What is the best reviewed musical ever by NYT?

[Le Bete]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 7:37am

HI

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 7:54am

It's a subjective question, they don't have a star rating or "Two Thumbs Up!" So any answer can likely be challenged. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 8:21am

As haterobics wrote, it's subjective, but in my opinion, Hamilton was a massive one. Some select quotes...

"Yes, it really is that good."

"I am loath to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But Hamilton...might just about be worth it."

Hard to beat some of those lines!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 8:28am

Entirely subjective, but I would add his review of the 2008 South Pacific revival to the list. 

"I know we’re not supposed to expect perfection in this imperfect world, but I’m darned if I can find one serious flaw in this production."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/theater/reviews/04paci.html

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 8:36am

Frank Rich's review of the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls was an unqualified rave as well:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/15/theater/review-theater-guys-and-dolls-damon-runyon-s-new-york-lives-anew.html

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 9:15am

When did the NYT start reviewing musicals? Unless one read every review since 1851 for one's doctoral dissertation, how could an opinion be formed?

For all I know, the reviews of CHU CHEM or HELLZAPOPPIN' were rapturous.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 11:13am

GavestonPS said: "When did the NYT start reviewing musicals? Unless one read every review since 1851 for one's doctoral dissertation, how could an opinion be formed?

For all I know, the reviews of CHU CHEM or HELLZAPOPPIN' were rapturous."

Gaveston, my friend, I can assure you the 1989 CHU CHEM, the first to reach Broadway, which I saw, was not rapturously reviewed.
Steven Suskin's Opening Night on Broadway is a useful reference on review roundups, including but not limited to NYT, from Oklahoma - Fiddler, and his sequel, More Opening Nights on Broadway, extends the format through 1981.
 

 

"

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 11:16am

Both the Producers review and The Book of Mormon review, along with Hamilton review, stand out as unequivocal raves by the NY Times. All three turned out to be three of the most successful commercially and awards-wise musicals of the past 15 years/  I dont like the power the NYT has to make or break a lot of shows, but i have to agree with their reviews on these three....

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/20/movies/theater-review-a-scam-that-ll-knock-em-dead.html

HOW do you single out highlights in a bonfire? Everybody who sees ''The Producers'' -- and that should be as close to everybody as the St. James Theater allows -- is going to be hard-pressed to choose one favorite bit from the sublimely ridiculous spectacle that opened last night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/theater/reviews/the-book-of-mormon-at-eugene-oneill-theater-review.html

This is to all the doubters and deniers out there, the ones who say that heaven on Broadway does not exist, that it’s only some myth our ancestors dreamed up. I am here to report that a newborn, old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical has arrived at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, the kind our grandparents told us left them walking on air if not on water. So hie thee hence, nonbelievers (and believers too), to “The Book of Mormon,” and feast upon its sweetness.

[elephantseye]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 2:12pm

There's a fantastic collection of NYT reviews called Broadway Musicals: From the Pages of the New York Times that I highly recommend checking out. Great coffee table book, but it's also fun to read reviews for shows that opened close to a century ago. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/14/17 at 7:46pm

In recent memory Matilda also received pretty unanimous raves across the board, including a glowing love letter from Brantley.

 

Brantley's Matilda review