Great guitar solos in Broadway musicals...

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:03am

Here are my faves:

The intro to the JCS Overture (arguably the best of all time)
GODSPELL Finale
A CHORUS LINE during the Jazz dance
JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA Exit Music
THE WILD PARTY's "Juggernaut"
Although it's not on the CD, sadly , there is a real face-melter in the dance break to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from HAIRSPRAY. The kind of thing that Marvin Hendrix would call his cousin Jimi about the new sound he was talking about. (JOKE!)

[Kasie]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:08am

I'm going to agree with JCS. I love it!

[nickatnight]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:28am

well, i'll tell ya...off-broadway's 'love,janis' had the hottest lead guitarist i'd ever heard onstage...absolutely smokin!

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:44am

As much as I hate the show for being so anachronistic with the music...I LOVE THE GUITAR SOLO IN THE JUGGERNAUT!!! It's my guilty pleasure :)

The DRS Overture is pretty good too, I also like the little solo durring the bridge of Oklahoma.
The climax of Midnight Radio from Hedwig before "Lift up your hands!"
Bat Boy and Reefer Madness are full of 'em.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:03am

Not a solo, but some performances of Wicked have a really *great* guitar moment during the flying sequence of Defying Gravity.

[Mbmusic]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 7:39am

Obviously the Exit Music of Rent. Man thats a heck of a solo. Also, in Les Mis at the beginning of A Little Fall of Rain when it is just solo acoustic guitar with Eponine.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 9:04am

Overature of JSC

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 9:17am

There is some lovely Spanish guitar work in BERNARDA ALBA.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 10:15am

Although never on Broadway, the musical "THE FIX" has some nice guitar solos in it.

[circusliz]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 10:39am

There are a few great guitar lines in Tommy -- the one that comes to mind immediately is the bass line in "Pinball Wizard."

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 10:41am

During "Rent" in RENT, the interlude before Benny's "Allison, baby, you sound sad"

I agree, though, JSC's overture rocks.

[BkCollector]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 11:01am

Joan Jett in Rocky Horror! That was so hot!

[winston89]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 6:26pm

I am a MAJOR Who fan and TOMMY is by far one of my all time favorite albums.

I have many problems with the musical version of the show ( I have accepted it for what it is and learned to like it for what it is realizing that it isn't the 1969 album)

That being said some of the guitar and drum bits were added in so it would be hard for me to enjoy them.

An example for both the drums and guitar would be the song Sensation. They have an added drum solo to be in the style of Keith Moon the Who's drummer and the guitar intro is something that is added in. There are things like this sprinkled around the entire score but those are two things that come to mind for me.

[elphabelle07]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 6:53pm

JCS and Tommy are my faves!

[LittlexFallxOfxRain]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 10:25pm

Ooh, I have to agree with JCS and Juggernaut.

[sanda]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 10:30pm

what about the guitar part in man of la mancha?

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 11:30pm

Just great.

i also like the guitars in "JUST SO" by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe as well.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 11:48pm

"Never Fall In Love Again" from "Promises Promises"

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:51am

As much as I hate the show, FOOTLOOSE has some pretty lovely guitar solos.

I agree with JCS as well.

ALTAR BOYZ also has some nice guitar parts.

[Becky2]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 10:41am

eh, I've yet to hear a really impressive guitar solo... But then again, my standards are really high, having grown up listening to some of the most talented heavy/death metal guitarists. And some of those solos wouldn't exactly work with most Broadway shows

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 5:21pm

Well, there are symphonic metal bands.

And I think "Dance of the Vampires" should definitely count as a great show with awesome guitar solos, and a Wagnerian rock style (although I can't say the same for the dialogue).

[BroadwayNick]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 5:27pm

I just listened to it, so I remember there's a really good one (and probably more throughout the show) at the end of Pity the Child from Chess.