Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

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Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:12am

EDIT: I've adjusted the list to fit what I've gathered to be the popular opinion.

I'm trying to list a definitive musical for each decade of the 20th century (musical that sums up that decade, doesn't have to be written in that decade). Any suggestions? Here's my initial thoughts:

1900s - Ragtime
1910s - Titanic or Mary Poppins
1920s - Chicago or Thoroughly Modern Millie
1930s - Cabaret
1940s - On the Town
1950s - West Side Story
1960s - Hair
1970s – A Chorus Line
1980s - The Wedding Singer (I'm gonna leave it at this, only because I'm unfamiliar with Falsettos, though many agree that it is a better choice)
1990s - Rent

Updated On: 7/23/06 at 12:12 AM

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:19am

oh dear...

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:23am

"Titanic" is a possibility for the 1910s...it does deal quite a bit with the hubris of the beginning of that decade.

I might also suggest "The Sound of Music" for the 1930s (although I think "Cabaret" is better for that slot) and "West Side Story" for the 1950s (although "Grease" is probably more evocative of the stereotypical 1950s-land we all imagine).

And a question--are you looking for musicals that defined the decade in general, or that defined what theatre was like from that decade?

"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:23am

lol shut up, you know you wanna

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:25am

define the decade in general...and good suggestions

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:51am

Can I nominate On the Town for the '40s?

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:57am

since when did rent take place the 90s?

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:02am

And much as I don't want to dislodge Dreamgirls, you can't have a more iconic '70s musical than A Chorus Line.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:05am

"since when did rent take place the 90s?"

since before columbus/chbosky made a film of it. although there wasn't a real date, i think the majority of the opinion was it was 90s. (Just lyrically, there are references to Oklahoma City and Thelma and Louise...or am I completely off-base.)

#10

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:09am

I would say Saturday Night Fever for the 70's. Maybe Swing! for the 40's. Gee, maybe we should compile a list of Jukebox musicals for each decade.

"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

#11

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:16am

I'd say "Mame" for the 20's, and "A Chorus Line" for the 70's.

#12

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:17am

1930s - 42nd St.

#13

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:32am

Wedding Singer for 80's? Grow up.

#14

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 9:01am

1940's - either ON THE TOWN or SOUTH PACIFIC.

#15

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 9:22am

How about NO NO NANNETTE for the 20s?

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 7/22/06 at 09:22 AM

#16

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 9:31am

MARY POPPINS takes place in 1910. It deals with the suffragette movement and I'm pretty sure most households back then had flying nannies.

#17

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 11:01am

AH!! Rent makes me so mad. It isn't a good show, I'm sorry.

#18

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 11:38am

I think RENT is a perfect choice for the 90's.

Yeah, THE WEDDING SINGER for the 80's is a joke...you can do better than that. What about SONG AND DANCE?

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

#19

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 11:46am

This thread is for musicals that sum up a decade, not musicals that were popular in that decade (and in many cases, still are popular today.) I think The Wedding Singer does sum up the 80s and there are a lot of shows that sum up the 20s.

Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

#20

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 11:51am

There's Act Two of Sunday in the Park with George. I don't know...a representative "80s" musical is not so easy.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#21

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:00pm

Guys and Dolls for the 1950's?

If Percy Blakeney were in Les Mis....

Percy: Sink me! If it isn't Javvurt!
Javert: Zsah-vair, it's pronounced Zsah-vair.
Pecry: But it's spelled J-A-V-E-R-T Javvurt.
Javert: Repeat after me Zsah...Zsah....
Percy: Oh! Zsa-Zsa! Like the Gabor sister! Well I personally have always prefered Eva.
Javert: (Looks for gun)

#22

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 12:08pm

"This thread is for musicals that sum up a decade, not musicals that were popular in that decade..."

Exactly. Which is why I find it kinda strange.

RENT didn't sum up the '90s for me at all. It was more about the '80s with Jon Larson, and that brief time I spent hanging out with him and others in that group while we were all struggling in NYC in the mid-'80s. Still, I think of that as such a SPECIFIC experience for a relatively small group of "bohemians" living as artists in Manhattan. And I had just come from a college town in Kansas, where the world of "Rent" was as alien as that of "The Jetsons." Not exactly a global experience that would speak to all.

But I would be more inclined to pick musicals that were a product of their time, at the moment they made their big splash on Broadway. For that, I would say Rent was "the musical of the '90s" even if it didn't really summarize the '90s at all.

I would also say "A Chorus Line" was THE '70s musical (on those terms).

Hair was THE '60s musical.

Not sure if there was a '50s musical IN the '50s that summarized the '50s.

I'm gonna stop now because, for me, there are too many caveats in this thread.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#23

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 1:28pm

"Chess" was quite the 80s extravaganza.

#24

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 2:45pm

How about FALSETTOS for the 80's? After all, was there a more significant event than the AIDS epidemic?

#25

re: Definitive Musical for each Decade of 20th Century

Posted: 7/22/06 at 2:57pm

The musical of Mary Poppins doesn't deal with the Suffragettes. Well as it stands in London it doesn't anyway. Mrs Banks is a "retired" actress I think. I may have misremembered - Mary Poppins wasn't a musical that stuck in my mind.

I've a feeling that they may have time shifted it slightly as well...

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