Favorite Musicals

I used to watch a lot of theatre.. with my family, with my friends, and i had a couple of ex boyfriends who were in the local theatre scene so it was pretty much a part of my life.
I have never watched a show off Broadway but the local theatre scene is very very good and innovative and always up to date with the international scene. My favorites are:

+Once on This Island (Timoun!)

+Camelot

+Evita (waaaay before Madonnas film version!)

+Miss Saigon (only because of local talent Lea Salonga , and it was the first time the musical was being shown in my country )

+RENT (no day but today! i am in love with this one!_

+Les Miserables

+Annie (sooo cute)

+The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

many more ill probably add later but these ones are what come to mind.
How bout u?

I'm luvving you so much right now... you're right inside my head.

I'm a drama queen... literally and figuratively. I've been to just about every show you can imagine, and acted in amateur theatre since I was 13.

My favourite shows:

1. Miss Saigon
2. Les Miserables (top two contenders VERY close)
3. CATS!
4. Phantom Of the Opera
5. The Lion King
6.. Oliver
7. Chess (GORGEOUS song... "I know him so well"... makes me cry)
8. Jesus Christ Superstar
9. Evita (although I've only ever seen the movie version sadly)
10. The Labryinth (yes, it's been made into a musical... by my local theatre company, SKIT - Shepparton Kids In Theatre)
11. Annie
12. We Will Rock You (musical based on Queen songs)
13. the Abba musical that was in Australia recently.. goshdammit I can't remember the name of it. Loved it anyway.
14. Toys
15. Alice In Wonderland
16. Cinderella

(okay those last three were also amateur theatre kids shows but hey.. I enjoyed being in them )

I'll go to any musical, anytime anywhere.. I've grown up on them since I was six years old when my mum did makeup for our local stage group. Gilbert and Sullivan and all that... I was the guinea pig for all the makeup changes. I've grown up on the smell of greasepaint.

I think I'll stop now ...

south park - bigger, longer, uncut.

it's brilliant.

alasdair

alasdairm said:

south park - bigger, longer, uncut.

it's brilliant.

alasdair

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Hands down the best musical I've ever seen too :D

alasdairm said:

south park - bigger, longer, uncut.

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if you like trey parker and matt stone, they actually have a proper theatre musical called "cannibal" that you might enjoy. i saw it in the theatre, but there is a film version of it as well.

anyway, my favorite musical: Evita

i was actually in this play when i was a freshman in high school, and i've been in love with it ever since. i think the rise (and fall) of eva peron is a fascinating story all by itself. even the movie version is respectable in its own way.

actually, any andrew lloyd webber/tim rice musical makes the cut for me.

RENT. hands down.

Nutcracker

I make a point to see it every winter season...

My vote would probably have to go to "Hedwig and the Angry Inch".

i love evita

I absolutely love Evita....ive seen two musicals , have the soundtracks,and seeing Madonnas film version was just the icing on the cake. (bought the dvd and soundtrack too!)

This part always makes me cry

EVA
I don't expect my love affairs to last for long
Never fool myself that my dreams will come true
Being used to trouble I anticipate it
But all the same I hate it--wouldn't you?
So what happens now?

CHE
Another suitcase in another hall

EVA
So what happens now?

CHE
Take your picture off another wall

EVA
Where am I going to?

CHE
You'll get by, you always have before

EVA
Where am I going to?

Time and time again I've said that I don't care
That I'm immune to gloom, that I'm hard through
and through
But every time it matters all my words desert me
So anyone can hurt me--and they do
So what happens now?

CHE
Another suitcase in another hall

EVA
So what happens now?


CHE
Take your picture off another wall

EVA
Where am I going to?

CHE
You'll get by you always have before

EVA
Where am I going go?

Call in three months time and I'll be fine I know
Well maybe not that fine, but I'll survive anyhow
I won't recall the names and places of each sad occasion
But that's no consolation--here and now
So what happens now?

CHE
Another suitcase in another hall

EVA
So what happens now?

CHE
Take your picture off another wall

EVA
Where am I going to?

CHE
You'll get by, you always have before

EVA
Where am I going to?

CHE
Don't ask anymore

8. GOODNIGHT AND THANK YOU

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Those of you who mentioned Rent should consider checking out Tick, tick...BOOM!, by the same composer, Jonathan Larson. Some of my other favorites:

The Jason Robert Brown musicals - Parade, The Last Five Years, Songs For A New World (the last one is actually a revue, but still.)
A New Brain (William Finn)
Avenue Q (Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx, and Jeff Whitty (?))
The Fantasticks (Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt)
Floyd Collins (Adam Guettel and Tina Landau)
Seussical (Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty -- not my favorite show, but parts of the score are just incredible)
Little Shop of Horrors (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
The Music Man (Meredith Willson)
The Secret Garden (Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman)
The Wild Party (two versions of this: one by Andrew Lippa and one by Michael John LaChiusa; both are brilliant in their own ways)

And, of course, the entire Stephen Sondheim canon (SKIP THIS PART IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THE LIST BY HEART): West Side Story, Gypsy (he did the lyrics for those ones), A Funny Thing..., Anyone Can Whistle, Evening Primrose (a TV musical), Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into The Woods, Assassins, Passion, Bounce, Saturday Night, and various film scores and revues.

To name just a few of the wonderful, wonderful shows out there. Sad to say, I haven't seen nearly enough of them, but I listen to cast recordings endlessly, so I can claim Obsessed status.

the Abba musical that was in Australia recently.. goshdammit I can't remember the name of it. Loved it anyway.

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Mamma Mia? :D

I got to see Phantom of the Opera in the original theatre in Toronto...some of the sets were amazing. There's one in particular with probably a thousand candles that rise up through the stage when the rest of the theatre is pitch black.

I also like, heh, Camelot quite a bit.

FestiveCheez said:

Mamma Mia? :D

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That's the one! Spankyou very much :D

Finder: Camelot... is that like a new musical? I don't think it's been to Australia. It sounds awesome, I *love* that tale and I can imagine it would make a beautiful musical.

Camelot was first produced in 1960, and I believe it was written by Lerner & Lowe, the team responsible for My Fair Lady, among other shows. I've read that it was because of JFK's affinity for that show that his administration became known as "Camelot." So anyone who says theatre isn't socially relevant...you be wrong.

(Am I annoying anybody yet? )

^ No no, not this bluelighter anyway

I can't believe I'd never heard of Camelot. I shall have to write some angry letters to someone demanding it be performed in Australia.

On another note, as Crystalcallas posted one of her favourite songs from a show, here's one of mine from Chess. It's a duet between two women - one the wife of the famous chess player (Svetlana), and one his mistress (Florence)...
The wife knows of the affair and she's pondering what she could have done to prevent it. The mistress also knows she's not going to have a happy ending and is in a reflective mood as well. It is such a beautiful piece, their voices overlap and intertwine and harmonise...


I Know Him So Well

FLORENCE:
Nothing is so good it lasts eternally
Perfect situations must go wrong
But this has never yet prevented me
Wanting far too much for far too long.
Looking back I could have played it differently
Won a few more moments who can tell
But it took time to understand the man
Now at least I know I know him well


FLORENCE: SVETLANA:
Wasn't it good? Oh so good
Wasn't he fine? Oh so fine
Isn't it madness
He can't be mine? He can't be mine?

But in the end he needs
A little bit more than me --
More security He needs his fantasy and freedom
I know him so well.

SVETLANA:
No one in your life is with you constantly
No one is completely on your side
And though I move my world to be with him
Still the gap between us is too wide.


FLORENCE: SVETLANA:
Looking back I could Looking back I could
Have played things Have played it
Some other way Differently

Learned about the man
Before I fell
I was just a little
Careless maybe
But I was
Ever so much
Now at least Younger then
I know him well Now at least

BOTH:
I know I know him well


SVETLANA: FLORENCE:
Wasn't it good? Oh so good
Wasn't he fine? Oh so fine
Isn't it madness

BOTH:
He won't be mine?
Didn't I know
How it would go?
If I knew from the start
Why am I falling apart?


FLORENCE: SVETLANA:
Wasn't it good?
Wasn't he fine?
Isn't it madness
He won't be mine? He won't be mine?
But in the end he needs a
Little bit more than me --
More security He needs his Fantasy and Freedom

I know him so well It took time to understand him

BOTH:
I know him so well




Chess was written by Benny and Bjorn from Abba - it's also includes the famous "One night in Bankok" song.

More info: http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm61.html

Also really liked the version of "Man of La Mancha" I saw performed at James Madison University. Of course, it probably helped that the chick who played Dulcinea was hot as hell. :D

SLM, you should check out Camelot if it ever comes to Aus...I was in love with the story growing up and I thought the musical was magnificent.

I like Manchego.

Man of Manchego? Mm...now THERE'S a plot one can sink his teeth into.

crystalcallas: one of the interesting things about "another suitcase in another hall" is that it's not always eva's song. in some shows, that one is sung by juan's mistress after eva displaces her with "hello and goodbye".

i also forgot to mention the show "guys and dolls". i've never seen it performed, but i really like the music from that show and i'd love to catch it if it came through town.

Id agree with @lter ego...Guys and Dolls is up there on my list.