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#1

Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Variation on themes that have been disscussed before, what in your opinon are the best of the modern musicals (with modern defined as the last ten years give or take)

mineFavorite 'modern' musicals?not in order of prefrence)
1. The last five years
2. Tick, tick... Boom
3. Rent
4. Urinetown
5.The Producers

so, anyone else?
#2

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Are we limiting ourselves? I guess I'll try... (more or less in order)

Caroline, or Change
Floyd Collins
The Wild Party (LaChiusa)
The Last Five Years
Urinetown the Musical
The Light in the Piazza
Parade
Ragtime

Indeed, my reaction to "Piazza" as a whole was much more mixed than I expected it to be, upon seeing the production in NYC. Problems with structure! I think it's because Craig Lucas (or any bookwriter) was not involved from the get-go. And Bart Sher's direction was often simply clumsy, but what a difficult space for such a small show! (I wasn't aware that there were eleven people in Florence in 1953, and that they all became prostitutes after 6:00).

If we'd go back a bit further, I'd include "Hello Again." One that I enjoy, but that I think has major structural problems and didn't make the list is "Marie Christine."

Updated On: 8/3/05 at 09:26 AM

#3

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Peach picks three...

RENT (tied with West Side Story for my all-time favorite, actually)

Tick Tick Boom

And I have to say it...Wicked (even though I'm older than the average fan by about 20 years, I really do like this musical).

And if I may editorialize, I do wish more of the "modern" (last 10 years) musicals would have more dancing. It seems less and less musicals have A LOT of dancing as time goes on.


#4

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Gwalke we are identical!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#5

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Ragtime, Parade, Caroline or Change, The Light in the Piazza, Aida, Side Show
#6

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Hate to be all predictable here but Avenue Q, Wicked and the Producers are rating pretty high with me at the moment...
#7

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

i would have to say that the best musical in the past 10 years was and is ragtime. it is also one of the best musicals ever. period.
#8

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

I have to agree with Darcey Ragtime was a truely moving experince. I alos want to second SideShow which is an amazing show that got alot of crap.
#9

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

i agree there are some amazing shows in the last 10 years...

parade
urinetown
side show
the last 5 years
a new brain
floyd collins
the light in the piazza
caroline, or change
rent
tick, tick... boom!
the wild party (lachiusa)
aida
avenue q
and even in their own special way: hairspray and wicked

but i truly think that ragtime is one of the best musicals ever written, and certainly the best in the last 10 years without doubt.

Updated On: 8/3/05 at 12:31 PM

#11

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

In no particular order:
Rent
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Tick, Tick...BOOM!
YAGMCB
Wicked
Aida
The Last Five Years
Urinetown
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The Producers
Hairspray
1. Ted Allen: Everyone has an interesting life if you ask the right questions.
2. Great buckets of Spoffnor, they're going to sing!
3. "I love shrubs that are historical." -Johnny and The Sprites
4. "We're not singing it to you, we're singing it for us." -Rosario Dawson, about La Vie Boheme
5. "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours." -The History Boys
6. "Pass the parcel. That's sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That's the game I want you to learn. Pass it on." -The History Boys
#12

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

This is hard. I know I've left a couple off and included some I shouldn't have, but oh well...

Amour
Bat Boy: The Musical
Caroline, or Change
Dessa Rose
Floyd Collins
The Full Monty
Hello Again
John & Jen
The Light in the Piazza
A Man of No Importance
Marie Christine
My Life With Albertine
Myths & Hymns
A New Brain
Once on this Island
Parade
Ragtime
Urinetown
Violet
The Wild Party (both)
Zanna, Don't!

"From out of the blue, It's green for go, I'm in the pink, Kissing a philosopher really Colors the way you think."~Bright Lights, Big City
#13

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Avenue Q
Dessa Rose
La Cage!
Forbidden Broadway (Revue)
The Full Monty
Hairspray
Caroline or Change
Millie
Urinetown
Spelling Bee
Listen To My Heart(Revue)
Altar Boyz
Violet
Last Five Years
Chicago
Pippin
Dame Edna
Hair
A Chorus Line
Zanna
Elegies (Revue)





Updated On: 8/3/05 at 12:56 PM

#14

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

aida, urinetown, avenue q, rent of course
hear the beat...
#15

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Rent, Spelling Bee, DRS, and Avenue Q.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#16

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Wicked
RENT
Spelling Bee
DRS
Aida
Millie
Ragtime
tick...tick...BOOM!

I want to see if I can buy the CD for The Producers...otherwise, I haven't heard a thing of it.
What the puck?!
#17

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

now corine, i love you dearly.. but how are la cage, pippin, hair and a chorus line from the last 10 years? and how is dame edna a musical? special event, yes. show with music, yes. musical, no!
#18

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

My top ten from ten years in random order:

THE WILD PARTY (LaChiusa)
SIDE SHOW
PARADE
AVENUE Q
RENT
THE LIFE
CAROLINE OR CHANGE
...SPELLING BEE
URINETOWN
A NEW BRAIN

"For me, THEATRE is an anticipation, an artistic rush, an emotional banquet, a jubilant appreciation, and an exit hopeful of clearer thought and better worlds." ~ an anonymous traveler with Robert Burns
#19

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Wicked,
Aida,
Lion King,
Mamma Mia,
Hairspray,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
#20

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

So the Caroline or Change fans finally show up!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#22

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

"Parade"
"The Light in the Piazza"
"Urinetown"
"Hairspray"
"Ragtime"
#24

re: Favorite 'modern' musicals?

Subject and message(favorite and best) two totallly different things in my book...

If we're talking best...Ragtime, Rent, (would Chicago or Cabaret revisals count since they're diff. from originals?),

If we're talking favs...Wicked, Rent, Ave Q, Ragtime, Aida, DRS and Piazza
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli

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