#1
Posted: 11/22/15 at 1:07pm
Out of all the musicals they wrote, which is the best? Worst?
Best Kander and Ebb Musical?
#2
Posted: 11/22/15 at 1:10pm
Not saying this is necessarily their finest piece (because it isn't), but I think Curtains is/was woefully underrated. What a great show.
#4
Posted: 11/22/15 at 1:11pm
I like the under appreciated Steel Pier.Ditto for Curtains. Happy was supposed to be a small chamber musical. I saw it and Champion got carried away. Would be great revived off Broadway or Encores
Others were Kiss,The Visit, Cabaret. Did not see 70 Girls,The Rink or Woman Of The Year.
Liked , to varying degrees, all of their scores
Poster Emeritus
Updated On: 11/22/15 at 01:11 PM
#5
Posted: 11/22/15 at 1:33pm
Cabaret is an absolute masterpiece that is truly timeless. The Visit is incredibly underrated and is their most beautiful score in my opinion, but Cabaret is the better show.
Updated On: 11/22/15 at 01:33 PM
#6
Posted: 11/22/15 at 1:56pm
Which , do you believe , is a harder sell to the theater going public - The Visit or Sideshow?
Poster Emeritus
#7
Posted: 11/22/15 at 2:02pm
Mr Roxy said: "Which , do you believe , is a harder sell to the theater going public - The Visit or Sideshow?"
I mean, we literally just saw that neither of those shows are exactly easy to commercialize...
#8
Posted: 11/22/15 at 2:04pm
I know both are hard sells. What I was asking was which was the hardest of the 2.
Poster Emeritus
#9
Posted: 11/22/15 at 2:40pm
I mean, Side Show was completely unable to find audience not once, but twice in under two decades. It's just not a good show.
I think The Visit could find an audience, but the Broadway premiere had an ad campaign that was vague on any aspect of the show except Chita. I don't particularly care for the show, but it's at least an interesting piece with a score that is sometimes very lovely.
On topic: The Mendes incarnation of Cabaret (with all the score changes that entails) is their best show, easily. Nothing seems superfluous or filler, it's smart, and it packs a powerful punch. It's a perfectly tailored show. I think that, to some extent, many of Kander and Ebb's work proceeding it end up aping it in some ways to varying degrees of success.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#10
Posted: 11/22/15 at 2:46pm
Cabaret is excellent, as are Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman and All About Us. However, I have to say that The Scottsboro Boys is my favorite. It may not have the best score of the bunch, but as a whole it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
The worst? Hard to say. As brilliant as Kander and Ebb are, they've definitely written their share of clunkers. I'm not familiar with most of their obscure shows like The Act, Steel Pier, Woman of the Year, etc. So keeping in mind my limited knowledge of their lesser-known works, I'd have to say my least favorite is The Visit. The score has a couple of decent moments in my opinion, but I really disliked the show as a whole.
Updated On: 11/22/15 at 02:46 PM
#11
Posted: 11/22/15 at 2:49pm
Yeah it's the go to choice, but seriously it's CABARET.
Many of their scores are excellent (THE VISIT quickly jumped to the top for me) but the shows aren't as wholly amazing as CABARET. CHICAGO comes close maybe.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#12
Posted: 11/22/15 at 3:19pm
Cabaret is the best they've worked on, no contest. Even though I haven't seen their shows which are the "worst", I have to say that The Rink that starred Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli looked pretty bad from the footage I've seen so far.
#13
Posted: 11/22/15 at 3:19pm
Cabaret ...
The great thing with human brains is they're fanless, nice and quiet although I'm sure mine whistles a bit sometimes.
#14
Posted: 11/22/15 at 4:55pm
Best (3-way-tie): Kiss of the Spider Woman, Cabaret, & Chicago.
I have these cast recordings but I'm not too big on them: 70, Girls, 70, Zorba, Woman of the Year, The Visit, Steel Pier, The Scottsboro Boys, The Rink, The Happy Time, Flora the Red Menace, & The Act
#15
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:21pm
How has Flora, the Red Menace not even been mentioned yet? Not the best, but I love it. Flora, Scottsboro Boys and The Visit are all quite underrated.
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
#16
Posted: 11/22/15 at 6:41pm
About half of their shows, especially the later ones.were flops. They were all good with some being spectacular.
Poster Emeritus
#17
Posted: 11/22/15 at 7:07pm
Does anybody think that shows post ebbs death could've been better if he had the time to fix the lyrics?
My father (AIDS)
My sister (AIDS)
My uncle and my cousin and her best friend (AIDS, AIDS, AIDS)
The gays and the straights
And the white and the spades
#18
Posted: 11/22/15 at 7:24pm
TOPS:
Cabaret (somehow even better in its Natasha Richardson revival)
Zorba (with 2 inept revivals failing to find its magic)
The Rink (the original production was magnificent and heartbreaking), and
The Scottsboro Boys (by far the best of the post-Ebb age)
WORST:
Curtains, Curtains and Curtains.
#20
Posted: 11/22/15 at 8:00pm
Call_me_jorge said: "Does anybody think that shows post ebbs death could've been better if he had the time to fix the lyrics?"
The lyrics haven't really been the issue.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#21
Posted: 11/22/15 at 8:05pm
I love CHICAGO, but CABARET is their masterpiece.
#22
Posted: 11/22/15 at 11:32pm
Call_me_jorge said: "Does anybody think that shows post ebbs death could've been better if he had the time to fix the lyrics?
"
No show has ever succeeded or failed because of its lyrics. I say this as a lyricist myself.
#23
Posted: 11/22/15 at 11:42pm
How clever of K&E to write THE ACT, so there's really no question as to their worst!
As for best, I'd say either CABARET (haven't seen the Mendes version) or CHICAGO (the original).
BTW, whatever THE HAPPY TIME's failures on stage (and William Goldman details them all in THE SEASON), the score is gorgeous. The same is true of ZORBA and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, though I found the latter really boring in the theater. KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN is the rare exception where the score is as dull as the rest of the show.
#24
Posted: 11/22/15 at 11:58pm
I think Steel Pier is underrated but Chicago is my favorite, though I've never enjoyed the current adaptation that's been running on Broadway for forever
#25
Posted: 11/23/15 at 2:55pm
cabaret and chicago are really neck and neck for best musical and i would go see a good production of either over and over, with the edge to cabaret for being first and being so damn different than anything before it.....
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