"insensitive prick!" – Danielle Algo
"Bigger, Longer & Uncut"!
=== Not ALL LIVES MATTER until BLACK LIVES MATTER ===
Fiddler on the Roof/My Fair Lady/The Sound of Music/Chicago/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Phantom of The Opera is an incredibly well composed score based on an equally incredible book. I went to see the 25th Anniversary a while back in New York and was very impressed with standard that the musical stands at.
Have seen a few but Phantom movie and stage are my fave.
Have seen
Cats
Mama Mia
Carousel
Sound Of Music
West Side Story
Camelot
Just love them
From the Point of View of Performing, I enjoyed Porgie and Bess, Riverboat, Les Miserables, and Fiddler. But they all have great male roles, so I admit bias.
The Producers is my favorite bar none.
"SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER AND GERMANY!"
I've got to confess that my two favorites are Les Miserables and Sweeney Todd
"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon." -E.L. Doctorow
Les Miserables and Lion King (which I saw this evening with my G-son!)
I love Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell
MY favorite to play is the lead tenor sax part in Guys and Dolls. the Havana Scene swings like mad, and has an eight bar section where I get to read letters (chords) instead of written notes. And, unlike Grease or Hairspray, they're NOT in weird thousand sharp "guitar keys"- I freaking HATE a sharp attack. (Who the HELL plays blues changes in E concert, anyway?)
The flute/piccolo book for Into the Woods runs a real close second, though. That show is just such fun to play. And, right from page one, it is a challenge. The first note in a low Bb, 1/2 step below the range of a flute (you get that note by putting the end of a B foot joint up against a wall) with ascending minor thirds, tempo di tear-ass up to a six leger line D# (one and a half steps above the range of the instrument. On my thin wall Armstrong Heritage, finger a high Ab, open the upper trill key, add the right hand first finger, and low B key, and blow like mad. (On a Haynes or a Trevor James, try not opening the trill key, but it will be stuffy and sharp.)
I have never played Les Mis - but will be in the pit for that next Spring. I hope it isn't like Cats - I don't care if I never have to play that show again - 'course, the fact that Toby's ran it from April through June, with eight shows a week, made it become work, even sharing the book with three other musicians. I really don't consider Les Mis or Cats a "musical" though; Les Mis is really an opera, and Cats is more a ballet, with incidental singing.
I think my favorite show over all, to watch or to play is Fiddler On The Roof. All the reed books are great fun to play, and there are some super songs and dances in it.
"There's only three tempos: slow, medium and fast. When you get between in the cracks, ain't nuthin' happenin'." Ben Webster
Les Mis and The Producers
Have none of you seen "tommy" ....
Les Mis and The Sound of Music
Guys and Dolls, Les Mis, and Wicked!
Wicked was amazing in Salt lake. Les Misrables was epic in New York but by far Phantom of the Opera at Vegas
was untouchable!
Cabaret
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Oliver!
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
"We switch partners daily
To play as we please.
[GIRLS] Twosies beats onesies,
But nothing beats threes.
I sleep in the middle,
[GIRL 1] I'm left,
[GIRL 2] Und I'm right,
But there's room on the bottom
If you drop in some night."
I just love The Music Man. Would love to go back to that time era and see what it was like. The small town and all, I think it would be fun to experience it, even if it was for a day.
Les Miserables - My Fair Lady - Jesus Christ Superstar - Lion King
HAIR - Jesus Christ Superstar- Tommy
LIttle Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Chess are probably my favorites but the exact order changes depending on my mood and what I've seen/listened to most recently. Les Miz has been high on the radar recently between the film and seeing the 25th anniversary concert performance on TV a while back but if push came to shove to pick an overall, all time favorite, I'd probably lean towards West Side Story.