Music from broadway shows

Question

which shows do you think have the best music?

Answer 1

Wicked all the way!

Answer 2

Once On This Island

Children Of Eden

Aida

Spring Awakening

Guys And Dolls

these are my favorites.

Answer 3

I am an ardent anti-Webberian and disapprove of the Disney-induced trend for glitz and spectacle nowadays.  I love more "esoteric," complex works by decent composers, and Sondheim's musicals definitely win in that department.  Here are my favorites of his:

1.) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- originally written in 1979 and starring the wonderful Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou (later Geroge Hearn), popularized today by the Tim Burton, which, I'm afraid to say, has attracted a fair share from the plebs who love its "darkness" and love Wicked, but fail to appreciate its subtleties

2.) Into the Woods: written in the late 80's and early 90's.  It follows the stories of familiar fairy-tale characters and is riddled with musical motifs and Sondheim's all-too-familiar witty anecdotes that belie its superficial fairy-tale simplicity.

3.) A Little Night Music: Based on a '60s Ingmar Bergman film, it follows the love affairs of nineteenth century Swedish aristocrats in a sensual, even s**y musical entirely written in 3/4, or at least variations of the tempo.

4.) Sunday in the Park with George: Sondheim's most unconvential musical, it follows the story of "misunderstood" artist George Seurat and his love for art and his girl, Dot amongst the backdrop of his most famous painting "Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte."  Written in 1984 after a series of failed musicals, the subject of the failed artist really hit home, and this music is a direct expression of the all-too-reclusive Sondheim.  The music is text-paints in pointillist fashion, like Seurat's own style, and utilizes Impressionistic harmonies to their utmost value.

One could argue that Sondheim, starting in the 70s, brought the medium of musical theater from the arena of the folk to a truly, "classical" art form.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Gypsy, Rodgers and Hammersten, and Kander and Ebb.  West Side Story is nothing short of remarkable.  But they fail to capture musical theater's utmost potential as an experimental artistic medium, and the ultimately fall back on what we now define as musical theater kitsch.  The trend Webber unleashed in the 80s in opposition (consciously or unconsciously) to the eliteness of Sondheim's own, to me, seems anachronistic: it goes back to an age when musical theater was simple.  However, all those musicals are without the charm or authenticity of those previous ages.

Answer 4

The Phantom of the Opera

Answer 5

Definitely Caberet. My Fair Lady too

Answer 6

Phantom of the Opera's music is awesome.