Recommend a sophisticated composer/works, please

[MadViolist]

Hello,

could you please recommend good contemporary composers with sophisticated works such as Jeanine Tesori, Adam Guettel, or Ricky Ian Gordon? For example, Audra McDonald's album Way Back To Paradise is my favourite even after years of listening to it - I think the material on it is absolutely amazing. It can be both musicals or stand-alone songs / song cycles ... I'm interested especially in those less known.

Thanks!

[little_sally]

Michael John LaChiusa

[Mister Matt]

^
Nailed it.

Way Back to Paradise is from La Chiusa's Marie Christine.

[bwaylvsong]

Grey Gardens
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

 

[Lily Garland]

I third the LaChiusa recommendation.  He does sophistication like no other modern musical theatre composer.  Hello Again (bold, sexy, and witty, With an all-star cast of Broadway performers, "Tom" and "Mistress to the Senator" from Audra's album is from this), Wild Party (my personal favorite,  Probably his best score. And some powerhouse performances from Toni Collette, Eartha Kitt, and Tonya Pinkins, to name but a few), Marie Christine (as noted, Way Back to Paradise is from this.  It's a love it or hate it kind of affair. Audra is glorious in it, and I find the music haunting), Queen of the Mist (the show that finally gave Mary Testa a long deserved leading role in a musical.  And the show lives up to her talents), See What I Wanna See, Little Fish (though the recording is a bit lackluster), Giant (epic if a bit tedious at parts) First Lady Suite, and First Daughter Suite, are all worth checking out. The only score of his that I've struggled to warm to was Bernarda Alba.  

LaChiusa always challenges his audiences, never taking the easy route to get to the heart of the moment through song.  I think his shows will start to get praised several years from now, just as it took many ages to finally find the artistry in Sondhem's work.  LaChiusa's work many be challenging, but it's worth investing in,  And it's never dull.  He may not be a commercially successful composer, but his artistry and determination not to compromise this is what makes him one of the theatre's greatest living musical theatre writers.