Up until a couple of years ago I’ve attended exactly one Broadway-type performance. Over the past year I’ve been to 10 with tickets in hand for several more. Seems like a good time to discuss.
I’d like to hear others’ experiences with the theatre, musicals in particular.
Here is my scorecard:
A Tier of Its Own:
**Hamilton **– Worth every penny
Good:
**Aladdin **– Very impressive production
**Anastasia **– Good story, ok music
**Cats **– Did not expect to like it much but I did Hello Dolly – Took me by surprise
Fairly Good: Come From Away – A little disappointed, not particularly well written The Play That Goes Wrong – Got a lot of mileage out of a single joke
Meh: Something Rotten – Not at all memorable
**Waitress **– Seemed too manufactured
Less than Meh:
**The Lightning Thief **– Actually felt myself nodding off
Upcoming: Beautiful
A Bronx Tale
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
Dear Evan Hanson
Summer
I’ve been a fan of musicals since I was a kid, and we see 5-6 Broadway road shows a year.
Too many favorites to list them all, but I’ll mention The Drowsy Chaperone, Hamilton, Fun Home, Something Rotten, The Book of Mormon, Les Miserables, The Music Man, Waitress, The King and I, Man of La Mancha, Anything Goes as my top choiced offhand.
Second tier would include Frozen, Hairspray, The Color Purple, Ragtime, Newsies, Fiddler on the Roof, The Color Purple, South Pacific, Beautiful, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Jersey Boys.
Worst I’ve seen included White Christmas (the movie is pretty smarmy, and the musical removed even that amount of edge), Happy Days (AFAIK, it didn’t make it to Broadway, and there was no reason it should have), Motown (good music, but the apotheosis of Berry Gordy was tiresome).
I am looking forward to The Band’s Visit and Dear Evan Hansen in 2020.
I’ll be back with a longer response later. I loved Something Rotten, was kinda meh about Aladdin (although I loved The Lion King) and you’re going to be amazed by Beautiful.
No idea what’s on on Broadway at the moment, but can go with London’s West End. My personal favourite is Wicked. Great music and lots of clever twists to the original Wizard of Oz story.
Other very good musicals:
The Lion King
Phantom of the Opera
Matilda
Mamma Mia
School of Rock
Past musicals I’ve seen that are worth it if they come your way:
Blood Brothers
A Chorus Line
Rent (See La Boheme beforehand)
Oliver
South Pacific
Guys and Dolls
Fiddler on the Roof
Non-musicals:
Witness for the Prosecution
A Monster Calls
Oppenheimer
A Few Good Men
War Horse
I agree that ***Hamilton ***is in a class by itself. I’ve seen it twice. After the first time I immediately wanted to see it again; after the second time I thought the itch had been scratched, but now it’s been almost a year and I would definitely go again. That said, it’s coming back to DC in the summer but getting tickets here the first time was kind of a nightmare…and more expensive than when I saw it in NYC. I’m on the fence about it.
Very Good Book of Mormon The Band’s Visit (better than I expected!) Dear Evan Hansen
Good Jersey Boys (only if you’re a fan)
Meh If/Then (I saw this in DC previews, mostly because of Idina Menzel; I liked it, but not enough to get the cast recording or go see the “final” version) Kinky Boots (I know, I know; I loved the message, but found it to be a less-than-fully-formed show)
Also very good – but not a musical – was Aaron Sorkin’s take on To Kill a Mockingbird. I saw it with Jeff Daniels playing Atticus Finch. Ed Harris took over the role last month, and I’d be interested in seeing it again just for comparison.
Overall, your list has a pretty good hit rate. Consider how many movies / Netflix series / albums / museum visits in any one year you’d be sorting into Top Tier, Good, Fairly Good etc and you are doing well and clearly you like it.
We always regret spending the ticket price on a well-hyped piece of crap but, from the limited theatre I’ve seen, even sucky theatre gives you a good night out.
Whether its the novelty, sharing the buzz of the crowd, remembering that one catchy song, or seeing your niece doing Seven Brides For Seven Brothers as a school spectacular, its a more intimate and rewarding interaction between you and the performance than just a commercial transaction like a movie ticket or DVD.
We have season tickets to the Jacksonville theater and we saw the touring production of Wicked a couple of months ago. I thought it was fantastic. Upcoming is Rent (which I’ll miss due to a work conflict), Bandstand, and Hamilton.
Hamilton is, however, still the top (saw it in Chicago).
Most of what we see around here is community or school production stuff (although with FSU here, “school production” is probably better than most and a lot of those kids are also heavily involved in the community theater productions as well - actors gotta act).
Here’s my scorecard: Broadway: *The Tap Dance Kid, Wicked! * Touring:A Chorus Line, Amadeus (Tim Curry as Mozart), *The Sea Gull *(James Earl Jones, Colleen Dewhurst, Kelly McGillis), The Good Times Are Killing Me West End:The Book of Mormon
I’ve seen and been in lots of community theater productions.
I was a huge fan of the **“Hamilton” **music from very early on but never really thought I’d actually see the musical. Then, when it was announced that it was coming to town, I realized that I needed to get myself there. The best opportunity was to buy a season subscription to a series of 7 performances, one of which was Hamilton.
So, a group of 4 of us did just that. We enjoyed the experience so much we re-upped for the next (current) season, upgrading our seats in the process. I’m sure we will keep it going next year and beyond.
ETA: “Beautiful” is not a part of the package, we purchased those tickets separately. I’ve been into Carole King’s music for decades, really looking forward to this one.
I’ve seen hundreds of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows over the years, the top of my list would include:
Sunday in the Park With George
Phantom of the Opera
Hamilton
Sweeney Todd
Company
Les Miserables
Ragtime
I’ve seen a lot of shows, On Broadway, Off Broadway, and Touring. I would say the vast majority were very enjoyable and worth the money.
Highlights:
In Fiddler On The Roof, a cossack sliding on knees right up to our first-row seats. My wife jumped back to the third row.
In Phantom the chandelier swinging down over our heads.
Stirring music in Evita and Les Miserables
Martin Short’s one man show… just brilliant
The Drowsy Chaperone
Lowlights:
not many to remember other than RENT. I prepped by buying the soundtrack CD and was concerned that the music was not that strong. Went to the show and felt like leaving at intermission. After it was over I kicked myself for not leaving at intermission. I remember one annoying phrase about lighting a candle that seemed to be a self-parody.