Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

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Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:29pm

I was having a heated discussion with a friend about scores of the last 20 years. They were arguing that there hasn't been a single truly great score in the past 20 years. Help me prove them wrong!

In my opinion, the truly great ones from 1992-2012 are:
Falsettos
Passion
Ragtime
Caroline, Or Change
The Light in the Piazza
In the Heights

What else, y'all?

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Updated On: 7/20/12 at 12:29 PM

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:33pm

Ragtime
Side Show

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Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:37pm

Ragtime
Parade
Side Show
Avenue Q
Next to Normal

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Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:51pm

There are different kinds of "great scores" - I would say it's a good score if it's an intrinsic (rather than merely decorative) part of the piece, if it helps tell the story, and you want to listen to it more after seeing the show. With that in mind, I like these:
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Titanic
Ragtime
The Producers
Urinetown
Hairspray
Avenue Q
The Light in the Piazza
The Drowsy Chaperone
Grey Gardens
A Catered Affair
The Scottsboro Boys

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:56pm

Ragtime
The Light In the Piazza
Grey Gardens
Hairspray

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blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:58pm

If your friend doesn't think there are any, a list from us is unlikely to change his mind. To him, he's right.

I would venture a guess there are many more scores OLDER than 20 years that I would consider great then less than 20 years old.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:06pm

newintown, bestie, no love for CAROLINE?

In addition to several of the worthy mentions here, I'd add the woefully underappreciated JANE EYRE, LaChiusa's THE WILD PARTY, and might cautiously suggest that THE FULL MONTY teeters toward greatness (i can haz longur ovurchor plz?).

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Updated On: 7/20/12 at 01:06 PM

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:11pm

Sweet growl, despite having seen it several times, I've always been mixed about Caroline. It has a lot to offer, but the score has a bit of an air of desperate striving to be "art" (to me) - working a bit too hard; and I'm not sympathetic with the essentially negative/static nature of the eponymous character.

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:14pm

I also forgot about IMHO

Song for a New World
The Last Five Years

#10

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:21pm

Very curious!

I have the musical talent and know-how of an ant, so I have to rely on my ears and instincts only, but I've never thought of -- or even considered the possibility of, to be honest -- CoC's score as... would pretentious be a fair rephrasing of your description?

Though I certainly take your second point.

CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES

#11

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:22pm

I have to throw it in here: Taboo. One of them, for sure.

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#12

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:23pm

Caroline is hit-and-miss with me, growl.

IMO, not as solid overall as the others I mentioned. But still a good score.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#13

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:27pm

"Pretentious" doesn't feel quite right. It's the fact that Tesori throws in every sound in existence (except maybe rap) - gospel, klezmer, art song, be-bop, vocalise, r&b, recitative, Motown, etc., without actually settling on a sound of her own (or the show's own).

I imagine that it's a difficult task to create a coherent and focused score when setting the text of a logorrheic like Kushner.

Updated On: 7/20/12 at 01:27 PM

#14

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:46pm

It's always seemed to me that "her" sound in CoC comes from the way she distills (to me, very cohesively) those disparate styles in the context of the piece. There's been a trend in the last 15 years or so of composers doing sort of style mash-up pieces (URINETOWN, THE FIX, et cetera) where the styles are chosen willy-nilly, arbitrarily, for the fun of it. But the style usages in CoC all seem appropriate and justified to the show's specific themes, period, cultures. And I don't know what she does musically to make the score so self-contained and cohesive to my ear, but there's something.

But I also find the score compulsively listenable, and almost 10 years on, I still discover new things in it, very often.

And I've also often wondered what the collaboration process was like with Kushner, specifically. I'd love to hear both of them talk about it in detail sometime.

GREY GARDENS is one that I've always thought maybe I should return to. But the production so put me off that I've never had the compulsion to revisit the score. It just sits there in my iTunes.

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#15

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:50pm

Caroline or Change's score has ADD, imo. The show as a whole was terrific, but for Tesori's contributions. I would nominate it for best book of a musical from the last 20 years.

I would put Taboo and Floyd Collins on my list.

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#16

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:51pm

Taboo and Hairspray, for me, are pretty great.

#17

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 1:58pm

Ooh, FLOYD COLLINS. D'accord.

CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES

#18

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 2:25pm

I'd include City of Angels, but it was in the 1989-1990 season. I mean, it's not like I'd count Phantom of the Opera as a current score.

Kiss of the Spider Woman
Passion
Hello Again
Sunset Boulevard
Rent
Titanic
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Violet
Ragtime
A New Brain
Honk!
The Witches of Eastwick
Parade
Marie Christine
The Wild Party
The Full Monty
Jane Eyre
Urinetown
Hairspray
Avenue Q
Wicked
Caroline, or Change
The Light in the Piazza
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
See What I Wanna See
Legally Blonde
In the Heights
Billy Elliot
Next to Normal
The Scottsboro Boys
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Soho Cinders
Matilda

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Updated On: 7/21/12 at 02:25 PM

#19

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 4:41pm

Lengthy for sure, but I think "The Woman in White" is one of the better scores that seems to usually get overlooked (but glad to see all the "Jane Eyre" love on here too).

#20

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 5:08pm

Ragtime
In The Heights (for being pretty ground breaking)
Matilda
Producers
Beauty and the Beast (can that count?)
Sister Act
Wicked
Mary Poppins (new material)
The Hunchback of NotreDame
Assassins
Menken's A Christmas Carol
City of Angels
Legally Blonde
Fame Becomes Me

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#21

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 5:44pm

I think Parade is an outstanding score.

#22

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 6:03pm

The Book of Mormon
Hairspray
Next to Normal
The Producers
Rent

#23

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 6:10pm

Ragtime
The Light In the Piazza
Grey Gardens
A New Brain
City of Angels
Hedwig and the Angry Itch
King David

And a personal favorite that was an utter flop:
The Goodbye Girl

....but the world goes 'round

#24

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 6:22pm

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Possibly my favorite musical score ever written.
The Book of Mormon
Billy Elliot
Sunset Boulevard
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Titanic
Side Show
oh and I almost forgot Ragtime

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Updated On: 7/20/12 at 06:22 PM

#25

Best Scores of the Last 20 Years

Posted: 7/20/12 at 6:48pm

PARADE definitely gets my vote for best score of the last 20 years.

I would even say that THE OLD RED HILLS OF HOME is the greatest song written for the theatre in 20 years

"I shall stay until the wind changes."

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