Favorite Composers

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:25pm

There hasn;t been a thread like this in a while, so who are your favorite composers?
My Top Five (in order) Are:
1. Jason Robert Brown
2. Adam Guettel/Stephen Sondheim
3. Maury Yeston
4. Richard Rogers/Cole Porter
5. John Kander


Updated On: 9/18/05 at 06:25 PM

[grizzabella]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:38pm

Jerry Herman
Richard Rogers
Stephen Schwartz (mostly because Pippin's one of my favorite scores)
Stephen Sondheim
(I'm highly ambivilent about ALW. I love individual bits of his work, and think other bits are pure drek, so I'm including him for the bits I like.)

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:40pm

1. Stephen Sondheim
2. Maury Yeston
3. Michael John LaChiusa
4. Adam Guettel
5. Richard Rodgers
6. Jason Robert Brown

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:42pm

Cy Coleman (The best)
Kander & Ebb
Sondheim

[glenwj]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:46pm

Sondheim
Kander & Ebb
Jule Styne
Bock & Harnick
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Cole Porter

[justme2]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:46pm

Cy Coleman
Irving Berlin
George Gerswhin
Cole Porter

[glenwj]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 6:54pm

No postings for Lloyd Webber or Herman, interesting!

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 7:27pm

Richard Rodgers
Stephen Sondheim
Jules Styne
Frederick Loewe
Jerry Herman

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 7:33pm

1. Stephen Sondheim- Sweeney Todd
2. Rodgers and Hammerstein- Sound of Music
3. Cole Porter- Anything Goes
4. Ahrens and Flaherty- Ragtime/Dessa Rose
5. Jerry Herman- La Cage Aux Folles/Mack and Mabel
6. Irving Berlin - Annie get your gun
7. George Gerswhin
8. Cy Coleman- Barnum

Updated On: 9/16/05 at 07:33 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 4:29am

Woow...not one person yet mentioned my all-time fav and 1 answer to this question, Leonard Bernstein?

[Forester]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 5:18am

Frank Zappa

Not in any order-
Sondheim
Schonberg & Boublil
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Kander & Ebb
Herman
Gilbert & Sullivan
Weill Updated On: 9/17/05 at 05:18 AM

[Composer9]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 5:32am

I guess I'll be the second to mention my favorite...

Leonard Bernstein

and close behind him is Stephen Sondheim...Both absolute geniuses...thank God they had the chance to work together at least once...

[Sant]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 7:10am

Kander & Ebb
Richard Rodgers
A. Lloyd Webber
Ahrens & Flaherty

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 7:30am

Joanthan Larson
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Stephen Swartz

[AvenueQPat]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 8:12am

Jason Robert Brown
Ahrens and Flaherty
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Adam Guettel
Stephen Sondheim
Leonard Bernstein
Kander and Ebb

You know.....come to think of it, I love almost everybody. They are all for different reasons though, like I hate Cats and Joseph, but I love Phantom and JCS.

So I guess I can't say a favorite, but a combo of the people above and the classics like R & H

[BroadwayDoc]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 8:53am

Can't believe no one has said Bill Finn! I didn't think he was that underrated.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 11:42am

There are a lot of composers that I think wrote 1 or 2 incredible shows, but (for me) didn't create enough of a body of work (as of now) to be on my list of all-time "favorites." I picked a small group (above) that had proven themselves with at the very least a handful of outstanding scores. That's what a "favorite" is to me. Not a one-hit wonder or a flash in the pan. Someone who hits it out of the park consistently. If I had to expand my own list to include composers I liked for just 1 or 2 shows, I would add:

Leonard Bernstein
Lionel Bart
Stephen Flaherty
Meredith Wilson
Richard Adler/Jerry Ross (co-writing their music)
Adam Guettel

Updated On: 9/17/05 at 11:42 AM

[worrell4077]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 11:46am

Eric Idle/John DuPrez
Mel Brooks
Howard Ashman/Alan Menken
Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx
________________________________________________________________
"Sometimes weird stuff happens. Someone has to deal with it, and Who Ya Gonna Call?"
-Ghostbusters II

[Liz_Bennet]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 2:52pm

Composer9- preach it!

Bernstein
Sondheim
Weill
Guettel
Arlen

And of course, my absolute favorite composer is Brahms, and my favorite vocal composers are Schubert, Mozart and Verdi, but that's for another board.

[hearthatstrue]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 3:03pm

Leonard Bernstein
George Gerswhin
Stephen Sondheim
Kander & Ebb
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Cole Porter
Jason Robert Brown

Kind of cliche, huh?

[Composer9]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 6:33pm

hearthatstrue,

I love your picks...they're basically mine with a bit of tweeking to the order, and the addition of Adamn Guettel because I'm in love with Piazza...nonetheless, not cliche, absolutely great choices! Oh, and I guess I'd take JRB out and add Jerry Herman instead...I like JRB, but he's not one of my "favorites"...

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 6:37pm

The lack of Cy Coleman on these lists is depressing.

I forgot Bernstein on mine.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/05 at 7:08pm

I keep wanting to revise mine too. There are just too many I like (including the amazing Mr. Coleman).

Others that haven't been mentioned yet (and easily could) are Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and Frank Loesser... heck, even Galt MacDermot.

[Labashier]

Posted: 9/18/05 at 1:03am

Jonathan Larson
Leonard Bernstein
Jason Robert Brown
Stephen Sondheim
Alan Menken
Cy Coleman

I have a number of composers I really enjoy, but I didn't feel it was appropriate putting them down as they only have one well-known show (Damon Intrabartolo, Lopez/Marx, Kotis/Hollman, etc)

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 9/18/05 at 1:06am

Jason Robert Brown
and Jonathan Larson.



No doubt about it...I felt like making their names pretty...
Updated On: 9/18/05 at 01:06 AM