Top ten musicals on Broadway

[USActorSinger]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 9:38am

Here is my top ten. I rated these productions by their current incarnation (if the original cast of Rent was on Broadway I'd give it an A and it would be at the top of the list followed by the original cast of the corrent Chicago revival


1) Assassins A-
2) Movin' Out A-
3) The Lion King B+
4) The Producers B+
5) The Phantom of the Opera B+
6) Avenue Q B+
7) Caroline, or Change B+
Wicked B
9) Wonderful Town B
10}Hairspray B

Please post your top ten list (or bitch me out about my opinions)

[Matt_G]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:25am

Does anyone else here think that THE PRODUCERS and THE LION KING are two highly overrated musicals? After the first 20 minutes of THE LION KING, the show just bored me to tears. Maybe if they shaved off about 40 minutes from it I could have gotten into it more, but it was just WAY too long. As for THE PRODUCERS I laughed in some parts, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as great as everyone else said it was. I definately think there have been better musicals that should have the record for most Tonys won. And MOVIN' OUT - the fact that it's still playing baffles me. It's another show I found very tedious and just not entertaining at all.
But these are just my opinions.
And USActorSinger, your picture is wicked cute.

[secret-soul]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:41am

1) Assassins A
2) Phantom of the Opera A (it's all for Hugh Panaro)
3) Caroline or Change A-
4) AIDA B
5) Thoroughly Modern Millie B
6) The Boy from Oz B-
7) Gypsy C+
The Lion King C
9) Wicked C-
10)Hairspray D

[secret-soul]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:42am

(Avenue Q and others are not on this list because I haven't seen them or don't know anything about them really...but I'm sure many of them would go higher in the list :) )

[secret-soul]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:43am

And I hate that 8 + ) makes
grrr.

[BroadwayBaby3]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 12:20pm

i pretty much love every musical currently on Broadway except Rent and Avenue Q. I'm also not a huge fan of 42nd Street and I haven't seen Bombay Dreams.

Updated On: 5/25/04 at 12:20 PM

[beartrande]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 1:11pm

I can only rate the four I saw earlier this month!

1) Wicked A
2) Boy from Oz B (Hugh Jackman A+++++!)
3) Aida C
4) Assassins C

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 2:01pm

Well, there are 22 musicals currently running on Broadway -- some shortly leaving and more coming soon -- which means I had to leave 12 off the list. In some cases, I'm rating the original production (I saw the original cast of 19 of the 22 -- had no interest in Beauty and the Beast, I haven't gotten around to Fiddler, and I saw the 1981 production of 42nd Street and have no interest in seeing it again). In some cases I'm rating the the current cast, if I happened to revisit the show in the last year or so (sorry, unlike some of you folks, I have little interest in seeing ANY of these shows more than two or three times over the course of their runs.... at the MOST!) Here are the ones that made my cut:

1) Chicago - A
2) The Producers - A
3) Hairspray - A
4) Caroline - A-
5) Movin Out - A-
6) Avenue Q - B+/A- (just not nearly as funny as it could/should be, but some very good stuff in it)
7) Gypsy - B+ (I saw Bernadette on an off night in previews -- going back for the closing performance)
Assassins - B+ (still a flawed show -- lots of interesting stuff but, man are there book/structure problems .....the ideas are great, but the execution less so)
9) Wicked - B (sort of like Galinda -- tons of style/little substance)
10) The Boy From Oz - B- (terrible book/extraordinary Jackman -- the most entertaining bad show I've seen in many years ... ultimately I decided I had more fun with Hugh and Keating et al in this mediocre star vehicle than I did sitting through some of the other better written, more "acclaimed" productions I could have included in my top ten)

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 2:27pm

1. Wicked--A
2. Avenue Q--A
3. Hairspray--A
4. Assassins--A
5. Little Shop of Horrors--A
6. Thoroughly Modern Millie--A-
7. Movin' Out--B+
8. AIDA--B+
9. The Producers--B
10. Mamma Mia!--B-

(This is why I could never be a teacher, Im too easy)

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 3:49pm

Wicked--- A
Avenue Q--- A+
RENT--- ok- this one now deserves a B-. A year and a half ago, it deserved an A.
Thoroughly Modern Millie--- C
Aida--- B-
42nd Street--- C
Little Shop of Horrors- A
Phantom of the Opera- A
Beauty and the Beast- now deserves a B-, but a few years ago it deserved an B+

[bythesword84]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 4:18pm

No, youre not the only one Matt_G don't worry...I thought The Producers was highly overrated, as for The Lion King I never saw that but The Producers was merely "okay" in my opinion.

[Elphie]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 4:24pm

This was hard- but here's my list. I did it based off of how I saw them, not how they are today because I wouldn't know if I didnt see them.

1) Thoroughly Modern Millie
2) Avenue Q
3) Caroline, or Change
4) Wonderful Town
5) Rent
6) Wicked
7) Bombay Dreams
Chicago
9) Little Shop of Horrors
10) The Producers

I loved Aida and Beauty and the Beast very much, I just couldnt find a place for them.

[Elphie]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 4:28pm

That 8 smiley thing is really annoying haha.
I have yet to see Hairspray and Mamma Mia- but from what I hear of their music, I would love them.

[on1ystarinthesky]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 4:32pm

Hairspray is, strangely, a musical that has music that I am in love with, and a show that I'm "Eech" about. The music is absolutely amazing, I love every song on that recording.

However, I saw the show and was utterly disappointed. The plot got swallowed up in the music and lights and dancing and costumes. Not to say that all of that was bad; it had some of the best setting and costumes I've ever seen. But the plot was almost completely lost in it, and call me a stick, but I like a show with a point.

Hairspray was a helluva lot of fun, and that's about it.

Yeah, I'm done.

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 4:58pm

I agree with everything you said about HAIRSPRAY starinthesky. The music is great but I have just as much fun listening to the CD as I do spending a load of money to actually see the show. I enjoyed it a lot, but was disappointed compared to all that it was hyped up to be.

Here's my list (no grades) and of course, it's the current production, not the "show" itself (hope that made sense!):

1.) Wicked
2.) Avenue Q
3.) The Phantom of the Opera
4.) Thoroughly Modern Millie
5.) Hairspray
6.) Rent
7.) Aida
8.) Little Shop of Horrors
9.) The Boy From Oz
10.) Mamma Mia!

And just for the record, I HATE both BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and LION KING, but love AIDA (w/o the popstars). :) Go figure.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 5:20pm

The Lion King is very overrated; when I saw it it just wasn't as good as I thought it could have been. I haven't seen ten of the musicals that are currently on Broadway, but of the ones I've seen, here are the best.

Rent-wasn't bad when I saw it (go figure)
Wicked-Idina was great, as was Kristin (the show, not so much)
LSOH-I enjoyed it a lot
seeing Assassins soon, that will probably go to the top of my list because I love the music.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 5:26pm

ASSASSINS lives on!
hooray.
-d.b.j-

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 6:57pm

1)Wicked=A
2)Thoroughly Modern Millie=A- with Sutton, B with Susan
3)The Boy From Oz=B+ (without Hugh, D)
4)Beauty and the Beast=C (walked out during intermission)
5)The Phantom of the Opera=B+ (Yay Hugh Panaro!)
6)Hairspray=B
7)Little Shop of Horrors=C+
Cabaret, sadly closed 5 months ago=B-
9)The Lion King=D+

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 6:59pm

Wicked-I loved the book, though there are some issues concerning character development. The music is extremely weak, then very strong, so it's a fluxuation throughout the show. What the book lacks in blatent character development, the actors make up for in their interpretation(Idina Menzel, Norbert Leo Butz, Christopher Fitzgerald.) I loved the premise of the show and the great songs are so memorable that I can't help but love it. B+/A-

Rent-First off, I fell for the OBC recording before seeing the show. But when I eventually saw it, the different interpretations and voices made it completely different. The only thing is that the songs don't really "live on" in my head while the messages and themes do. B+

That's just my view on two shows, I could go on and on but I'd ramble forever :-P

P.S. I realize now how highly overrated The Lion King is, though when I saw it at 10 years old it was the greatest.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 9:48pm

Rent, Wicked, Avenue Q, Assassins, (i guess) Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Caroline or Change, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, (i guess) Producers.

I thought that Producers was a bit overrated, as was Hairspray and Lion King. Not to mention Aida. Mamma Mia is just so corny and campy that it's great, that's why i have it on their.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 10:11pm

"Wicked - B (sort of like Galinda -- tons of style/little substance)"

I suppose you missed the point of the show.



If I were to make a top ten, I would be including shows that I really was not impressed with at all, because I have seen a limited number of the shows currently playing. So here are the shows that I REALLY loved:
1. Wicked
2. Thoroughly Modern Millie
3. Assassins
4. Caroline, or Change

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:55pm

Oh, trust me I got the point of the show -- acceptance no matter the skin color etc, etc -- kind of hard to miss even if one were a tired tourist or a six year old, but it was done with all the triteness and depth of a thirty minute afterschool special (or a "very special episode" of Facts of Life) stretched out to two and half hours. Terrific performances, impressive design work, average score, terrible choreography, unimaginative staging -- all of which will win it a shelf load of Tonys which says more about the state of the Broadway musical today than the quality of the show itself. It's great for the tourists and it'll run for years, but, deep it's not.

Updated On: 5/25/04 at 11:55 PM

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 4:02am

MargoChanning: I've never heard a more succinct or accurate description of Wicked. You hit the nail on the head regarding both the show and the ever-changing values of Broadway theatre. I found Wicked to be rather like dinner at Benihana: visually impressive and quite entertaining, great ambience, fantastic performances, but you're hungry again by the time you reach the parking lot. In Wicked's case, it can be attributed to the watered-down book and the unmemorable music (aside from a couple of songs which I admit are excellent). I had a blast when I saw Wicked, but give me "Falsettos" anyday.

Updated On: 5/25/04 at 04:02 AM

[SweetCarolineFan]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 6:36am

TABOO should be in the top 10 what a shame =o(

[directorkid]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 4:53pm

1) The Lion King
2) Wicked (all for Kristen, Idina, and Norbert)
3) Avenue Q
4) Rent (before Scary Spice came in)
5) Movin' Out
6) Little Shop of Horrors
7) AIDA (with Heather Headley)
Throughly Modern Millie
9) The Producers
10) Hairspray

The Producers and Hairspray are both highly overrated shows. I just got tickets to go see Assassins so I'm sure it'll be there soon!