Skip to main content

ABCs of Broadway

 No one asked for this, but I compiled my "ABCs of Broadway"; below are shows I'd like my children to know, and know well, before they reach adulthood. 


(Generally, the musicals aren't perfect, but they all show evidence of life; these musicals, unlike many others, were products of writers who had working brains and beating hearts.)


As I drafted this list, I loved considering the career of Stephen Sondheim, who is in a class of his own (according to the world, and to Paul Simon, who wrote about Sondheim in the Times a few years ago). One of many things I admire about Sondheim is that he reinvented himself after his mid-life crisis, and his Second Act included "Sunday in the Park with George" and "Into the Woods."

Sondheim worried that people past their fifties did not generally write great musicals. I think "Assassins" and "Passion" are not first-rate Sondheim, but, still, they're notable! (Think of "The Gun Song," "Unworthy of Your Love," "Loving You," "I Read.") Finally, Sondheim did something that few artists do: He gave us two works of thoughtful, playful criticism, "Hat Box." So, in his eighties, he had written a book that became an item in the Times "Ten Best" list (in the year 2010).

I had fun making this "syllabus," and I hope it's fun for you, too.

Assassins
Big River
Cabaret

Dreamgirls
Everyday Rapture
Follies

Gypsy
Hello, Dolly
Into the Woods

Jesus Christ Superstar
Kiss of the Spider-Woman
Little Shop of Horrors

Music Man
Next to Normal
Oklahoma

Passing Strange
Q
Rent

Sweeney Todd
Title of Show
U

Violet
West Side Story
X

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Z

*The letter C alone could include "Chorus Line," "Carousel," "Company," "Color Purple," "Chicago," "Crazy for You," "Caroline, or Change."
*I'm especially proud of having recalled "Everyday Rapture," which absolutely deserves inclusion on any list like this.
*"Guys and Dolls," "Falsettos," "South Pacific," "Fiddler," "A Little Night Music," "Annie, Get Your Gun," "Anything Goes," "She Loves Me" all deserve consideration.
*"In the Heights" is a bit overly schematic, with several flat characters, but a 96,000/"Won't Be Long Now"/"No Me Diga" score is worth purchasing.
*I can't include "Passion," because I think "Passion" has just one interesting character. The people who surround Fosca are puzzling and tedious (if you ask me).
*People love "Xanadu," but I've never seen it. And I haven't heard the score.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more