PERFECT scores- Page 3
PERFECT scores
#51re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 5:51pm
Secret Garden
Light in the Piazza
Sweeney Todd
Ragtime
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone
amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
--Dave Berry
#52re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 5:59pm
I gtew up with Lp's and it was awkwards to lift the needle and move to a different track and there was always the risk of scratching. With Cd's it is easier to program out a track but I usually just let the whole disc roll!
Aside from all Sondheim shows (including his lyrics only efforts) I would have to include:
NO NO NANETTE
ANYTHING GOES
BABES IN ARMS
OKLAHOMA!
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
FINIAN'S RAINBOW
CALL ME MADAM
PAJAMA GAME
PETER PAN
MY FAIR LADY
MUSIC MAN
CAMELOT (not my most favourite show but I do ejoy the OCR)
CABARET
CHICAGO
CITY OF ANGELS
GRAND HOTEL
TITANIC
STEEL PIER
and RAGTIME
to name a few anyhow.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#53re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 6:02pm
Hmm...
SWEENEY TODD
GYPSY
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
RAGTIME
The best score I've ever heard IMO has to be RAGTIME. It's freaking incredible.
#54re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 7:06pmRagtime, by a long shot. I can't think of any other score that comes close.
#55re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 7:17pm
I'm really glad that everyone else shares my appreciation of Ragtime's amazing score. Smaxie, I don't think ANY of the songs that you listed are stinkers, and actually haven't ever felt compelled to skip anything.
So why did Ragtime close so quickly, anyway? With a score like that, compelling storyline, etc... I'm just surprised that it wasn't more successful on Broadway. I was only 12 when I saw it, but it remains one of my absolute favorite musicals.
Urban
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/05
#57re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:38pm
The Last 5 Years
Piazza
Tick Tick Boom
Passion
Into the Woods
I teeter on adding Jane Eyre...
In summation teeter is an amusing word...
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.~Office Space
#59re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 9:57pm
Nine ( Australia cast only )
Sweeny Todd
The Witches Of Eastwick
Evita
A Little Night Music
Kiss Of the Spiderwoman
Nunsense
Little Shop Of Horrors
And so many more..there the top ones that i never skip a song on..
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
#60re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:22pm
West Side Story
Basically anything Sondheim has written (Sweeney etc.)
The Light in the Piazza
And, because I'm currently musical directing a production of it right now, I do have to say Hair. Truly the best rock musical of them all. Or at least my favorite.
~Steven
Stage Addict
Understudy Joined: 7/16/05
#61re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:45pmThe last 5 years is the closest thing I've ever heard to a perfect score. There isn't a single song I skip over.
"If you're a writer or a painter, you write or paint whenever you want to. But we have to do this task at a precise moment. At three minutes past eight, the curtain goes up, and you've got to pretend to believe, because no one else will believe you unless you believe it yourself. A great deal of our work is simply making ourselves dream. That is the task. At three minutes past eight,YOU MUST DREAM."
#62re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:14pm
Sweeney Tood- Closest to perfection. I can just listen to one song in this score and want more. In one word: masterpiece.
Into the Woods- Amazing score, and all the intricate melodies are beautiful.
West Side Story: The music in theis show is just so perfect for it, how could you not love it?
Almost perfect:
Cats: Don't hate me, but I think if you just listen to the music, it is so beautiful and haunting.
Rent: "Nuff siad. But some songs could be cut without plot problems.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#63re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 12:59am
RAGTIME was doing all right (near sell-out the first year and in the 75-80% range in its second) but there were some behind-the-scenes shenanigans that sank it.
Garth Drabinsky the former head of Livent has been accused of keeping two sets of books for all productions and hiding things like paying himself a huge percentage of the royalties on each production. The breakeven for RAGTIME was a then unheard of $600,000. When Clear Channel took over Livent and discovered the situation they quickly closed the show before it started losing even more money. Some have suggested they also did this to cut off a source of income for Drabinsky who will need it to pay his legal bills. There is a warrant out for his arrest should he ever dare to cross the boarder back into the U.S. His trial here in Toronto has been stretching on for years. While he may have been a terrible producer, as a lawyer he knows every delaying tactic in the books.
That RAGTIME it did not pay off after 800 performances had little to do with its box office popularity and had it been produced properly it would have had a more manageable running cost and could have run 4 or 5 years instead of two. No matter. It is still done frequently and as you can see the number of people who loved the show would rank it as one of the best-loved musicals of the last 10 years.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#64re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 12:59amThe Last 5 Years and Parade. Last 5 Years especially, I have, no joke, listened to the CD over 220 times (according to all my iTunes play counts and then guestimating in the car etc) lol, and have never gotten sick of it. Parade is wonderful as well, both amazing. Jason Robert Brown is a genius.
Jazzysuite82
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/6/05
#65re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 1:31am
IT wasn't only Garth that closed Ragtime, although he was a big part of it. You also have to remember that it was a cast of about 50, complete with a huge magic trick, huge orchestra, plus crew. It was a huge show, in a huge theatre with a huge cast. Add garth' embezzlement and you have a recipe for financial disaster.
For the record Garth wasn't a terrible producer artistically. He's the reason Ragtime is so good. He lets the artist cultivate and fix a show. He financed all of that. Thank god for him. Too bad he's a crook
#66re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 2:04am
Annie Get Your Gun
Ragtime
South Pacific
Carousel
Gypsy
West Side Story
On the Town
City of Angels
A Little Night Music
Jesus Christ Superstar
Porgy and Bess
Sunday in the Park With George
Parade
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#67re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 10:26amMy first thought was L5Y. I don't skip a single song on that cd, and that is so rare.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#68re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 10:49am
They bear repeating:
Sweeney Todd
Porgy and Bess
Sunday in the Park with George
Caroline or Change
Threepenny Opera
Albin
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#70re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 11:25am
During the run, Garth Drabinsky also lost producing control over Ragtime (and Fosse, and several shows in development, like Seussical, Sweet Smell of Success and Parade, I believe). Clear Channel (which might still have been called Pace or SFX at the time...I can't remember) took over both shows, but when Ragtime began to falter, it became all about the bottom line. Clear Channel decided that Fosse was the more cost effective show to keep running. Corporate producing...
Incidentally, I don't hate the Ragtime score. I just find that there are a couple of lesser numbers. "Henry Ford" always sounded uneasily similar to "The Ballad of Guiteau" to me, "Crime of the Century" has a weak lyric, "Harry Houdini, Master Escapist" is a sort of lackluster Act Two opening number, and
"What a Game" is a little heavy-handed for a comedy number.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#71re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/5/05 at 11:28am
300 - if you are bowling . . .
OH - you mean that kind of score.
#72re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/6/05 at 1:55am
Thanks for replying to my questions about Ragtime, guys.
And bump, because I think this is a good topic.
rose&lark
Featured Actor Joined: 10/10/05
#73re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/6/05 at 2:05am
WildhornFanatic, I agree that Ahrens and Flaherty are perfect. They are fabulous 
I'd probably have to say Ragtime as well, in addition to RENT, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Into the Woods.
Q: What is the most weirdest or funniest thing a fan has asked you?
Joe Flanigan, Stargate Atlantis: When a fan asked me for help with his grammar. I'm available.
Updated On: 11/6/05 at 02:05 AM
fiatlux
Featured Actor Joined: 3/22/05
#74re: PERFECT scores
Posted: 11/6/05 at 7:51am
CAROUSEL
SOUTH PACIFIC
KISS ME KATE
THE FANTASTICKS
CHIGAGO
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
FOLLIES
PACIFIC OVERTURES
SWEENEY TODD
Honourable mentions to RAGTIME, ASSASSINS, THE BOYFRIEND 
& INTO THE WOODS
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