Favorite Scores since 2000 — Page 2

I'm going to just do my top 6. Without any doubt at all

1. The Bridges of Madison County

and then in no particular order,

Scottsboro Boys

Grey Gardens

Fun Home

Billy Elliot

Wicked

I'm only going to list my top 5 since I'm not too familiar with the shows from 2000 onwards.

1. The Wild Party (LaChiusa)

2. Fun Home

3. Urinetown

4. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

5. The Producers

In no order: Next to Normal, Bridges, Spring Awakening, Fun Home, In The Heights, Wicked, Book of Mormon, Here Lies Love,Caroline or Change, and Matilda.

Gonna just do a Top Five:

1. Caroline, or Change (should've won the Pulitzer)

2. The Bridges of Madison County (one of my favorite Best Score wins ever)

3. Matilda (Lyrics on level with Sondheim)

4. Spring Awakening (One of the best rock scores ever written)

5. Fun Home (This show felt less like a musical than a play with songs)

Hamilton

The last ship

Fun Home

The Book of Mormon

Hairspray

Spring Awakening

Caroline or Change

The Light in the Piazza

The Producers

Grey Gardens

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

No particular order:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

The Light in the Piazza

Bridges of Madison County

Chaplin

Hairspray

The Producers

Fantod, the two albums from which the musical derive are both iconic, so you get no argument from me about that, but I believe "score" is properly based on the material, not the performances. I'd also note that Tom Kitt's work on the score was superlative-so much so that Green Day hired him to work on some of the arrangements on their subsequent albums.

In no particular order:

Chaplin (the entire score is great, but the songs that really get to me are "What Only Love Can See", its Reprise, "Look at all the People", and "Man of All Countries")

American Idiot (I've been a Green Day fan since the late 90s, but what Tom Kitt and Michael Meyer managed to do with the band's American Idiot album and certain other songs from their catalog in adapting them into the theatrical format was nothing short of brilliant and, in some cases, made what were already superb songs - such as "21 Guns", "American Idiot", "Holiday", "Are We The Waiting", and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - even better)

Newsies (I heard the score for the theatrical version of this show long before I saw the film upon which it was based, and actually prefer the theatrical version of the score to the original film's, especially since the stage version has songs like "Something to Believe In", a much better version of "Santa Fe" that makes far more sense story-wise, "Watch What Happens" and its Reprise, and a much more bombastic version of "Once and For All")

The Little Mermaid (Although the 1989 film's score remains in my mind one of the best film scores of all time, the score for its musical adaptation comes very close to surpassing it, especially with songs like "I Want the Good Times Back", "One Step Closer", and the Quartet version of "If Only", all of which really take what was already a great core storyline and enhance it)

The Producers (I saw the filmic adaptation of the musical before hearing the Original Broadway Cast recording, and while both are great in their own right, I prefer certain aspects of the film's score to its theatrical counterpart, particularly the orchestration on "When You've Got It, Flaunt It" and "Along Came Bialy")

Updated On: 7/3/15 at 12:31 AM

Since CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is the best musical so far of the 21st century it's really the only one that needs to be listed.

1. Caroline, or Change

2. Passing Strange

3. Scottsboro Boys

4. Next to Normal

5. The Visit

6. Here Lies Love

7. Hairspray

8. Kinky Boots

9. Wicked

10. Ghost

Some more favorite scores from the 2000s:

Bring It On (I've never seen the movie, but really liked the music for this one; it reminded me of stuff like Grease and the High School Musical Trilogy; Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, and Amanda Green really scored, no pun intended, with this one, with songs like "What I Was Born to Do", "Bring It On", "It's All Happening", "Enjoy the Trip", and "We're Not Done" really standing out)

Spring Awakening (This show strikes me as being what you'd get if you took Les Miserables, American Idiot, RENT, Eve 6's Showerhead, and The Offspring's Kristy, Are You Doing Okay, The Kids Aren't All Right, and Gone Away and threw them into a blender with the plotline from J.K. Rowling's novel The Casual Vacancy. Duncan Sheik's musical score is great, and pairs perfectly with Steven Sater's lyrics, which are at their most poignant and powerful on songs like "Mama Who Bore Me", "The Dark I Know Well", "The Mirror-Blue Night", "The Guilty Ones", "Those You've Known", and "The Song of Purple Summer")

The Wedding Singer (The Wedding Singer was the film that completely changed my opinion on Adam Sandler and helped me appreciate just how brilliant of an actor and comedian he is and was, and the spirit of the original film very much lives on through the score of its musical adaptation. I'm particularly fond of the songs "It's Your Wedding Day", "Someday", "A Note From Linda", "Somebody Kill Me", "Casualty of Love", "Come Out of the Dumpster", and "Grow Old With You")

Tarzan (I love the animated version of this show, but really like what was done, for the most part, in adapting it to the stage [I don't get why they changed Terk's gender, but that's my only complaint about the show]. The new songs that Phil Collins wrote are excellent, particularly "As Sure as Sun Turns to Moon", "Different", and "For the First Time", and fit perfectly into the original storyline)

Fun Home (Who would've thought that a graphic novel memoir written in 2006 would turn out to be such a perfect fit for the stage? Jean Tesori and Lisa Kron, that's who. These two really knocked it out of the park on this score, with songs like "It All Comes Back", "Welcome to Our House on Maple Avenue", "Changing My Major", "Ring of Keys", "Days and Days", "Telephone Wire", and "Flying Away" standing out in particular)

Updated On: 8/2/15 at 10:44 PM

Bridges of Madison County

Fun Home

See What I Wanna See

The Wild Party

Wicked

In The Heights

Matilda

Newsies

Spring Awakening

Next to Normal

Giant

The Light In The Piazza

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812