Musical masterpieces — Page 2

Matilda South Pacific Grey Gardens Light in Piazza Billy Elliot Sunday in the Park
some I have seen some I have not
Billy Elliot might not be but it was very good.
Saw Matilda South Pacific and Billy

I did think particularly for its time South Pacific was a musical that push boundaries and is so well written that every main character is important a rare feet these days.
Sunday the Revival had the problem of a perfect revival of South Pacific.

I am curious--why is that your (or anyone's) OBLIGATION?

Showboat sucks. It somehow manages to be all but plot-less for huge chunks of random action, all while being over-plotted. I have no idea why they decided to adapt such a dated, tired, pointless potboiler novel.

And that score? "Can't help lovin' that man of mine" is a catchy song but REALLY? That is the best sentiment they can come up with for relationships that lead to life-destroying commitment? Ditto Old Man River- a lovely song that has nothing at all to do with the show as a whole sung by a character who could be cut with virtually no change to the plot.

And of course,most productions are way way too long. No one who rates that warhorse as a masterpiece has ever sat through the last four hours of the second act longing for a bathroom break.

Updated On: 6/3/13 at 07:31 AM

>> I am curious--why is that your (or anyone's) OBLIGATION?

Illogical, Captain.
If we were supposed to believe he wanted anyone to take him that seriously, he wouldn't have used such an "exaggerated, nay CARICATURED" Shakespearean form. (Using words like "vile", "gall" and phrases like "spare me, do" add a nice touch...)

His sole purpose was (and always is) to incite a reaction. He specifically said so in his last sentence.

EDIT: Forgot to add the "wink"

Updated On: 6/3/13 at 08:01 AM

The musical, like any other form of art, can be, and in some cases has been, mastered. Examples of that are, by definition, masterpieces.

It also surprises me that anyone who loves and respects what musical theater can achieve at its best would object to what is best and most fully realized in musical theater being called a masterpiece.

"I'm going to disagree with you on that henrik. Since art is by nature subjectively appraised how could any one work be defined as mastering the form?"

Subjectively.

"As this thread has illustrated one person's masterpiece is another person's disasterpiece."

True. People disagree. If the question here was which musical - or, for that matter, which anything - is universally considered a masterpiece, then the answer would be none. But that wasn't the question. The question was which musicals people individually consider to be masterpieces. No one expected us to agree. To me, She Loves Me is the greatest musical ever written. I don't expect people to agree with me about it (although, as it happens, I know I'm not alone in my adulation).

I don't expect people to agree with me about anything, least of all art, which, as you state, is by nature subjective. But that doesn't mean that there are not, as a subjective matter, works which many of us champion as masterworks.

On the other hand, it may well be worth noting here that there have been thousands of musicals, and quite often we find a few select shows singled out by a great many people as the finest ever created. In my experience My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Sweeney, Guys and Dolls and Show Boat (and a few others, these are not the only examples) are among the handful of shows which are by far (and by a great margin relative to the norm) the most collectively admired.

The fact that such a very small percentage of musicals are so often and so widely considered to be among the most outstanding, underscores the point that it is no small feat to create a musical show of the first order, that achieving that level of acclaim is a rare thing and worthy of the distinction of masterwork.

The fact that there are some shows on that short list which I or you might not consider masterpieces (and may even consider disasterpieces), or some shows which are rarely considered masterpieces which you or I might champion as masterpieces (well, which I might; perhaps you wouldn't as you seem to object to the term per se), has nothing to do with the abstract semantics of whether a musical play can be called, subjectively, a masterpiece.

Updated On: 6/3/13 at 09:39 AM

Les Mis. I can't believe no one has mentioned Les Mis. To me, Les Mis is the closest a musical gets to a masterpiece. An amazing score, an epic story that has a little bit of everything and many different themes and messages.

Please! People! Can't you see this "masterpiece" argument is tearing us apart?


And Miss Saigon? You're joking right?

Flahooley!