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Favorite Musical...

#142
My personal favourites:

My Fair Lady (perhaps the best ever written, althought that might be West Side Story)
Into The Woods (Sondheim!)
Jesus Christ Superstar (shaped my rock sensibilities early on)
Chess (played it twice, really brilliant in original version—less so with revisions)

What I really, really hate:
Camelot (Ugh, ugh, triple ugh!)
 
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#144
Another vote for JC Superstar, I saw an early run in London and was blown away.
Special mentions for Godspell, Joseph’s Technicolour Dreamcoat, Rocky Horror Show, Evita and Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, if only because an ex girlfriend played a leading part in all the original recordings.
And Wicked is very good.
 
#150
Dave Leighton said:
Be it cinema or theater. What's your favorite musical?

My number one is The Wizard of Oz!
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I'm probably the only one who will say this, but "Company" is one of if not the favorite. Part of the reason for that is that it is a Sondheim musical with very interesting music. Half a lifetime ago for me, when I was 35, I played the Lead in a community theater presentation of it. I sang a lot of the songs and was in almost all the scenes. If you haven't seen it, it is basically about a bachelor named Bobby who has a bunch of married friends who are always trying to match him up and always critical about ones the others suggest. Basically he is feeling that he should be married to somebody, but no one in particular. The music itself is amazing and the singers have to be on top of their game. There were a number of songs that if you lost your place, you'd never find it again because the accompaniment never played any part of the melody. The big song from this was "Being Alive", which Barbara Streisand turned into a hit record.

In our community theater we had a grand piano center stage in all of the scenes and our pianist would change hats to fit in with the various scenes. In fact the piano was used as a prop in the scenes most of the time. He was an amazing pianist as you have to be to play the music in this. On one scene I was on top of the piano with my "stewardess" date under a sheet, so it looked like we were in bed. She was wearing a spaghetti strap dress, so she just pulled those down to hang low and kept the sheet slightly above them so it looked like she was nude in bed. Sheet was just under my chin. Song was Barcelona. She had to go catch her flight and I was politely asking her to stay expecting her to leave...and then she stayed!

Another of my favorite scenes was the "pot smoking" scene. I got some dark brown rolling papers and filled it with an oregano mixture of herbs, as the scene was talking with his married friends while passing around the joint. Back in 1985 in Oregon you'd get arrested for smoking pot and this mixture really smelled like it. The first night I lit it up all the folks in the front could easily smell it. Eyeballs got big; whispers were shared; and a bunch of folks were convinced I'd lit up a real joint. Was Great fun!
 
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#154
I can't believe no one has mentioned Rock of Ages. I saw it at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End when I was stationed in England. Maybe I'm the only one on TB who likes a hair/glam band inspired musical. My top 10 musicals are:

1. Jesus Christ Superstar
2. The Sound of Music
3. Rocky Horror Picture Show
4. Grease
5. Tommy
6. Rock of Ages
7. Singing in the Rain
8. Hair
9. Hamilton
10. Mary Poppins
 
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#158
I've played many musicals from the pit, and my favorite remains How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It successfully blends nutty farce with biting satire without sacrificing the romance, the music and lyrics are top-notch, and the mid-century aesthetic is tons of fun. The '67 film version with Robert Morse, Rudy Valee and Michele Lee, taken largely from the original '61 stage production, although without a few important songs, is an absolute classic.
 
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#159
lermgalieu said:
I hate musicals. Just my opinion. I only enjoy them when I can sit right over the pit and watch the musicians. Never understood the concept. I am sure that there is just something wrong with me, and I am sure many of you will be happy to point that out.
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I think musicals are, for the most part, horridly cheesy. I do like much of the music however (Hair being a personal favourite).
 
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