After seeing a passable presentation of an adequate show last night, combined with recent reading about musicals, I have been thinking about my favorite musicals. Without ado, here are five of them, in no specific order.
1.) 1776
This may be my favorite musical. It's so finely crafted and entertaining that it overcomes my anarchism and even gives great pleasure (and food for thought). It also has an interesting backstory. Sherman Edwards, who wrote the songs, first conceived the show in the '60's. He was a former history teacher who quit his job to be a songwriter (writing several for Elvis). No one wanted a part of it though, so he had to write the libretto himself. Peter Stone learned about it, and became interested enough that he took Sherman's libretto and rewrote it. People were hesitant to back a show that was predominantly male-centric (the two female roles are minor) and which everyone knew the outcome. But Stone had the brilliance the write the show with the same tenseness and desperation present at that Continental Convention, so that one is left wondering up to the end if independence will ever be declared. There is a brilliant scene where we learn that what we take for granted today was nothing such for those men then. They had very real concerns, concerning family and the things they sacrificed for. It is also stressed that this was an earth-shaking moment in history, so hesitance on their part should be understood.
Making all this drama even greater is Edwards' magnificent score, one of the best ever written for Broadway (I think). What doesn't it have? there's comedy (practically all four songs at the beginning), romance ("Yours, Yours, Yours" and "He Plays the Violin"), situational, or quasi-situational anyway ("Cool, Cool, Considerate Men"), an eleventh hour song, so to speak ("Is Anybody There?"). The show was conceived and premiered during the Vietnam War, and Edwards' ties that conflict to the American Revolutionary with "Momma, Look Sharp," which is sung from the view of a young lad dying on the battlefield as he pleads for his mother to find him (his mother has a response). It's the best anti-war song, in my opinion, because it reveals the real toll of conflict, which is simple but profound (and it is one of the few things that makes me weep with each return). The music fits the period, but it isn't dated or merely adequate, and frequently matches the situation. It wonderfully melodious and delightfully crafted (as John Adams says of Jefferson's writing, it has "a certain felicity of expression"). The lyrics are often witty, complement the story and character, and very moving. It is the only musical (movie) I watch over and over again.
2.) Carousel
I never bawled so hard as when I watched the movie. However, the movie is awful, and after a couple more viewings, I won't watch it again. And since I have yet to see the stage version, I can't comment fully on it, because the movie changed so much. What I can say is that of the songs I have heard, it is the most beautiful score to grace Broadway (at least until La Cage aux Folles and The Light in the Piazza). From the "Carousel Waltz", which opens, to the final chorus, it is the most exquisite music this side of opera and operetta. It captures the setting very well, as Richard Rodgers' music always does, and I always sense a hint of fatalism throughout. "Soliloquy" is almost certainly the greatest song ever written for musicals. Oscar Hammerstein II was an innovator whose experiments didn't always succeed (Allegro), but Carousel was a daring risk; never before had such an anti-hero as Billy Bigelow been the focus of a musical, and violence and sexuality are very important to the events and characters. The subject matter can still make people a bit squeamish today. Also, the opening is done entirely in mime, and a few scenes are entirely done with music. I can't wait to see it at Webster University this coming season.
