The Broadway Mega-Musicals

Could someone help me list the main Broadway mega-musicals? By mega-musicals, I mean large scale corporatised products that toured the world. So far I've got:

Evita
Cats
Les Miserables
Starlight Express
The Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon
Beauty and the Beast
Show Boat (1994)
Sunset Boulevard
The Lion King
Ragtime
The Producers
Wicked
Mary Poppins
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

What am I missing? What shouldn't be there? etc.

Add in Mamma Mia to West End.
But, I"m confused by the "tour the world"?
For example, Fiddler on the Roof has played in tens of countries. Does that fit your list?

Jay94, I would say that your list is pretty accurate, but I would add SHREK if only for its colossal budget.

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Definition of mega-musical from the late (all knowing) MargoChanning:

A rough definition of a "mega-musical" would typically describe a fully or an almost entirely sung-through musical drama, produced on a very large scale in which the staging, spectacle and specific special effects are equally important as (if not more so than) the plot, characters, book and score. Most megamusicals have at least one singular effect that defines it to the public: Phantom (the chandelier), Cats (the tire that rises to kitty heaven), Les Mis (the moving battlements), and Miss Saigon (the helicopter). They are also notable for their lack of humor and the fact that they aren't reliant on specific "star" casting for their success -- no role in any mega-musical requires any special star quality for the show to work, which is why they were all able to run for a decade or more with unknown actors interchangeably going in and out of the shows. Most were based on classic works of literature (novels, T.S. Elliot). While there are other shows from Disney and other American producers that have been produced on a large scale in recent years (the tradition of spectacle on stage after all goes back to the Ziegfeld Follies in the early part of the 20th century), the term "mega-musical" specifically applies only really to those shows of European origin (Webber and Boubil-Schonberg were the main creators) from the 80s and early 90s.

Bottom line, "mega-musical" is a specific subgenre of spectacle applying to the kind of European, musical dramas named above that had their heyday in the 80s and 90s and nothing else.

I would say Wicked is a megamusical, if they aren't required to have a British background. Wicked is a large-scale musical with an epic score, dazzling effects (I'd compare the flight in Defying Gravity to Cat's kitty heaven tire), and is not reliant on star casting.

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Why must we limit mega-musicals to shows that started since the 1980's? That seems like a cliched but unhelpful way to separate classic mega-shows from the ones the OP is talking about.

I'm thinking of:
THE KING AND I
MY FAIR LADY
CAMELOT
HELLO DOLLY
42ND STREET

All huge hits with countless tours, that depended on over-the-top sets and costumes to sell the show. They're just written by Americans rather than the Brits or French, and have American sensibilities (that include humor and joy).

Also I'd suggest that EVITA was very far from a mega-musical in form -- in the original Hal Prince staging it was basically a black-box stage with a few minor set pieces and lighting effects.

Updated On: 8/19/14 at 12:54 AM

Jersey Boys
Chicago
Rent

Probably also fit in the mega hit and world tour phenomenon.

Could the original 1971 production of FOLLIES count?

Not Broadway, but foreign shows such as Tanz der Vampire, Elisabeth, and Rebecca could count under the mega musical category given the size and "grandeur" of the production values.

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One is written for opera audiences and the other is written for Broadway audiences. It's a completely different sensibility.

I don't remember the exact quote but I remember something Sondheim said about Sweeney Todd not being an opera because it wasn't written for opera houses. It was written for a Broadway house and Broadway audiences. There have been times where he referred to as a dark operetta too though so I think even he can't decide what it is.

I've never been convinced that SWEENEY, PORGY AND BESS, CANDIDE, STREET SCENE and MOST HAPPY FELLA are not operas because they were written for Broadway houses. With the possible exception of the latter, all of the above are more likely to be seen in opera houses these days.

And what of something like PASSION? It's very nearly through-composed (unlike CARMEN) and its heroine dies for love just as Traviata and Butterfly do.

Nobody argues that FOUR SAINTS IN THREE ACTS is not an opera, and yet it, too, was written for a Broadway house, where it was the hit of its season (1934). It even played in Hartford before coming into town.

And what difference does it make in the final analysis? Yet it's hard to think of an issue that has inspired more verbiage to less avail.

The term "mega-musical" is even less precise. What could be more "mega" in their days than OKLAHOMA! and MY FAIR LADY?

Updated On: 8/19/14 at 08:52 PM

I think a megamusical is where the PHYSICAL PRODUCTION and STAGING become integral to the show.

Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Gypsy etc - are songs dance and story combined...
but
The Phantom of the Opera - has a falling chandelier. You go for the chandelier.
Miss Saigon - has a helicopter. Likewise.
Les Mis - has a turntable and a barricade
Starlight - people on roller-skates
Cats - dancing cats in lycra