Top Ten Musicals

[lalalovely]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:48am

I just had a question for everybody.. what would you say are the top ten musicals that every thespian should know?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:50am

As in being very familiar with, or knowing every line and lyric?

[lalalovely]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:51am

Yeah.. or at least be very well aquainted with..

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:22am

I am the history junkie. I believe that you must understand the past to know the present. So my top ten are pretty old.

1. Showboat (1927). The first musical to really fully integrate the score INTO the script. All songs arise naturally from conversation and each one adds one element to the story to propel it along.

2. Of Thee I Sing (1931). It richly deserved its Pulitzer Prize, although George Gershwin was robbed by not being included. One of the first shows about politics and the current situation. And the idea that the vice-president is so much of an unknown that he has to take the tour to get into the White House could be something straight out of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

3. Pal Joey (1941). A very bold move for Rodgers and Hart, to make a show about a piece of excrement (they'll edit me otherwise). Really stretched the boundaries of musical comedy into musical theater.

4. Carmen Jones (1943). Okay, it's Bizet. It's opera but that's the wonder of it. It allows anyone to see an opera and understand it. It allows anyone to sing opera (please in the tub only. Let the professionals handle this). Another brilliant idea by Hammerstein which just shows what a visionary he was.

5. Carousel 1946). Best R&H. Best songs. Drama, drama, drama.

6. Guya nad Dolls (1948 ). The best musical comedy ever written. An utter joy from the moment your butt hits the seat until you walk out of the theater humming the tunes. This show is SO well written that it cannot be destroyed by amateur theater groups no matter how hard they try (and I've seen some try really hard!)

7. Gypsy (1959). The best musical drama wever, ever, ever. The best overture, one of the greatest performances and the best performance by two girls in a cow and "Rose's Turn." It has never, will never get any better.

8. The Crooked Mile (1959). Music by Peter Greenwell. I know many of you have never heard of it, but this is the acid test for the true believers. This is a totally astonishing show from England, sort of Sondheim crossed with Guys and Dolls but utterly unlike anything you've ever heard before. If you seek out this show (library collections or the internet) you will never forget what you hear AND you'll be able to casually drop it into conversation then look around to see whose eyes light up. THAT person will be someone worth getting to know...

9. Dreamgirls (1981). They'll never leave you. They have never left me.

10. Sweeney Todd (1980). This is the show I would love to take a recording of back in time and play it for Jerome Kern, just to see the look on his face. Obviously, Kern wouldn't know what to make of it at first, but by the time we get to "The Beautiful Sea" I'll bet my life he'd be beaming. Sondheim's masterpiece and Broadways greatest classical piece.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:28am

Gut response:

Show Boat
Carousel
West Side Story
Gypsy
Fiddler on the Roof
Sweeney Todd and/or Company
Ragtime
A Chorus Line
Hair
My Fair Lady

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 2:44am

Oh so in Ave Q Rod yells out Pal Joey because it is a musical from the 1940's. I always wondered what that meant.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 2:51am

-Kiss of the Spider Woman
-Wonderful Town
-Rent
-Fame
-The Woman in White
-Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
-Evita
-Little Shop of Horrors
-Bombay Dreams
-Aida

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 3:24am

I've never heard of The Crooked Mile in my entire life and I've imagined myself a "true believer" for a while now. I suppose I've been wasting a lot of time! Random Obscure Musical Number 96 is hardly the "acid test for true believers". Although I'll admit I'm intrigued, now that I've looked it up a bit.

Why do you want to play Sweeney Todd for Jerome Kern? I'm curious. I think he'd hate the blue note.

Updated On: 4/21/06 at 03:24 AM

[musicman89]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 6:49pm

There are numerous previous threads on this subject. The search button is your friend.

Based on popularity, awards, and influence, these are my top picks:

SHOW BOAT
PORGY AND BESS
OKLAHOMA!
WEST SIDE STORY
GYPSY
CABARET
A CHORUS LINE
SWEENEY TODD
LES MISERABLES
RAGTIME

[tz0o]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 6:55pm

I agree with musicman, although I would exchange "Carosel" for "Oklahoma!" and "The Phantom of the Opera" for "Ragtime".

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 7:05pm

Muscle muscle muscle you humor me so. They didn't ask you YOUR top ten but the top ten muscials that an educated thespian should know. Honestly, I think they can skip Bombay Dreams and the Woman in White for now...
InfiniteTheaterFrenzy's got it right. Nice job!

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 7:06pm

I could only think of 8 (In no particular order)

Cabaret
Into the Woods
Rent
Les Miserables
Hair
Phantom of the Opera
Chicago
West Side Story

[AlmostFamous]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 7:14pm

The Phantom of the Opera
Les Miserables
A Chorus Line
Sweeney Todd
Cabaret
Gypsy
Ragtime
Carosel
West Side Story
Rent

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 7:17pm

1. Gypsy
2. Sweeney Todd
3. The King and I
4. The Sound of Music
5. Sunday in the Park with George
6. West Side Story
7. The Woman in White
8. Les Miserables
9. Evita
10. Sweet Charity

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 7:41pm

Roninjoey, sorry if I sounded a bit elitist. "The Crooked Mile" is probably like a specialty wine. I put it on my list because I wanted to expand a bit beyond the norm (Sound Of Music, West Side Story) and was trying to inspire some searching. I could have listed stuff by Kurt Weil or On The Town or Porgy and Bess but they're so easy to find. I would also list "Evergreen" and "Let Them Eat Cake" on the obscure but great scores. The reason I listed "Crooked Mile" is that I and many of my collector friends consider it to be one of the most unique and beautiful scores ever written And considering it's British, from a period when nobody else, save Lionel Blair was really writing much of value in GB at the time, it's a bit of a milestone.

I encourage you to find a copy of the cd and give it a whirl.

As for the Jerome Kern mention, I believe that Kern was one of the greatest songwiters of the 20th century. There were more popular composers, such as Irving Berlin and more sophisticated, such as Cole Porter (and how did I fail to list Kiss Me Kate?) and more daring, such as Marc Blitzstein and there was even more intelligent, such as Rodgers and Hart, but somehow, Kern carved out a niche for himself in all four categories. He and Oscar Hammerstein basically created musical theatre - distinct from musical comedy - with "Showboat" and "Music In The AIr" shows which had scores that propelled the story, rather than interrupting it. I mentioned Kern because the other person who would have found Sondheim interesting was Larry Hart, but he was so flighty that, even in my imagination, I didn't want to spend time trying to get him to pay attention. (See what happens in MY inagination? I'm stuck with Larry Hart's character flaws as plot points).

Anyway, all I was suggesting is that Sweeney Todd is a wonder of construction married with a score that is filled with beautiful melodies and witty lyrics that even the old masters would enjoy.

Oh well, I guess West Side Story has to go on the list as so many people have mentioned it.....

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 8:06pm

i'm not too educated with past shows, so it's interesting to read these!
i agree with the SWEET CHARITY and RENT remarks, but I think I'll need to start shopping for some of these older musical cast recordings to become a better thespian...

nice info, guys!

:)

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/21/06 at 9:19pm

Not a better thespian, just a wider one. Your knowledge may be very deep on the shows you already love. We just hope to introduce you to some new friends you'll love for life. Let me introduce you to Rodgers and Hart, especially On Your Toes and Pal Joey.

[bigrab1018]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:23am

Rent
Wicked
The Color Purple
Dracula
The Producers
Phantom of the Opera
Thou Shalt Not
Cinderella
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
In My Life

[d5johnston]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:30am

Anything Goes
Showboat
Carousel
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
Company
Sweeney Todd
A Chorus Line
Phantom of the Opera
The Lion King

with Oklahoma, Hello Dolly!, and RENT as other important ones to know.

Updated On: 4/22/06 at 12:30 AM

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:37am

Gypsy
Sweeney Todd
Sweet Charity
The Sound of Music
The King and I
Guys and Dolls
A Chorus Line
West Side Story
Sunday in the Park with George
Pal Joey

bigrab, your list is pretty...pathetic, I must say...

[emilybeth227]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:11am

1. Show Boat
2. Anything Goes
3. Oklahoma!
4. West Side Story
5. Company
6. Chicago
7. A Chorus Line
8. Les Mis
9. Rent
10. Ragtime
10.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:34am

Allofmylife, I'm sorry. I'm not sure why I bitched at you, I must have been very tired.

I rather like Kern. I think he finds little popularity with today's generation since his music is more operetta than musical theater, but he was a great composer.

I can't imagine how he'd feel about Sondheim though. I know the man was capable of writing deceptively complicated songs, so he might really like it. Composers tend to be pretty down on each other though. I don't know if it's jealousy or just the feeling of competition.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:55am

Actually, Kern was considered to be a real gentleman and a nice guy. His collaboration with Hammerstein was fascinating in that each of them saw a future for musical theatre that nobody else in their time could envision and they truly reshaped the face of the industry. I believe Sondheim is a kindred spirit of theirs so I thought it would be an interesting match. I mean, what the heck would Irving Berlin have found in common with Stephen?

Now, on the other hand, Hart would have loved his tricky, mathemaical lyrics. Hart loved the inner rhyme so they'd have had a great deal of notes to compare.

[AngusN]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 4:51am

I'm surprised that shows like Merrily and Company have not appeared more. Especially Company; the musical was ground breaking when it premiered.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 8:56am

(These are in no particular order)
Carousel
Company
Hair
Cats
Rent
Cabaret
South Pacific
Ain't Misbehavin'
A Chorus Line
My Fair Lady