Status of Musicals 2011

I know that it’s a very important thing that I keep everyone appraised of my personal listing of musicals, and well, it’s kind of a slow day at work and I am trying to find a reason to stay here and not just go home for the day.  So, here I am updating this list of musicals which I first typed up back in 2010.  Larry & I have seen a few since that performance of Billy Elliott and well, I am gay and I like to write, so it’s LIST TIME!!!!

I’ve added images to help jog anyone’s memory who cares, as well as bolded text indicating if something was added or a show got moved around in the rankings.  Since moving to LA, my intake of musicals has unfortunately dropped down significantly as you just don’t have that luxury of dropping in to TKTS and picking up some cheap tickets for a weekend Broadway show.  I just looked at tickets for the traveling Wicked tour here at the Pantages…..$280 each.  For mezzanine.  Uh, no.  As you can see, that show isn’t near the top of this list, and I don’t think it deserves me shelling out hundreds of dollars for it.  We are heading back to NYC late this year so there should be some more updates soon.   Probably not Book of Mormon regrettably, as that bad boy is sold out till Armageddon.

• Les Miserables/Les Miserables 25th Anniversary (Pasadena, San Antonio, London / Los Angeles): If you haven’t seen it, then you haven’t seen the best musical ever.  Maybe it’s a tad overdramatic at times, but I defy you to not be sobbing into your hankey more than once throughout this amazing show.  The music is instantly memorable, the staging is highly inventive and awesome, and the sheer bombasticness of it all allowed this decision to be quite easy. 2011 Update:  I’ve also added the recent 25th Anniversary edition that has been trotted out here.  The songs are all the same so I can’t really classify it as anything different, they just made a fantastic update to how the musical is staged.  It’s amazing…still.
• Avenue Q (New York x3):  A musical with foul-mouthed puppets and all-too-human people.  It’s been referred to as the Sesame Street for Adults, and that’s hard to argue with.  It’s filled with hilarious songs that are all relatable to everyone who has grown up into an adult.  Plus, these songs are again all instantly memorable.  You may see a theme that those musicals up at the top for me most importantly have songs that I remember or want to hear again.  That’s very key to my enjoyment of a musical.
• The Lion King (New York): An amazing surprise, especially since it’s a Disney production.  I was expecting shlocky or tacky, but its redemption is because Julie Taymor was responsible for it.  The show blows you away with its effective use of the already amazing songs and extremely creative staging.  It felt very tribal too, making it all the better.

• Mamma Mia! (London, Las Vegas x2, Colorado Springs, New York):  How can you not walk away from this musical with a smile and an extreme love of ABBA?  I’ve seen this musical 5 times. I’d go see it again in a heartbeat.  Great music, exuberant performances, and a “Waterloo” finale!  Yeah, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this musical, even if it paved the way for the Jukebox musical that’s currently wearing out its welcome in Broadway.
• La Cage Aux Folles (New York):  2011 List Addition – Known as The Birdcage in the movies, so if you know that movie, you’ll know the overall story about a gay couple whose son brings home his fiancee and her conservative family.  Themes of intolerance and acceptance ensue.  The performance run of this with Kelsey Grammar and Douglas Hodge was outstanding.  They had amazing chemistry and their renditions of the songs were fabulous.  It’s now closed, but I’ll always feel lucky to have seen it for myself.  “The Best of Times Are Now” is still on my iTunes playlist and never fails to cheer me up, especially when I think of the performance accompanying it.
• Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Los Angeles, San Antonio): One of the first musicals I ever saw.  It was a colorful (naturally) overwhelming experience to behold and the songs were nothing but infectious.  They still are.  It’s of course a little goofy in hindsight, but you can’t deny the fun factor, especially when the Pharoah busts out Elvis moves.  Another musical though that has fantastic songs I wanted to hear immediately again. As we get further down this list, expect less and less of that….
• West Side Story (New York): One of my favorite musical movies, which of course was adapted from an original musical.  This iteration was a revival with some twists like “I Feel Pretty” and “A Boy Like That” sung in Spanish and “Somewhere” staged with a dream-child that could be Maria and Tony’s in a future they’ll never have.  The music is already known by everyone, so the key is the staging and the performances.  West Side Story was almost perfect, but for the lead who plays Tony in this staging.  He is gorgeous…GORGEOUS….but way way way way way tooo Broadway for the role.  For me, it’s important that you fall into the illusion they’re real people singing real feelings…not an actor singing his lines up on stage. Ah well.
• Wicked (New York):  Yeah yeah yeah….this show is STILL sold out every night and it’s been almost 7 years since it came out.  I loved the book and couldn’t wait to see this musical when I got the chance.  But unfortunately, it is a musical that has AMAZING scenery, performances and staging yet has almost a completely generic soundtrack.  Yes, there is of course “Defying Gravity” and “Popular”, which are awesome.  But the rest of the songs?  Eh.  And that is very disappointing.
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (New York):  2011 List Addition – We saw this when we went back to NYC in May 2011 as it was one of the few we could actually get decently-priced tickets to.  I was excited about seeing it as they had been performing the scene “Brotherhood of Men” on a lot of talk shows and it was very compelling, as well as swanky with its 1960s retro cool vibe all over.  It was an entertaining show with amazing dancing, good-looking men, and some catchy songs;  a surprisingly good performance from Harry Potter/Daniel Radcliffe and a hilarious one by John Larroquette were bonuses.
• Billy Elliot (New York):  2011 Update:  Now that I’ve come down from the high of having just seen the show when I wrote about it in 2010, I have to say that I can’t remember a single song from it.  So yeah, that is a sign that the show maybe isn’t perfect.  But I do remember having an amazing feeling after seeing it, so it did a good job there.  But it doesn’t deserve being above some of the others above, at least in my view.
• Rock of Ages (New York):  Jukebox musical?  Check.  Extremely awesome and fun?  CHECK.  It’s all covers of extremely cheesy rock from the 80s, but damn if you aren’t having a blast the entire show.  You even get a damn fake LED lighter to use when they sing the ballads.  It’s fun, doesn’t take itself seriously, and the performances are fantastic.  Lots of fun doesn’t overcome the fact that it’s still an opportunistic jukebox musical though, which is why it’s relatively low on my list.
• Promises, Promises (New York):  2011 List Addition – This revival starring Sean Hayes (Just Jack!) and Kristin Chenoweth was very charming, and also utilized the fabulous 1960s vibe, which was definitely a trend in 2010 musicals it seemed.  The leads were good but the story is really kind of depressing when you get down to it (it’s a musical of movie, The Apartment).  So it helped to have a glitzy set, charming songs, and a hilarious Tony-winning performance from a scene-stealing actress who comes along in the second act to cheer you up.  Her owl calls alone won her that Tony, I tell ya.
• Sunset Boulevard (Los Angeles): Another one of my first musicals, and amazing seats too.  This had Glenn Close in the lead, so the vocals were okay, but no Patti Lupone.  But the set….oh, the set.  Dear Lord, the set.  It was jaw-dropping how they recreated Norma Desmond’s opulent mansion, only for it to float in space in seconds.  Seriously.  Some pretty good songs too, but it is Andrew Lloyd Webber, so you get a lot of repetition. Still, I loved the source material so this gets a lot of that goodwill.
• title of show (New York):  I’m proud to have given my money to this very cute show.  It’s a low budget staging with only 4 cast members, but the songs were funny and the cast was incredible.  But still….not a lot there.  I wish I could say I wanted to hear the songs again, but I really didn’t.  It was one of those shows where the song requires the staging in order for it to be truly entertaining.
• Xanadu (New York):  We didn’t get to see it with Cheyenne Jackson. Fail.  It’s hard to overcome that deficit, to be honest, as the show is sooooo silly.  It was still a lot of fun though, especially for us kitchy gays, but its main draws are the fact that the songs were already known from Olivia Newton John and ELO.  The source movie….I’ve never seen.  But I loved that the musical referenced it and mocked it mercilessly, especially the lead female’s intentionally silly Australian accent.  KEEEEEErrrahh.
• We Will Rock You (Las Vegas):  It’s a jukebox musical based on the music of Queen!  My mom loved it and wanted to see it again, so I went with her.  It was actually pretty good but again, kind of forgettable, especially in the wake of something like Mamma Mia!.  I don’t know if this has ever been rumored to come back as Queen music is pretty awesome, but I think it came out far too closely with Mamma Mia and was hurt because of it.

• Phantom of the Opera (New York):  I don’t get the near universal love that this musical gets.  Maybe because it’s one of the original blockbuster shows?  Maybe because Michael Crawford got so famous for singing “Music of the Night”?   I saw this last year and I just could not get into it.  It was so SILLY.  And not in a good way. The songs were ultra-generic and constantly re-utilized.  Plus seriously….that bitch Christine is nuts.  So yeah, this headed to the bottom of the list, especially after in my staging of it, the “crashing” chandelier fell slower than the Peoplemover at Disneyland.  It’s hard to buy that the actors were in danger with that.  I will give props though on the two opening scenes with the way they dramatically reveal the set.  Especially that reveal of all those people on the staircase in Act 2.
• In The Heights (New York): Another show that gets nothing but praise…yet I really didn’t get into it.  I really really appreciate the backstory of how the show got made, I do.  But that alone is not enough for me to then say I loved the show.  It’s another one where there’s not ONE song that I can remember now, let alone remember right after I saw the show.  And c’mon, it’s a musical, you want the audience to remember your songs.  Do I remember the characters? Yes.  The Washington Heights life the musical was all about?  Remembered.  But that’s not enough for a musical…to me.
• Chicago (London):  I know, I know. WTF?  How can I put this at the bottom?  Well, because I saw the movie first and thought it was a direct adaptation of the musical.  I was wrong.  Very wrong.  And after seeing the musical, well, I wanted to see the movie again.  As it was much better.  Obviously I was probably tainted in this case as I saw the movie first.  Oh well. My list, my rules.