Favorite Composers

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

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

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

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No postings for Lloyd Webber or Herman, interesting!

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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

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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.

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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"...

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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.

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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