Smaxie---Funny you should say that! I thought about Floradora as well, but decided that the Ziegfeld Follies shows (starting with his first in 1907) had far more of an impact on Broadway and New York... and for many years to come.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
"2) Hairspray - for launching an avalanche of movies turned musicals"
42nd Street, The Producers, A Little Night Music, Sunset Boulevard, The Lion King, Nine, Passion, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Those are just a few of the musicals that came before Hairspray that were either based on a movie or were heavily influenced by a movie version of the actual source material. Granted, most of those are still fairly recent, and while musicalizing popular movies (namely recent popular movies, for the most part) is a current trend, it's certainly not something new.
As for the actual question, I'd go:
20's: Showboat - ands down
30's: Anything Goes - truly the musical of the 30's era
40's: Oklahoma! - again, hands down
50's: West Side Story - first to really combine dancing, singing, AND storytelling; first in subject matter
60's: Cabaret - first to start to tell stories with songs indirectly, led to Company, A Chorus Line, and all other concept musicals; another step forward in subject matter
70's: A Chorus Line - once again, hands down, though it's always hard to pick against Sweeney Todd in ANYTHING
80's: Cats - unfortunately, also hands down; led to the "mega muscials" and the "Big Brits"; not to mention a step backwards in subject matter
90's: Beauty and the Beast - led to corporations on Broadway; also indirectly led to War on Porn
00's: maybe too early to tell, but I'd say The Producers - for making it seem like only the big shows need be seen and making it true (480 f@#king dollars?)
I think West Side Story for the 50s has to be as much of a lock as Showboat and Oklahoma.
jam_man: I don't think Cabaret came from a movie source. I think the source material Berlin Stories and the play I Am A Camera. My Fair Lady didn't either. That was from the play Pygmalion.
For the question:
1900s: Florodora
1910s: Ziegfeld Follies
1920s: Showboat
1930s:Anything Goes
1940s: Oklahoma!
1950s: West Side Story
1960s: Hair
1970s: A Chorus Line
1980s: Cats
1990s: Rent
2000s:So far, I would say The Producers
Since it seems that most influential is the term describing what this thread is seeking to determine, I think that Company is hands down the most influential show in the '70s. (If we're counting 1970 as the first year of the 1970s, not the last year of the 1960s.)
Without Company, there would have been no Chorus Line. And Company was the show that established Sondheim as a major figure, and is anyone going to suggest that Marvin Hamlisch has been more influential on Broadway than Sondheim?
In fact, I wouldn't even say that A Chorus Line was the runnerup for the 1970s. I'd give that to Evita.
I'd say that the most influential thing about ACL was its use of the workshop process. And that might give it third place.
As for the 1960s, I think it's a close call between Cabaret and Hair. I think you're wrong, MichhaelBennett. In various ways, Cabaret led to Company, it led to Chicago, it led to Sweeney Todd and Assassins.
And there's something to be said for Mark Grant's point of view in his provocative but sometimes inaccurate or illogical The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical that the most influential show of the 1960s was Hello, Dolly!, in which production trumped text, sounding the death knell of the Golden Age, and leading to an age of spectacle.
Frequently, the most influential show is not, of course, the one that's most popular in its time. No one is nominating My Fair Lady as the most influential show of the 1950s, though it was pretty influential in a number of ways and probably deserves to be thought of as the second most influential show of the 1950s.
And in the crucial decade of the 1940s, after Oklahoma! the most influential show . . . well, it would have to be a tie, I think, between On the Town and Love Life, with an honorable mention to Billion Dollar Baby. And I'm forgetting Pal Joey, which has to be in there (unless we count it as 1930s, but since it opened in December of 1940, it probably should be 1940s). And then there's Allegro and Lady in the Dark and Street Scene and Regina, all not-so-popular (except Lady), but very influential. I think that the '40s were the single most important decade in the development of the musical.
And as a precursor of colorblind casting, Beggar's Holiday was surely important (and its use of an integrated chorus was also one of the ways in which On the Town was important).
For the 10s, I'd go with Very Good Eddie. Not sure about the 00s.
For the '20s, yeah, Show Boat.
The '30s presents several candidates: Porgy and Bess, Of Thee I Sing, The Boys From Syracuse. But I might go with Anything Goes, for an important but not-so-obvious innovation: the belter as heroine.
Updated On: 7/22/06 at 10:37 PM
My suggestions are based on the fact that these musicals are the most influential of the decade, not necessarily the best, though in some cases, that is true.
1920- SHOW BOAT
1930- PORGY AND BESS
1940- OKLAHOMA!
1950- WEST SIDE STORY
1960- HAIR
1970- A CHORUS LINE
1980- DREAMGIRLS/CATS
1990- GUYS AND DOLLS/CHICAGO/CABARET (Revivals)
2000- THE PRODUCERS/MAMMA MIA!
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
Revivals count? That even further ambiguates the matter.
If they do, though, you may be right. The "most influential" for the 90's may be a revival.
Well, you must look at what musicals were predominant during the 90s and their lasting influence on shows.
RAGTIME is a brilliant show, but is it influential? THE LION KING features amazing spectacle and innovative staging, but does it represent the more commerical push for Broadway shows? Does it represent the presence of Broadway? No, because BEAUTY AND THE BEAST came before it and its success is what warranted THE LION KING. The 80s British-imported spectacular megahits were more influential in emphasizing the commerical aspect of Broadway (the marketing for CATS alone is demonstrative enough). RENT was probably the musical phenomenon of the 90s, but it is not that influential. Teens had been interested in theater long before it and the rock opera was introduced in the 60s with HAIR, which heavily influenced RENT to begin with.
Honestly, when it comes to the influential show of the 90s, the revivals seems to be the most logical choice. The success of GUYS AND DOLLS in 1992 prompted more producers to bring back former shows. Although revivals had been around a long time since then, they were never seen as economical. Hence, the separate revival categories for play and musical were introduced in 1994. Beforehand, it had just been one category under which plays and musicals were lumped together.
The minimalist stagings of CHICAGO and CABARET and their immense successes were influential in prompting other minimalist revivals such as the current production of SWEENEY TODD. We would not have the numerous influx of revivals year to year without their huge success in the 90s. Look at next year, with LES MISERABLES, A CHORUS LINE, 110 IN THE SHADE, and COMPANY already planned. The market for revival cast recordings has grown since their success, allowing for cast recordings of shows, even if they are flops. Many young adults and completists love to buy them due to their fuller, modern, updated sound and the additional score material. Despite many of the shows eventually becoming flops, the whole market has become commercially viable.
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