Your odd choices for "Favorite Musical of All Time"

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 4:00pm

This may be a dud of a question, but is anyone's favorite musical considered a weird choice to have as a "favorite"? Like WAY outside the mainstream?

Mine being "Songs for a New World" which was never on Broadway, is a song cycle with no book or plot/storyline, yet every time I listen to it, I have a more emotional and musically pleasing experience than any other musical with a script, story, and mainstream following.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:03pm

My favorite musical is about a barber who uses his razor to slit the throats of his customers and his neighbor who turns them into meat pies. Yeah, it's a lot of people's favorite musical, but it's still pretty friggin' weird.

My second-favorite musical is about a developmentally delayed American tourist in Italy who falls in love with a local boy, while her mother frets about whether or not to tell his family about her disability.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:07pm

I love NEW WORLD, Lyls. I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I've got your back if a gang of Sondheim aficionados corner you in a dark alley.

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:11pm

Mine is about one of the earlier presidents. It was kind of dark and the music was something like punk rock. I never recalled reading about that particular president having a fondness for tight leather, but we all have to use artistic license at some point.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:15pm

The Distinctive Baritone - I always say the same thing when people ask me about my favorite musical. Oh, Sweeney, how I love you.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:25pm

Sweeney is also my favorite musical!

My 2nd favorite musical is about a homosexual and a political prisoner becoming friends while a female characterization of death haunts the homosexual.

Ya, my second choice aint weird at all!

[singer73192]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:27pm

Weirdly enough, I think that my favorite musical remains "Passing Strange". People are always shocked when I tell them this, but it just came at a time in my life where it deeply affected me and changed my life. You cannot ask for much more from a musical!

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:31pm

I think my favorite is Cabaret, but the closest to my heart is definitely Spring Awakening. I was so embarrassingly hardcore back in the day.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:37pm

For me it's CAROLINE OR CHANGE, usually one of those that if I ever mention outside of BroadwayWorld circles people just stare at me blankly as if I were speaking a different language. It's sad that not many people know about this fascinating show. Though I do think it has a good reputation among regular theatregoers

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:43pm

I can't believe I didn't mention Caroline, Or Change in my first post. I sort of saw it by a happy accident since I knew someone who was hired to do some promotional work for the show. At the time, I really enjoyed theatre but was definitely not an addict. That show changed my view of theatre, making me a theatre junkie, and it saddens me that few others have ever heard of it or will ever see it. There is also little to no hope for a revival.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:48pm

I'll say it. The Producers. Not the very best, but up there for sure.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 8:54pm

. Updated On: 11/28/11 at 08:54 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 9:02pm

[chewy5000]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 9:03pm

I'm a fan of the 'people go to a party and their marriages fail' genre (Follies, The Wild Party etc.)

I suppose it's akin to the 'angry people arguing in a room' genre that makes up so many plays.

[steven22]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 9:11pm

I'm not as into theater as many people on here, but out of the 50 or so broadway shows that I've seen in the last 10 years, NEXT TO NORMAL is my absolute favorite. It just hits every aspect of what I think makes a best musical.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 10:08pm

Women on the Verge

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 10:50pm

ray-allthat, I get those same stares. For me, it's Caroline, or Change (followed closely by Cabaret)

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 11/28/11 at 10:57pm

Mine is about a green girl and a perky blonde and how fate and political manipulation lead them to become two iconic witches.

Second favorite...I always considered Follies/Company/Next to Normal as my seconds

[voteforsaraberry]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 9:12am

Mine is The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Nothing will ever compare for me.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 3:00pm

Are you serious about FLAHOOLEY, joey? I realize it may seem an obvious joke, but I do know people who seem to go into ecstatic trances when describing the show.

And anything with Barbara Cook has to be a contender...

(Personally, I think there's much to admire in the score, but the synopsis makes the plot sound like a total mess.)

So I'm seriously asking...

[PopAria]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 3:16pm

saw Godspell last week and now it's my fav.
lol

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 3:20pm

I love Flahooley for the Yma Sumac tracks alone.

My favorite is still Les Miserables for a variety of reasons.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 4:55pm

My favorite musical is about a pair of exes performing in a musical version of "The Taming of the Shrew"

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 4:58pm

I think the OP was talking about things waaaaaaay outside the mainstream, and the posts thus far, with the exception of one, are pretty pedestrian.

So here's mine, kids: BOY MEETS BOY. Points to anyone who's actually ever heard of it.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/29/11 at 5:15pm

I have two favorites, one Sweeney Todd and the other Jesus Christ Superstar. The former is not surprising, but given how cynical I am about organized religion the latter does surprise people.