Ok, I'm not ALW's biggest fan...but I enjoy him. I would like to know what all of you think about his shows, so rank them (highest to lowest) on whatever criteria you wish. I will do two different rankings:
RANKINGS - FAVORITE SHOWS: MOST to LEAST!
01> Aspects of Love 02> The Phantom of the Opera 03> The Woman in White 04> Whistle down the Wind 05> Sunset Boulevard 06> Jesus Christ Superstar 07> Joseph! 08> EVITA 09> Beautiful Game 10> Starlight Express 11> Cats 12> Jeeves/By Jeeves 13> Tell Me On A Sunday (Song & Dance)
RANKINGS - QUALITY: BEST TO WORST!
01> Aspects of Love 02> The Woman in White 03> Whistle down the Wind 04> Jesus Christ Superstar 05> Sunset Boulevard 06> Beautiful Game 07> EVITA 08> The Phantom of the Opera (too much "borrowed" music) 09> Joseph! 10> Cats 11> Tell Me On A Sunday (Song & Dance) 12> Starlight Express 13> Jeeves/By Jeeves
"What the hell happened to you? You look like a Make-A-Wish Kid. You know, I just knew you were gonna bring shame on this new family of ours, and it just figures you had to go make yourself over into some heroin-shootin skate board chic on the only day E! could interview you!" - Cherry Cherry, on her daughter Mary Cherry
01> Phantom of the Opera 02> Jesus Christ Superstar 03> Evita 04> Whistle down the Wind 05> Sunset Boulevard 06> Joseph 07> Song and Dance 08> Aspects of Love 09> Cats 10> By Jeeves 11> Starlight Express 12> Woman in White (I haven't heard the cast recording yet!)
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
The only ones I know well enough to judge are Phantom and Joseph. I ADORE Phantom. Joseph is pretty good. It has a special pleace in my heart because it was the first show I was ever in. I was in the chorus.
01> Jesus Christ Superstar 02> Joseph! 03> The Phantom of the Opera 04> Evita 05> Starlight Express 06> Cats 07> Jeeves/By Jeeves 08> Sunset Boulevard 09> Aspects of Love 10> Whistle Down the Wind 11> The Woman in White 12> Tell Me On A Sunday (Song & Dance)
Aspects is so low. Such a shame. Musically and dramatically it is his unchallanged masterpiece!
"What the hell happened to you? You look like a Make-A-Wish Kid. You know, I just knew you were gonna bring shame on this new family of ours, and it just figures you had to go make yourself over into some heroin-shootin skate board chic on the only day E! could interview you!" - Cherry Cherry, on her daughter Mary Cherry
1. Evita 2. Aspects of Love 3. Jesus Christ Superstar 4. Tell Me on a Sunday (US version) 5. Sunset Boulevard 6. The Beautiful Game 7. The Phantom of the Opera 8. Whistle Down the Wind 9. Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 10. Cats 11. Starlight Express
Don't know well enough to rank: Jeeves / By Jeeves The Woman in White
Since I haven't seen all of the shows, I can't fairly rate them, so I will rate them best to worst according only to the score:
1. Jesus Christ Superstar 2. Cats 3. The Phantom of the Opera 4. Sunset Boulevard 5. Song and Dance 6. Aspects of Love 7. Evita 8. Joseph... 9. Whistle Down the Wind 10. The Beautiful Game 11. The Woman in White 12. By Jeeves 13. Starlight Express
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."-Charlie Manson
1. Phantom 2. Superstar 3. Evita - flawed, but wonderful 4. Joseph - stupid, but fun 5. Sunset Boulevard 6. Aspects of Love 7. Song and Dance 8. The Beautiful Game 9. Whistle Down the Wind 10. Starlight Express 11. Cats 12. By Jeeves
Quality: 1. Evita (flawed, but probably the most honest to its source while still having brilliant moments) 2. Phantom of the Opera 3. Jesus Christ Superstar 4. Sunset Boulevard 5. Joseph... 6. Song and Dance 7. Aspects of Love 8. Starlight Express 9. Whistle Down the Wind 10. Cats (ONE good song! memory! and thats done TOO OFTEN!) 11. By Jeeves (This musical was an embarassment to songwriters who couldn't get their shows produced and had to know this piece of crap was on Broadway) ------------------------------------------------------------- Don't KNow the Beautiful Game and haven't heard Woman in White yet
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
hah yeah Spider i know..its not as pretentious as it may sound - cause there are some good things about each one (with the exception of by jeeves and whistle down the wind). cats has some really cool music and rhythmic patterns - even if it is a ridiculous show, and starlight has some kick ass songs - even if it performed on roller skates as a means to represent a train... well, it's the power of james watt - isn't it?
1.ASPECTS OF LOVE - lyrical, romantic, and most Sondheimesque of ALW musical scores and an unusual story of intertwining love. It is sad that is not often mentioned when ALW musicals are discussed but even ALW says it is the favourite score that he has composed. 2.SUNSET BOULEVARD - dramatic musical score matches story 3.PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 4.EVITA 5.JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Special mention - A BEAUTIFUL GAME - the saddest musical I have ever seen!
I'm sad that no one really mentions Song and Dance, which either means that people don't know it, or people hate it. I just musically directed this show and I think it's his most brilliant score.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."-Charlie Manson
01> Evita 02> Jesus Christ Superstar 03> Joseph! 04> Aspects of Love 05> Tell Me On A Sunday (Song & Dance) 06> Sunset Boulevard 07> The Woman in White (havent seen it/heard from it so it can go mid-way) 08> Whistle down the Wind 09> The Beautiful Game 10> The Phantom of the Opera 11> Jeeves/By Jeeves 12> Starlight Express 13> Cats
with the exception of the top 5 i really don't like Andrew Lloyd Webber
Sunset Blvd. Aspects of Love Phantom of the Opera Evita Jesus Christ Superstar Joseph Cats The Beautiful Game Whistle Down the Wind Starlight Express
I've only ever heard a few songs from Song and Dance. Also, I'm not sure where I should put it but I absolutely love the Variations which I think were written for Julian.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
1) Evita 2) Phantom 3) JCS 4) Aspects of Love 5) Sunset Blvd. 6) Song & Dance 7) Joseph Cats 9) Starlight Express 10)Requiem 11)Whistle Down the Wind 12)Beautiful Game 13)By Jeeves
Like most, I haven't heard Woman in White yet. CDs on the way.
How can someone have a Sondheim list and NOT have Sweeney Todd on it? It is a sin that you overlooked that great work.
"What the hell happened to you? You look like a Make-A-Wish Kid. You know, I just knew you were gonna bring shame on this new family of ours, and it just figures you had to go make yourself over into some heroin-shootin skate board chic on the only day E! could interview you!" - Cherry Cherry, on her daughter Mary Cherry