Best Scores From the Last Five Years?

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:45pm

I'll establish upfront that I am not looking for anything related to the musical Last Five Years, but rather literally musicals from the last five years.

I've been away from theatre for quite a while, and I've found myself being drawn back into it. Watching this past year's Tony Awards and seeing the brilliant performances from Dear Evan Hansen and The Great Comet really reminded me of why I fell in love with theatre in the first place. So now, I'm looking to get back into it and reignite the passion that I once had. 

Besides Hamilton, because everyone and their mother knows about Hamilton, my knowledge dead ends almost entirely after 2012. So, I'd love some recommendations! I'm looking to essentially put together a playlist to get me back into musicals. If anyone out there could recommend any songs or albums that I should try out, I'll happily give them a listen! 

My tastes are pretty open. I'm totally interested in listening to up and coming composers, off-broadway shows, mega musicals, really anything recorded that I can get my hands on. Thanks!

Updated On: 6/14/17 at 08:45 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:53pm

The Bridges of Madison County, Fun Home, Waitress, Ghost Quartet, Bombshell, and as you mentioned, Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet, and Hamilton.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:57pm

Ha, I read the subject line over and over again, totally confused what you were asking! The disclaimer helped

My top five favorite scores since 2012: The Bridges of Madison County, Hamilton, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Great Comet, and Something Rotten!. 

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:57pm

GeorgeandDot said: "The Bridges of Madison County, Fun Home, Waitress, Ghost Quartet, Bombshell, and as you mentioned, Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet, and Hamilton."

Thanks! Bridges, Fun Home, and Waitress are on my list of things that I'd like to check out. Are there any specific songs that you'd recommend I check out first, or give them all an initial full listen?

Updated On: 6/14/17 at 08:57 PM

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:59pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "Ha, I read the subject line over and over again, totally confused what you were asking! The disclaimer helped

My top five favorite scores since 2012: The Bridges of Madison County, Hamilton, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Great Comet, and Something Rotten!. "

Hahah,  yeahhh. I thought that might happen. I'm totally loving Something Rotten right now. I just gave it a listen for the first time two days ago and I've been hooked on "Hard To Be The Bard" and "Bottom's Gonna Be On Top." Plus, it helps that Brian D'Arcy James is a ****ing phenomenal talent.

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:00pm

Matilda, Fun Home, Great Comet and Dear Evan Hansen have been highlights. I'd also give a shout out to A Christmas Story. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:01pm

EDIT: Adding in songs that might want to check out first.

My absolute favorite since 2012 have been:

--Bridges of Madison County

"To Build a Home"

"Another Life"

"Falling Into You"

"One Second and Million Miles"

--Fun Home

"Ring of Keys"

"Maps"

"Changing My Major"

"Days and Days" 

--Giant

"Did Spring Come to Texas"

"Your Texas"

--The Last Ship

"Island of Souls"

"All This Time"

"The Last Ship (Part 2)"

"We've Got Now't Else" 

--Matilda 

"Naughty"

"When I Grow Up"

"Quiet"

"Revolting Children"

--Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812

"Prologue"

"No One Else" 

"Letters"

"Balaga"

--Ghost Quartet

 "Subway"

"Starchild"

"The Telescope" 

And here are some more that aren't quite my favorites, but I also enjoy: 

--Bright Star

--Come From Away

--Anastasia

--Dear Evan Hansen

--Dogfight

--Finding Neverland

--First Date

--Bring it On

--Tuck Everlasting

--Waitress

Updated On: 6/14/17 at 09:01 PM

[Valentina3]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:02pm

Fun Home & Kinky Boots both have a great score and cast album. Fun Home is a very thorough album, with a good amount of dialogue so you won't be lost trying to follow the story, and Kinky Boots is a hoot & a half from beginning till end. I'd start with those.

I'd also recommend some of the successful revivals like She Loves Me, The Color Purple, and On The Twentieth Century. While they didn't exactly originate in the last five years, they were done well enough (and in case of TCP - differently enough), that they merit strong recommendations. Follies revival was mounted in late 2011 but was the first full recording of an excellent show so if you didn't get into that, it's totally worth your time.

Other popular shows with good music were Matilda, & Gentlemen's Guide To Love & Murder (which I think doesn't make much sense without having seen the show first but other would disagree), Bridges Of Madison County (which I didn't care for), and Porgy & Bess revival.

I don't get much Off-Broadway in unfortunately because I don't live in NYC, but I love the Dogfight album which was recommended to me by one of the BWW users. From this year, Dear Evan Hansen, War Paint, and The Great Comet are the shows I strongly recommend my friends to watch/listen to.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:06pm

hey judas welcome back to bway. the nominated shows for best score from 2013 til now is a good place to start

the most listenable score to me (besides hamilton whose score is incredible beyond even the hype) is kinky boots. lots of variety in the score and great performances.

the revival of the king & i is also absolutely something wonderful-kelli ohara delivers the goods as does the rest of cast and lush orchestrations.

Bombshell also has a number of fantastic songs, and i love the song from the other musical from the smash  tv show "broadway here i come"

jessie mueller and cast are also terrific in beautiful the carol king musical

 

 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:11pm

JudasIscariot said: "GeorgeandDot said: "The Bridges of Madison County, Fun Home, Waitress, Ghost Quartet, Bombshell, and as you mentioned, Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet, and Hamilton."

Thanks! Bridges, Fun Home, and Waitress are on my list of things that I'd like to check out. Are there any specific songs that you'd recommend I check out first, or give them all an initial full listen?"

 

Fun Home should be listened to as a whole album, IMO. Reading the summary of the play on wikipedia could be good. Different people like different songs from that show, it has quite a few great ones like "Ring Of Keys", "Maps", "Days & Days", and "Edges of the World" but some of these don't make sense without context sadly.

I forgot Something Rotten! but "Hard To Be The Bard" and "God I Hate Shakespeare" are my favorites on that one. "I Have Decided To Marry You" from A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder is hilarious. Waitress has "Never Getting Rid Of Me", "She Used To Be Mine", "I Didn't Plan It".

Kinky Boots has "Land Of Lola", "History Of Wrong Guys", "What A Woman Wants", "Hold Me In Your Heart", and "Sex Is In The Heel" as my personal favorites.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 9:11pm

These are all fantastic suggestions. Thanks so much, everyone!

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:00pm

also have to add

follies revival 2012 with bernadette peters

nice work if you can get it with kelli ohara

alladin(really liked the new songs and the original men ken favs)

 

 

[lumpyben]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:09pm

My picks would have to be War Paint, First Daughter Suite, Bright Star, Come From Away, Gentleman's Guide and Great Comet.

[bexplex]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:12pm

Everything about DEH. It just emotionally connects to me and my depression. It is the soundtrack of my life

[leighmiserables]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:14pm

Oh gosh, you're going to get me going on stuff I love. I really think the fully scores of all of these shows should be listened to, but I'll also write some of their "greatest hits." Anywho, here we go: 

The Great Comet (others have already mentioned it, but I'll echo their statements): Prologue, Pierre, No One Else, Dust and Ashes, Charming, Letters, Sonya Alone, Pierre and Andrey, The Great Comet of 1812. 

Fun Home (again, it's been mentioned, but whatever): Ring of Keys, Days and Days, Edges of the World. 

Waitress: When He Sees Me, Never Ever Getting Rid of Me, Bad Idea, I Didn't Plan It, You Matter to Me, She Used to Be Mine. 

Hadestown (there are only four songs released from the Off-Broadway production, but you can find the concept album all over the place): Way Down Hadestown, All I've Ever Known, Wait for Me Why We Build the Wall, Our Lady of the Underground, I Raise My Cup. 

Be More Chill (this one really needs context to make sense, so I suggest you listen to the whole thing with Wikipedia open, or listen to the full audio recording that should still be on YT somewhere): I Love Play Rehearsal, The Squip Song, Two-Player Game, Michael in the Bathroom, The Smartphone Hour (Rich Set a Fire), Voices in My Head. 

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but these are the ones off of my head. If you like The Great Comet and Dear Evan Hansen, I most strongly suggest Be More Chill (which is, in my opinion, Dear Evan Hansen 2.0) and Dave Malloy's other work, specifically Preludes and Ghost Quartet. Also, I know you said your knowledge thins after 2012, but I wanted to make sure you know about Next to Normal? It came out in 2009, I believe, so you might be aware of it. If not, listen to it. I'm pretty sure you'll think it's great. 
 

Updated On: 6/14/17 at 10:14 PM

[hork]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:16pm

Fun Home is my absolute favorite, far above everything else. My other favorites are School of Rock, Gentlemen's Guide, and Bring It On. But Fun Home is the only one I repeatedly listen to

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:24pm

Heathers-The Musical. It is a brilliant score, in my opinion.

 

[CallMeAl2]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:43pm

I would also add the reworked Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and Newsies are lots of fun. I love the contemporary score of If/Then, but not everyone does. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 12:31am

I don't really listen to "songs"; I listen to what we used to call "albums". (This isn't a snark, just an acknowledgement of my person habits. There's nothing wrong, in my view, with making playlists of your favorite songs from different shows.)

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY is easily the score of the decade so far, IMO.

DADDY LONG LEGS hasn't been mentioned here. It's a two-character show, but one I listened to daily for six months after it was streamed for free on the internet.

I also love DEH, COMET, FUN HOME, THE FIRST LADIES/DAUGHTERS PROJECTs and almost all of the shows mentioned above.

Updated On: 6/15/17 at 12:31 AM

[10086Sundays]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 2:59am

I will add: Groundhog Day.  Listen to the whole thing. If you really want to pick out some songs:

"Day One", "One Day", "Hope", "Night Will Come", "Seeing You."

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 8:50am

Easy. "Hamilton" hands down. Followed closely by "Great Comet".

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 1:26pm

Most people didn't like it, but I found the score for IF/THEN filled with some pretty great songs:

"What the F&*k?"

"Here I Go"

"No More Wasted Time"

"Walking By a Wedding/This Day"

"You Learn to Live Without"

"The Moment Explodes"

"Love While You Can"

"Always Starting Over" 

[froote]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 1:32pm

Is it really true that most people didn't like the If/Then score? I know people had issues with the show in general but I thought the score was good and Always Starting Over is one of the great musical theatre songs of the decade. And it was Tony nominated despite not getting much love in the other categories.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 2:19pm

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I will throw a vote behind BRIGHT STAR and THE LAST SHIP. Not my favorite shows, but the cast recordings are some of my favorite recent ones to listen to.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 6/15/17 at 3:24pm

Thanks to this thread, I went back to listen to If/Then and I agree there's ton of potential there. Would love to see a revival in the future.


(Rachel Bloom!)