20. “Enchanted”
Again, never a staged, Broadway musical, but damn did it bring the fun of musicals back to the silver screen. Dropping an animated Disney princess in the middle of the realest world there is, Midtown Manhattan, is one of the best premises that Disney has actually ever brought to the screen. Plus, Idina’s in it, albeit as the criminally underutilized second female lead, so that’s an added bonus. Any musical scenes that take place in the “real world” are just perfect.
19. “In The Heights”
“Lights up, on Washington Heights, up at the break of day,” are the first words in the show, rapped by the incredibly talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and starred in this smash hit musical, which basically won all the Tonys. Miranda wrote the earliest draft of “In The Heights” his sophomore year of college, and when the show premiered in 2008, it was unlike anything Broadway had ever seen before.
18. “The Lion King”
As a bit of background on how popular this musical was when it first premiered, the only day my mom could get our family tickets was on Super Bowl Sunday. And I haven’t watched a single one since. Joking, but it probably set the tone for the rest of my life, that’s for sure. Thanks to the very carefully crafted style of the legendary director Julie Taymor, “The Lion King” was brought to life in a way that was completely different from the animated film.
17. “Phantom Of The Opera”
“Phantom” is the epitome of the big, bombastic, operatic-style musical, with all the grand spectacle and flair expected from the mind of legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. It’s the most financially successful entertainment event ever, and it is the longest running show on Broadway by a massive margin. Some might say when a show goes on this long, a show is less about art and performance and becomes more or less a moneymaking vehicle. Am I one of those people? Probably.
16. “Avenue Q”
It was an incredibly simple pitch, “South Park” meets “Sesame Street,” that ended up taking Broadway by storm. The show became a surprise hit and launched the career of an up-and-coming composer named Robert Lopez, who cowrote a little song that you might have heard, called “Let It Go.” Lopez also worked on another musical, but we’ll get to that later. This show took all the conventions of musical theater and, well, desecrated them in the most hilarious way possible.
15. “Next To Normal”
Probably the most underrated musical on this list, “Next to Normal” is one of those musicals that is instantly recognizable to theater fans, but relatively unknown to the public at large. Maybe it didn’t have big enough stars, opting for a cast made up of household names to Broadway fans rather than celebrities, or maybe it’s the fact that the show deals with heavy issues, such as depression, psychological issues, death, and suicide, but it had beautiful music and was very critically acclaimed when it started running. The musical won a few Tonys, losing the big ones to “Billy Elliot.” It even won a Pulitzer–it’s the last musical to do that since “RENT.” The composers went on to write the hit musical “If/Then,” starring the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem.
14. “Grease”
“Grease” is the word, even before the 1978 movie, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The musical is a spoof of the 1950s, much like “Bye Bye Birdie,” that uses a lot of adult subject matter and strong language (for the time) to explore various social issues including teen pregnancy, class conflict, sexual exploration, and teenage rebellion. There’s also a badass car in it. What do I need to go into detail for? You’ve all seen it!
13. “Chicago”
Ugh, I can’t say enough about “Chicago.” It’s one of the fiercest musicals of all time, probably right up there behind “Dream Girls.” It’s been on Broadway forever, the dance numbers and songs are dripping with salaciousness and sex appeal, Fosse choreographed it, and it has one of the few film adaptations of a stage musical that doesn’t induce vomiting. What more can you ask for?
12. “Mary Poppins”
If you saw last year’s critically acclaimed “Saving Mr. Banks,” you know that while they embellished and whitewashed some of the more controversial elements of the life of “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers, there was a considerable effort that went into making this movie, and not just from a production standpoint. Thankfully, Walt Disney was able to wear down Ms. Travers–otherwise the world would have never known the fantastic story that this film told, with help from Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.
11. “Funny Girl”
Barbra. Streisand. Say it with me. Babs, the Messiach, playing film actress and comedienne Fanny Brice in the role that basically made her career in both stage and film, as she played the lead role in both versions.
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Stefon
New York's Hottest Club is wherever I am. Haters to the front, hunky Sailors to the back. Bow down betches. Follow this bitch on Twitter @StefonTSM StefonTSM@iCloud.com
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