Most Influential Showtunes in Musical Theatre History

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:37pm

So I'm currently doing a show that chronicals the history of movies and the ways music influenced those movies, and last night I started thinking about their musical theatre counterparts: which shows, and songs from those shows in particular, really helped shape the genre and make it what it is today? I'm not necessarily asking for a list of the best musicals of all time, because the best-written are not always the most successful or leave the most lasting impression. What are, in your opinion, the most influential songs in the history of the Broadway musical?

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:39pm

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Send In The Clowns

Cabaret

All That Jazz

there's a ton more.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:43pm

Tomorrow
Too Darn Hot
If I loved you

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:44pm

I Am What I Am- La Cage

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:48pm

I'd second "Tomorrow" from Annie, and add in "There's No Business Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun, and as much as most people will deny it, "Defying Gravity" will very well be remembered as an influential piece in contemporary musical theatre this decade.

Updated On: 6/19/07 at 02:48 PM

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:52pm

Influential? As in there was nothing like it before? As in changed the course of theater? I don't think any of those named fit the bill.

"Rose's Turn" is probably the song from Gypsy that did the most. The Interrogation scene from Anyone Can Whistle sure was a ground breaker. "Sodomy" from Hair kicked down some doors.

[vfd88]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:53pm

Tomorrow-Annie
Seasons of Love-Rent
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning-Oklahoma!
Do-Re-Mi/My Favorite Things/The Sound of Music (really anything from The Sound of Music)

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:56pm

"Oh what a beautiful morning" fits the bill-- I think that was the first time a solo number opened a show.

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:57pm

What I Did For Love

Losing My Mind

One Day More

Being Alive

Some parts of the Finale of RENT is definetely inspirational, though some may disagree.

I also think many people consider different things influential, and at least to me, some of the influential songs tie in with inspirational.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 2:58pm

Also, Joe, wasm't "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'" the first time a capella was used to open a show?

[jv92]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:06pm

The Bench Scene and Soliloquy from Carousel

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:06pm

Tonight Quintet.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:15pm

Ol' Man River - Showboat

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:17pm

I second Tonight Quintet.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:23pm

How, exactly, is "Seasons of Love" influential?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:23pm

I'm interpreting this to mean songs that have entered the American lexicon and have been repeated, parodied, and played ad nauseum through the years.

My list would include:

Old Man River - Show Boat
The Impossible Dream - Man of La Mancha
Seasons of Love - Rent
Nothing, What I Did For Love, One - A Chorus Line
Tomorrow - Annie
I Am What I Am - La Cage aux Folles
Send in the Clowns - A Little Night Music
If They Could See Me Now, Big Spender - Sweet Charity
Aquarius, Let the Sun Shine In - Hair
Over the Rainbow - Wizard of Oz
Updated On: 6/19/07 at 03:23 PM

[Katurian2]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:30pm

Pretty much the entire "West Side Story" score, as it was symphonic, a style not usually seen on Broadway at the time. If I had to pick two though, I'd say:

Dance at the Gym
and
America

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:35pm

If we're saying "entered into the lexicon" you can add just about all of Les Miz, most notably "On My Own" (now memorized by every teen girl for auditions/performing arts nights), I Dreamed a Dream, and Master of the House (which, as we all know, played an important part in Seinfeld. Another influential property)

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:35pm

Yep Wizard that was what I was reaching for-- I couldn't come up with A Capella!

[GreenGirl22406]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:36pm

Basically anything from Showboat. That was the first real show with any sort of serious plot or anything, right?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:42pm

Amen Katurian! Additionally, Bernstein was one of the first composers to actually write dance music. Up until that point, orchestrators just took preestablished music that the composer had written and turned them into the dance music.

[glimpseofstocking]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 3:44pm

Not necessarily the first show with a serious plot, but it's considered to be the first musical play. Meaning that it wasn't an operetta, musical comedy or a revue.

Some of the songs I'd chose would be

Ol' Man River (Showboat)
Everything's Comin' Up Roses/Roses Turn (Gypsy)
One (A Chorus Line)
I Am What I Am (La Cage Aux Folles)
Being Alive (Company)
Anything Goes
There's No Business Like Show Business (Annie Get Your Gun)
New York, New York (On The Town)
Oh What A Beautiful Morning (Oklahoma)

And tons more

Updated On: 6/19/07 at 03:44 PM

[vinnylin]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 4:24pm

I guess it depends since the term "most influential" is subject to interpretation, but I'd suggest the following to be landmark theatre songs that became especially famous and that are very often performed even outside the context of the show:

Ol' Man River - Showboat
Oklahoma! - Oklahoma!
You'll Never Walk Alone - Carousel
Climb Every Mountain - The Sound of Music
Everything Coming Up Roses - Gypsy
Tonight - West Side Story
What I Did For Love? - A Chorus Line
Send in the Clowns - A Little Night Music
Being Alive - Company
Tomorrow - Annie
Memory - Cats

Updated On: 6/19/07 at 04:24 PM

[Hank]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 4:57pm

Unfortunetly (sp) in my case, "Razzle Dazzle Them" from Chicago.
No, I didn't kill anybody, just some other ****.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 7:45pm

This Is The Moment - It will forever signify a Wildhorn musical