What is the most obscure but brilliant musical you love?

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 10:54pm

I'm really curious what you guys are gonna say, I posted this on my facebook and got the answers Skyscraper, Avenue Q, A Little Night Music, Grey Gardens, Bat Boy, State Fair, UnineTown, 1776, and The Big Bang The musical.

Obvi some people didn't understand the obscure part of my question........

Example, what is the musical you mention when you're trying to impress people with your theatre knowledge?

[Justaguy2]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:10pm

The House of Martin Guerre by Leslie Arden. Fantastic productions in Chicago (1996) and Toronto (1997). Never went further because of Martin Guerre by Schönberg and Boublil. Deserves to be on Broadway IMO.

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:12pm

Does it have to be obscure and brilliant? I've always liked Snoopy! ever since I played Woodstock in a production of it when I was ten but I don't think it's brilliant.

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:20pm

doesn't have to be both. I've just been thinking about all the backlash hate that shows like Wicked and Next To Normal seem to get because they have lots of fans. And everyone seems to have those shows that they love and think are better than the "hits."

[D2]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:20pm

GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, an early effort by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. It was an off-Broadway flop in 1979, but I loved it.

Updated On: 4/15/10 at 11:20 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:21pm

I second God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. I've only heard it through demos and bootlegs, but it is a clever, brilliant adaptation of a great source with some really memorable tunes.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:30pm

The Lizzie Borden musical with Alison Fraser. I bought the CD on a whim expecting something really campy and it's actually surprisingly good.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 4/15/10 at 11:52pm

I said The Big Bang the musical and honestly, it is really good. It was on Off-Broadway and I did it at Orlando Shakes. So funny. Here is the plot of it:

"Have you ever dreamed of getting involved in a big-time Broadway production? Join us in the elegant Park Avenue apartment of Dr. Sid and Sylvia Lipbalm as two wannabe producers, Jed and Boyd, try to line up backers for The Big Bang, the most expensive and lavish Broadway musical ever written. With a budget of $83,000,000, a cast of 318, 6428 costumes and 1400 wigs, this show will depict the entire history of the world - from the formation of the planets, to the building of the pyramid. From Napolean's France to the present . Adam and Eve, Nefertiti and the slaves, Ceaser, Mrs. Ghandi, Attila, Columbus, Minnehaha, Tokyo Rose, Eva Braun and more. Will Broadway ever be the same? Surely, the Lipbalm apartment won't!"

and all the props and costumes they use are items in the apartment.

Here is the preview video of when I did it:

http://orlandoshakes.org/THE_PLAYS/0910/TheBigBang.html

Updated On: 4/15/10 at 11:52 PM

[chinto1984]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 10:00am

I really enjoy the Baker's Wife. Not sure if that's obscure enough. How about Metropolis starring Judy Kuhn

[newintown]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 10:07am

Romance In Hard Times by William Finn. It was a glorious show, and never even got a recording. Better than its earlier version, America Kicks Up Its Heels.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 10:09am

The Golden Apple by John LaTouche and Jerome Moross

[Mark_E]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 10:16am

Once Upon A Time at the Adelphi completely blew me away when I saw it in London. Completely unknown in USA but in Liverpool most people would know it hehe.

Also, Baby, I just Love the music for it.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:05pm

it may not be super obscure but it's old and therefor off a lot of people's radar but I love Noel Coward's "Sail Away." The lyrics still hold up and at times are still really really funny.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:08pm

Marie Christine
Hello Again
Better Being Bad - A workshop of a musical adaptation of Machiavelli's The Mandragola I was involved with about ten years ago
Goldilocks

[lotiloti]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:11pm

Marilyn starring the late great Stephenie Lawrence.Also adore the score of 'Ballroom' Would love to have seen it.

[johnpressman]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:30pm

"Now is the Time for all Good Men" opened Off-Broadway at the Theater De lys (Now the Lucille Lortel) in 1967. Written by Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford, It starred Gretchen and her husband David Cryer (the parents of actor Jon Cryer) in a musical highlighting the philosophy of Henry Thoreau. My best friend's father was one of the backers and it's message had a profound impact on me at the time.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:47pm

BERNARDA ALBA and GRIND

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:23pm

Polly Pen's chamber musical "Goblin Market."

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:25pm

I don't know if this really counts as obscure, but I LOVE See What I Wanna See...I saw it when it was at the Public and absolutely fell in love with it, I think it's brilliant in the truest sense of the word.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:49pm

Reginald, I was just going to say Goblin Market. I did a regional production of it a few years back, and there is just a quiet beauty about it.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:10pm

"Bravo Giovanni" has some lovely tunes and "The Crooked Mile" a British musical has a wonderful score and was decades ahead of its time.

I also love to play Christopher Plummer's musical of "Cyrano" and Laurie Johnston's "The Four Musketeers" with Harry Secombe, a marvelously cheezy 60s adaptation which played Drury Lane. Laurie (a man) wrote the theme music for "The Avengers" TV series.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:47pm

AEA, I saw the original production, with Ann Morrison and Terri Klausner, right after I moved to NYC and just fell in love with it.

The Vineyard did a staged reading of sorts a year or so ago with both of them, and I was enchanted all over again!

[tazber]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:56pm

Romance In Hard Times
Weird Romance
Honkytonk Nights

[twinbelters]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:56pm

Romance In Hard Times by William Finn is a completely underrated masterpiece. Lolita, My Love was an impressive accomplishment especially considering the delicate source material. It has one of the best scores of the 1970s by film composer John Barry and sparkling lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. I love Galt MacDermot's The Human Comedy, though it is not brilliant per se, it is truly warm and engaging in the theater. It left behind a lovely cast recording.

Is Falsettos obscure? Or, rather, the Marvin Trilogy. I still think it is among the best musicals ever and I wish people performed it more. Brilliant, funny, moving and some gorgeous music to boot.

Moby Dick the musical from the West End, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, is kinda brilliant and stupid all at the same time. Fun live recording! Out of print but cheap as all get out on Amazon marketplace.

Love's Fowl is an off-Broadway puppet opera about the further adventures of Chicken Little. It has a lovely score, sung entirely in Italian, by Dreamgirls and Side Show composer Henry Krieger. On the same label, Original Cast Records, there is a cast recording I never hear anyone talk about: Duel. It is a musical about Byron and Shelley. it's a fun pop-operatic-oriented score with lovely Michael Starobin (or Starobin sounding?) orchestrations; so 1970s. The song "Feast or Famine" is a big highlight. I would love to see it staged.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 03:56 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 4:07pm

Add me to the "Romance in Hard Times" fan list. Also it was the first time I'd seen Lillias White, a life-changing experience.