10. “Les Misérables”
Just getting this out of the way before we get into a whole bunch of jokes: Russell Crowe cannot sing, and please, can we stop casting Amanda Seyfried in musicals? Please. Thank you. One of the longest running and, frankly, LONGEST musicals ever, Les Mis deserves all the praise it gets as one of the best musicals of all time.
9. “Wicked”
Easily one of the most significant and successful musicals in the last 10 years, “Wicked” created the dream team of Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth (for the first and, probably, last time) and combined spectacle and incredible music to make one of the longest-running musicals of all time with a well-deserved more than 10-year run.
8. “Oklahoma!”
Surprised to see “Oklahoma!” up here? You must have missed the part where I said earlier that it was the musical that started it all. It was the first show to take the concept of opera, then add story and dancing. This combination created a new genre of performance: musical theater. None of the other shows on this list would exist without it.
7. “West Side Story”
This was another musical that knocked it out of the park based on the sheer talent of the creative team: music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents, and choreography by Jerome Robbins, all in the top of their fields, in the heights of their careers. The result was a masterpiece.
6. “The Wizard Of Oz”
The story of “The Wizard of Oz,” in one way or another, is on this list three times. That just goes to show the staying power of this 75-year-old movie, based on a 112-year-old musical, based on a book that came out in 1900. If you can get through Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” without crying, congratulations–you’re a much stronger person than I.
5. “Cabaret”
“Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome, Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret.” The story of an English cabaret performer and a young American writer with the backdrop of the fall of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi party became one of the single most iconic and subversive plays in musical theater liturgy, and it’s still popular and very prominent to this day.
4. “The Book Of Mormon”
Told you we’d come back to composer Robert Lopez. On a trip to New York City to work on a script, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were advised by their friend, famous producer Scott Rudin, to see “Avenue Q.” Robert Lopez (and “Avenue Q” co-creator Jeff Marx) spotted them in the audience, and the four went out for drinks. They somehow decided to work on a project based on Mormons, a subject in which all four had a fascination. After a number of years of working, and the departure of Marx from the project after fighting with Parker, “The Book of Mormon” was born, which became one of the biggest smash successes Broadway has ever seen.
3. “A Chorus Line”
This “one singular sensation” has been dazzling audiences all over the world since the ’70s, centered on 17 Broadway dancers auditioning to be part of the chorus, and exploring each of their lives and the events that guided their paths to become dancers. It won nine Tonys, the Pulitzer Prize for drama, and is, as of this writing, the sixth-longest running show on Broadway.
2. “RENT”
I can’t say enough about this musical. I don’t have the words. The only person who truly has the words is the visionary writer and composer of the musical, Jonathan Larson, and sadly, he didn’t live long enough to see any of the success “RENT” deservedly received. The show earned four Tonys–two of which Larson received posthumously–the coveted Pulitzer for drama, a 12-year Broadway run, and a 2005 film adaptation, which was halfway decent. To all my fellow “RENT”-heads all over the world, this one’s for you.
1. “Hair”
I’m sure I’m going to catch a lot of flak for this, but, frankly, I don’t think any of these other musicals could do any of the countercultural, subversive, politically-charged material they did without the existence of “Hair.” Without “Hair,” we’d have no “RENT,” no “Spring Awakening,” and certainly no “Book of Mormon,” among countless others. It truly was the first of its kind: a protest musical, featuring a “tribe” of hippies protesting the Vietnam War and corruption in New York City, while living the bohemian lifestyle of a bunch of young, “dumb” kids who “didn’t have a clue.” It’s so controversial, so edgy, and so brash. It features sexual content, depiction of illegal drug use, radical statements against U.S. government policies–and that nude scene, man. That nude scene. That’s a crazy freaking scene. The musical was a smash success, inspiring a bunch of top 10 radio hits from the soundtrack, a feature film, and a ton of revivals and productions across the globe. More importantly, it taught us the power of love, and stressed the importance of peace and understanding in a society filled with hatred and violence. The message is still as strong today as it was then, almost 50 years ago.
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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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