Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater 2017

The songs of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, from "Suddenly, Seymour" to "Under the Sea," have become part of the American subconscious—but few have heard their first musical, Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. The 1979 show tells the story of Eliot Rosewater (Santino Fontana), a millionaire who drunkenly decides to blow his fortune on an impoverished town after being inspired by the utopian vision of novelist Kilgore Trout (James Earl Jones). But there are forces who want to put the kibosh on Eliot’s philanthropy—like Norman Mushari (Skylar Astin), a lawyer plotting to have Eliot declared insane. With an irresistible crazy-quilt score that volleys between pop, ragtime, Gilbert & Sullivan, and proto-Disney ballads, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater deserves to be part of our world again.