Favourite musical?

[Chris S]

In general, I'm not a fan of musicals.

Films - I just can't get over the whole "It's a normal film with talking and stuff, then for NO REASON WHATSOEVER - everyone starts singing (and usually dancing)." thing - it just messes with my head.

Stage - I get this. Cats, Starlight Express, Les Mis, etc. They work because of the on-stage ambience, and that they don't try to be something they're not.

But I did blub at Les Mis  .

[SandyV]

Well I'm a musicals tragic so my list of favourites is pretty long

Mary Poppins (stage and screen) - probably the first I saw as a kid - very special saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang around the same time - a flying car !!!  Saw them on stage when they came out and enjoyed that too
Jesus Christ Superstar - it was one of the first stage productions I saw as a teenager and was impressed by the sloping, backlit stage (ooer), impressive set and the singing
Les Mis - very stirring
Lion King - the spectacle
Wizard of Oz - took my nieces and it was a lot of fun (they'd only seen the movie previously)
Tell me on a Sunday - saw this in London many years agoand enjoyed the singing and the storyline - fitted in with what was going on with me at the time
Rocky Horror Show - good fun (and very risque for Brisbane when it first toured!)
Cats - the way they just appeared in the audience
Singin' in the Rain - great staging and great songs (and one of the last shows I saw with my mother who was my role model for "musicals tragic")
Legally Blonde The Musical - bet you didn't know there was one!  Saw it in New York with my 12 year old niece who chose it and it was surprisingly enjoyable
Phantom of the Opera - with Anthony Warlow - have seen this 3 times, this was the best of them, love the spectacle - though VeloYellow found it unbearably tedious and went to sleep
Chicago
Oklahoma
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
Grease
Monty Python's Spamalot  (now that's VeloYellow's idea of a good musical!)
Cabaret
Just about all the Gilbert and Sullivans (earliest musicals?)
South Pacific
Fiddler on the Roof

So what  did I not like?
Miss Saigon - now there's a tedious musical!
Little Shop of Horrors - not sure why - just found it boring
Annie
Evita
Starlight Express

[tonycollinet]

Phantom
Moulin Rouge
Chicago

Not really a musical fan.

[citoyen]

Just about all the Gilbert and Sullivans (earliest musicals?)

When I was a student, I was at a uni that had three theatrical societies, namely:

Theatre Group - all the non-musical stuff
Music Theatre - Joseph, Guys & Dolls, Hair etc
Light Opera Society - Gilbert & Sullivan

I don't know if that distinction between G&S and Other Musicals still exists though.

There's a lot of snobbery about the theatre. I was only ever in TG, but I only avoided the others because I could neither sing nor dance. But some people avoided them because they didn't consider musicals as real theatre. They were wrong. I never considered myself a fan of musicals until one day I sat down and thought... well, yes, I do like this one... and I do like that one... and that one too... and then I realised that I actually like lots of musicals. Yeah, some musicals are rubbish, but the best ones are really very good.

I also tried to subvert TG by putting on Brecht, who did like a song or two in his plays.

d.

[citoyen]

I've always like Mary Poppins (the film) better than The Sound Of Music. Julie Andrews is mesmerising and the songs are all great.

Schtep in time, schtep in time...

Hey, even Dick Vaaan Doike can't ruin Mary Poppins! (And anyway, you can hardly blame him for his accent when he learnt it off David Tomlinson.)

Never mind whether it's one of the best musicals, it's one of the top ten best films ever made of any kind.

d.

[geraldc]

Sound of music

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I still wet myself when I think about the childcatcher...

[SandyV]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I still wet myself when I think about the childcatcher...

Very scary indeed - but it all turned out well in the end!

[SandyV]

Just about all the Gilbert and Sullivans (earliest musicals?)

I don't know if that distinction between G&S and Other Musicals still exists though.

I think it still does (well certainly here in Australia at least) - but then my tastes have always been wide when it comes to theatre and I like a good production whatever category it falls within. 

I can't sing in tune either but am happy to sing along (and loud) when I'm on my own!  I do think it's most unfair that I know all the words but can't lead a tune to save my life.

[Mr Larrington]

Mary Poppins
[...]
Never mind whether it's one of the best musicals, it's one of the top ten best films ever made of any kind.

Dude, you need help.  No sex, no violence, no helicopters.  What kind of a film is that?

Sound of music

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I still wet myself when I think about the childcatcher...

(Boggles)

A sovereign example of how to turn a most excellent trilogy of books - albeit one lacking sex and helicopters - into a film of unutterable wetness.  The first, and indeed only, time I saw this I felt an overwhelming urge to introduce those responsible to Mr Shovel.

I was six.

[citoyen]

Dude, you need help.  No sex, no violence, no helicopters.  What kind of a film is that?

Well, clearly not one directed by Roger Corman. Though that would be a film I'd very much like to see.

A sovereign example of how to turn a most excellent trilogy of books - albeit one lacking sex and helicopters - into a film of unutterable wetness.  The first, and indeed only, time I saw this I felt an overwhelming urge to introduce those responsible to Mr Shovel.

I quite like bits of CCBB but its biggest problem is that it's about an hour too long. That and the lack of helicopters.

d.

[Jaded]

I've always like Mary Poppins (the film) better than The Sound Of Music. Julie Andrews is mesmerising and the songs are all great.

Schtep in time, schtep in time...

Hey, even Dick Vaaan Doike can't ruin Mary Poppins! (And anyway, you can hardly blame him for his accent when he learnt it off David Tomlinson.)

Never mind whether it's one of the best musicals, it's one of the top ten best films ever made of any kind.

d.

MP has to be my favourite* one too. The stage version is excellent.

*This is a relative term.

[Really Ancien]

I've always like Mary Poppins (the film) better than The Sound Of Music. Julie Andrews is mesmerising and the songs are all great.

Schtep in time, schtep in time...

Hey, even Dick Vaaan Doike can't ruin Mary Poppins! (And anyway, you can hardly blame him for his accent when he learnt it off David Tomlinson.)

Never mind whether it's one of the best musicals, it's one of the top ten best films ever made of any kind.

d.

When it was shown in Christmas 2008 there was a helpline number for those who had been affected by any of the issues raised. The Father being presumed drowned after losing his job due to a banking collapse. Similarities to 'It's a wonderful life' in that sense. There has recently been a musical adaptation of the latter film.
REVIEW: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, September 16 2009 2009/09/21

Damon.

[bikepacker]

My 3 favourite stage musicals are:

Porgy and Bess. 
La Cage au Folles.
Miss Saigon

[clarion]

Cabaret!  Thanks, Sandy.  I can't believe I forgot Cabaret!

I think the 'book' is terrible (though the book(s) is pretty good), but the KitKat Club setpieces and 'Tomorrow...' are brilliant.

[giropaul]

musical + favourite = oxymoron!

[Flying_Monkey]

The Wizard of Oz is so ingrained into our consciousness

If you're American or gay perhaps. I think it lost whatever hold it had on the general public outside these constituencies a long time ago.

West Side Story of course, but my other favourites all seem to involve Gene Kelly, in particular An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain. I quite like some of the film versions of Rogers and Hammerstein productions too, including South Pacific. They are all ludicrous in many ways, but just life-affirming.

I have no time for most more recent musicals, including things like Grease and the loud, dull, pretentious mess of things like Miss Saigon or Les Miserables. Rocky Horror was mildly amusing when I was about 17 and once only. And anything involving Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn't even count.

[Flying_Monkey]

My 3 favourite stage musicals are:

Porgy and Bess. 
La Cage au Folles.
Miss Saigon

Porgy and Bess is an opera, not a musical, isn't it? it's a thin line in some cases, but IMHO it's definitely a modern opera. It is brilliant.

[Really Ancien]

The Wizard of Oz is so ingrained into our consciousness

If you're American or gay perhaps. I think it lost whatever hold it had on the general public outside these constituencies a long time ago.

There's an assumption that musicals came of age after WW2, starting with Oklahoma. It's generally held that the Wizard of Oz is a film with musical elements rather than a musical, so it tends to be ignored in debates like this, unfairly I think. The films of Gracie Fields might fall into the same category. Grease certainly does, I wonder what defines a musical in that sense.

Damon.

[Regulator]

My absolute favourite is The Rocky Horrow Picture Show.

Next in line would be Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat - but only 'cos I've played the parts of both Joseph and Pharoah.

And a little claim to fame here... a role in a (little known but professionally produced) musical was written specifically with me in mind.

[clarion]

Was it the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rb167cc4ZeU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/rb167cc4ZeU&rel=1</a>?

[mattc]

There's an assumption that musicals came of age after WW2, starting with Oklahoma. It's generally held that the Wizard of Oz is a film with musical elements rather than a musical, so it tends to be ignored in debates like this, unfairly I think. The films of Gracie Fields might fall into the same category. Grease certainly does, I wonder what defines a musical in that sense.

Of course you can't create any hard rules. But lets just look at possible criteria:

1) Ratio of songs:acting
2) Do the songs tell (some of) the story?
3) An original score.

So how would I score some of our choices against these?

Oz* passes 2 & 3, but not 1.
Grease probably passes all 3
Blues Brothers? Probably none (despite some fine musical performances, and a plot about musicians!)
Jungle Book? 1 & 3 only I suspect

There you go - something else for you all to shoot down in flames

*note this is The Wizard of Oz - not the gritty american prison drama. Which was great, but I don't remember any songs.

[Really Ancien]

I'm quite fond of this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur%27s_Court_(1949_film)

A 19th century sci-fi musical set in the middle ages.

This excerpt features Wowbagger.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qAYLD06MefI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/qAYLD06MefI&rel=1</a>

It amazes me how songs become disconnected from shows.

Damon.

[mattc]

Disney made something (in the 70s?) about an astronaut crashing in the middle ages, and predicting an eclipse to win them over. Can't find it on IMDB - was it based on your film Damon?

EDIT: of course, the Spaceman and King Arthur! I was rather small at the time and loved that film. Probably best not to rewatch ...

But what a cast!
...
    Kenneth More    ...    King Arthur
   John Le Mesurier   ...    Sir Gawain
   Rodney Bewes   ...    Clarence
   Pat Roach   ...    Oaf

[Really Ancien]

The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979) Plot
That was a non-musical adaptation of the Mark Twain Time Travel Novel.

Damon.

[Jakob]

The Nightmare before Christmas.