As it says ^^^

I loveee: Wicked , Grease, Mamma Mia, Jesus Christ superstar....


I loathee: I dunno

I like lots of musicals: Joseph, Jesus Christ superstar, Evita

My all time absolute favourite is "Les Miserables" - The whole packet fantastic music, great setting etc.


Didn't get on so well with Miss Saigon but did have cheap limited view seats. Love a couple of those pieces "#.... played on a so-lo sax-o phone-.....#" but a lot of it i found forgettable. (sorry to any fans)


Would love to see Wicked.

How do you define a 'musical'?

a play when people burst into song at random moments?

I love... Kiss Me Kate, Calamity Jane, Singing in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, Evita, Chess... [Chess is fantastic, I had no idea till I saw an amateur company do it last year. They were amazing. Going to see it again in April I hope!]

I loathe... Brigadoon, Gigi, Copacabana and Cats. [Shudders...]

I don't know Wicked! But I have several pupils who are addicted to it. I've heard a few of the songs but not been terribly taken by it - I suspect you need to see the show to be pulled in.



Note: This is a small fraction off the top of my head. I have a shelf full of vocal selections and scores from musicals. Love 'em in general.

Ah yes, Chess

I think I'd have to go along with that too. Apart from that, it's the oldies that spring to mind first (not that LM is young any more ) - Calamity Jane's been mentioned and I love that. West Side Story, if that counts, or is it some little subsection of it's own? Guys and Dolls definitely goes on the list. I'll probably think of some more later.



Oh - does the Blues Brothers count?

And Singing in the Rain, of course - And most things with Fred and Ginger......

My favourites are Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar and Bombay Dreams. I loathe just about anything else by Andrew Lloyd Webber (although I would probably like Evita if I ever heard it).

I've always loved Oklahoma since I was a child.

I haven't yet seen Copacobana, but I love the theme tune

The worst ever musical for me is Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim. When I saw this about three years ago I found it so weird that I couldn't stay for the second half, and I felt a sense of justice when Jason Donovan, who had played the lead role, was sent to the Australian jungle shortly afterwards. It didn't do his career any harm though.



We had a friendly discussion on the difference between a musical and opera already.

http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showtopi...sical,and,opera

There isn't a definitive answer, but my take on the subject is that a musical can have a mixture of talking, singing and even dancing, while opera is mainly singing.

My favourites are...

Phantom of the Opera, if that counts as a musical
Blood Brothers
Grease
Chess
Miss Saigon

Oh and some oldies like...

The Desert Song
The King and I
West Side Story
er, The Sound of Music

and...

Funny Girl
Cabaret
Lady Sings the Blues

I could probably go on...

I recently went to see the Lion King with my music department, which I loved. I think the music wasn't as good as I thought it would've been at times, but the costume side of things was amazing!

I love musicals in general really, although to be honest I haven't seen that many! I desperately want to see Les Miserables, closely followed by Jesus Christ Superstar (sung JCS as our warm up hyper-before-performances song when I did 'Tommy' at school...we had the harmonies and messed around with modulating, dynamics and tempo, it was so fantastic!!!).

I think when I 'grow up' I'll try to save up money for musicals and go to see one every couple of months

Laura

Does Moulin Rouge count?

Didn t like that at all! I haven t seen many of those mentioned, (apart from the oldies) so will compile a Must See list.

Showboat, South Pacific, West Side Story: all with marvellous tunes, WSS probably the best music overall, and all with racial prejudice an essential element of the plot. To see the full significance of race in SP, read the original "Tales of the South Pacific", by James Michener, in which the Frenchman has not been married before, but nevertheless has four children by three different mothers, none of them Caucasian, so Nelly Forbush has an enormous challenge in transcending her Little Rock upbringing.

I have mixed feelings about Oklahoma. The score is magnificent, but the plot is rather distasteful in its unsympathetic treatment of Jud Fry and its cavalier dismissal of his death at the end.

That's exactly how I feel about it.


I have to add Showboat, Fiddler on the Roof and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers to my list.

I've never seen Kismet - is it good?

Fiddler on the Roof! I had never seen West Side Story in full before the other week, but found a copy in the local branch of a cd/dvd shop for 4.99 a couple of weekends ago - really enjoyed it!

Isn't Kismet the one with all the Borodin music in it?

I adore musicals and I most adore Sondheim, especially Sweeney Todd, Company and A Little Night Music. I am not really an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan at all, so most of his, except perhaps Evita, are on my 'no thanks' list. Other musicals that thrill me are Anything Goes, West Side Story, Gypsy (sort of Sondheim), Hairspray for sheer joie de vivre, Sweet Charity, Parade and Rent. I was lucky enough to see In The Heights on Broadway which was fabulous. And last weekend I saw Spring Awakening with my teenage daughter and we immediately booked again - very different, very thrilling!

the sound of music for me...climb every mountain and edelweiss are my favourites

Until I played in the show, I didn't realise quite how unsettling the story is - the fact that everyone is really complicit in Jud's death (especially when the 'legal system' is prepared to ignore what happened) to me suggests that perhaps the plot is not distasteful at all, but more of a commentary on the way that communities lose any moral authority when they ignore true justice. I ended up not liking any of the characters at all. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

As for my least favourite musical ... Briga-bl**dy-doon. (That's tmesis, by the way, if you want to look it up in a dictionary.) Totally silly story, without the benefit of a good score (cf. Carousel - silly story but packed full of great songs).

My Favourites:
Sound of Music
West Side Story
Mary Poppins
Les Mis
We Will Rock You
Mamma Mia

And my dislikes:
High School Musical
Saturday Night Fever

Can't remember a single song from Brigadoon, but Carousel's 'You'll never walk alone' is spine-tingling.

Chicago, High Society, and does Porgy and Bess come under musical?

I did the show for a week, and sadly I can:
Heather on the Hill
Almost Like Being In Love

Actually, Almost Like Being In Love is an almost passable tune, but just cries out for the proper big band arrangement that it doesn't get in the show.

I met a violinist once who had played in the pit for Brigadoon for nine months ... aaaaaaaaarrrrrgghhhhh! For most shows a week is enough, with the exception of West Side Story, 42nd Street, Guys & Dolls & The Full Monty, which I could all do happily for extended periods. Copacabana is a good show too to play, but I'm not so sure from the audience's point of view. I've never done Chicago (yes, it is a musical, but it's been withdrawn from amateur operatic production for several years now) but would love to.


Porgy & Bess was written as an opera, but was fairly recently converted to a musical by Trevor Nunn. Though I didn't get to see this reworking, I think I'd prefer it to the operatic version, as I've never been able to get through the DVD of the opera ... there's something that makes singing accompanied recitative whilst hanging out the washing that, well, just doesn't wash with me.

Woah. I clearly need to watch Oklahoma again! It's years since I saw it on stage, is the plot that different from the film version? (Where Jud has a history of obsessing/burning things down when he doesn't get his way, attempts murder and dies at his own hand?)

Ooh. I love most musical theatre, so this is fun.

LIKES:

The Desert Song
Chorus Line
Fiddler on the Roof
Curtains (Kander and Ebb - saw it on Broadway last year - great fun)
Guys and Dolls
Singing in the Rain
Salad Days
Follies
Les Mis/Miss Saigon
La Cage Aux Folles (or most stuff by Jerry Herman!)

Really getting into anything by Jason Robert Brown - Last Five Years; Parade; Songs for a New World

Anything that Gene Kelly was in. I agree that B****doon is lousy - but I'll watch it for Gene Kelly. Same goes for anything with Gordon Macrae in.

DISLIKES:

Seussical
Hairspray
Wicked
Not hugely into anything by ALW to be honest. Also, not desperately fond of some of the 60's/70's rock musicals - Hair; Godspell; The Wiz

and that's for starters!

I love musicals. I don't think I've ever seen one that I haven't liked. I can't even name a favourite, there are just too many, and I go through extreme phases. My most recent phase was Wicked, before that Rent, then before that Les Mis, My Fair Lady, Me and My Girl, etc etc.

In the past few weeks, I've been rather obsessed with Jekyll and Hyde - I think I first heard a song from it due to a recommendation on these boards, listened only to that song, learnt it, and moved away from it, but it stuck in my head when it came to downloading something to listen to while I read the novel for my course. I listened to them all and now I adore it. Also, Songs For A New World is another one I've loved recently, particularly Christmas Lullaby.

It's also years since I did the show ... but having just re-read the plot, I'm guessing that the film doesn't focus on the dark reading. My own reaction (if I'm remembering correctly) was that Jud is a social outcast who gets no help with his problems - quite the opposite. When he does finally snap in reaction to the taunting, yes, he does fall on his own knife while trying to injure/kill Curly, but his actions were at least partially caused by the people that then exonerate Curly in a sham trial with no asking what drove Jud to do what he did. No-one raises a voice in opposition: they are all complicit.

Dunno why I'm writing all this - it's only a musical with some nice toons, for goodness sake!

Edelweiss makes me cry

I heard a radio interview with Fred Zinneman, who directed the film of "Oklahoma", in which he said that it was a mistake to cast Rod Steiger as Jud Fry, because, great actor that he was, he made the character too sympathetic and unbalanced the plot. It's rather like modern productions of "The Merchant of Venice", in which the lead actor plays Shylock as a dignified figure much persecuted, and we end up feeling very sorry for him, which Shakespeare's audiences would not have been.

That's interesting - thank you

Now, that's an interesting thought, since I find Rod Steiger automatically unsympathetic because of seeing him him 'In The Heat of the Night' and disliking him a lot!!!

There are a few that I love which haven't been mentione yet...

You'll always catch me singing - Scarlet Pimpernel, Jekyll and Hyde, Sunset Boulevard, Spamalot...and more recently Sweeney Todd after I saw a production of it on saturday! Also...Wicked...Witches of Eastwick...Blood Brothers...and how can I forget! My absolute favourite! Legally Blonde! ... Not strictly a musical but Songs for a New World is amazing! Meh, I prefer more than I like!

I loate most of West Side Story..Cats..Starlight Express...and a few others

Coming to London soon apparently . . .

I dislike all musicals. I can't watch them, I cant listen to them. I feel like the king in Monty Pythons "Search for the holy grail" who's Son keeps bursting into song. Much to his Dads dislike.

However, pay me to play in one and that a different matter.

That's ok - each to his own (my family, on the other hand, know that if they start quoting from Monty Python, it's only a matter of time until I explode or, even worse, start singing from musicals )

I really don't know where to start - there's so many!! And quite a few that I have the soundtrack to and know quite well but haven't actually seen, including Wicked, Rent and a few others...
My current favourite of the ones I've seen though is Titanic, completely reduced me to tears most of the way through and I thought was just brilliant. It really should be done on the West End!!
Something I've been meaning to look in to is Jason Robert Brown's stuff - a girl at college sang See I'm Smiling from The Last Five Years at a competition (and won it) and it was breathtaking, she was amazing and I really liked the song

I think it was, yes! Wow, that's so cool. Haha, obvious we have similar taste in musical theatre!



My flatmate recommended Jason Robert Brown to me - I could only find Songs For a New World - but it's amazing! I love him! I especially love Stars and the Moon, and Christmas Lullaby. I had to not go out for a couple of weeks because I really needed to buy the sheet music straight away. (That was the thinking anyway... but I still went out, and just went over budget... )

Favourites:
West Side Story
Phantom of the Opera

Loathes:
Grease (am I in a minority of one?)

I don't like Grease. Some of the songs are catchy but the plot makes me want to bash my head against a brick wall.

No!

Grease is most certainly NOT the word...

That pretty much sums it up!

Phantom of the opera, although i would class that as an opera, as i dont think there is anything spoken in it. The music is brilliant, especially the overture.

It's not an opera it's a piece of rubbish
(apologies to hc and all other fans)

My all time favorite has to be Les Miserables. I absolutely love the music. It is so powerful with all the chorus but is also so beautiful. I find the songs are absolutely perfect. There isn't a note I would add or retrieve to make them sound more beautiful.
It's the only musical I've seem more than once (actually 4 times!!! and going for a 5th time for a friend's b'day in a couple of months!! )

Others I enjoyed are Singing in the Rain, Chicago (which I probably would have enjoyed more if the person sitting behind me hadn't been asleep and snoring very loudly ), Phantom of the Opera, Cats.

I haven't seen any I hated.

I love musicals. There are so many brilliant ones. It is often the dancing as much as the music that makes them:

Singing in the rain (film version)
Shall we Dance
Top Hat
Gigi
Guys and Dolls
A Star is Born
Meet me in St Louis
Me and My Girl
Chicago
Calamity Jane
Showboat
West Side Story
Cabaret
High Society
Anything Goes
White Christmas
Bitter sweet
The Jazz singer
Brigadoon
Sweet Charity
Kiss Me Kate
Half a Sixpence
The Cotton Club
An American in Paris
Porgy and Bess
A Little Night Music
Lullaby of Broadway


... I could go on all night

The only musical I openly dislike is High School Musical. Probably because the drama department tried to make me sing C5's and above all way through a song when I'm practically a tenor nowadays.

Is there a stage version now? The film was the original, conceived, according to Adolph Green and Betty Comden, by Arthur Freed, by then a Hollywood producer, who had written the lyrics for a number of songs by Nacio Herb Brown, and wanted to improve his income from their royalties. Considered just as songs, most of the musical numbers are rather mediocre, with very simple and rather static harmonies, but in the film, with beautiful orchestral arrangements, competent acting, outstanding dancing and an excellent plot, they make a satisfactory component of one of the best musical films ever.

I tried to watch the film once, but the acting compared so poorly with the original Bergman film ("Smiles of a Summer Night") that I managed only about 20 minutes. I don't find Sondheim's music attractive; his lyrics are uniformly good, and IMO his best work is in West Side Story.

This got such poor revues in comparison with its original, "The Philadelphia Story", that I haven't tried to see it.

OTOH, this has music and lyrics of a quality to stand up beside its original inspiration.

I saw a stage version at Leeds Playhouse a few years ago. It was brilliant fun For the "rain" song, they did actually have a channel of water at the front of the stage which the actor jumped in and out of, soaking everybody in the front few rows The kids thought it was brilliant, not sure I would have been pleased but fortunately I was sitting further back!

I also saw it on stage in the 80s at the Palladium Theatre in London with Tommy Steele. It was brilliantly done. Really enjoyed it.

But the Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby duet "Did You Ever" is enough by itself to justify the whole thing.

I love both versions - the casting of The Philadelphia Story was superb, but the music - especially that duet - in High Society is great, and of course there's the added bonus of Louis Armstrong

That reminds me...... a friend of mine once brought me along to the Rocky Horror Picture Show - they used to show it every Friday night in one of the older cinemas in Dublin and he and his mates used to go along dressed up as the characters and act out the scenes below the screen. For the scene where it rains, they gave me a super-soaker with instructions to hide at the back and then drench the crowd when the rain starts on screen
It was great fun, though the crowd all started throwing empty crisp packets and so on at me in return

Stars and the Moon is brilliant! The piano riff at the beginning of King of the World is phenomenal! A new world is just amazing and lovely! Flagmaker is breathtaking and flying home is gorgeous! I love them all to be honest