BEST MUSICAL EVER — Page 2

Les Mis...saw it 16 times :)

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Congrats on your 16, I'm up to 15 for Avenue Q and ended Les Mis at 30 (although Im going to see it in London in July)

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West Side Story and Carousel. Ragtime is my all-time favorite but I wouldn't say it's the best!

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It would certainly be MY FAIR LADY, though GUYS AND DOLLS, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, LES MISERABLES, and A CHORUS LINE are way up there.

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I have 3: Rent, JCS, Godspell

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Including films: Ragtime, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors (the 1986 film), Cabaret (the 1972 film), Chicago (stage musical and film), The Wizard of Oz, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I like far to many shows.

Someone who I got hooked on musical theatre once asked me, "What cast recordings should I get?" I spoke without thinking (something I often do) and said get Showboat and Oklahoma, they're the start of the book musical. Then get Sweeney Todd, that's the peak of the book musical. Not to say there haven't been great shows since, but for scale, depth, and just plain getting everything right, Sweeney Todd is as close to perfect as it gets for me. Having seen most productions available to be seen living on two coasts, I've been shocked by my seemingly contrarily familiarity with and new found affection for the score. The script really does it service. It's everything that Follies aimed to be, grand, yet literary, but just needed Sondheim to get that true inspiration. It was Hugh Wheeler's best work. There's something to be said for the fact that when any major production of it is done, they do the show "as directed by Hal Prince."

That being said, my favorite musical is a Sondheim/Prince failure. I absolutely adore Merrily We Roll Along. I think, as far as score, that's as close to perfection as it gets. It builds like a tragedy in reverse. It's a lesson of failure that ends on a high note. It SHOULD work. I've only seen it work in concert with the original cast. Anne Morrison was a revelation on stage. When she took the stage you realized why she won the role after a year and a half of not being able to cast Mary.

Again, 2 cents.

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I agree with JRB. While it's difficult to be objective in this, one of the most subjective of all art forms, there are works that are, by any definition, "perfect" in their primary elements -- book, music, lyrics -- and that in their original productions (or in a few rare cases, in later definitive productions) demonstrated an ideal marriage of performance, direction and design. There are several shows that I love that I must admit have flawed books, or brilliant shows that have songs in the score that aren't great or constitute filler, or that overall flat-out work better on paper (or on CD) than they ever do in performance. By this criterion, I eliminate several of my favorite shows, but with that in mind, how about these 20 candidates (chronologically):

-- "Showboat" (momma of them all -- a little clunky these days, but still effective)

-- "Porgy and Bess" (really an opera, but interlaced with jazz and written FOR the musical theater, debuting for the Theatre Guild in 1935 -- the greatest musical score ever written by an American composer to this day ....certainly unparalleled by any other composer who's primarily associated with musical theater. A masterpiece on every level from beginning to end)

-- "Pal Joey" (ahead of its time then and perhaps still; great score, but the dark, anti-hero protagonist is still a hard sell -- maybe Hugh could have a go at it)

-- "Oklahoma" (plot + music + dance = it still works)

-- "Annie Get Your Gun" (not crazy about the last revival -- though Reba was great -- but who can argue with the score)

-- "Guys and Dolls" (maybe the greatest musical comedy; flawless book that is still extremely funny over 50 years later; every song is perfection and perfectly placed; even when it's not well cast, it's such an amazing piece of construction that it still works)

-- "Threepenny Opera" (the first off-Broadway hit show)

-- "My Fair Lady" (we all take it for granted -- myself included -- but Lerner's adapation of Shaw's Pygmalion is masterful, as is the score by he and Loewe)

-- "West Side Story" (I wonder if I'll ever see a production that is worthy the work by Robbins, Bernstein, Sondheim and Laurents. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the OBC recording by Kert and Lawrence and the movie nailed the choreography, but then also had Richard Beymer (????) and Natalie Wood in a black wig. Hopefully, someday somebody (Jerry Mitchell?) will do a revival that matches the brilliance of the creators).

-- "The Music Man" (Corny, but flawless)

-- "Gypsy" (Perfection. But Rose must be truly larger-than-life for the show to completely work and few, if any, Roses can match the intensity of the orignal)

-- "Hello Dolly" -- not sure why to include it, but not sure why to leave it off.

-- "Fiddler On the Roof"

-- "Cabaret" -- ??? (personally, I think the Fosse movie improves greatly on the 1966 original -- remember this last revival incorporated numbers from the movie -- and Fosse was right to ditch the Fraulein Schneider/Herr Schultz subplot which is a drag on the book, IMO. Still.....)

-- "1776" (never has such a hoary subject matter been made so endlessly compelling and entertaining)

-- "A Chorus Line" -- (a seemless marriage of book, score, choreography, staging and performance)

-- "Chicago" -- (Fosse's and Kander & Ebb's best work; prescient book; brilliant score and choreography)

-- "Sweeney Todd" (hard to choose a "Sondheim's greatest," but hard not to choose this one; Genius score and book and great staging from Prince)

-- "Evita" -- (Webber's best, I guess)

-- "Les Miz" -- (the best of the mega-musicals)

There are another half dozen or so I might add (including a few favorites of mine) but they're all harder to defend because of certain flaws. Anyway....

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MargoChanning, I really enjoyed your posting and wanted to say how nice it is to have someone defend their views so well.

Anything Goes
&
The Last 5 Years

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I would have to agree, pretty much word-for-word with Margo. Kudos for including 1776, wich is often overlooked.

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