What are Significant Musicals and Why??

West Side Story- pioneer in subject matter

Oklahoma!- well...

Sorry, it's early and I'm not thinking right now.

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Show Boat- It was the first real musical; incorporated songs into the story, integrated cast, dealt with serious subject matter, and brought together all the facets of theater from the time.
Oklahoma- Brought more dance (the dream ballet) into musical theater. Even more integrated theater.
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
Company
A Chorus Line
Phantom or Les Mis
Lion King

There are many others! Just some suggestions. (And Show Boat HAS to be the first you discuss. It is inarguably the beginning of the american musical.)

I think you should also add Gigi because it was the first musical taken from a movie and Gypsy because, well, it's probably the most popular star vehicle of all time and it's usually considered the closest thing to a "perfect" musical where the book, music and dance are equally important to the story and wonderfully written.

A Chorus Line - took stories that people told in a workshop and weaved them into a hit musical. Also significant because it elevated the chorus line, usually kept in the back, to main character. One of the main characters is mostly a voice in the auditorium.

The Fantastiks - helped in creating "off-Broadway". Shows that a well written piece only needs imagination. One of the few shows that allowed people who saw it in the 1960's to return 40 years later to see it with their grandchildren.

Oh! Calcutta - All characters appear nude. Also shows that you don't need good music, story or acting to have a show run for years.

Grease - A Broadway show really can be turned into a big screen movie musical success.

Hair - Creators were trying to bring the sounds, emotions and events from the street into the theater. In other words, contemporary events were weaved into the musical.

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Performeg: your list is excellent. BTW: 42nd Street opened in 1980 not 1981. I'm old enough to have seen it.

A couple of additions for consideration:
PAL JOEY: The first 'dark' musical, where the hero is a rather unlikable character.
CAROUSEL: The first musical where the lead character dies
HELLO, DOLLY!: The first musical that ran forever based on what would later be called 'stunt casting'. Forget for a minute how magnificent Pearl Bailey was in the title role, the show ran for 6+ years based on the fact that David Merrick kept trotting out over-the-hill actresses to play the title role.

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"JCS was a world away from the rock musicals of the late 1960s. With all dialogue set to music, this work qualified as the first rock opera."

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Thanks hushpuppy. I stand corrected. :)

First of all i am going to second, third, or whatever, showboat. It simply must be included due to the fact that it revolutionized the musical. I am going to second something that has been said but not getting much recognition.
Hair is one of the stand out musicals of the last century. People forget but not only did it have an effect on theater but it challenged many laws and ways Americans think. More conservative towns tried to close it down and their were hate crimes, riots, etc. to try and get it to close in certain cities... if you read the heartbreaking book by Jonathan Johnson(i hope thats right, im going from memory) he was deeply effected by these things. Hair pushed what was allowed in art and showed that freedom of expression was extremely important. It was also the first show to truly bring the unvoiced sentiments to light and provide a show where the most uppity members of society could go and understand what was decaying around them. The show, when done right, is simply brilliant.

is this your homework? I guess I'm the only one who has a problem with this....oh well.

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One other one that I thought of is "Pippin" which is the first musical that really used and capitalized on television advertising. It really revolutionized the way that musicals were marketed.

I posted most of this in response to a "shows you must know" thread a little while back, but it was for the Top 5.

So, I'll add in three more to get your Top Eight:


SHOW BOAT
I think this is the birth of the modern dramatic American musical. It took a serious, literary subject and pulled it up out of a (then) standard Vaudevillian presentation. Most shows prior to that would have a little plot, then a song or two (sometimes having NOTHING to do with the plot), then another "sketch" or scene, and a big chorus number. They would tell a story eventually, but the material wasn't contained or focused on storytelling. "Show Boat" changed all of that. It was enormously controversial, too. Can you imagine tackling the themes of interracial marriage, alcoholism, compulsive gambling and miscegenation back in 1927? In a splashy show produced by Ziegfeld for mainstream audiences? Extremely daring. After that, you can throw in the classic score by Hammerstein & Kern, which would be reason enough to list this show. I believe they had EIGHT "hit songs" that swept the nation. The only reason it didn't run longer was a little thing called the stock market crash. Ziegfeld was forced to shut it down.

OKLAHOMA!
Considered the father of the modern American musical (although I would give that honor to Show Boat, personally). Hammerstein again, this time teamed with Richard Rodgers on their first effort together. They, along with director Rouben Mamoulian and choreographer Agnes de Mille set the bar for everything to follow. It's classic storytelling from head to toe, and was a monster hit in its day.

GYPSY
This is modern, American musical theatre at its very best. Probably the best written show ever (book, music & lyrics). It's pretty much a flawless effort. Start with the original Merman version on CD (not one of the many revivals), and read the libretto... and you'll see why.

HAIR
Not technically the first rock musical on Broadway, but rock music's first "big hit." It is also considered by many to be Broadway's first "concept musical" (several years ahead of Sondheim's "Company") to reach the Boards. I'm sure this point is debatable, but "Hair" was definitely ground-breaking in its day to say the least, and qualifies as a landmark in the medium. It's also (sadly) the LAST musical on Broadway [1968] to have multiple songs hit the top of the pop charts. While most people back then believed this show would BEGIN a new era in popular Broadway music (Richard Rodgers saw this show and depressingly proclaimed his style of music officially dead), it actually was the LAST show of the era when Broadway music and pop music were one in the same.

A CHORUS LINE
This is the "ultimate" concept musical. Not the first (as I have already said), but for me, the very best. It's a brilliant show from start to finish, that evolved in such an organic way---from a group of dancers getting together to tell their stories. And if you're a performer, it will get under your skin and stay with you forever. A pure theatrical experience.

SWEENEY TODD
Sondheim's masterpiece. Not theatrically ground-breaking (as his "Company" was), but this show definitely took the art form to a new and higher level. It will leave you breathless. When I first listened to the OBCR, I played it three times in a row without moving from my spot (and it's not a short show!). I didn't know musical theatre could rise to such heights. A crowning achievement for the art form.

LES MISERABLES
Again, not the first, but arguably the BEST of the British "poperas" (or pop music operas). This show initiated an invasion of large, spectacle, opera-style (sung-through) musicals that would rule Broadway until the end of the millennium.

RENT
Not exactly ground-breaking as a "first of its kind" for anything, but this show helped bring the Broadway musical back to "the streets" during an extremely bleak era, when many scholars and critics had proclaimed the American musical art form was dead. This show lifted it out of the hands of a small, sophisticated, upper-class audience (and tourists) and gave it back to the young people of America. It injected new life and hope for the future of the Broadway musical.

EDIT: Urban---Thanks so much for the compliment! High praise, indeed.

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Updated On: 10/23/05 at 11:25 AM

The original post here sounds suspiciously like a school assignment. Jwaa, maybe you should try doing your own homework and not posting assignments to a message board for others to give you the answers.

Sorry to be such a downer.

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