Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best Plays (and 10 Greatest Musicals) Over the Past 100 Years — Page 3

If I were comparing Oklahoma with The King and I, without taking the historical significance of Oklahoma into account and simply opining on which was the better musical, I'd give it to The King and I hands down. In my opinion is has one of he best scores top to bottom of any musical.

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Updated On: 6/28/13 at 03:41 PM

Brave Sir, I'm with you. It would be nice to see a Rodgers & Hart in there or a Gershwin or a Porter which, in a Top 50, there well might be.

RaisedOnMusicals, I'm with you as well. OK! has an outstanding score, especially for a first collaboration (not counting their college years) but R&H just kept getting better and The King & I has an extraordinary score.

"Porgy and Bess? Glorious music. Difficult to embrace completely because of what is arguably an outdate view of race."

Yeah but for me Carousel is extremely difficult to embrace as well. The beating doesn't sit well with me even though the music is glorious.

"Of Thee I Sing? It's a political spoof that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but does it hold up?"

I saw the Papermill production of Of Thee I Sing almost 10 years ago and it definitely does not hold up. I was bored out of my mind.

With respect, the score is flawless. The book ends up making no sense.

Are you kidding? You should know that most consider it to be the musical with the most perfect book. Far from making no sense.

With respect, the score is flawless. The book ends up making no sense. ("Marry the Man Today" and change his ways tomorrow? Except that Adelaide's problem isn't that Nathan isn't perfect, it's that HE WON'T MARRY HER! How is that dilemma solved? Hint: it never is. The book just glosses over the problem.)

Have you ever seen the show? He won't marry her because of his gambling addiction.

Did somebody hack your account? You just called the best book of a musical ever written incoherent.

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Adelaide resolves to "marry the man today and change his ways tomorrow".

But how does she stop him from "getting off at Saratoga" for the FIFTEENTH time (so that she can get a chance to change his ways after the wedding)?

Huge plot flaw, even by the low standards of musical comedy.

I think you are missing the big picture. The last scene implies that both the guys have finally given up their dirty ways, as the girls managed to prove themselves worthier to them than their gambling.

It is obvious that both the dolls have learned to keep the guys in place in case they even think of going back. The resolution is brilliant, I'm sorry the production you saw did not show this.

The '92 revival is, still to date, one if not the best Broadway shows I've ever seen. It was perfect from beginning to end.

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Updated On: 6/30/13 at 11:09 PM

Imply though it might (I have my doubts, but never mind that), it still doesn't happen on stage.

It does happen onstage. We see Nathan has finally accepted to marry Adelaide and Sky has even joined the mission. The dolls achieved their purpose, and it is happily ever after.

And I have read the libretto many times. Yes, the show gets away with the plot flaws by being tuneful and funny, but if we are voting "Best Musical of All Time", then we shouldn't be overlooking such a clunky denouement. IMO, of course.

That's if your opinion. I know that Guys & Dolls is free of plot flaws and there is not one single clunky thing about it. It is just perfect.

While it is true this could be subjective, it has been considered so by critics and experts for decades.

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We see Nathan has finally accepted to marry Adelaide and Sky has even joined the mission.

Blaxx, I did reply to your last post and I don't want you to think I was so disrespectful as to fail to do so. But I think we are in angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin territory here. We agree GUYS AND DOLLS is a great musical; I just don't think it is "perfect". So I'm deleting my rebuttal.

I'll let you have the last word and we can agree to disagree.

Updated On: 7/1/13 at 08:04 AM

Would you add anything to this list that's been produced in 2013?

Now that I've seen a production of Machinal, it's interesting to note that it's listed as 32nd on this EW list. The production at Roundabout is splendid, but one of the 50 best plays of the last century?!

"best" sometimes implies an expectation of or call for universal agreement, or at least consensus. Let's celebrate that there might not be such a thing as consensus when it comes to art.

Here's a list of "favorites" The ones that bring me the most pleasure/provide me with the most satisfying reflection.

Musicals

She Loves Me
Fiddler on the Roof
My Fair Lady
Gypsy
Show Boat
Guys and Dolls
South Pacific
Sweeney Todd
A Chorus Line
Anything Goes
Pacific Overtures
Porgy and Bess
Into the Woods
Promises, Promises
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Threepenny Opera

Plays

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Piano Lesson
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Little Foxes
A Raisin in the Sun
Wit
Morning's at Seven
Doubt
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
A Delicate Balance
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
A View from the Bridge
Lettice and Lovage
The Children's Hour
Three Tall Women
The Goat
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
The Country Girl
The Norman Conquests
Copenhagen
Glengarry Glen Ross

and Pygmalion (if we can make it the last 102 years instead of the last 100)

Updated On: 1/28/14 at 12:17 PM

I feel the same way about that song.

PICNIC is an awful play. How could they not include "You Can't Take It With You" or "The Man Who Came To Dinner"? There is no comedy mentioned until number 28.

Rent is a mess of a musical. Fiddler and My Fair Lady are both better than Guys and Dolls. They should be on the list along with (the perfect) A Little Night Music and the nearly perfect 1776.