Mark Waltz said: "So many great responses to this thread, but in addition to Mack & Mabel (which I will see at Encores), Dear World (saw the York production, but would love to see a full scale revival) and Steel Pier, I truly love:
My Favorite Year
Two By Two
Darling of the Day
If I Had a Ball
Bajour
I'm also going to add one I did see in two different productions, Do I Hear a Waltz? (Pasadena, 2001, and the City Center Revival), because it always gives me a lot of joy, and it is rather obscure."
One of the only benefits of getting old is that I have some great memories (and some not so great) from those shows, all of which I saw when I was in my teens and twenties. If you like these, you should also search out Drat The Dat, which has a wonderful recording, although not of the original cast.
In order of enjoyment in the theatre, I would rank them:
Great Entertainment, Truly Underappreciated:
Darling of the Day (and terrific score by Jules Styne and Yip Harburg). Did get a number of excellent reviews.
Drat The Cat (delightful score)
Enjoyable, But Only an Okay Show:
Dear World (Terrific traditional Jerry Herman score, with #1 stupidest title song ever written IMO...the purpose of the song and the lyrics were atrocious, but the melody was solid Herman). The only one I saw more than once, and I saw it three times)
Two by Two (enjoyable score, but low-grade Richard Rodgers)
I Had a Ball (I honestly don't remember the score; the fact that I didn't buy the OCR means that I probably didn't thank it was very good...you could get the album for about $2.00 if you waited for a sale, $3 or $4 if not)
Do I Hear a Waltz (same opinion as I Had...Your post is making me think I should search this one out...Rodgers and Sondheim must translate into a number of enjoyable songs)
Bajour (same opinion as I Had a Ball)
Terrible
Mack and Mabel (great score (best on this list or D of Day), terrible show)
My Favorite Year (mediocre score IMO, disappointing musical...better suited IMO to a traditional Broadway Theatre).