Favorite Musical About American History?

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:01pm

 

Take the Fourth of July Poll

Or just state your preference in this thread.

[Fantod]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:03pm

The Scottsboro Boyssssssss

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:30pm

I actually saw 1600 & have the cd. I cannot recall a thing about it

I love the score for Assassins but have never seen it live

1776 was the gold standard but has been beaten out by - see below

Parade was enjoyable but it dragged at times

Loved the Scottsboro Boys

Have not seen Hamilton

Did not care For Andrew Jackson

 

My favorite was the original Ragtime. The glorious score/great cast & beautiful book. A complete package. Scottsboro a close second followed by 1776

[aj88]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:33pm

Ragtime is obviously my favorite for many reasons and as Roxy put it, it was a complete package.

1776 has some very passionate fans and also some extreme haters. I have never hated the show and while the score isn't one of my favorites despite some nice songs here and there, it is Peter Stone's magnificent book that makes it a major success. It is a shame that the Book award was not in use that year at the Tonys because I wish he could've received a Tony for his work.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:38pm

1776 major weakness is & always was its score. A professional composer would have done a much better job. Edwards score was serviceable buy one wonders how much better it would have been with a really knockout score. The book was the shows biggest asset in addition to the cast

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:54pm

I actually think a number of 1776's melodies are quite beautiful, even magnificent. Thinking of "Cool, Cool, Men", "He Plays the Violin", and "Momma Look Sharp". As usual, it's the lyrics that really seem amateur at times. ("Sit down, John/ Sit down, John/ Oh for God's sake, John/ Sit down!") Still, that damn show packs an emotional wallop by the end that is inescapable and much more than the sum of its parts.

RAGTIME is one of the all-time greats of the musical cannon, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a true American history. Though it's peppered with real life celebrities, all the major characters are fictional, much like those in Les Miz. Both are set amidst real events but are hardly slices of history.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 1:58pm

Fun Home.



Nah, in all seriousness, 1776, although I think Hamilton might take that spot once I actually get to see it somehow.

[sng]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 2:05pm

My favourite is Assassins.

I think it's one of Sondheim's best score, IMO

[starcatchers]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 3:13pm

Scottsboro Boys and Hamilton. 

[Soaring29]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 3:17pm

Ragtime hands down. One of the best scores ever! 

[Emma MK]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 3:55pm

Out of the ones i have seen, Assassins is my favourite.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 4:14pm

Hamilton, and there is no serious competition. It is the best american history musical ever, and one of the best handful of musicals ever without regard to subject matter. 

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 4:19pm

Definitely Ragtime.

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 4:21pm

If 1776 has to do with history (and I love the show), so does Oklahoma. Guilty pleasure is the history told in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Hairspray involves the history of race relations in Baltimore - love it too.  

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 4:49pm

i too saw 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE...i only went because L. BERNSTEIN wrote the damn show...totally forgettable in every way...:)

 

i love ...1776...ASSASSINS...ROAD SHOW

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 10:48pm

Shenandoah (yes some of the music is hopelessly 1970s, but it has a nice mixture of music.  Ballads, comic songs, uptempo, reflective)

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 10:49pm

"Ragtime", and although it isn't listed, "Evita"!

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 7/4/15 at 10:50pm

Haven't seen any live but I do love the Ragtime cast recording.. and looking forward to Hamilton.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 12:27am

I haven't seen too many of the US history musicals, but I loved 1776 (both the play and movie). I saw one about Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, but I can't remember if it was "The Civil War" or another show. BTW, I think a musical about Lincoln's relationship with Frederick Douglass would be great, although it probably would be fairly dry.

[jo]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 4:05am

"If 1776 has to do with history (and I love the show), so does Oklahoma. Guilty pleasure is the history told in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Hairspray involves the history of race relations in Baltimore - love it too.  "

 

OKLAHOMA! was the history of American forebears as they moved west. Nothing typifies the pioneering spirit than the joyous song THE FARMER AND THE COWMAN. It also has one of the most exhilarating musical scores ever.

 

Updated On: 7/5/15 at 04:05 AM

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 12:25pm

1776 first - with Ragtime an extremely close second.

Two of my all time favorite shows..

[ARTc3]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 8:06pm

Christopher Durang's, A History of American Film. Brilliant. I will never forget, "We're in a Salad".

Saw this twice. Can't imagine why this didn't find an audience. I loved it.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 8:10pm

Ragtimeeeeeeee and 1776

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 8:16pm

Cannot believe I forgot all the others mentioned especially The Civil War & Shenandoah .

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/6/15 at 9:04am

The most personal to me is Falsettos, which tells a lot of American history even as it uses fictional characters.

Less personal to me, but equally important is Luis Valdez' Zoot Suit. The characters are composites, but not total inventions.

***

Among the choices we were given, I'm torn between Assassins and Ragtime.