiddler on the Roof
Doubt
Proof
West Side Story
Company
Dreamgirls
Caberet
Chicago
Les Mis
and just for fun, Glory Days.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 11:41am

I will not answer your question because you shouldn't limit yourself to 20. "Learn" as many as you can. And that is not me being a smart-ass, that is me giving you good advice. It would take you one week to learn 21 shows if you researched three per day.

I would start off by netflixing EVERY musical that is on DVD and watch them. Movie musicals, filmed stage musicals, and even concerts and documentaries. The best way to "learn" a musical is to watch it. (Though you must keep in mind that these films, especially the movie musicals, may have altered the librettos that are used to produce the stage musicals. In come cases the alterations are severe, in others they are unchanged.)

Research your college's production history. See what shows they have done in the past four years. Make sure you definitely know those shows.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 11:53am

I'd def say it has to be a broad list. In my highschool theatre class we spent 9 weeks discussing musicals, reading scripts, then watchin the movie musicals to see how they changed over. We took time to talk about big elaborate musicals and then those with a cast of 10.

Which leads me to, what WAS the first big musical with big theatrics?

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 12:27pm

I'd say the following for moving musicals forward to new eras and being notable...

Showboat - first musical book
1.Anything Goes - cole porters finest - one of the few shows from the 30's still revived
2.Oklahoma - first musical to use dance
3. Annie Get your Gun. for Irving Berlin and the broadway mother song
4.Porgy and Bess - Gershwins finest/first "black" musical
5.South Pacific - one of the first musicals to push boundries
6.Guys and Dolls - bringing a different sound to broadway
7.West Side Story - introducing our finest men on broadway
8.Gypsy - perhaps the finest comedy musical
9.Hair - pushing a new audience in
10. Fiddler on the Roof - moving traditional musicals forward to an new era
11.Hello, Dolly! - Herman's finest and ultra broadway show tunes
12.Cabaret - first musical to break away from plots to go into "limbo" and pushing topics for musical
13.Chicago - Kander and Ebbs finest
14.La Cage Aux Folles - first successful gay musical
15.Company - first musical to break to go in "situation" musical
16.A Chorus Line - most successful American musical
17.Sweeney Todd - sondheim pushing boundries
18.Cats - the first of the marketing musical/all family musical
19.Phantom - most successful peice of entertainment of all time
20.Rent - challenged closed topics

If it was up to me i'd have most of Sonheim on there!
Updated On: 8/9/10 at 12:27 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 1:11pm

Showboat
Porgy and Bess
Gypsy
Guys and Dolls
Oklahoma!
Cabaret
Fiddler on the Roof
The Music Man
My Fair Lady
West Side Story
Jesus Christ Superstar
Hair
Kiss Me Kate
Company
Sweeney Todd
A Chorus Line
Rent
Les Miserables
Assassins
Evita

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 1:18pm

1. Guys and Dolls
2. Gypsy
3 West Side Story
4. Anything Goes
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. My Fair Lady
7. Les Miserables
8. Evita
9. Cats
10. South Pacific
11. Jesus Christ Superstar
12. Chicago
13. Caberet
14. Oklahoma!
15. The Sound of Music
16. Porgy and Bess
17. Showboat
18. Wicked
19. The Lion King
20. Beauty and the Beast

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 2:09pm

"I like Goth's list, though I might replace Godspell with Jesus Christ Superstar. I would also replace the Sound of Music with 1776."

The reason I chose Godspell was because I think that one of the rock musicals of the 60s/70s should be represented. Out of the most well known three (JCS, Hair, Godspell) I think Hair has too messy of a book, Lloyd Webber and Rice were better represented by Evita (I tried to limit to only one artist on the list), and so it fell to Godspell.

I'm interested to know why you would choose 1776 over SOM?

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 2:44pm

It isn't necessarily a 1776 vs SOM argument. I think 1776 is one of the very best musicals ever written, and to make room for it on your list, I'd bump SOM, partially based on the same logic you used regarding one show per artist* If I were going to put a 2nd R&H show on the list, it would be South Pacific. In some respects, I think the stage version of SOM is somewhat overrated due to the imrovements made for the screen.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/9/10 at 2:49pm

AG2 - I am not here to pick on you but some of the statements made are not quite true...


Showboat - first book musical
-No, actually musicals had had books -even serious ones - before SHOW BOAT. There were THE MERRY WIDOW, THE DESERT SONG, THE STUDENT PRINCE to mention just a few.


2.Oklahoma - first musical to use dance
-No, not at all. Musical comedies had always had dance and as for ballet ON YOUR TOES was the first musical to include ballets.
It was, however, Broadway's first blockbuster. Until then no musical had run more than 2,000 performances. Also, virtually the entire score became a hit - not just individual songs.

4.Porgy and Bess - Gershwin's finest/first "black" musical
-No there weer "Black" shows before PORGY: BLACKBIRDS OF 1928, SHUFFLE ALONG etc.

5.South Pacific - one of the first musicals to push boundaries
-Well, didn't SHOW BOAT push boundaries with teh miscegenation scene? Or PORGY by showing a murder - 2 actually - on stage? Or CAROUSEL which kills off its leading man and ends bittersweet?


6.Guys and Dolls - bringing a different sound to broadway
-GUYS AND DOLLS is a great show and deserves to be on the list, but the "sound" of GUYS AND DOLLS was pretty much the sound of Broadway in that era.

7.West Side Story - introducing our finest men on Broadway
-Another classic and deserving but Bernstein, Laurents and Robbins had already had long careers on Broadway. Only Sondheim was introduced to Broadway with this show.


8.Gypsy - perhaps the finest comedy musical
-no argument, and perhaps one of the last great star vehicles.

9.Hair - pushing a new audience in
-I think HAIR didn't so much as try to include younger audiences so much as it tried to cater to them exclusively. Older theatre-goers were alienated by the show's frankness. You could say it was the first Broadway musical that deliberately tried to alienate a portion of the theatre-going audience.


10. Fiddler on the Roof - moving traditional musicals forward to an new era
-Not sure what you mean by this. It was certainly successful but I would be hard pressed to trying of any techniques used in FIDDLER that had not been used before.


11.Hello, Dolly! - Herman's finest and ultra Broadway show tunes
-"Show tunes" had been popular long before Herman came along, and even that 4/4 style had long been a staple. DOLLY was, however, the first musical to use its one hit song - the title song - as a virtual commercial for show.

12.Cabaret - first musical to break away from plots to go into "limbo" and pushing topics for musical
-and perhaps the first times a musical used songs to comment on the action rather than advancing it.


14.La Cage Aux Folles - first successful gay musical
-on Broadway yes, but off-Broadway's MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS had been a huge hit 2 years earlier.


18.Cats - the first of the marketing musical/all family musical
-oh not at all. MERRY WIDOW (1905) was the first heavily merchandised musical: MERRY WIDOW hats, MERRY WIDOW Corsets, MERRY WIDOW dresses, MERRY WIDOW cigars, MERRY WIDOW pins plus sheet music, and records swept the world in the year following the show's premiere. As for an all family show, most musicals in the 40s/50s were considered family shows: SOUND OF MUSIC in particular, and ANNIE predates CATS by at least 5 years.


I would also include:
CAROUSEL - considered Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest score
THE KING AND I - considered R & H's strongest book
KISS ME KATE - Cole Porter's biggest hit and best overall show, even if ANYTHING GOES yielded more hit songs
MY FAIR LADY - Lerner and Loewe's best and the biggest hit of the 1950s
THE MUSIC MAN - for innovative use of dialogue set to rhythm, barbershop quartets, and creative reuse of a tune: Goodnight My Someone morphs into 76 Trombones a scene later - and few people even picked up on it until the two were reprised together late in Act II