Catchest score ever?

#1

Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:50pm

Yeah, I know this is reaching down pretty deep into the barrel, but we've had thread about underrated scores, best scores, most beautiful scores, etc. etc. etc.

Now what is the single catchiest score in the Broadway musical canon?

Just a few titles to throw out there to get your mind jogging....

KISS ME, KATE
SOUTH PACIFIC
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
OLIVER!
HELLO, DOLLY!
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
SWEET CHARITY
MAME
CABARET
THE WIZ
CHICAGO
ANNIE
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
CATS
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
RAGTIME
THE PRODUCERS
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
HAIRSPRAY
AVENUE Q

What do you think?

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#2

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:52pm

I would say South Pacific, Oklahoma!, Cats, Hairspray, Avenue Q and 42nd Street. As hard as I try, I can't get most of those songs out of my head after I see them.

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#3

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:54pm

Pretty much any pop score, because that is the intent of pop music, right?

Also, are you just talking about original scores? If not, I believe JERSEY BOYS may be the most catchy, for obvious reasons.

#4

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:56pm

Original score written specifically for the theatre.

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#5

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:56pm

For some reason, the catchiest scores are usually the the brassiest ones. I cannot choose one, but here goes:

Kiss Me, Kate
Fiddler
Sweet Charity
Gypsy
Guys and Dolls
Chicago
Oklahoma!

#6

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:56pm

Throw Anything Goes in there too.

I would assume this is an original score, so any jukebox musical would be out. (but then again, Anything Goes would have to be out, too)

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#7

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 2:57pm

Hairspray, Wedding Singer, Urinetown

#8

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:01pm

Pretty much anything that Jerry Herman has written for the theatre (MAME, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, HELLO, DOLLY!)

GODSPELL

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Who does not know these songs?)

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"I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear." ~ Freddie Mercury

#9

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:03pm

I don't find URINETOWN or THE WEDDING SINGER catchy at all. Except for the first song in the score, THE WEDDING SINGER is just blah.

I agree - the catchiest scores to me are those that are big, brassy, and explosive. My catchiest scores are probably:

HELLO, DOLLY!
MAME
OLIVER!
KISS ME, KATE
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
SWEET CHARITY
GUYS AND DOLLS
THE KIND AND I
THE SOUND OF MUSIC

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#10

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:04pm

she loves me

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"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."

#11

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:04pm

I have to add Zanna!

#12

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:05pm

Hairspray has to be one of them! You Can't Stop the Beat has been running in my head ever since I first heard it! I love it!

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#13

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:06pm

Avenue Q is really catchy, because they all sound like simple children's, Sesame Street type melodies. A New Brain gets stuck in my head easily too, but that might just be me.

#14

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:08pm

um well Oklahoma is just one of those score that creeps into my brain every single day in some way. It doesn't help the CBS Morning show uses a song as its theme.

I would say Little Shop is one of those scores that just never gets old. So very catchy. "Downtown" is song I can never skip on my ipod no matter what version.

#15

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:09pm

Fiddler on the Roof...who hasn't sung Tradition and Matchmaker repeatedly for 3 days after seeing the movie/show?

#16

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:11pm

Do-Re-Mi! Many others but that`s all I have time for!

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"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey

#17

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:17pm

Wow, people actually agree with me on this thread!

#18

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:23pm

For me: Sweet Charity, Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, and West Side Story.

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Updated On: 6/29/06 at 03:23 PM

#19

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:26pm

I'm gonna jump on the Avenue Q bandwagon BUT I will add a shocking twist...

Some songs from Sweeney Todd, specifically Worst Pies in London, A Little Priest, God That's Good and By The Sea.

#20

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:27pm

ANNIE! Those songs are like mind leeches.

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"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck

#21

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:28pm

I find Jerry Herman's scores to be quite catchy.

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"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

#22

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:28pm

Yeah, because all those 3/4, 4/4, 7/8 and 11/12 measures in "God That's Good" are REALLY catchy.

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#23

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:37pm

you really are scraping the bottom of the barrel. And of all people....


But I'll go with it. Hairspray's pretty catchy. Avenue Q is also really catchy too.

#24

re: Catchest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:40pm

Definitely Hello, Dolly!, and Sweet Charity for me. Big, brassy, and addictive scores.

#25

re: Catchiest score ever?

Posted: 6/29/06 at 3:41pm

Ever? For the overall score (not individual songs), I would say...

Oklahoma!
The Sound of Music
Hello, Dolly!
The Music Man

I don't consider the scores to Fiddler, Charity, Kiss Me Kate, Q or even Annie to be universally catchy. Just some of their songs. Some also have tricky intervals or rhythms that your "average Joe" can't do or even remember.

Honestly... the most catchy of late would be Drowsy Chaperone (regardless of many bitchy opinions I've read on this score). I walked out of the theatre remembering at least 5 or 6 of the melodies. That hasn't happened in a long time.

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Updated On: 6/29/06 at 03:41 PM