What is the most well known musical of all time?

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:46pm

I'm sure there are a ton of ways to define this question, but I'll propose it this way: if you asked every single adult in America, "Have you ever heard of (show)? If so, what is it?" and they could answer that it was a stage musical, what show would be known by the most people? Or, perhaps a slightly different question, if you played a popular song from a show, a random, non-theater fan could tell you "Oh, that's from (show)," which show would be most well-known?

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:48pm

I'd say WEST SIDE STORY.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:51pm

Probably one that had an equally successful movie version. My guess would be The Sound of Music.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:51pm

I'd say The Sound of Music.

[sorano916]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:52pm

I would say Phantom... maybe even Les Mis. It helps that those were made into movies. Chicago, too, I guess.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:52pm

My immediate thought was that WEST SIDE STORY is possibly the best-known musical around the world, because of so many international productions over the past 50 years, and of course the film. I suspect most people would identify Tonight or Maria as being from WSS.

(I wonder how many poeple couldn't tell you what musical features the song Oklahoma!!)

[philly03]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:53pm

The Sound of Music or Phantom of the Opera!

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:53pm

WSS is even studied in many high schools in conjunction with Romeo and Juliet.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:54pm

For the first question, I would say either Oklahoma or Phantom. The second question is a bit harder, because many people have heard of shows without knowing any of their songs. I don't really think that there is a song from a musical that 80% or so of the country could recognize as from a specific show.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:55pm

Didn't want to include my guess in the original post, but my initial guess was WSS.

And I meant to imply that obviously songs with the title of the show in it wouldn't be included, TSR :). Though I'd bet a very small portion of the public could identify that modern standards, like Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' and People Will Say We're in Love are from Oklahoma. Similarly with South Pacific--I had no idea I already knew half the songs in the show until I actually saw it.

[minicko88]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:59pm

Phantom, but I can see WSS being a good argument too. I'd also say Cats and Les Mis would be up there as well...

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 8:59pm

I second Les Miserables.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:00pm

The first thing that came to my mind was Phantom of the Opera. I would guess just about everyone could hum a few bars of the overture.

I could also see it being The Sound of Music, given how popular the film is.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:02pm

I'm going to go with The Sound of Music.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:03pm

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[BellatrixxLestrangee]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:04pm

Sound of Music for sure.

[JOak]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:05pm

The Sound of Music grosses adjusted with the inflation makes it the third top grossing film of all time.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:08pm

Depends on the age group of the person or people you are asking. Personally I'd have to say MY FAIR LADY or HELLO, DOLLY! However if you are asking anyone under 35 the answer would probably be (sadly) PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

[LiveUnscripted]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:12pm

What about The Wizard of Oz? People think of the movie, but I bet just about anybody could identify "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as being from it.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:17pm

Regarding age, I think we just need to net everyone.

Also, I'm tempted to say if you say "What is The Wizard of Oz?" or The Sound of Music, most people will answer "a movie" and will not even know it was ever a stage musical, so I don't really think that counts if what we're trying to measure is the show that's most identifiable as a stage musical.
Updated On: 8/24/10 at 09:17 PM

[gotham girl]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:29pm

I think the most well-known are the ones people grew up with, the ones they first saw as a kid and it made that first big impression. I'd say Annie or Sound of Music. SOM is on TV every holiday and when Jay-Z can have a hit rap song from an Annie song, you know it's gotta be popular.

Updated On: 8/24/10 at 09:29 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 9:51pm

The Wizard of Oz

As far as Broadway musicals? If you're asking everyone alive today, around the world, including the youngest generations, I'd say West Side Story.

10-15 years ago, I would have said The Sound of Music, largely due to the phenomenal success of the film.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 10:32pm

I'd say Grease... even though most know it as a movie musical... and is there ever a week when this movie isn't played on tv these days?? geez... i think AMC ran it this week... last week was TV Guide Channel... then the week before it was VH1... and then before that TV LAND... AAAAH!

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 10:35pm

I'd bet just about everyone knows Phantom, especially if we're talking JUST in terms of the stage show. Cats would be up there also for anyone over 20 or so, but I think The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music are known far more for their respective movies than the stage shows (play "An Ordinary Couple" or "No Way to Stop It" for most people and see what they say.)

Why can't the answer to this be Sweeney Todd?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/24/10 at 10:41pm

In Japan it would be Oh! Calcutta! It was Japanese tourists that kept it running for so long in New York.