best shows of all time
best shows of all time
gr33ngirl
Swing Joined: 5/11/05
#0best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:41pm
what are the best shows of all time. there are so many but i'm gonna narrow it down to 4...
Les Miserables - well duh, its just amazing
Phantom of the Opera - long long B'way run and great music
Wicked - amazing score, script, original cast
Rent - so full of talent and originality
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#1re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:44pm
West Side Story
Oklahoma
Camelot
Guys & Dolls
My Fair Lady
Kiss Me Kate
Gypsy
Cabaret
A Chorus Line
Brooklyn
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
Updated On: 5/11/05 at 10:44 PM
#2re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:44pm
uh oh...i would duck.
I love Wicked - but really?
And by your standard for POTO - so is cats.
How about Oklahoma and other R&H stuff? Sweeney and other Sondheim (not the biggest fan of his, but I will admit it)?
#3re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:46pm
:hands gr33ngirl a flame shield:
Cheers, darling. 
This is my signature.
gr33ngirl
Swing Joined: 5/11/05
#4re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:46pm
i think so. i've only really been obsessed w/ broadway for like 2 years and don't know all of the past shows that are like amazing, but as of now. wicked just has it all to me. and i agree that cats was a great show. i just think the music from poto is better.
by the way.. i'm new to this site. just wanted to say hey to everyone and i think its great that we are all such broadway fans!
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#5re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:46pm
I'm a fan of Wicked, but I would not regard it as one of the best musicals of all time by any means.
However, my personal favorite is Gypsy.
#6re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:46pm
My Fair Lady
The Music Man
West Side Story
Gypsy
Into the Woods
The Phantom of the Opera
Rent
The Producers
Wicked
Updated On: 5/11/05 at 10:46 PM
#7re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:47pm
good first impression!
Seriously, love Wicked, it entertains me....but, um, no
#8re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:47pm
Matt G! Brooklyn? That's surprising! I thought you were one of those who really despise that show!
gr33ngirl, I got into Broadway around March, and as much as I love Wicked and Menzchenoespiblock, there are much better shows...
This is my signature.
gr33ngirl
Swing Joined: 5/11/05
#10re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:49pm
Forgiven.
Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as a snob. I'm not very good at first impressions.
This is my signature.
gr33ngirl
Swing Joined: 5/11/05
#11re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:50pm
haha no. first impressions seem to be my problem. but i'm hoping that this site will "educate" me!
#12re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:51pm
Aigoo, I did. (JK)
Matt_G and Brooklyn go together like Matt_G and boobs...except boobs are fun, BKLYN is not.
#13re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:51pmOh. Okay. Just kidding then. There's so much controversy on recent Broadway shows it's just so hard to keep track!
This is my signature.
#14re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:54pm
"There's so much controversy on recent Broadway shows it's just so hard to keep track!"
There has always been controversy. If there wasn't, no shows would close.
#15re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:57pm
hmm....This is true.
:continues to go watch Kevin Hill:
This is my signature.
#16re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:59pm
oklahoma
a chorus line
yadda yadda yadda
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
broadwaystar2b
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/04
#17re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 11:05pm
A Chorus Line
Dreamgirls
Gypsy
West Side Story
Over_the_Moon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/05
#18re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/11/05 at 11:06pmWe should definitely have auto responses for this type of thing.
"what have we learned? Don't smoke... don't do drugs and don't sing 'Defying Gravity'." -CATSNYRevival
#19re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/12/05 at 12:23am
Ragtime
Phantom of The Opera
WICKED
Les Miserables
Hello, Dolly!
Gypsy
Into The Woods
Company
Oklahoma
Guys and Dolls
Camelot
My Fair Lady
Beauty and The Beast...it's a classic
Facebook...ME !!!
#20re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/12/05 at 1:36am
gr33ngirl, you are new here as of today so welcome aboard.
These subjects come up regularly here, usually it is not a list of all-time greatest musicals because you can't really decalre the "best shows of all time" unless you have seen the great, the good, the bad and the ugly! But that's ok you have a wonderful road of discovery ahead.
Start with the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. THE KING AND I has the best book. CAROUSEL has the best score. Then jump to MY FAIR LADY, WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY representing the best of the 1950s. The 60s are best represented by FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, MAN OF LA MANCHA and CABARET. The 1970s is the decade of greatest creative growth and also the decade when Stephen Sondheim gained his fame. The Sondheim shows are essential: COMPANY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and SWEENEY TODD (and the rest). The decade also yielded CHICAGO and CHORUS LINE and just befre the decade ended came along EVITA, still the best of teh Andrew Lloyd Webber shows.
The 1980s were less creative but Sondheim continued with SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and INTO THE WOODS. LES MIZ was one of the few good shows that achieved deserved popularity. The decade ended on a high note with two back to back hits that were innovative: CITY OF ANGELS and GRAND HOTEL.
The overall decline of Broadwy continued in the 1990s but then there was PASSION (Sondheim again) and RENT and RAGTIME so the decade wasn't a total write off.
So far the first decade of the new millenium has not produced anything truly great but some good shows have come along. THE PRODUCERS, URINETOWN, and AVENUE Q. Still, I find way too much reliance on safe familiar titles (in revivals or new shows based on famous movies or books) and far too many "jukebox" shows built around pop song catalogues. Nothing truly innovative of earth-shattering... yet. But at least the Broadwy theatres are al full and people of your age group and talking about it and that can only be a good thing! (In the 1970s and 80s very few under the age of 30 were even remotely interested in Broadway!)
Do search out some of the cast albums of the older shows above... you will be amazed at what you hear (and regret you weren't around to see these great shows.)
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#21re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/12/05 at 1:44am
award for BEST quote on the BWWmessage board goes to Thenardier FOR
"Matt_G and Brooklyn go together like Matt_G and boobs...except boobs are fun, BKLYN is not. "
congrats on cracking me up.
and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...
phantom_tenor
Leading Actor Joined: 1/11/05
#23re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/12/05 at 2:12am
Kismet's one of my favourite shows. Sure, the book's quite absurd, but the score is just so gorgeous (including Stranger in Paradise, one of the most famous and lovliest tenor songs ever written), and the lyrics are excellent.
this show should be done more often than it is now, which is pretty much never.
mikewood
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/05
#24re: best shows of all time
Posted: 5/12/05 at 9:18am
I can't even tell who is being sarcastic with their responses and who is being serious.
My favorite shows of all time:
Les Miz
Rent
42nd street
Kiss Me Kate.
Best? I don't know .... I haven't seen them all! :-P
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