Jazz hands at the ready (Top Five Musicals)

Member Name: bondgirlk8

Product:	Top Five Musicals
Date:	20/10/08 (325 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Musicals are brilliant

Disadvantages: Picking 5 is just too hard

Picking my five favourite musicals is a real challenge for me. It is similar to picking which of your own children you'd save from a burning building if you could only carry one, should that horrible hypothetical incident ever occur. I feel sad for all the others.

I have the good fortune of living in London and so have access to what, in my opinion, is the finest theatre in the world. As a lover of all theatre, musicals included, I get as much of a fix as I can possibly afford.

My top five musicals changes at least daily, so these are my favourite today:

CABARET: I saw the 2007 revival of Cabaret whilst the original cast were still in place and the production still relatively new. This is the best time to see a show as the cast have had long enough to settle into their roles, but not long enough for the play to go stale. Cabaret is set in Berlin in 1931, just as the Nazis are coming into power, and follows Sally Bowles, a young performer at the seedy Kit Kat Klub. This production was particularly dark, and the Nazi theme was much more evident (as compared to the film). The contrast between this, and the humour of such numbers as 'Two Ladies' make for a very interesting piece of theatre, and will leave you thinking about it for a long time after the show. This show is both very moving, and massively entertaining. For me, it has everything.


THE PRODUCERS: I loved the original 1968 film, and was intrigued to see how this would translate to musical stage show. Very well would be the verdict. This was one of the funniest nights out I'd had for a long time. As in the film, it follows the story of a dried-up producer and his accountant who team up in the attempt to produce a Broadway flop. The scheme being that by overselling interests in their show before its debut they will make much more money than they ever could from a success. This production is entertaining, memorable, has a wonderful score, and is fabulously flamboyant. I loved it.

THE LION KING: Possibly (well, for today) my favourite of the stage adaptations of Disney movies. The stage version blends the cartoon with the real spirit of Africa in a unique way. The costumes are amazing, and the sets fantastic. It's like nothing else I've ever seen. I'm going to leave it at that.

HAIRSPRAY: Welcome to the 60s! Hairspray is the biggest feel-good musical around. I don't think it would be possible to leave the theatre after watching Hairspray and not feel uplifted. It is funny, entertaining and heart-warming. Set in Baltimore in 1962, Hairspray tells the story of overweight teenager Tracy Turnblad who dreams of dancing on The Corny Collins show. It deals with the issue of racial segregation that was prominent in America at the time, as well as Tracy's love for popular guy Link. This is a great show, well worth seeing.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: I doubt this is on anyone else's list. Despite it's success on Broadway (and 5 Tony awards to boot) this musical wasn't really given a chance in the West End and closed after an undeservedly short run, having played to lamentably small audiences (by West End standards). People, you should be ashamed of yourselves, you really missed out. Drowsy is very accurately described as a 'musical within a comedy'. We join 'Man in Chair' an agoraphobic musical fanatic. He plays the soundtrack of his favourite musical, a 1928 classic: The Drowsy Chaperone. We see it through his eyes as the musical happens in his living room. I can see why this sounds a bit pants - but it really isn't, it's inspired. The musical he takes us through is a wonderful spoof of musicals of that era, so I guess the more you know about the genre the more you get out of this production. There are also some other brilliant moments of humour brought out from the fact that we are listening to a LP of the show and 'imagining' along with Man in Chair, e.g. the record sticking, him putting on the wrong record, and the fake interval. Drowsy is only 90 minutes long - but they are some of the best 90 minutes of theatre I've ever sat through. If forced to pick my number 1 musical - Drowsy would be a definite contender.


I can't resist from mentioning a few of the others that would have been on my list had I been in a slightly different mood, or had I been able to list a few more. In no particular order....

The Phantom of the Opera - fabulous music, and my favourite (probably) of 'The Lord's'.

Spamalot - hysterical. You get more out of it the more you know about theatre but lots of daft humour which appeals on all levels.

Chicago - I love the Fosse choreography (of the stage version that is) and the involvement of the orchestra. The recent film is pretty good too - the 'both reached for the gun' section being my favourite sequence from a filmography point of view.

Mary Poppins - ah, this was great. Again, it is the stage show I'm talking about here. I really had to consider whether it would be this or the Lion King which made it into my top five. Today, the Lion King just about had it.

Oliver! - This was my first musical that I saw in the West End, so will always have a special place in my heart. Note to self, hurry and book for the soon-to-be-opening version - Rowan Atkinson is playing Fagin, and I bet he'll be brill.

Les Miserables - bit of a change in tone from the others, but worth a mention. It is moving, and the music is good. Didn't think I'd like it as previous experience of the 'every single word is song' type musicals had never been good.

Grease - cheesy, but so cheesy it works.

The Sound of Music - this production demonstrated just what the Palladium is capable of. I loved the hill at the start.

Blood Brothers - I love Blood Brothers. The story is captivating, and the music slots in really well around the plot. It is starting to date a bit, but it a good way. It is very representative of it's time.

And of course, no list of this nature would be complete without having to mention a complete and utter blooper of a musical. This has to be....Lord of the Rings. Well, it was never going to work was it? And what an expensive flop it turned out to be. Some of the staging was pretty - I liked that the whole of the auditorium felt like you were in a forest - but this was the best bit. During Act 2 I actually fell asleep. Seriously, it was that dull. Slightly embarrassing as I was in the fourth row - I feel bad for the actors for that. It wasn't their fault. This would have worked much better if adapted into a piece of regular theatre rather than a musical. The songs were dull, unmemorable and added no value to the production. A shame, as there were some good performances - the dude playing Golum was brilliant.

So, I guess this has been much less of a top-five list, and more of a general blether about musicals really. Sorry about that, I can't help it when I get going - it's in my blood.

If you made it to the bitter end, thanks for reading!

© BondgirlK8 October 2008

Summary: A bit more than my favourite 5, sorry folks.