Welcome to the board! I can't promise we'll be gentle with you, but if the Broadway board does get a bit much, the Off-topic and Student boards have a much gentler pace.
From the shows you already have, I would suggest 'Hairspray', 'Les Miserables', 'Wicked' (YEAH I said it!), and 'Rent' to begin with. They're fairly gentle and not so much older that we're throwing you in with a whole different musical style. The classics are awesome, but totally different from what's currently going down, so we can get to them later if you're interested.
Also, everyone should own 'The Last Five Years' whether they're newbies or not. Not technically Broadway, but no one cares. It's awesome. Personally, I'd say you should get 'Floyd Collins', but I say everyone should get 'Floyd Collins'. It's from Adam Guettel, the same guy who did 'The Light In The Piazza', which is very popular but has a more classical sound than most contemporary Broadway. 'Floyd Collins' is his least classical work and also his most awesome. I'm very fond of it. :3
If you're going to get into Broadway thoroughly, you'll need to discover Sondheim sooner or later. Most people seem to find 'In The Woods' his most accessible work, but 'Sweeney Todd' is bloody (pun intended) awesome too, as long as you quite fancy something dark in tone. For me, Sondheim's most accessible work was 'Assassins', but I probably wouldn't kick off with that one if I were you.
If you like 'Phantom', maybe check out more Andrew Lloyd Webber too. 'Evita' and 'Sunset Boulevard' are rather decent. 'Cats' is a great favourite of a great many, but incomprehensible tripe to a great many more.
My brain is running low. Someone else come up with ideas. (Sorry for not recommending individual songs, but I genuinely can't just listen to one or two songs from a show. I need the context and the entirety. Also my tastes are only mainstream up to a point, and that point is where we begin picking favourite songs from a show, so my advice may not be best to take. XD)
Updated On: 7/11/08 at 05:47 PM
