Favorite Stage Musical

[davebwell]

My two favorites are Fiddler on the Roof and The Wizard of Oz. I think Fiddler is up there for the profound reason that it was the first musical I ever saw. My mom guilted me into going with her when I visited on vacation. I thought I would hate it but found it to be an excellent, highly entertaining show.

I saw The Wizard of Oz at the Muny in St Louis and they had Cardinal Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith play the Wizard. He did a good job with the role and it was a bonus to an already excellent show.

[Parnick]

West Side Story has the most interesting Broadway music by far. Great story and choreo as well.

[RJT]

I like Les Miz, sure. I like the costumes - the colors. It reminds me of Delacroix’s painting “Liberty Leading the People”.
Link to the pic:


http://history.hanover.edu/courses/art/delalib.html



I like Big River. It's a musical based on Huck Finn. Anyone else?

[AAmaz0n]

I'll split this into a few different catagories, since the experience is different in terms of venue/performance.

Favorite actually seen on Broadway: Guys and Dolls with Cats a close second.

Off Broadway: Evita

Off Off Broadway: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Performed in (equity waiver): Pippin, with Beggars Opera a very close second.

Never seen live, but loved the script/movie: West Side Story.


Shauna

[Mrs. Utah]

I know people either love or hate Phantom, but I loved it. Saw it for the first time at the Majestic Theater in New York. I remember my mom listening to the soundtrack over and over so I knew the music and story before ever going into the theater. I don't know if that made a difference but it made the music come alive...to see who was singing and what they were doing (I know it sounds so corny [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img])

[Mrs. Utah]

I must add....

A few months ago I took my kids(7 and 9) to Annie. It was their first musical. I had not seen it since I was a kid and we had so much fun! Mostly I took pleasure in watching my kids watch the show...their faces were so expressive-eyes like saucers, laughing and singing along. It was awesome!

Even Utah enjoyed himself....he kind of dragged his feet about going and really had a good time.

[Hey_Porter]

Les Mis is certainly up there, although each time I see it, there is one actor whose voice I don't like for the part, and that always ends up bugging me.

Cabaret might be my favorite though. Extremely poignant.

[RJT]

Forgot all about Cabaret - good choice.

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
For me it's close between West Side Story & Man of La Mancha.

[/ QUOTE ]

Upon further review......

Took a break from working in the garden & brought the subject up with wife & daughter. (Wife very talented ex-performer who's specialty is Musicals/show tunes).

She was surprised to hear that I didn't add "Damn Yankee's" and she's right.

After all....."Ya gotta have Heart"!

We agreed upon West Side Story as #1.

The absolute brilliance of Bernstein's score, Sondheim's lyrics, Robbins choreography and Shakespeare's classic story are too much competition for anything else.

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]

Cabaret might be my favorite though. Extremely poignant.

[/ QUOTE ]
Cabaret means a lot to me too. I saw a simple little touring production just after I'd got married and moved to a new city where we knew no-one, so we were pretty isolated, and it was a wonderful tonic to the blues.

They did a scene which started with one of the KitKat waiters did a tenor-solo of 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me'. It sounded sweet and hearfelt, and then another joined. Suddenly on the other side of the stage, the sarcastic MC was spotlit, doing his makeup at the dressing-room chair, and he seems to notice the song, and looked bemused.

Then a third waiter joined in, and the beat became more milataristic, and the voices deeper and more masculine.

The MC got up and started walking around, looking at the singers, sneering, pulling faces, and then looking worried and again bemused.

Then a fourth waiter joined in singing, and it got into a full-flow militaristic anthem. The MC shook his head, sneered at them, and then walked up some stairs, across a gangway that was above the stage, at the back. As they drew to a close at full military beat, the MC drew a Hilter moustache on himself, and struck the Nazi salute, standing in a strong down-light.

The music stopped suddenly, and the place fell silent, and all lights went off except that on the MC-s standing there, looking like and saluting like Hitler. Then it went pitch black, and you heard the MC snort a contemptuous 'hah!'


You had to be there really, but it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Wonderful theatre.