The Best of Each Composer

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The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/5/08 at 1:39pm

When I think of broadway composers I think of many people. This thread is all about the best work by a composer.

For Example
I think the best work by Sondheim is Sunday in the Park With George.

Current Avatar:The sensational Aaron Tveit in the soon to be hit production of Catch Me If You Can.

Off the top of my head:

S. Sondheim - I can't...I just can't. Company/Sweeney/Sunday
W. Finn - A New Brain
J. Robert Brown - The Last 5 Years
J. Styne - Gypsy
H. Krieger - Side Show
A. Guettel - The Light in the Piazza
T. Kitt/B. Yorkey - Next to Normal [Feeling Electric]
D. Yazbek - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
C. Porter - Anything Goes (1962 ed.)
A. Menken - Little Shop of Horrors
M. Shaiman - Hairspray
A. Lloyd Webber - Phantom of the Opera
B. Ulaveus - Chess
A. Boublil/C. Schonberg - Les Miserables
J. Bucchino - 3hree; more specifically "Flight of the Lawnchair Man"
J. Kander/F. Ebb - Cabaret
J. Larson - tick, tick...BOOM!
L. O'Keefe - Bat Boy
M. Hamlisch - Sweet Smell of Success
S. Schwartz - Wicked
M. LaChiusa - Little Fish
A. Lippa - The Wild Party

I'm sure if I thought about it more I would change some of these, but on first thoughts this would be mostly it.

Updated On: 10/5/08 at 02:23 PM

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/5/08 at 2:58pm

An imcomplete list but:
Herman: La Cage Aux Folles
Sondheim: I'd say his most "important" was Sunday in the Park With George...though this is very hard.
Schwartz: Pippin...I guess.
Webber: Evita
Guettel: Floyd Collins
La Chuisa: Marie Christine...though to be fair I've only heard 3 of his shows.
R&H: The King and I
J. Tesori: Caroline or Change.
Bock & Harnick: She Loves Me.

"This ocean runs more dark and deep than you may think you know...I'll be the fear of the fire at sea." -Marie Christine

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:04pm

I think it's silly to pick a favorite show from a composer who's only written one or two shows, but of the composers with a few shows under their belts, the following are my favorites:

Sondheim - Sunday in the Park with George
Bernstein - West Side Story
R&H - The Sound of Music
Rodgers & Hart - The Boys from Syracuse
ALW - Evita
Schwartz - Pippin
JRB - Parade
Finn - Elegies
Styne - Gypsy
Ahrens & Flaherty - Once On This Island
LaChiusa - See What I Wanna See (mostly for the second act)
Coleman - City of Angels
Herman - La Cage aux Folles
Kander & Ebb - Cabaret
Loesser - Guys and Dolls
Porter - Kiss Me, Kate
Wildhorn - Waiting for the Moon
Strouse - Bye Bye Birdie

Updated On: 10/5/08 at 03:04 PM

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:32pm

It's tricky tricky tricky to do this and I always feel bad for leaving shows out, but I'll give it a go. Let it be known that this was not an easy list to produce!

Stephen Sondheim - Sweeney Todd
Adam Guettel - Floyd Collins
Jason Robert Brown - The Last Five Years
Jonathan Larson - Rent
Stephen Schwartz - Godspell
Maury Yeston - Nine
Elton John - Billy Elliot
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Sunset Boulevard (YEAH I SAID IT)
Frank Wildhorn - ... Jekyll & Hyde, but circa 1994
Kander & Ebb - Cabaret
Rodgers & Hammerstein - The King and I
Lerner & Loewe - My Fair Lady
Bernstein - West Side Story
Dempsey & Rowe - The Fix
Meredith Willson - The Music Man

... perhaps when you're looking up a giant great long list of American musical composers on the Wikipedia, you're getting TOO INVOLVED and should step off and do something else.

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/5/08 at 9:47pm

This has been done to death, but-

Stephen Sondheim - Sweeney Todd, but I like Follies better
Adam Guettel - Light in the Piazza
Maury Yeston - Nine
Kander & Ebb - Chicago
Rodgers & Hammerstein - Carousel
Lerner & Loewe - Camelot
Bernstein - Candide
Bock & Harnick - She Loves Me
Cy Coleman - On the Twentieth Century
Kern - Show Boat
Cole Porter - Kiss Me, Kate
Burton Lane - Finnian's Rainbow
Frank Loesser - How to Succeed, but I love Most Happy Fella too
Charles Strouse - Golden Boy

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:36am

Rodgers & Hammerstein- Oklahoma
Rodgers & Hart- Pal Joey
Stephen Sondheim- Company & Assassins (I have a soft spot for Assassins)
Adam Guettel- The Light in the Piazza
Jerry Herman- La Cage aux Folles
Stephen Schwartz- Godspell
Kander & Ebb- Cabaret
Leonard Bernstein- West Side Story
Andrew Lloyd Webber- It hurts to say this, but Phantom.
Frank Loesser- Guys & Dolls
Bock & Harnick- Fiddler on the Roof
Cole Porter- Kiss Me, Kate
William Finn- Falsettos
Jerry Ross & Richard Adler- Damn Yankees

re: The Best of Each Composer

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:34pm

Adler/Ross - PAJAMA GAME
Arlen - HOUSE OF FLOWERS
Berlin - ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
Bernstein - WEST SIDE STORY
Bock - SHE LOVES ME
Coleman - CITY OF ANGELS
Finn - FALSETTOLAND
Flaherty - RAGTIME
Friml - ROSE MARIE
Gershwin - PORGY AND BESS
Guettel - THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
Hamlish - A CHORUS LINE
Herbert - BABES IN TOYLAND
Herman - HELLO DOLLY!
Kander - CABARET
Kern - SHOW BOAT
Leigh - MAN OF LA MANCHA
Loesser - THE MOST HAPPY FELLA
Loewe - MY FAIR LADY
Lloyd Webber - EVITA
MacDermott - HAIR
Menken - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Porter - KISS ME, KATE
Rodgers - CAROUSEL
Romberg - THE DESERT SONG
Shoenberg - LES MISERABLES
Schwartz - GODSPELL
Sondheim - SWEENEY TODD
Strouse - GOLDEN BOY
Styne - GYPSY
Weill - LADY IN THE DARK
Wilson - THE MUSIC MAN
Wright/Forrest - GRAND HOTEL
Yazbek - DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
Yeston - NINE

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

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