Sunset Boulevard - for the “atmosphere” it invokes (and the music)
Les Miz - gets the “all-around great” vote - there’s something for everyone here
Miss Saigon - for the love story (and the music)
Jekyll & Hyde - for the dark-and-sexiness (aaaand the music)
Spamalot and Avenue Q (a tie) - for sheer hilarity
Barnum (with Michael Crawford) - never saw on stage but love this music!!
I can certainly think of more but I’ll stop there. These are coming from a gal who was Broadway-musical-obsessed in her formative years (when Andrew Lloyd Webber was probably at his peak), and spent all of her allowances, and part of her inheritance on shows.
Movie Production of a Stage Musical: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Movie Musical: Easter Parade
Classic Stage Musical: Guys & Dolls
Concept Musical: Assassins
Cast Recording to Sing Along With: The Music Man
Favorite “You’ve never heard of it” Musical: Lucky Stiff
Favorite Dance Show: Chicago
I had some thoughts of other categories, like “Great Music/Horrible Plot” or “Best Song from an Awful Musical” and its complement “Worst Song from a Great Musical” but those are probably threads in and of themselves.
Huh - never heard of it, but I’m taking your word for it and tracking it down. Thanks Annie!
Best is different than favorite. But favorite is easier to answer. I have 7. I will never be able to narrow it down further. In chronological order:
*Finian’s Rainbow (possibly my favorite music)
*She Loves Me (best romantic show, best Harnick & Bock. I think it’s better than Fiddler.)
*1776 (best book, and a treat for an early American Historian. Although James Wilson should sue for libel if he ever resurrects.)
*Les Miz (Overwrought? Yes. I do not care. I will never care.)
*Assassins (favorite Sondheim)
*A New Brain (second best romantic show, favorite Bill Finn. March of the Falsettos is probably a better show, but I don’t care. I love A New Brain.)
*Next to Normal
Honorable Mentions for Carousel (music only), A Little Night Music, the Falsettos trilogy (although I’m not particularly fond of “In Trousers”), Chess, Into the Woods, Aspects of Love, and Ragtime
I am a little sad but not totally surprised that my two favorite musicals haven’t been mentioned yet.
Urinetown - which is jaw-droppingly brilliant. Smart, funny, well made, but doesn’t work well as a recording so if you haven’t seen a production it’s hard to get it. Wiki page
*The Last Five Years *- which is heart-breakingly beautiful and works well as just a recording too. But is not well know for reasons that I fail to understand. Check it out and track down some music.
I saw Book of Mormon for my birthday this year, and that was maybe the most fun I have had at the theatre in years and years. The last thing I enjoyed that much was *Avenue Q * which is also lots of fun.
I find that I’m never really not in the mood to watch or listen to the Whedon musicals, Dr. Horrible and Once More With Feeling, from Buffy.
I can thank a Doper for my favorite live musical theater experience. DooWahDiddy started this thread NYC Dopers: Come see me music direct a production of "Reefer Madness"! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board about how he was music directing a production of Reefer Madness. I was going to be in NYC and decided why not. It was an excellent show and I actually preferred the small theater experience as opposed to my Broadway experience. Oh and I loved Reefer Madness, which I had never seen before. Now I watch the Kristen Bell version all the time.
I still regret missing the chance to meet DooWahDiddy and getting the behind the scenes scoop but the trip was half working vacation half trying to entertain three young ladies so alas I had a limited amount of time to call my own.
I remember the first time I heard they were making a musical out of *Les Misérables. *The book was always one of my favorites, and I couldn’t imagine it as a musical. I predicted it would close within a week.
Goes to show, my opinion should count for less than nothing.
Carousel is my favorite musical score, though I know the book has all sorts of problems. I can’t even say that the individual songs are necessarily my favorites, but the score as a whole just works so well together.
The best time I’ve ever had seeing a musical in the theater was the revival of Kiss Me Kate on Broadway a while back. Great songs, jokes, story, acting - a perfect evening.
The movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar has a soft spot in my heart. I couldn’t count how many times I watched that as a teenager.
I’ve seen a recent production of Kiss Me Kate on Youtube. I’m not sure if it was the Broadway production (it may have been the London), but it was a fine production, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, even if I did see it on my computer.
I had the opportunity to act in a community theatre production of Kiss Me Kate some years ago. (I played Gangster No. 1.) Gosh, that was fun! It’s a great show, and is one of those where the audience leave the theatre singing, or at least humming, the songs. I still remember the words to “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.”
I second this. I think the main reasion I like it is that it isn’t over-cited. You never hear songs from it played at weddings or on Muzak. It contains a lot of accurate history (and a lot of inaccurate history, too, but i give peter stone a pass, for bringing much of this up into public view in the first place).
For some reason, historian seems to have an undeclared war on this work.
I first saw it on Broadway during its initial run. I saw the movie when it first fcame out, but I like the version out on DVD now – it restores the original opening and several pieces that were cut out of the original release, most notably the entire musical number “Cool Conservative Men”.
Phantom of the Opera Evita Rocky Horror
*Book of Mormon *(haven’t actually seen it yet, but I have tickets to see it in December and I’ve had the soundtrack on my iPod for months so I know I love the music)
Oh! I also wanted to say How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. However, I saw it done years ago by a community theater group, and their performance was so stellar that their version became the definitive one for me. Now I don’t want to see it again for fear of having that memory overwritten, though I was tempted when Daniel Radcliffe was on Broadway…
