Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Jay94
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/11
#1Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 8:26am
I no, I no, I no that this thread probably already exists but bare with me here.
Remember these are musicals that have struck the cultural zeitgeist, musicals that have become household names.
00:
Billy Elliot
Jersey Boys
Avenue Q
Wicked
Hairspray
The Producers (Was actually reluctant to put this here)
90:
The Lion King
Rent
Beauty and the Beast
Miss Saigon
80:
The Phantom of the Opera
Les Miserables
La Cage aux Folles
Cats
Dreamgirls
42nd Street
Evita
70:
Annie
Chicago
A Chorus Line
Grease
60:
Hair
Cabaret
Man of La Mancha
Fiddler on the Roof
Hello, Dolly!
Oliver! (as a result of the BP winning film of course)
The Sound of Music
Gypsy (I guess... is it really that famous outside of the theatre community?)
50:
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
The King and I
Guys and Dolls
South Pacific
Notable commissions:
In the Heights (not well known enough particularly internationally)
Spring Awakening (beyond teenage girls and the theatre community it really isn't that famous)
Spamalot (Sort of a thing of its time, it hasn't had much longevity)
Aida(See Spamalot)
Ragtime (not well known enough outside of the theatre community)
City of Angels, Grand Hotel, The Will Rogers Follies, Crazy for You, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Tommy, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Sunset Boulevard (all hit shows of the 90s that no one has thought about since)
Starlight Express (a joke now)
Big River (came close but no cigar)
Nine
Sweeney Todd (I know it's a Broadway classic but not particularly well known in popular culture, ask a random someone to hum a tune from it)
Ain't Misbehavin'
The Wiz (of it's time)
Pippin (dated badly)
Company, Follies, A Little Night Music (all great Sondheim shows, none particularly well known)
Mame (aged, forgotten since the film flopped)
Funny Girl
How to Succeed in Business (the name is better known than anything in the show)
Bye Bye, Birdie
The Music Man (came very close)
Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town (are any of these shows that famous with the majority of people)
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#2Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 9:20am
Les Mis
Oklahoma
Fiddler
My Fair Lady
Phantom
Chicago
Cabaret
Cats
Hello Dolly
A Chorus Line
#2Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 9:46amShow Boat needs to be at the top of any such list.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#3Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 9:55am
>> Gypsy (I guess... is it really that famous outside of the theatre community?)
Go sit in the corner and think about your sins.
GYPSY is *very* well known outside the theatre community; why do you think it gets revived so often??
As for others on your list... dude, I realize you're probably a student somewhere, and I'm not gonna patronize you, I promise. But when you put some of this stuff in the "obscure" category, like DAMN YANKEES, the only thing I can suggest is that you lay off making such lists for a while. Learn a little more about theatre on the community and regional level, and then you'll understand why I'm kinda aghast at some of the stuff you think are "cultural zeitgeists" and those you consider passing trade.
And any list that doesnt include, as noted, SHOWBOAT or, to add another, OKLAHOMA, is talking out its hat. 
http://docandraider.com
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 10:01am
The OP wrote: but bare with me here.
Sorry...I will not get naked with you. (Without a photo first.)
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Updated On: 8/11/11 at 10:01 AM
#5Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 10:14amOP, obviously you don't know if you don't know how to spell know. You know?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#6Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 10:27am
Little Shop
Rocky Horror
Mamma Mia!
We Will Rock You (In the UK)
And for all the wrong reasons - Spiderman
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 12:21pmLOL....my eye skipped right over that part! Which is horridly more appalling than the bear/bare error!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#8Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 12:27pm
Guys, let's be a little gentle on the misspellings. We've all made our fare share of gaffes.
http://docandraider.com
#9Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 12:29pmI know that we all make mistakes, but I also know that they don't know that we know that they know that we know.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#10Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 12:41pmHow does someone not correctly spell "know" and "bear" but uses a word like "zeitgeist"?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#11Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 1:08pm
I thought we were being gentle. Both of our comments were stated with humor and not as an attack. (And they aren't just spelling errors...they are word choice errors.)
If I'd used the wrong word, I'd want to know -- so I don't continue to embarrass myself. (I use to think the phrase was MUTE point, instead of MOOT point. I think I was 30 before anyone finally corrected me. I have never made the mistake again.)
And Goth: you made me laugh!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#12Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 1:14pm
I yes, I yes, I yes!
....but the world goes 'round
#13Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 1:20pmEye no, rite?
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#14Most famous (popular) musicals of all time?
Posted: 8/11/11 at 1:35pm
I yes, I yes, I yes!
What you do with your shower curtain, drumsticks, car battery charger and donkey is your business, taz.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
