Top Ten Musicals Any Actor Should Know ?- Page 3

[ggersten]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 6:03pm

Hair and Rent set the stage for Spring Awakening? C'mon, I heard the composers behind Spring Awakening and they are convinced they created a whole new type of theatre and owe nothing to no one. They did it all on their own. (and therein lies the problems with the show).

OK: the 10 "classics" which will duplicate most of what's gone before:

Showboat
Oklahoma
Guys and Dolls
My Fair Lady
Gypsy
Fiddler
Cabaret
Company
Hair
A Chorus Line

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 6:55pm

Well I think it's hard to discredit "Mamma Mia" as not being art. That's entirely subjective, and I'm sure to some people it can be. I found it to be a throughly entertaining show, and I'd had a great time while seeing it. I'm not saying it deserves to be on the list, but I don't think things should be on the list because they're more "artful" than something else.

I think I need to know Gypsy. I don't know it that well, I mean, I know the major songs, but I couldn't give you a plot run down all that well. And I don't think Spring Awakening is going to become a "classic" anytime soon. I think it's going to prove a problem to itself because they only want to cast people under a certain age, which means they're not as experienced, which means they won't be as great of actors, and thus the show will suffer.

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 6:57pm

The Fantasticks
South Pacific
Anything Goes
Hello, Dolly!
Sweeney Todd
Evita
Les Miserables
Ragtime
A Chorus Line
west Side Story

[DrewBill]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 7:24pm

RentBoy86: If being "artful" -- and by artful, I mean having great quality and a lasting impact on the musical theater -- is NOT a justification for choosing what to include on these listings, then what is? Box office? Length of run?

Your statement doesn't make any sense. All forms of art have a subjective element that divides what is "classic" from what is merely entertaining, or even bad.

C'mon ... you say you're a musical theater actor -- you should know better.

[kyleorlando]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 7:48pm

For about ten years, I was ready and able to step into any of these shows with short notice. I actually had to do it three times with Joseph, Grease and Kate.

Guys and Dolls
Kiss Me Kate
Evita
The Fantastiks
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Little Shop of Horrors
Into The Woods
Hello Dolly
Grease
A Chorus Line

Updated On: 6/28/08 at 07:48 PM

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:16pm

Now here's the problem everyone....

You say the Jukebox musical doesn't do anything to aid the cause of the musical...

Don't forget some of your old 'classics' were musicals that combined songs already in a composers portfolio, songs not specifically written for any specific show....doesn't that make them 'jukebox musicals' from a different era. Probably closer to the era of a jukebox too...

Plus it's all good to say they don't the artform or whatever but you deny a certain thing then.
They HAVE happened.
They will keep happening
Like them or not they ARE part of the artform, just as is the movie adaptation.
They may be the show that brings people in to see original new works, that introduces people to the world of musical theatre.

Too late to deny them folks...

[jwsel]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 9:34pm

Why do people act like Mamma Mia was the first jukebox musical? Ain't Misbehavin' won the Tony for Best Musical in 1978. Crazy for You and Smokey Joe's Cafe also came before Mamma Mia and were successful. Buddy also had a successful run, including a 12-year run in London. So I'm not sure why Mamma Mia deserves to be on this list, other than it has made a lot of money.

For the list, I think the "top 10 musicals" should be 10 shows that anyone claiming to be a "knowledgeable" musical fan should be able to discuss. Personally, I think more than 10 shows should be on this list, but here are the first 10 that I could think of that qualify. Each, in my mind, represents a different age in Broadway history:

Showboat
Oklahoma
Gypsy
West Side Story
Hair
Sweeney Todd
A Chorus Line
Annie
Cats
Rent

I have to admit that I dislike Cats and Rent, but I cannot deny their importance in Broadway history. Annie, likewise, is not the best musical, but it was important for providing a show for young audiences at a time when Broadway was catering to more adult fare.

Honorable Mentions:
South Pacific (could replace Oklahoma on the above list)
Phantom of the Opera/Les Miserables (could substitute for Cats in representing how the big bombastic British musicals changed Broadway in the 1980s)
My Fair Lady (this might make the list above, to represent the best of the Broadway to Hollywood translations)
Dreamgirls (the first musical to look at rock and pop as the basis for a musical plot, plus it was by Michael Bennett)
Company (though my favorite Sondheim musical is A Little Night Music)
Ragtime (not only because it represented a return to some of the old themes of Showboat and South Pacific, but also because the fall of Livent was disastrous for Broadway)
Hairspray (imo, the best of the movies to musicals trend)

[Ryan4]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 12:56am

I don't think this is a 'best of' list, but rather, these are the 10 sort of landmarks of musical theater imo...

Show Boat (first book musical)
South Pacific (best R&H, racial issues the book confronts)
West Side Story (score changed the sound of Broadway forever)
Gypsy (total Americana)
Fiddler on the Roof (most equally matched high quality book and score ever)
A Chorus Line (broke all the records)
Sweeney Todd (best Sondheim)
Les Miserables (the best from the age of the British 'mega-musical)
Rent (revitalized a starving Broadway, brought new audience)
Spring Awakening (new sound, bringing new audience)

[broadwaywriter]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 12:28pm

Guys and Dolls
West Side Story
The Sound of Music
Grease
Fiddler on the Roof
A Chorus Line
South Pacific
Gypsy
Les Miserables
Sunday in the Park With George

Posted: 6/29/08 at 1:51pm

Follies
Gypsy
Sweeney Todd
Hairspray
Cabaret
A Chorus Line
Chicago
42nd Street
West Side Story

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/29/08 at 7:58pm

DrewBill, but that's my point. It might be bad to you, but I enjoyed it. I had fun, and I thought there were some beautiful stage pictures. I'm in no way saying it needs to be on the list, or even deserves it, but I'm saying it's such a stupid point to call it out for not being "artful." I've seen some horrible productions of great classic musicals that no one would consider artful.