Top Ten Scores of All Time- Page 3

[javertim]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 11:33am

Sweeney Todd (orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick)
Les Miserables
Merrily We Roll Along
Notre Dame de Paris (a rare opinion)
Spring Awakening (music is wonderful, show is so-so)
Dreamgirls
Rent

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 11:42am

People just can't count to ten, can they?

[RockabyeHamlet]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 11:47am

I'm sorry I can't respect anyone who puts Tarzan on their list.

It might be just me though...

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 11:49am

I think some people need to find a balence between old and new.

No they don't. They don't call the oldies "classics" just because.

~Steven

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 12:05pm

Show Boat
Porgy and Bess
Babes in Arms
Carousel
Finian's Rainbow
Guys and Dolls
Candide
My Fair Lady
Gypsy
Follies

[ShuQ]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 12:30pm

West Side Story
Cabaret
The Light in the Piazza
Carousel
Porgy & Bess
Sweeney Todd
Ragtime
Big River
Caroline, or Change
Titanic

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 12:35pm

Company
Cabaret
Chicago

My Top 3

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 12:36pm

GYPSY
CAROUSEL
THE MOST HAPPY FELLA
CAMELOT
SOUTH PACIFIC
PORGY AND BESS
PAL JOEY
CRAZY FOR YOU
A CHORUS LINE
SHOWBOAT
(in no particular order)
plus,for honorable mention: any Jule Styne score--I am a sucker for Styne's scores--they are all so likable, especially the overtures.

Updated On: 4/7/07 at 12:36 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:07pm

In no order - and this wasn't easy!

Les Miserables
Sweeney Todd
South Pacific
Man of LaMancha
She Loves Me
Follies
Kismet
1776
Camelot
Most Happy Fella

What makes these shows work for me as "best scores" are 1)there are very few, if any, clunkers in the piece, 2)I can listen to them time and again, and 3)they've stood the test of time - I've known all of these scores for at LEAST 10 years and I never lose interest in them.

[Lizzya9]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:19pm

D2, I have never criticized someone's opinion. I respect everyone's equally.

Rockabye, don't judge people by what type of music they like. Have an open mind and don't criticize someone just because they don't think exactly like you do.

[Julian2]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:40pm

I have some quirky picks,

(In no particular order)
The Grand Tour - Not sure why, but I am in LOVE with this score at the moment.
1776 - The wonderful songs combined with how seamlessly it blends with the play make this a big favorite.
A Little Night Music - I could listen to Sondheim's 3/4 time forever.
The Scarlet Pimpernel - This score has it all, great patter songs, touching ballads, and songs of intrigue.
Jane Eyre - In a theatre, this score takes you to another world.
West Side Story - The work that must have gone into this score is amazing, it has incredible range.
Oliver! - Love it. Again, range.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood - The music intself bleeds murder mystery.
Grey Gardens - The music creates a mood and a feeling that blends seamlessly with the subject matter.
Marie Christine - Listening to Audra sing those lush melodies is like sex.

Maybe not the best ever, but the best of what I listen to a lot.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:49pm

Okay, I'm strongly considering the fact that this thread asked for the scores that we think are the best, not particularly our favorites. No particular order, except for my first one of course:

West Side Story (see signature)
Ragtime
Candide
Sweeney Todd
Sunday in the Park With George
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
Carousel
Cabaret
Porgy & Bess (unfortunately, not familiar with it, will be soon, but from what I've heard, it deserves to be here)

[worrell4077]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:54pm

Sweeney Todd
Spring Awakening
The Drowsy Chaperone
Avenue Q
Monty Python's SpamAlot
Assassins
The Producers
Grease
The Who's Tommy
Little Shop of Horrors

[broadway_socialite]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 1:55pm

Candide
Nine
Carosel
SITPWG
Sweeney Todd
Light In The Piazza
A Little Night Music
The Sound If Music
Cabaret
Caeoline or dhange

runner ups:
Follies
Titanic
On The Town
Parade
Ragtime

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 3:07pm

Oh, why only 10? Oh well here goes. I make no apologies that only 3 of the 10 are modern shows.

1. Kern: SHOW BOAT - a score that includes that many hit songs deserves a place of honour

2. Rodgers: CAROUSEL - even if you don't like the story, the music is beautiful and "The Carousel Waltz" might well be the greatest piece of 20th century concert music. (With Roders there are so many valid choices: OKLAHOMA!, KING ADN I, SOUTH PACIFIC, BABES IN ARMS, ON YOUR TOES.... But for me the score of CAROUSEL eclipses them all.)

3. Gershwin: PORGY AND BESS - yes it is an opera but we have to have Gershwin show and this was his greatest.

4. Porter: KISS ME KATE - no contest here, it is his greatest even if ANYTHING GOES and CAN-CAN yieleded more "pop" hits (5 each.)

5. Berlin: ANNIE GET YOUR GUN - In a talk at U of T some years ago Sondheim commented that it is not an accident that so many hit songs came out of this one score.

6. Styne: GYPSY - A great score married to some of the best lyrics Broadway has ever heard

7. Bernstein: WEST SIDE STORY - a great piece to show how musical theatre authors can collborate to create a show far greater than the sum of its parts. CANDIDE is a more adventurous musical score, but with WEST SIDE it's all about the show.

8. Sondheim: SWEENEY TODD - His "Porgy & Bess" and a true gift to theatre lovers.

9. Schoenberg: LES MISERABLES - Critics may sneer about this "popera" but the music carries the emotions, and the show has proven itself over and over as one of the most popular musicals ever written.

10. Flaherty: RAGTIME - a rich evocative score weaving different musical styles into a tapestry of American life in the early 19th century.

[scott68]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 3:13pm

In no order:

Follies
Les Miserables
Falsettos
Sweeney Todd
Evita
Hair
South Pacific
Into the Woods
Cabaret
A Chorus Line

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 3:27pm

"Oh, why only 10?"

Preach it!!! It was so hard to limit this to just 10. By the way, great explanations of each score.

I did not just see someone put Parade as a runner up.

Updated On: 4/7/07 at 03:27 PM

[spotlightproddirect]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 3:55pm

Alphabetically...

1.) Bernarda Alba
2.) Caroline or Change
3.) Chicago
4.) A Little Night Music
5.) March of the Falsettos
6.) Merrily We Roll Along
7.) The Most Happy Fella
8.) Ragtime
9.) Romance in Hard Times (my absolute favorite!)
10.) Sunday in the Park with George

Honorable Mentions:

Elegies, Follies, Guys and Dolls, Nine, Parade, and Sweeney Todd

[D2]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:04pm

Another fabulous score:

CITY OF ANGELS

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:05pm

No order because that would make things harder...
-Sweeney Todd
-West Side Story
-Into The Woods
-A Chorus Line
-Aida
-Beauty and the Beast
-Little Shop of Horrors
-The Last Five Years!!

...I'm stopping at 8 because I can't think anymore

[sondhead]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:08pm

Chorus Line, A
Floyd Collins: Too bad the book isn't better
Light in the Piazza, The
Little Night Music, A
Little Shop of Horrors
Secret Garden, The: So under-rated, so incredible
Show Boat: One score with Bill and Old Man River.. wow
Smile
Sweeney Todd
Wiz, The: Too bad the book isn't better

Alphabetical, of course

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:38pm

Am I the only one who doesn't see the big deal with the Gypsy score? I think the lyrics are great, but the music is mediocre at best with a few standouts (Rose's Turn, Some People).

My top ten:

West Side Story
Fiddler on the Roof
Sweeney Todd
Ragtime
Les Miz
Rent
Assassins
My Fair Lady
Chicago
Into the Woods

Is it wrong that I toyed with the idea of putting either The Producers or Hairspray on this list?

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:42pm

Carousel
Company
Les Miserables
Passion
Porgy and Bess
Ragtime
Show Boat
Sweeney Todd
West Side Story
Wicked (yeah, that's right

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 7:50pm

"Am I the only one who doesn't see the big deal with the Gypsy score? I think the lyrics are great, but the music is mediocre at best with a few standouts (Rose's Turn, Some People). "

No, I agree with you in a way. I know some would argue that if another aspect of the show is greater, then it shouldn't take away from the score, but...with Gypsy, when I think of the strongest aspect, I do not think of the score, but the book. In describing the excellence of Gypsy, people say it could be a play without music. Conversely, I think West Side Story could exist with just the score and no dialogue in between. I certainly don't think Gypsy's score is bad, just not quite as amazing as most of the other ones that others have listed.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/8/07 at 3:46pm

The music of GYPSY is so threaded throughout the strong book that you could be forgiven for not realizing its brilliance after one or two listens.

For example, Let Me Entertain You starts off as a simple song, later a tricked up arrangement for the vaudeville act and finally slowed down to a sultry strip number. The words never change but the meaning does. (It is even quoted in the middle of: If Mamma Was Married.)

Another example is how the "I Had a Dream" theme appears at the top of the Overture, in the middle of Some People, then as the verse to Everything's Coming up Roses. It gets quoted again in Rose's Turn and then the motif becomes the last 4 notes played as the curtain falls.

We take such through-composition for granted now (though I wish more contemporary composers would use these gimmicks) but when GYPSY premiered in 1959 they were quite innovative, and not surprisingly few critics at the time picked up on it. Of course you can't really until you have been through the score a couple of times.