Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?- Page 2
Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
#25Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 11:24amI did mean that song, and wasn't aware that it was older than that. When was it written?
#26Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 11:27amThat I don't know, but I know that Patti LuPone sang it in 2002 (and I feel like Brian Stokes Mitchell was also singing it around that time, if not earlier), so it's at least 11 years old. But if that's it, I would consider it part of this decade.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#27Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 11:28amOoooh, I need to find Patti singing it!
#28Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 12:14pm
I'll also throw out:
You Don't Know/I Am the One- Next to Normal
Love's a Gun- Love's Labour's Lost
Die, Vampire, Die! - Title of Show
Epilogue - Caroline, or Change (hell, this whole score, come on)
Urinetown is fantastic as a whole, but I do think it's more than the sum of its parts, considering it's basically entirely pastiche/parody. Same with The Drowsy Chaperone. I couldn't pick out one song that really stands out from either (Maybe "Show Off"? It's sort of a novelty song), but not because the songs aren't good. They need to be in context, it's like evaluating a single cog from a watch.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 9/3/13 at 12:14 PM
#29Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 12:19pmEven though Kad nailed it by just saying the entire score for Caroline, or Change, I have a soft spot in my heart for "I Hate the Bus," "Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw," and "Long Distance," though I don't imagine anyone else saying "Long Distance" is even close to being one of the best songs in that show.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#30Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 12:21pm"I Hate the Bus" is one of the rare songs I wish was double its length. It's gorgeous.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#31Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 12:50pm"I Miss the Music" and "The 'I Love You' Song" are great choices, too. I can get behind those.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#32Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 12:56pm
Another Winter in Another Summer Town - Grey Gardens
Electricity - Billy Elliott
Model Behavior - Women on the Verge
Before the Summers End - Dracula
my "cheezy" love: Finding Wonderland - Wonderland
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
#33Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 1:00pm
Let's just stop pvssyfooting around, and say it - CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is just the best musical of the last decade. In fact, it might just be the best musical ever written; better than anything Sondheim, Herman, Webber, Styne, Lerner or Lowe ever wrote. Maybe it was just a fluke on the part of the creators of the show and they're likely to never top it, but the fact remains that with this show, they went beyond striking gold and struck absolute 100% unparalleled perfection.
Updated On: 9/3/13 at 01:00 PM
#34Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 1:04pmKad, your comment about wishing "I Hate the Bus" was double it's length reminded me of one of my personal faves like that: "Painter's Song" from AMOUR. I'm sure it wasn't technically written in the last 10 years, but the show premiered in America ten years ago so I'll put it forward. Also "Other People's Stories" and "Special Time of Day" are great from that score.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#35Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 1:07pmI don't know if I would say Caroline, or Change is the best musical ever- because I don't think there's such a thing as a "best [X] ever" - but it is definitely up there
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#36Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 2:04pm
I would say Caroline, or Change is easily the best musical of the new century. In fact, it's one of the great pieces of art created in this century.
But as a stand-alone song out of context of the show? Another Winter in a Summer Town is it for me.
Updated On: 9/3/13 at 02:04 PM
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#37Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 2:13pm
"...as a stand-alone song out of context of the show..."
I'd agree that this should be the standard barometer for measuring such things, even though all art is subjective. It's easy to consider a song the 'best written' when staged and put into context. But it's more important to analyze it as a standalone composition. I would argue that is when something from BILLY ELLIOT, for example, greatly suffers.
DeNada
Broadway Star Joined: 7/7/07
#38Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 2:16pm
This may be controversial, but I think one of the best songs of the past ten years is "Who I'd Be" from SHREK.
I don't care for the crappy pop orchestration that kicks in at the end much, but I think the song is beautiful in its relative simplicity (maybe the lyrics are a bit too cheesy poetic? I don't know, I love them anyway), and it's got a wonderful emotional core. It's just structured so well with the build up to "and I'd remove my helmet" - that giant pause where the audience takes a collective breath - and then the triumphant swell into "we'd stand and stare/we'd speak of love".
It's a great song in a not particularly great show. It's not as breathtaking as Tesori's work on CAROLINE, but it's still wonderful - and I can't wait to hear what comes out of FUN HOME if it gets a cast recording.
My hopefully less controversial choice is "Fable" from PIAZZA. I love how it builds on that simple theme that Margaret sings to Clara earlier in the show and then reveals the force behind it as the orchestration and lyrics explode angrily before collapsing back into some kind of hope.
(wow that sounds wanky)
There's loads of great suggestions in this thread and some I've not heard of I need to track down.
#39Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 2:48pm
The show I'm surprised hasn't come up here at all is The Scottsboro Boys, which I think had one of the most uniformly strong scores of the recent past. I would personally pick "You Can't Do Me" as a high point.
I'd second the votes for "Around the World" from Grey Gardens and "The I Love You Song" from Spelling Bee, and concur 100% that Caroline, or Change has THE best score of the paste decade, so much so that I can't pick a best song. I'd lean toward the Epilogue, but I think that might be because it's such a brilliant moment within the context of the show. It can't be pulled out to stand on its own, but of course...that's one of the many perfect things about it.
I'd also mention "Rain" from Fela--the one original song in the show, and it was a doozy. And "Pretty Funny" from Dogfight merits a nod, though I still haven't decided if that was the song or Lyndsay Mendez's brilliant performance.
#40Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 3:21pmI mentioned SCOTTSBORO BOYS in my original post.
#41Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 3:56pm
Ah, so you did. And Glinda mentioned it in the very start of the thread.
Mea maxima culpa.
#42Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 4:02pm
I'm taking "in a decade" literally, so 2003-2013. A few of mine:
"Work the Wound"--Passing Strange
"Around the World"--Grey Gardens
"I Hate the Bus"--Caroline, or Change
"Lot's Wife"--Caroline, or Change
"Coney Island"--February House
"Whispering"--Spring Awakening
"Island"--Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
"Time Stands Still"--Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
"My Body Wasn't Why"--The Glorious Ones
"Coffee Shop Nights"--Curtains
"Fable"--The Light in the Piazza
"Dividing Day"--The Light in the Piazza
"Twelve Children"--Dessa Rose
"He Wanted a Girl"--Giant
"A Stranger"--Giant
"Not My Father's Son"--Kinky Boots
"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
#43Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 4:35pmCompletely forgot about "He Wanted a Girl." That was the highlight of Giant for me.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
luvcaroline
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#44Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 7:50pm
Caroline, or Change - I Hate the Bus and Underwater (Lot's Wife is pure brilliance but doesn't work as well out of context)
Ghost - With You and Suspend My Disbelief / I Had a Life (I know I'm in the minority on that one)
Passing Strange - Keys and Must Have Been High
Scottsboro Boys - Go Back Home
Catch Me If You Can - Fly Away and Good-bye
Wicked- For Good
Overall winner........Keys. Probably shocking considering my screen name, but I can listen to this song repeatedly, alone, and have the same experience I did when I saw it live. The perfect broadway song, in my mind. As others have said, Caroline is greatness, a true masterpiece, but best appreciated when played beginning to end
luvcaroline
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#45Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 7:50pm
Double post
Updated On: 9/3/13 at 07:50 PM
#46Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 8:54pm
I understand all the reasons why Stephen Schwartz' work is controversial and I agree with much of the criticism.
But setting the song "Loathing" as an exhilarating, Latin-beat celebration was the sort of choice that makes me love musical theater.
(For the record, I haven't seen or heard all the failed shows ya'll have witnessed.)
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#47Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 8:58pmluvcaroline, I didn't even think of "Keys" but yeah. You're right. It's incredibly powerful. That being said, I have to wonder if that's just part of the recording we have come to love. I have my doubts that if the song were done by a high school drama club, for example, it would have the same emotionally stirring and exhilarating impact.
luvcaroline
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#48Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 9:06pmValid point, Headband. One hing that does make that song so vibrant is the fact that it was recorded live (something that I wish more shows would do.)
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#49Best Song Written for the Theatre in a Decade?
Posted: 9/3/13 at 9:09pmSay what you want about Stew, but he brought that show to life. And he was able to make you really feel that raw energy in the recording.
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