PERFECT scores

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 8:00am

I was thinking today as I was driving into work that City of Angels is one of the very few perfect scores - by which I mean there isn't a single song that I skip on the CD, or even dislike. There are, I think, very few of these. Even shows that I love, like Rent, Les Mis, and Sweeney, have songs that I can do without (We're OK, Turning, Green Finch and Linnet Bird in case you were wondering). Off the top of my head, the only other perfect scores for me that I was able to think of were:

Little Shop of Horrors
Last Five Years
West Side Story
Into the Woods
My Fair Lady

Just about everything else that's coming to me, I can think of at least one song that either isn't of the caliber of the rest of the show, or is just a plain clunker (ie Clambake in Carousel which is otherwise just about perfect). My Fair Lady is even questionable on my list because I'm not a huge Ascot Gavotte fan, but I never skip it when listening to the show.

What scores would you consider perfect?
Anyone says Wicked, I'm telling you right now that your taste is "Something BAAAAAAAAAD"

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 8:35am

Someone can consider Wicked a perfect score, they just should support their answer with an intelligent explaination why...

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:07am

I think SEUSSICAL is pretty much a fantastic, glorious, perfect score. Actually, come to think of it: RAGTIME too.

Ahrens & Flaherty are perfect anyway.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:23am

RAGTIME all the way.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:32am

Merrily We Roll Along.

[rich101]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:36am

Im gonna go with avenue q and jekyll and hyde

[BroadwayRandy0711]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:49am

I would have to say Avenue Q as my first choice. And when I first bought the OBC to Chicago I could not stop listening to it. Every song on it was/is awesome.

[peach]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:55am

Well, this is subjective, but here are the ones for which I never, or very rarely, skip a song...

Godspell
Avenue Q
Pippin is close for me - with the exception of "Love Song" which I don't much care for.
West Side Story
Jesus Christ Superstar

EDIT: How can I forget Gypsy? And Sweet Charity is pretty darn close for me, with the exception of "Too Many Tomorrows" which I admit, I sometimes skip.

Updated On: 11/4/05 at 09:55 AM

[Craig]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:07am

Sweeney Todd

[Practically Perfect]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:09am

The Light In The Piazza
My Fair Lady
Gypsy
Sweet Charity

And in response to the Wicked comments, that score is actually pretty good, in my opinion. Stephen Schwartz writes beautiful melodies: No One Mourns the Wicked, (particularly the bit when Glinda sings, 'And Goodness knows, the Wicked's lives are lonely...'; 'We deserve each other,' in Dancing Through Life; I'm Not That Girl; For Good. I'm not saying it's the perfect score, but it certainly deserves more credit than most people give it, and a lot more credit than a lot of the other scores currently playing on broadway.

Mary P x

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:10am

Ragtime
Parade
Caroline, or Change

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:21am

Sweeney Todd
West Side Story
Music Man
Gypsy

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:06am

Doh - forgot Merrily We Roll Along. I agree with that one.
Ragtime too.
I couldn't agree with Seussical, though.
I couldn't agree with Music Man either because I can't stand Shipoopi.
Gypsy would make my list if all the "Let Me Entertain You"s didn't start dragging down every version I've heard on CD.
Parade has a couple of songs in the second act I don't really like - like the judge's song that just seems so -- weird -- in context.
I don't really know Caroline or Change well enough -- but the couple of times I've listened to it I remember thinking that it felt kind of redundant in parts.
I don't think Avenue Q holds up for me because songs like "There Is Life Outside Your Apartment" or "Special" just aren't as good as the rest of the show.

peach - I agree with you on Pippin being close.

JCS would be perfect if the ending was better. I never listen past Superstar.

I'm not putting Wicked down - I'm just saying that even people who love it (and I do really like it a lot) don't think every song in that score is great.

I think it's especially difficult for a sung through score to be "perfect" by this definition, which is why I'm hesitant on Ragtime. Nothing is sticking out to me as something I skip - the things that annoy me on the recording are more dialogue issues than musical. Like I said - if it wasn't for like ONE song in each Sweeney and Les Mis, I would agree with both of those.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:06pm

Oh, definitely Ragtime.
Others...The Last 5 Years, The Light in the Piazza

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:19pm

Sweeney Todd
A Little Night Music
Gypsy
Dreamgirls

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:22pm

Parade
Bare
Seussical
Little Shop of Horrors

[roquat]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:08pm

Gypsy--not a single clunker, despite the flaws in various renditions.

Fiddler on the Roof
City of Angels
Mack and Mabel (the best flop score EVER)
Candide
Merrily We Roll Along
Follies
Carousel (I LIKE CLAMBAKE!!!! SAVE YOUR EVIL POSTS!!!)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:11pm

"Ahrens & Flaherty are perfect anyway."

I agree. I think Once On This Island flows beautifully.

I also think Les Miserables is very near perfection.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:13pm

SWEENEY TODD
INTO THE WOODS
GYPSY
CABARET

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:16pm

The Last Five Years

There's so many other scores that I love, but if I want to be really nit-picky, I can definitely find things that I'd change.
The Last Five Years is the only score that I wouldn't possibly be able to change a note or a word. It's truly perfect in my opinion.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:20pm

The first few that come to mind are Sweeney, Ragtime, and Titanic.

[QMAN03]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:20pm

Avenue Q is the only soundtrack i never skip a song. It is perfect.

[Conor]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:21pm

Sound of Music
Les Mis
Last 5 Years
Songs for a New World
Phantom
Light in the Piazza

[keggss23]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:25pm

Les Miz
Light in the Piazza
Gypsy
The King and I
Into the Woods

[Color and Light]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 1:37pm

I might be the only saying this, but I think mine would have to be ASSASSINS. And that does include 'Something Just Broke' on the revival recording. I can listen to both cast recordings back and forth and not get sick of them.

Perfect is so subjective, but if we're going by what I can listen through completely then I'd also have to include SWEENEY TODD, CABARET and THE SECRET GARDEN.

Updated On: 11/4/05 at 01:37 PM