Best Original Musicals of the Decade- Page 5
Best Original Musicals of the Decade
#100re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 2:43am
Original Score and book not based on previous play, film or novel....
AVENUE Q - Cute, clever and very funny.
BOUNCE/ROAD SHOW - Neither version was 100% but both had many fine moments.
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE - technically this premiered in Toronto in 1998, but it was substantially revised for the Broadway opening in 2006
THE LAST FIVE YEARS - each time I see it I find new things to admire in this show.
THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS - easily my favourite show so far this season
THE STORY OF MY LIFE - The NY critics failed this show, and I do not know why. Fortunately, it is being done in regional theatres and will soon become another LAST FIVE YEARS.
**I have not seen CAROLINE...OR CHANGE as yet, so cannot comment on that show. Based on the enthusiastic endorsements by several BWW members whose opinions I respect I will probably like it a lot when I do get to see it. The cast album has not won me over as yet but maybe you have to see this show, and maybe the cast album doesn't do it justice.
Adaptations....
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS- Great fun and highly enjoyable score
FELA! - a unique theatrical experience (even tho the music is beyond my area of interest)
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA - Beautiful show with a lush, romantic score. So glad it was shown on Live from Lincoln Center.
JERSEY BOYS - a play about popular music, though not necessarily a true "musical" it still combined an excellent book with some powerhouse acting and singing to make sensational entertainment.
THE PRODUCERS - The Broadway production was a joy. Letter touring production (and an underpowered Toronto production) have done nothing to dim the memories of the original.
TRISTAN - a chamber musical based on the Thomas Mann novel that premiered at the Shaw Festival in 2006. The cast album is available and well worth exploring.
Major disappointments...
THE ADDAMS FAMILY - great cast wasted with inferior material
AMERICAN IDIOT - Why is this even on Broadway? Shouldn't it be touring rock arenas?
BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON - I really wanted this to involve me more than it did, but Benjamin Walker was sensational.
SPAMALOT - The joke wears thin very quickly
SPRING AWAKENING - Nope - stick with the original play which still packs a punch that the musical trades for cheap laughs and sickening sentimentality.
Sensational revivals....
COMPANY - The actor/musician concept worked well adn Raul Esparza's sensitive portrayal made Bobby a more compelling leading character.
(**HONORABLE MENTION to the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration in the summer of 2002, notably PASSION with Judy Kuhn and COMPANY with John Barrowman. The whole series was THE theatrical event of the decade.)
FINIAN'S RAINBOW - a sparkling production of this 1947 musical comedy. The critics raved yet audiences stayed home. Why?
GYPSY (Patti Lupone) - as close to Merman as we will ever likely get (**did not see B.Peters)
INTO THE WOODS - again the Stratford production (2005)delighted the eyes and ears in many unexpected ways.
OKLAHOMA! - The 2002 Broadway revival was exhilarating from the start of the Overture through the final curtain call.
RAGTIME - another show that got near unanimous praise from the critics (with one holdout) yet failed to ignite at the the box office.
WEST SIDE STORY - no not the Broadway revival (which I thought was very good) but the summer 2009 staging at the Stratford Festival in Ontario.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#101re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 4:58am
:: sigh ::
I remember when these boards went positively ape-sh*t over SPRING AWAKENING, and no one dared suggest it was a tawdry, sensationalistic piece of crap that would no doubt drop like a rock and disappear in a few years' time... just as it seems to have done.
CAROLINE was a mawkish theatrical soap opera, certainly not the hallowed event some of you are suggesting. It was so badly written I wanted to leave at intermission, and yet no one dares suggest that Tony K may just be one of the most over-rated playwrights of the decade.
AVENUE Q, DROWSY, and (yes, I'm going there) WICKED were without doubt the three major achievements of the decade. All three were entertaining, well-written, and gave the audience far more than its money's worth. None pretended to be anything other than what they were: fun, mindless, beautifully designed, beautifully performed, and -- best of all -- well written. These three are shows that we'll see still performed out there in the hinterlands (seriously, I cant wait for the first high school production of DROWSEY; it should be fascinating to see how they look back on Broadway history as that show does) when AMERICAN IDIOT finally finds its legs as a rock-arena tour and SPIDERMAN is doing two shows a day at the Bellagio... which is where it belongs.
I also give serious chops to IN THE HEIGHTS: great social commentary mixed with fantastic entertainment. I'm glad that Spike Lee decided the best way to film it was to just film the play; I shudder to think what he would have done in his (usually) misguided attempt to "open it up".
For the rest, LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA came close, but it just missed the mark, sorry. It couldnt decide if it was a musical or an opera, and it wound up being neither -- what saved it was a lovely design sensibility. SPELLING BEE was cute, but c'mon, this is off-Broadway fare, not something worth a hundred-plus bucks to see. And anyone who finds merits in that abomination called THE PRODUCERS should have his BWW.com membership card revoked. The only genuinely funny moments in the entire evening were the reveal of the all-white office and the actual presentation of SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER; everything else was just... lord, words fail me.
This was, all in all, a pretty sad decade for Bway. 2011, with its repackaged movies pretending to be musicals, aint looking much better, but let's hope otherwise will somehow happen.
http://docandraider.com
#102re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 5:38am
Caroline or Change
Light in the Piazza
Next to Normal
In the Heights
Urinetown
Grey Gardens
La Chiusa's The Wild Party
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
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#103re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 9:36amNext to Normal was definitely, in my opinion the best show of the decade. then, for me, thoroughly modern millie and wicked are also up there for reasons of just being an absolute joy of fluffy musical fun.
Judy Garland & Gene Kelly <3
algy
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#104re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 10:13am
Obviously haven't seen as many as lots of you guys - on account of being in the UK, but of what I've seen,
Avenue Q
Drowsy Chaperone
Altar Boyz
And of the "new" musicals
Billy Elliot
Hairspray
Wicked.
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#105re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 11:57amThe decade technically runs 2001-2010. Technically.
#106re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 12:19pmForgive me if i'm wrong, but by that reckoning 1970 would be in the sixties?
#107re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 12:37pm
^^ Yup. The last year of that decade.
Man, how did I forget ALTAR BOYZ! Silly, stupid, wonderfully performed. Thanks for the reminder!!
http://docandraider.com
#108re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 1:46pmI have never known ANYONE to class that as such...
#109re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 1:49pm
ALTAR BOYZ or 1970? 
http://docandraider.com
#111re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 12/31/10 at 2:20pm
Yup, tis so, good sir. The decade ends on the aught, not the nine. We didnt officially hit the 21st century until 2001.
And considering how well *that* year went...
http://docandraider.com
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#112re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 12:12pm
Since there was no year 'Zero', the first decade AD ran from Year '1' through '10', and it follows as such.
However, saying the 'seventies' refers to years 1970-79, and can probably be considered 'a' decade, but it was not 'the' decade.
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#113re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 12:25pm
I say [title of show], Drowsy Chaperone and Urinetown as far as 100% original musicals. They were fun, quirky and well-written.
And although Wicked was an adaptation, I have to give credit where credit is due.
I personally like N2N, but I just really don't feel like it's that incredible. Infinitely better the second time around though.
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
#114re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 12:26pm
EDIT: I already posted in this :P
But ouch... no love for Curtains.
Formerly: WishingOnlyWounds2 - Broadway Legend - Joined: 9/25/08
Updated On: 1/1/11 at 12:26 PM
Orangesaretuesdays
Stand-by Joined: 10/8/10
#115re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 12:27pmSeanMartin, the Drowsy thing already happend. I was in it this past summer, I played Aldolpho it was a great experience. The whole cast was really dedicated and I think it played quite well.
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#116re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 12:54pmobviously wicked was the BEST
#117re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 2:13pm
In no particular order:
The Drowsy Chaperone
Avenue Q
Bounce/Road Show
The Frogs
Curtains
Next to Normal
Urinetown
Altar Boyz
No love for The Big Voice: God or Merman? ? LOVELOVELOVED that show!!
#118re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 2:20pm
Spring Awakening
Avenue Q
Hairspray
In The Heights
Billy Elliot
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
algy
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#119re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 3:42pmSeanMartin - I was surprised no one else had mentioned Altarboyz - so much so that when I wrote my list I went back and checked the date it started to make sure that it was actually eligible!
#120re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 3:47pm
Next to Normal, In the Heights, Curtains
I'm sure I could list more, but these are the ones that I've seen and most enjoyed.
#121re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 3:50pmCAROLINE, OR CHANGE is easily the best musical of the decade, followed closely by SPRING AWAKENING and PASSING STRANGE.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#122re: Best Original Musicals of the Decade
Posted: 1/1/11 at 3:58pm
I also give serious chops to IN THE HEIGHTS: great social commentary mixed with fantastic entertainment. I'm glad that Spike Lee decided the best way to film it was to just film the play; I shudder to think what he would have done in his (usually) misguided attempt to "open it up".
Huh? Did you mean to type PASSING STRANGE?
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