No matter how fictionalized it is.
Mine would be GREY GARDENS.
Leading Actor Joined: 1/23/12
I really like the scores for Chaplin and Newsies.
For me, I think it has to be 1776.
Also up for consideration based on scores: Titanic and Parade
Snarky nomination: Last Five Years
Updated On: 9/17/14 at 11:32 PM
Grey Gardens #1 followed closely by Scottsboro Boys.
Titanic.
Not a huge fan of the proposed revival though. The show is called Titanic! Go big or go home.
BOOK OF MORMON
KINKY BOOOOOOOTS!
Joined: 12/31/69
gleek, neither of those are fact-based. SWEENEY TODD is based on an urban legend whereas PIPPIN is based on a fictional story about Charlemagne's son.
As for me, I think either BARNUM or THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS
RAGS and RAGTIME both truck in real events and real characters of the same period, event though their central stories are fictitious.
BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON constantly plays with historical facts and characters (but what a messed up understanding you'd have of history based only on this telling).
But I agree that 1776 stands apart as the one show whose chief aim is to give a relatively accurate slice of history from beginning to end. It's also to my mind one of the all-time greatest books ever written for a musical.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
A Chorus Line
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
Since GYPSY is a musical "fable," would have to go with "1776." Even if the history books cleaned it up, as per Franklin's prediction.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
IMO, Gypsy is closer to the truth than 1776. While both are excellent musicals, 1776 has a lot of fiction to it. The Continental Congress was private and confidential, so what actually went on can only be gleaned from memoirs, some written many years after the actual events. At the time Gypsy opened, there were people still around that knew or came into contact with Rose, including both daughters.
Elisabeth, hands down.
One more favorite I'm surprised no-one has mentioned:
PACIFIC OVERTURES.
Fictional characters mix with factual ones to tell the astonishing true story of the "opening" up of Japan. Thoroughly illuminating in light of recent attempts to "open" up other closed societies to the blessings of democracy.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/21/06
Stand-by Joined: 8/23/12
Gypsy, without a doubt. But the first thing that sprang to mind, to be honest, was Fun Home.
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