Best musical ever.

The original, not the remake.

My second favorite is Camelot.

…but a close second for me is The Music Man.

But the soundtrack to The Way We Were was very nice indeed. Can’t Beat Streisands Pipes.

Paint Your Wagon.

also Just noticed upstream here Paint your Wagon

And The Greatest Showman would be my choice too. Pasek and Paul are some of the best modern song writers.

If you have never seen it, this video of an early rehearsal version of "This is Me" brings me to tears. You can see the moment that she embodies the song/character and begins to believe it.

Last edited Sat Jul 5, 2025, 05:15 PM - Edit history (1)

The 1971 adaptation of the stage musical with Topol as Tevye.

Anyone who hasn't should see "Saving Mr. Banks"

My favorite is "West Side Story"

it would be Camelot and West Side Story. On a side note, I keep wondering if the latter could be updated to be between Black and Puerto Rican gangs......

Watched Hamilton last night on Netflix, and found it extremely well done. But Jean Valjean rules.

However, I used to go see Rocky Horor regularly at a horrible theater in Iowa City where the screen was pretty much a swimming pool on its side and they could just hose it out after we all flung hot dogs and toilet paper at it.

Best show was one Halloween, when they subjected us to the worst punk band ever as an opener. I finally raised my newspaper to block them out, then realized everyone else followed suit. The band screamed at us and stomped offstage to the cheers of all.

I haven't had such a fun night since.

Oddly enough, when I tried watching it on TV, the movie was much less fun and almost sinister. Clearly, the raucous audience participation is the key to what makes it work. 😏

fun.

Good Morning Song and the dancing.

Is by far the best musical I have seen. I do like Wicked. It is hard to determine when an artistic piece stands on its own or is inextricably linked to another piece. I'm not sure. Maybe Wicked requires knowledge of The Wizard of Oz. Of course, I'm talking about Wicked the Broadway musical not the movie version. The movie version although well done, is just the First Act of the Broadway musical.

In all fairness, Hadestown, being a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, is greatly enhanced if you know the original myth. Hadestown also weaves the story of Hades and Persephone into the piece.

It's not really a spoiler to tell you that Orpheus is unable to rescue Eurydice from the underworld. And Persephone returns yearly from the underworld to bring us spring. Yet hadestown clearly explains why we humans enthusiastically embrace and perform pointless endeavors. ---- sort of like Heart's Dog and Butterfly, "She had to try, she had to try. . ."

The Sound of Music - I especially love the scene with Maria and the captain dancing the Laendler (?sp)
Chicago - the song and dance numbers are over-the-top energetic
The Music Man - except for Sheboopie. That song is inspidly stupid. Totally love Lida Rose and Pick A Little, Talk A Little

all of your selections,

The Music Man is a fun musical with good songs. Although the story is one of a con man selling musical instruments to parents so their kid can be in a non-existent band. If you look closer at the story, it's really a look the hypocrisy of small town life.

Another musical l liked was Streets of Fire. I first saw part of it on a video jukebox and thought it would make a great movie and then I learned the video came from the movie. I was hooked. I saw and loved the movie and bought the soundtrack.

I do like the Les Miserables movie but I enjoyed the original London play and soundtrack better.

Rock Opera, Tommy
Adventures of a Bus Called Priscilla
Rocky Horror Picture Show

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2025, 11:36 AM - Edit history (1)

Description: Man shoots himself in leg to the accompaniment of Offenbach's Can-can Music.

Both somewhat grounded in historic accuracy. Great music and exposition.

features a soundtrack from the early years of probably the most played composer of our times, Tom Jobim. (The Girl from Ipanema)
The soundtrack in the movie is melancholic, featuring historical stages of samba and the origins of carnival. The film is very picturesque, depicting the early years of the evolution of samba and carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Tom Jobim received multiple awards with his filmtrack and catapulted to fame after meeting Stan Getz.

This film is a historical classic of the population strata of Brazil and the name evokes an adaptation of the ancient Greek classic Orpheus and Eurydice.

So many great musicals, it's impossible to pick a best one. But this is one of my all-time favorites, about our war with Canada. An underrated classic!

Cabaret; All that Jazz; Showboat; Paint your Wagon.

Its meaning goes deeper than the words It always brings me to tears.

I love some scenes from Fiddler on the Roof, too, especially the one where the men all dance - best choreography Anywhere! But in real life people don't bust into song and dance on a regular basis and I find most musicals too annoying because of it. In the dance scene, and in all of Cabaret, the singing and dancing are Appropriate!

Cole Porter music, fabulous dancing, clever take on a Shakespeare classic---what's not to like?

"Happy talk"

...and the local girl was given the news, I learned that war is NOT like a fairy story with the
lovers go off in the beautiful sunset...and all the world is bunnies and kisses..

it would have to be Singing In the Rain - although West Side Story and Guys and Dolls are definitely among my favorites.

Stage shows: The Producers and Hadestown

Frank Sinatra, Marlin Brando, Jean Simmons. Damon Runyan inspired story with great songs and lyrics.

It was a pretty good movie, and a pretty good musical. 1960: Bells are Ringing. Judy Holliday, Dean Martin. Judy plays Ella, who works as a telephone answering service operator who tries to improve the lives of her clients by connecting them together. It's not flawless but it is quite enjoyable. It was Holliday's last picture; she died quite young from cancer in 1965.

My favorite is only technically a musical: A Hard Day's Night. It's a comic masterpiece and the songs of the early Beatles cannot be topped. My daughter's favorite is The Wiz (I can't say why) and my wife just adores Xanadu (again, don't ask me to explain). They're both crazy about Grease, which isn't as hard to understand.

Cabaret is the only musical I liked. Chicago & All That Jazz were tolerable.
Generally speaking, they are not my cup of tea.

Also Phantom.

Yes, I know they changed the ending from the stage musical. But I still love it.

Rick Moranis and Ellen Green singing “Suddenly, Seymour” is so unexpectedly moving that it just makes the entire movie.

And falling in love with Ashman and Menkin’s song “Somewhere That’s Green” made it that much more magical when hearing their song “Part Of Your World” years later in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”.

As a child, I adored Oliver! (1968)
As an adult, I enjoyed De-Lovely (2004)
And I especially loved the musical comedy series - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (2020-2021) 25 episodes

It's a work of genius; the rest are just pleasant entertainments in comparison. It's Mozart vs. Salieri.

"South Pacific" is a close runner-up.

Appeared in several, in high school: Brigadoon, Carousel, Kismet.

South Pacific ALWAYS!

work you do and the love they have for you. Second, I love all you selections of musicals, You are a gift to us.

Corny, but has special meaning for me as the first movie I saw after 3 months in boot camp.

One of the first comedy musical I remember from my teen years.

Kinda ironic that we're living through it now.

Absolutely love both musicals.

Edited to add: the original West Wide Story movie, of course. I have absolutely no desire to ever seen the remake.

If so, "Sleeping Beauty" gets my vote.