Your Favorite Musical

[jamesie 1]

I've been in 2 musicals - one community one (State Fair) and this year, Anything Goes, for highschool. I never really appreciated musicals until I was in one and saw how much work it took to put one together. Then I went to see Oliver in Des Moines, and that blew me away. I now want to see what other people's favorite musical is. And I know that this doesn't have much to do with John Williams, but neither does best big band tunes have much to do with him either... So just wondering.

My favorite is probably Anything Goes.

[QMM 4]

The Producers

[Greg1138 3]

Toss up between West Side Story, and The Phantom of the Opera - both of which I have had the pleasure of being involved in, both on the stage and underneath it.

Greg :-)

PS - I envy you doing "Anything Goes" - cracking show!!

[Lurker 5]

Singin' in the Rain

Neil

[Docteur Qui 1,581]

The Producers.

Saw it again on Wednesday, for our Drama class. We have to write up a Performance Analysis for it, the challenge is finding a decent theme in the show... Great musical.

Prisoners of Love - Mel Brooks

[Henry B 51]

Anything Goes.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,383]

The Muppets Take Manhattan.

[Mari 279]

I have many favorites, and am finding it impossible to pick just one!

Here are a few of my favorite movie musicals:

Top Hat

Yankee Doodle Dandy

The Court Jester

And a few of my favorite broadway musicals:

Les Miserables

Sunday In The Park With George

Camelot

Kathy

[Morlock 12]

Movie musical? I agree with Neil. Singin' in the rain is my favorite. In general, I think Evita is by far the greatest musical ever (but only the original British and premiere American recordings, none of the ones since). And of the ones I've seen preformed, It'd have to be a tie between an amateur production of Pirates of Penzance and Oklahoma on Broadway.

[Elmo Lewis 7]

My favorite movie musical has to be Oliver!. There is something about this film that makes it stand out for me - must be because of numbers like "Who Will Buy?" (definetly my favorite musical number ever). But it's very closely followed by My Fair Lady, Evita, and of course West Side Story.

As for stage musical, I'll go cliché and say Les Miserables, of course. But there are many others I love equally, and they are Chess, South Pacific, A Little Night Music, Aida (no classic but still very good), Weird Romance, The Producers and of course the musical of musicals... King David (still hasn't gotten a stage premiere, but it was played a dozen of concerts back in 1997 and it's superb).

A particular guilty pleasure of mine is a relatively obscure gem called The Boyfriend, by the way.

-Ross, who wonders what happened with the movie rumors on an Aspects of Love movie starring Heath Ledger and Renée Zellwegger. For a slightly interesting play Andrew Lloyd Webber scores...

[JoeinAR 1,957]

Les Miz, and Phantom. Jesus Christ Superstar ain't bad, nor is Victor/Victoria

[Docteur Qui 1,581]

At the moment I'm liking Miss Saigon too, and of course Phantom.

I hate Calamity Jane with a passion; the local amateur theatre company's junior section have put it one, and I was asked last minute to be on crew for opening and second nights. It was so bad I didn't go last night (closing) even though I payed for tickets. One good thing, my best friend was in it and he played Henry Miller, and pretty much stole the show the entire time he was on. He snagged a Guild Award nomination (that's the theatre honours around Ballarat and I think the state) for Best Junior Actor. But I digress...

[QMM 4]

Oklahoma

Footloose

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Phantom, Joseph, and Grease.

Ray Barnsbury

[King Mark 3,975]

I hate musicals.

K.M.

[Morlock 12]

I do not.

M.O.R.L.O.C.K.

[Trumpeteer 304]

The two best musical ever written in my opinion are "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast."

But if you're going for live-action movie musicals, then the only choice is "Evita." I love Tim Rice's play on words:

"We've all gone crazy,

Mourning all day

And mourning all night..."

Jeff -- who thinks every Alan Menken Disney musical except "Hercules" and "Home on the Range" are also phenomenal

[Morlock 12]

Evita is perfect in every way IMO, and has the absolute best lyrics and orchestrations of any musical ever. Lyrics wise in particular, nothing comes close.

[Greg1138 3]

A particular guilty pleasure of mine is a relatively obscure gem called The Boyfriend, by the way.

Doo Wack-a Doo Wack-a Doo Wack-a Doo.....

Great show - shame about the movie...

[Elmo Lewis 7]

There's a movie?

[Hlao-roo 390]

Movie musicals: Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music

[Ricardo224 0]

A Christmas Carol ? The Musical (music: Alan Menken, lyrics: Lynn Ahrens, story:Charles Dickens)

Absolutely spectacular! Both musically and visually!

Not a Disney musical but with music by Alan Menken and orchestrations by Douglas Besterman and Michael Starobin it sounds totally Disney. The high-soaring music/songs sounds more like something you would hear in a Disney animated film rather than your typical stage musical.

I?ve enjoyed the CD for years. Last December, I finally got to see the musical at the Madison Square Garden theatre. The dancing, costumes, and special effects were equally incredible as the music itself!

Ricardo

[pat_burke 0]

West Side Story or

The King and I.

I can't decide.

Rogers & Hammerstein rule(d).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,383]

The Muppets Take Manhattan

[Lurker 5]

Pat, what happened to your TMP Enterprise avatar? That was great!

Not that I have anything wrong with Amsel's original Raiders poster. Many years ago, that used to be my buddy icon on AIM.

Oh, and West Side Story is one of my favorites, too.

Neil

[pat_burke 0]

Pat, what happened to your TMP Enterprise avatar?  That was great!

Not that I have anything wrong with Amsel's original Raiders poster.  Many years ago, that used to be my buddy icon on AIM.

Oh, and West Side Story is one of my favorites, too.

Neil

It disappeared from my profile a little while back. Now it won't upload from either my hard-drive or the URL where I keep it. So I'm just going to have to be Henry Jnr. for a while as I figure out what's wrong.:?

WSS is full of great rhythms. Some of the songs. esp. America, are incredible when played by the full orchestra.

Channel 4 in the UK ran a poll in the past year of the top 100 musicals of all time. Grease came first.

A 'musical' episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer came in the top 10/15. I wonder what age-group was voting the most... :roll:

[John Crichton 4]

A 'musical' episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer came in the top 10/15. I wonder what age-group was voting the most...  :roll:

Well, I thought it was absolutely spectacular. But as a huge Buffy fan and not a musical fan, I'm quite biased.

John- eagerly awaiting the return of Pat's TMP avatar, and hoping the same thing never happens to Murray. He's irreplacable.

[Docteur Qui 1,581]

That was a great episode. I have the sheet music for the episode and often play it with my equally obsessed frieds at school, who sing "I'll Never Tell". Great fun!

[JWFAN4LIFE 0]

I cannot just narrow it down to one so I will give a list (in no particualr order):

Les Miserables

West Side Story

Annie Get Your Gun

Anything Goes

Fiddler on the Roof

Cabret

Throughly Modern Millies

Wicked

The Lion King

[Elmo Lewis 7]

A Christmas Carol ? The Musical  (music: Alan Menken, lyrics: Lynn Ahrens, story:Charles Dickens)

Absolutely spectacular! Both musically and visually!  

Not a Disney musical but with music by Alan Menken and orchestrations by Douglas Besterman and Michael Starobin it sounds totally Disney. The high-soaring music/songs sounds more like something you would hear in a Disney animated film rather than your typical stage musical.  

I?ve enjoyed the CD for years. Last December, I finally got to see the musical at the Madison Square Garden theatre. The dancing, costumes, and special effects were equally incredible as the music itself!  

Ricardo

This is also an excellent musical and consider yourself lucky you got to see it played live. The show runs no more in New York, although they are shooting a live-action movie starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), which is to air at ABC (I think) next December. I can't wait. It's also a favorite of mine from Menken, although the lyrics by Lynn Ahrens are, like those of Ragtime, too corny for me. Hello? The original story was written as a way to protest for the worker's conditions in Victorian London - the word "Dickens" doesn't mean "sugarland". Although I love it when it gets dark, in the second act.

[pat_burke 0]

A 'musical' episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer came in the top 10/15. I wonder what age-group was voting the most...  :roll:

Well, I thought it was absolutely spectacular. But as a huge Buffy fan and not a musical fan, I'm quite biased.

John- eagerly awaiting the return of Pat's TMP avatar, and hoping the same thing never happens to Murray. He's irreplacable.

Now this is weird...because I can't see your avatar or Neil's, assuming they're still there. There are a few others missing also which I'm used to seeing. Could be my browser or the Zone Alarm firewall I use. That sometimes messes with how I see pages. The animated emoticons aren't animated anymore either.

It's a conspiracy.

BTW Though not a Buffy fan, as such, I did watch it quite regularly. It was well written. Got a bit annoying towards the end. "Once More...etc." didn't impress me too much but they did a decent job on it.

[John Crichton 4]

Now this is weird...because I can't see your avatar or Neil's, assuming they're still there. There are a few others missing also which I'm used to seeing. Could be my browser or the Zone Alarm firewall I use. That sometimes messes with how I see pages. The animated emoticons aren't animated anymore either.

It's a conspiracy.

Hmm, weird. Johnnyecks had a similar problem a few weeks ago. I don't know what could cause that. I know Murray hasn't gone anywhere, unless he snuck out to yell "Boo!" at passers by and attempt to buy spare electronic parts to make an Uber-Ray of Demonic Evil or something. Stranger things have happened.

[Lurker 5]

I am not having any avatar issues with any of the browsers or OS's that I use.

Neil

[metaphor123 0]

There has always been a special place in my heart for The Sound of Music. However, I must agree with Ender and state that 'Who Will Buy?' from Oliver! is a virtuoso piece, where the spectacle of the choreography is only surpassed by the soaring harmonies and counter-melodies. 'Food, Glorious Food' 'You Can Go (But be Back Soon)' 'Consider Yourself' 'Boy for Sale' and 'Oom-Pah-Pah' are certainly no slouches either! Oliver!'s only failing (to me) is the insipid, yet incomprehensibly popular, Nancy solo 'As Long as he Needs Me', which I never fail to skip when I'm watching the film. The super-effete vocals on 'Where is Love' does not win it any points, either (the singing voice of the Oliver character was dubbed by a girl).

I am still eagerly anticipating a musical version of 'The Planet of the Apes' which was so brilliantly realised in an episode of 'The Simpsons', that even in its cartoon-snippet format, is already better than some musicals.

[JoeinAR 1,957]

The two best musical ever written in my opinion are "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast."

But if you're going for live-action movie musicals, then the only choice is "Evita." I love Tim Rice's play on words:

"We've all gone crazy,

Mourning all day

And mourning all night..."

Jeff -- who thinks every Alan Menken Disney musical except "Hercules" and "Home on the Range" are also phenomenal

I would agree with you about Beauty and the Beast, but not the Lion King, which is eh. I too love Evita.

[Docteur Qui 1,581]

We were supposed to do Beauty and the Beast for our school musical, but the stupid amateur rights weren't available 'till next year, so we had to settle for Fame...

Magical_Me - Hoping to get to Sydney and see Lion King soon...

[Elmo Lewis 7]

I just acquired Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim. Leave it to a genius of his magnitude to do an entire musical about presidential assassins. Although it's no Sweeney Todd, or Little Night Music, it's still a really interesting and most important, thought-provoking play I just wanted to add to my list.

[Greg1138 3]

There's a movie?

Yes - but don't waste your time wih it....

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,383]

The Muppets Take Manhattan.

[SeekUYoda 0]

And a few of my favorite broadway musicals:

Les Miserables

Sunday In The Park With George

Camelot

Kathy

Wow! You like Sunday in the Park too? I can't believe it! No one likes that musical! Woohoo! What is Mandy Patinkin doing these days, anyway? When I was in Chicago I made a special trip to the art museum just to see that painting.

I think my favorite is still Phantom, but I have to give honorable mention to Les Mis, Lion King, West Side Story, and Cats. And perhaps Jekyll and Hyde.

Has anyone here seen Starlight Express?

I do know, without a doubt, my all-time least favorite musical: Carousel.

[Morlock 12]

Mine is Gigi. That movie is terrible.

[Elmo Lewis 7]

Mine is the aforementioned Jekyll and Hyde. Truly terrible play, keeps getting worse at every song. The lyrics are the defition of "cheesy" and "amateur" and the music is a "Les-Miserables-had-big-success-let's-do-it-just-again" rip-off. Musical theater couldn't get worse than that.

[SeekUYoda 0]

Mine is the aforementioned Jekyll and Hyde. Truly terrible play, keeps getting worse at every song. The lyrics are the defition of "cheesy" and "amateur" and the music is a "Les-Miserables-had-big-success-let's-do-it-just-again" rip-off. Musical theater couldn't get worse than that.

But with Anthony Warlow singing, how can you go wrong? I'd listen to him singing the phone book if he'd record it. Some parts of J & H are great - I love "This is the Moment," "Bring on the Men," "His Work and Nothing More," "Murder," the Finale, and that mass in the middle is gorgeous. Other parts of it are... well, a bit lacking, but I really like about 75% of it. Maybe my bias comes from Anthony's singing?

Maybe you're thinking of the new Martin Guerre? That's by the same people as Les Mis (Boubil & Schonberg), whereas Jekyll & Hyde is by Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn. The style is similar to Les Mis, though, but it just kind of flops.

"Lily's Eyes" - Anthony Warlow, Best of Act One

[Elmo Lewis 7]

Well, I meant Jekyll and Hyde, but there are two versions (or re-writes) of the show, and both of them are recorded. The version I listened to didn't have any song called "Bring on the Men" - it wasn't the 1990 concept album. I know that album was superior because I helped a friend prepare his Utterson role and the deleted songs and the different order definetly helped the show. Heck, even one of the two main female character had a different name! The version I'm familiar, though, is the poorest excuse for a musical I've ever seen. And the male lead (Jekyll/Hyde) was terrible as the tenor he is supposed to be. His "This is the Moment" is, in my opinion, worse than pathetic. Although the lyrics in the version Colm Wilkinson sang make that version a true classic. So, in conclusion, we probably are judging different versions of the same show.

No, I haven't heard Martin Guerre. I really liked Miss Saigon, but as interesting as that show was, it also portrayed how wrong could things go after a mega-success like Les Miserables. So I decided I wouldn't force luck anymore and stopped there. But the Martin Guerre parody in Forbidden Broadway is hilarious.

[hoby12 0]

Anyone have any orchestral scores to any of the mentioned shows?

[Mari 279]

Wow!  You like Sunday in the Park too?  I can't believe it!  No one likes that musical!  Woohoo!  What is Mandy Patinkin doing these days, anyway?  When I was in Chicago I made a special trip to the art museum just to see that painting.

Now there's two of us!

Living so close to Chicago, I knew the painting quite well before seeing the musical, and first bought the music on cassette because I was intrigued by how Sondheim would handle the subject matter. I loved it instantly, wore out the cassette and now have it on CD. A few years ago I finally saw a live performance at the Shakespeare Theatre in Chicago (unfortunately neither Mandy Patinkin or Bernadette Peters was in the cast ... rats!), but it was still a great performance. Of course I stopped by the Art Institute beforehand to revisit the painting before going to the performance.

Hmm ... my nominee for worst musical would have to be Paint Your Wagon.

Kathy

[QMM 4]

The Muppets Take Manhattan

Max-Listening to his newly bought I Heart Huckabees soundtrack and enjoying it very much

[SeekUYoda 0]

Well, I meant Jekyll and Hyde, but there are  two versions (or re-writes) of the show, and both of them are recorded. The version I listened to didn't have any song called "Bring on the Men" - it wasn't the 1990 concept album. I know that album was superior because I helped a friend prepare his Utterson role and the deleted songs and the different order definetly helped the show. Heck, even one of the two main female character had a different name! The version I'm familiar, though, is the poorest excuse for a musical I've ever seen. And the male lead (Jekyll/Hyde) was terrible as the tenor he is supposed to be. His "This is the Moment" is, in my opinion, worse than pathetic. Although the lyrics in the version Colm Wilkinson sang make that version a true classic. So, in conclusion, we probably are judging different versions of the same show.

No, I haven't heard Martin Guerre. I really liked Miss Saigon, but as interesting as that show was, it also portrayed how wrong could things go after a mega-success like Les Miserables. So I decided I wouldn't force luck anymore and stopped there. But the Martin Guerre parody in Forbidden Broadway is hilarious.

Ah. I see the problem. This is the recording I know and love. I did see it on PBS with David Hasselhoff and it was... well, not Anthony Warlowe, let's say. I've only seen it performed once and didn't like all the changes from this album, but I can see why they changed Lisa to Emma - Lisa and Lucy get confusing if you don't know the story well! So it sounds like we are judging from different versions. I'm going to see one version performed live on Friday night - I'll try to forget I ever heard that amazing wonderful recording and see what I think of it with as open a mind as possible. You should get that recording.

When did Colm Wilkinson sing "This is the Moment?" I bet that's an amazing recording - I've never heard him sing anything I didn't like except for when he sang the Phantom in "Hey, Mr. Producer." (His performance was excellent, but I'm still upset that Michael Crawford wasn't there to sing it himself.)

[Beowulf 4]

"A Little Night Music" is my absolute fav. Witty, musical, and most of it in 3/4 time!

[Mr. Breathmask 624]

I'm not very knowledgable on musicals.

I like Grease, though.