I haven't heard THE VISIT or OVER AND OVER (or whatever it's called now), but I'm very familiar with all the other K&E scores. As I love the majority of them, I have to agree with chickfila and mallardo and rank STEEL PIER, WOMAN OF THE YEAR, and CURTAINS in the bottom three.
My personal favorite is Cabaret and my least favorite is Chicago. I think Cabaret may be one of their best scores, but I'm pretty sure Chicago isn't one of their worst. I just don't like it.
I am a HUGE fan of the very underrated WOMAN OF THE YEAR score! 'It Isn't Working' is such a fantastic production number, and the ballads are gorgeous. The title song is electric, and 'Grass is Always Greener' is a marvelous novelty number that has the unmistakable K&E stamp on it. Hard as I try, I cannot rank their scores because all of them have so many things to recommend. There is a reason why these men have gained the respect and status that they have...it is because they wrote genuinely fantastic music for the theater. And with most art, the scattered flaws are what I think make them all the more fascinating, moving, and human.
And just to throw this out there....SCOTTSBORO BOYS remains my absolute favorite thing I saw all season...and I saw and loved a LOT of stuff. This was a remarkable year for theater in NY.
The best: The Rink, Spider Woman, Cabaret and Chicago.
The worst: Scottsboro Boys and Curtains.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
I am a HUGE fan of the very underrated WOMAN OF THE YEAR score! 'It Isn't Working' is such a fantastic production number, and the ballads are gorgeous. The title song is electric, and 'Grass is Always Greener' is a marvelous novelty number that has the unmistakable K&E stamp on it.
Undercover - You beat me to it! Totally agree with you! Love WOMAN OF THE YEAR.
Don't forget..."Sometimes a Day Goes By" - a lovely song.
Cabaret and Kiss may be my faves--Chicago would be up there too, but I feel like I've heard it too much at the moment. I do love Zorba though--anyone who ranks it as worst must have heard the Anthony Quinn version and not the original :P