Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
#1Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:08pm
Entertainment Weekly's latest issue has "The 100 All-Time Greatest"...movies, TV shows, music books -- and the 50 best plays -- over the past 100 years, as determined by their critics. (I don't know why it's only 50 for the plays). They didn't put this online, so I did (just the list, not their descriptions of the shows)
The top five, in order:
1. Death of A Salesman
2. A Streetcar Named Desire
3. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
4. Long Day’s Journey Into Night
5. Fences
Top 5 musicals
1. Guys and Dolls
2. Gypsy
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
4. Oklahoma!
5. West Side Story
The rest of the list below
The 50 Best Plays Of The Past 100 Years, According to Entertainment Weekly
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:18pm
LOL, EW.
ReNt and The Book of Mormon. I think they just Googled "Best Musical" and that's what they got.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#2Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:21pmHaha...Guys & Dolls at #1.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#3Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:28pmOh, Guys and Dolls can be number one in most people's lists. It's a perfect show on paper.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#4Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:29pmI want to see the list but I'm not clicking on that trolls link.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#5Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:32pm
1. Death of A Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller
2. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams
3. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) by Edward Albee
4. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1956) by Eugene O’Neill
5. Fences (1985) by August Wilson
6. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1993-94) by Tony Kushner
7. Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett
8. Pygmalion (1913) by George Bernard Shaw
9. A Raisin in the Sun (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry
10. Our Town (193
by Thornton Wilder
11. Six Characters in Search of An Author (1921) by Luigi Pirandello
12. The Glass Menagerie (1944) by Tennessee Williams
13. Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) by David Mamet
14. August: Osage County (2007) by Tracy Letts
15. True West (1980) by Sam Shepard
16.The Iceman Cometh (1946) by Eugene O’Neill
17. Look Back in Anger (1956) by John Osborne
18. A View From The Bridge (1955) by Arthur Miller
19. The Little Foxes (1939) by Lillian Hellman
20. The Real Thing (1982) by Tom Stoppard
21. Master Harold and the Boys (1982) by Athol Fugard
22. The Homecoming (1965) by Harold Pinter
23. Ruined (200 by Lynn Nottage
24. Mother Courage and Her Children (1941) by Bertolt Brecht
25. Six Degrees of Separation (1990) by John Guare
26. Doubt (2004) by John Patrick Shanley
27. Top Girls (1982) by Caryl Churchill
28. Present Laughter (1942) by Noel Coward
29. Noises Off (1982) by Michael Frayn
30. Marat/Sade (1964) by Peter Weiss
31. The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001) by Martin McDonagh
32. Machinal (192 by Sophie Treadwell
33. The Norman Conquests (1973) by Alan Ayckbourn
34. The Bald Soprano (1950) by Eugene Ionesco
35. M. Butterfly (198 by David Henry Hwang
36. The Dybbuk (1920) by S Ansky
37. Saved (1965) by Edward Bond
38. Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
39. The Front Page (192 by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
40. Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) by Dario Fo.
41. Picnic (1953) by William Inge
42. Journey’s End (192 by R.C. Sherriff
43 The Odd Couple (1965) by Neil Simon
44. The Orphans Home Cycle (1962-2009) by Horton Foote
45. The Women (1936) by Clare Boothe Luce
46. What The Butler Saw (1969) by Joe Orton
47. Awake and Sing! (1935) by Clifford Odets
48. The Piano Lesson (1987) by August Wilson
49. Uncommon Women and Others (1977) by Wendy Wasserstein
50 The Weir (1997) by Conor McPherson
The 10 Greatest Musicals, according to EW
1. Guys and Dolls
2. Gypsy
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
4. Oklahoma!
5. West Side Story
6. Cabaret
7. A Chorus Line
8. Rent
9. Carousel
10. The Book of Mormon
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#6Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:32pmPlease don't call me names Jordan
broadway guy
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
#7Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:34pm
How the Heck did GUYS AND DOLLS beat GYPSY AND WSS? Also why is BOM on the list?
Updated On: 6/27/13 at 09:34 PM
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#8Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:36pmHow I wish your parents would take away your internet privileges!
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#9Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:38pm
GUYS AND DOLLS and BOOK OF MORMON, but no MY FAIR LADY, HELLO, DOLLY! or FIDDLER?
Methinks that list was not compiled by a musical theater lover. (Maybe that's why they only included 10.)
As for the plays, I've taught most of them and, while I'd rearrange the order, I think they did a pretty good job in terms of American and Western European plays. Contrary to popular conception, however, there were also great plays written in Australia, Nigeria, Japan and elsewhere.
#10Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:41pmGaveston, I'm curious about your rearrangement. What would be, say, your top 5 plays?
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#11Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:41pm
Guys & Dolls has the perfect book, can only come under Gypsy.
Either or is superior to any others mentioned.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
broadway guy
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
#12Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:42pm
"GUYS AND DOLLS and BOOK OF MORMON, but no MY FAIR LADY, HELLO, DOLLY! or FIDDLER?"
My thoughts exactly.
#13Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:45pm
Why the "ha-ha" at GUYS AND DOLLS being #1?
Back around 2000 a critics poll was taken to choose the best musicals of the 20th Century and GUYS AND DOLLS topped that list as well. (Time Magazine did its own poll and CAROUSEL won the top position there.)
GUYS AND DOLLS still plays very well. The script it tight and balances good comedy scenes with an enjoyable romantic plot. The score is Frank Loesser at his very best. Maybe not every song became a standard but go through the cast album... every song is a gem.
I agree BOOK OF MORMON doesn't belong on the list, and neither does RENT. But at least EW resisted the temptation to put WICKED in the top 10.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#14Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:48pm
"GUYS AND DOLLS and BOOK OF MORMON, but no MY FAIR LADY, HELLO, DOLLY! or FIDDLER?"
My thoughts exactly.
You think?!
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#15Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:50pmThe fact that Book of Mormon is on the list is laughable. Especially over Into the Woods, Follies, Les Miserables, Parade, and Ragtime.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
#16Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:50pmBefore I read this, I said "If Carousel isn't on this list, it's not valid". So at least there's that.
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
broadway guy
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
#17Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:51pmIts interesting that not a single ALW show is on the list. Neither is Les Mis. hmmmm
#18Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:55pm
Wow! Not a single ALW show...
And how could Sweeney top WSS, Cabaret, and ACL?!?
Edit: Sorry guy, I didn't saw your post.
Updated On: 6/27/13 at 09:55 PM
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#19Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:57pmLord, take this tweens away from what was a perfectly fine message board.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
broadway guy
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
#20Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 9:58pmNo Problem Jazz :). Completely agree about SWEENEY.
#21Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 10:15pm
That plays list reads like a syllabus for a (great) higher education course in Drama Literature. Really good mix of "important" plays with beautiful poetries, emotional devastations and uproarious comedies (really glad NOISES OFF and WHAT THE BUTLER SAW made the list... it's easy to forget how hard transcendant farce is to write, and those two are masterpieces every bit as deserving as a spot on that list as anything by O'Neill, Williams, or Miller.)
Also glad there's modern work represented there. Specifically DOUBT and INISHMORE, which I've studied in a classroom setting and are truly precision-engineering texts, like clockwork, they are so finely constructed there isn't an ounce of useless material.
If I complain about anything, it's missing ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, but THE REAL THING is a fine Stoppard. I just don't hold it as dear to me as I do R&G, which would probably be in my personal Top 5.
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.
#22Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 10:21pm
Why, specifically, did they decide to do a "best of the last hundred years" in 2013?
...Was 1913 some sort of defining point in theatre that I was ignorant of?
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Ed_Mottershead
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#23Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 10:24pmRidiculous that Carousel was not on the list; I may vomit.
BroadwayEd
#24Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years
Posted: 6/27/13 at 10:26pmGuys and Dolls is my favorite show. When done well, it can be hilarious, emotional, and so lively. Find yourselves a copy of the 90s version with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince. Perfection.
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