Musicals that actually DESERVE to be the longest running... — Page 3

Am I the only one who thinks Ragtime was overrated? It was a tough and VERY long evening with brilliant singing but over the top staging. I much prefered the London concert version with maria Friedman (and now you USA people can see why....)

One factor for most long running shows is that you don't have to understand English to enjoy them--Cats, Phanto, Les Mis, Mama Mia are all big spectacle shows that tourists who don't speak the language to enjoy--in fact, with many of them, I suspect they are better if you don't understand the language.

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Exactly Hanna, A friend of mine is a good friend of the man who played the theatre cat on Broadway in the original cast or early on. He came back into the cast after a long absense and I guess they had cut the "7 cat calls" line. He had always got a good laugh on it and they put it back in, he did the line and got nothing and realized it was because the audience was almost completely foreign tourists.

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Deserves, hmmmm. Hard one. Keep in mind that the hits help pay for new productions, interest people in going to the theater who wouldn't otherwise, keep people working...
It's hard to nail one---I'd say Phantom based on the above---it struck a chord (no pun intended) with a wide audience, and as long as those tourist dollars keep flowing in, shows, like Phantom, Lion King, etc. will play.
I guess I should see Phantom on Broadway once, just to say I did...

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"One factor for most long running shows is that you don't have to understand English to enjoy them--Cats, Phanto, Les Mis, Mama Mia are all big spectacle shows that tourists who don't speak the language to enjoy--in fact, with many of them, I suspect they are better if you don't understand the language. "

I call that universal appealing. And, do u really think Les Miz and Mama Mia are "big spectacle" shows?

I find phantom to be very overrated. The music isn't really that complicated, and the same six themes are heard over and over and over again until you get sick of them. I actually think "the music of the night" is maddeningly boring. Most of the lyrics, in my opinion, are poorly written. "All I Ask of You" is a silly song lyric wise. I have it in different languages (German, Korean, Japanese, English, etc), but I have noticed that most of the interpretations are EXACTLY THE SAME. The characters are all flat and uninteresting, and you don't really care for any of the characters. You may feel sorry for the phantom, but that's about it. I must admit to liking the musical, but I do think it is way overrated.

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"I call that universal appealing. And, do u really think Les Miz and Mama Mia are "big spectacle" shows?"

I did not cast aspersions on the shows, I just said you don't have to understand the language to enjoy them. And yes, I really think Les Miz and Mama Mia are "big spectacle shows". When we saw Les Miz back when it opened, all we talked about was the bridge.

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I don't think that it should necessarily(sp?) run forever, but I think there should always be a classic old show like the Follies(or a modern adaptation like Crazy For You) on Broadway. Shows can come and go, but as long as you have the great writers/composers represented, I don't care what is the longest running. So...Noel Coward, Kander and Ebb, Gerswhin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hartt, George Cohan, and of course Stephen Sondheim should ALL be represented on Broadway on any given date.