Yeah, well, if you're such a big Broadway fan, answer me this!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:31pm

What, in your opinion, is the quintessential Broadway show? I'm not asking what is your favorite show, but what show comes to mind when you think of a classic? legend? the epitome of what Broadway is?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:31pm

GYPSY

[broadwaybaby654]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:32pm

42nd street

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:33pm

THE CIVIL WAR

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:34pm

Les Miserables.

(Of course, it all depends on what everyone's idea of Broadway or musical theatre is.)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:35pm

42nd Street. It's a musical about a musical... with all of that glitz and glamour. I'd say it's quintessential.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:36pm

A Chorus Line
Oklahoma
Kiss Me Kate
Gypsy

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:37pm

42nd STREET (for stereotypical Broadway)
GYPSY (musical in general)

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:38pm

Either the first Jerome Kern musical (not sure what it was) or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Both changed the face of Broadway, and Joseph (while an awful show) brought opera back to where it should be: a place accessible to all walks of life.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:40pm

A Chorus Line

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:41pm

Wait, I changed my mind. Either MAMMA MIA! or MARC SLAEM MIND GAMES ON BROADWAY. Or mayby the Michael Moore solo B'way show.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:41pm

Ok, I suppose I should add to my original message:

What is the quintessential Broadway show *and why*?

[NYSinger1]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:42pm

In my opinion, Gypsy and A Chorus Line.
However, ponder this. Take out the puppets from Avenue Q. It becomes a very quint. broadway show, with a twist.....

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:44pm

It's too early to tell with Avenue Q b/c we don't know how it will affect things later. Importance in history has little to do with quality as influence.

[sean martin]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:46pm

>> Either the first Jerome Kern musical (not sure what it was)

Turn in your musical theatre card: it's a little ditty called Show Boat. Actually, he wrote several before, including Sunny, which is considered his "breakthrough" score), but Show Boat is quintessential Kern.

But the classic? Gypsy.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:47pm

Matt_G, you made me love you. GYPSY.

[shlamdiddly]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:48pm

chorus line and phantom

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:49pm

No, I would say his first b/c his style led others to follow, which led to the greats. My point is that it doesn't matter what show it was, I don't know, but it's how it changed things forever.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:51pm

Gypsy, because it manages to tell such a big, complex story involving family and the show biz, it has characters for actors young and old, male and female. There drama, trauma, romance, psychosis, greed, loneliness, gried, resilience, and every other emotion under the sun. The songs, instead of breaking the flow, serve to punctuate the end of their scenes, thereby giving each book scene a note to end on and build up to. It also gives us one of the most memorable roles in Mama Rose, and that amazing score, one classic after another.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:52pm

GYPSY is a long ass show! *snore*

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:53pm

Part of the reason I ask is because the Les Mis tour is coming here in a couple of months and I was trying to watch the 20th Anniversary DVD (I've never seen the show before) and I keep falling asleep. I feel obligated, however, to see the show as a "true Broadway fan", but not if I don't get your validation. :)

Is it really that good?

[MusicPos2]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:56pm

If you don't like the video, I wouldn't bother. The video isn't as good as the show was, when I saw it on Bway, but it sounds like you really don't like it, which would indicate that you shouldn't bother. Obviously, the staging helps tell the story a lot, and the staging of that show is really great, but you have to know what bothers you...

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:57pm

I think it was the 10th Anniversary.

[dramaqueen]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 9:58pm

42nd st and A Chorus Line

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 10:01pm

GYPSY is a long ass show! *snore*

That's what I meant by big and complex...

But in the wasteland that was Broadway of the past year or so, Gypsy was a bright spot, and Bernie P. doing Rose's Turn is something most people who saw it will never forget...which reminds me of another reason the show is so great, that it's character driven and not plot-driven.

My fave show is probably Chicago, but Gypsy holds a special place. A long ass place... :)