Top Ten Greatest Composers of Musical Theater — Page 3

An honest question here - why do we slavishly adhere to this arbitrary number "10?"

Why not Top 15, or 28, or 20?

I couldn't post a Top 10, seriously. There are too many theatre composers who belong in the "top" for me to eliminate any one of them.

"She's in the attic!"

Well then, OK - here's my pantheon of sorts, in a flexible order, following a simple rule that the composer has at least two produced theatre scores that I admire (I love Burt Bacharach, but I don't think Lost Horizons counts as a second score):
Stephen Sondheim
Maury Yeston
William Finn
Jule Styne
Cy Coleman
Kurt Weill
Leonard Bernstein
John Kander
Cole Porter
Larry Grossman
Jerry Bock
Charles Strouse
George Gershwin
Jerry Herman
Stephen Schwartz
David Shire
Frederick Loewe
Noel Coward
Mitch Leigh
Burton Lane
Frank Loesser
Bob Merrill
Meredith Willson
Harold Arlen
Jerome Kern
Harold Rome
Leslie Bricusse

Going by the category "composer," I'm assume you mean the person responsible for writing the music. In no particular order (and I'm afraid I can't limit myself to ten), here's my list:

1. Rodgers of Rodgers and Hart;
2. Rodgers of Rodgers and Hammerstein;
3. George Gershwin;
4. Cole Porter;
5. Leonard Bernstein;
6. Irving Berlin;
7. George M. Cohan;
8. Jerome Kern
9. Sigmund Romberg;
10. Kurt Weill;
11. Frank Loesser;
12. Frederick Loewe;
13. Jerry Herman;
14. Stephen Sondheim;
15. John Kander; and
16. Jerry Bock.

I limited my selection to American composers -- or, at least composers who made a significant mark in American musicals (e.g., yes, I know that Weill had a major career in Germany before coming to America -- but he had success in the US by writing in a different vein). I deliberately omitted Lloyd Webber and Schonberg, not because they didn't have major box office successes in this country, but because, IN MY OPINION, their work is second rate (okay, go ahead an shoot).

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I agree with Pippin - the whole point of limiting it is to say THESE ARE THE BEST. It doesn't mean others aren't quality. It just means these are the ones we consider the top of the top. Is it easy? Hell no, but what's the point if it is?

That said, I can't understand how objectively or subjectively ANYONE could say Sondheim wouldn't be on the top of this list.

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I'd like to throw Harold Rome's name into the mix too. Underrated composer. Some beautiful melodies.

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To Reginald,

Thanks for your kind concern. Somehow I've managed to soldier on lo these many years, and I expect I'll manage to do so in the future as well. I don't care much for his work, it's true. But I don't say " I mean, come on," to those who do.

Top Ten lists may be fine for Letterman but for a paper of record like the Times, it represents a new low in journalism and a barometer of its lame arts coverage. Offering neither insight or substantive criticism, Tommassini's ridiculous articles are just excuses for a lot of grandstanding and self-aggrandizement. Mozart is better than Stravinsky is better than Brahms is better than Tchaikovsky is better than Mahler...but why go on? It's pointless nonsense.

Updated On: 1/26/11 at 07:57 PM

I was considering Jule Styne only because of Gypsy -- IMO, maybe the best of all American musicals (I said MAYBE). But, pleasant and sometimes even more, his other scores seem, by and large, second tier (not to be confused with second rate). Who crosses themselves when considering Bells Are Ringing, High Button Shoes, Two's Company, Sugar, or even Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Funny Girl? I'm probably going to take some flak about the last, but the show always seems to revert, no matter who plays the role, to Barbra Streisand.

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I think I'm in love with After Eight and Mythos. The responses to their comments (most recently those by jasonsf) remind me of that old PEANUTS strip where Lucy comes across Frieda lounging on Schroeder's piano and grandly pronounces: "Do you like Beethoven? Because if you're gonna hang around here, you've GOTTA like Beethoven!"

I'm sorry, Paul, but just an "Honorable Mention" for Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen? I mean, come on!

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Updated On: 1/27/11 at 05:31 AM

Wow. Bunch of well-informed people here. Staggering lists of amazing composers, all wonderful with their own unique voices.

TulitaPepsi -- as jimmycurry said -- "Greatest" composer is different from "favorite" composer.

You simply can't argue that Sondheim is one of the greatest. This is completely objective.

FAVORITE composer is a different matter. You may not like him, but I think in the eyes of a lot of people here that lowers the bar for all other opinions on composers you may have.

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