melias6's review
5.0
Ranking by Book/Libretto:
1. Cabaret
2. Gypsy
3. A Funny Thing Happened …
4. My Fair Lady
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. Guys and Dolls
7. 1776
8. The Pajama Game
Ranking by Score:
1. Cabaret
2. Guys and Dolls
3. Gypsy
4. A Funny Thing Happened …
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. My Fair Lady
7. 1776
8. The Pajama Game
Hot takes:
Cabaret: One of my top 5 favorite musicals, so there’s a significant bias here. Still, this is one of the best books of a musical in terms of song integration, equally effective within the Kit Kat Klub, when establishing character, and in propelling the plot. A knockout, and tragically relevant in 2020.
Gypsy: The mother of all shows, and certainly one of the most psychologically astute (for a musical, anyway). The book is strong enough to stand on its own; the score lives or dies on its casting. Thankfully, there hasn’t been a Broadway recording that isn’t worth a listen. (The TV version, on the other hand …)
A Funny Thing Happened …: The biggest surprise for me. I’d heard a few songs, but there’s an elegance to this early Sondheim score that, when paired with the book, results in a farce that’s relatively classy. And the book is a riot; if this were revived locally, I’d see it in a heartbeat.
My Fair Lady: Adapting George Bernard Shaw can’t be an easy feat, even if this particular story is strong enough to seem somewhat foolproof. The book itself is amusing and witty, with a perfect narrative arc in Act I. As a score, this (like Gypsy) lives and dies on its two leads, and in a subpar recording you really notice how little the rest of the cast is given to do on the music front. A classic, to be sure, but not a personal favorite.
Fiddler on the Roof: Another no-doubt-about-it classic, with a score I prefer over My Fair Lady. (I love an ensemble number, and Fiddler doles them out with regularity without sacrificing character work.) The book is pleasant enough on its own, but expert casting and staging are needed to make this really sing. (Excuse the pun.)
Guys and Dolls: Hands down one of my all-time favorite scores, which makes it all the more frustrating that the book bores me to tears. Which isn’t to say it’s bad. This is classic Broadway storytelling, itself set in the Great White Way. Gamblers/mobsters and the like just never interest me; Frank Loesser’s score, though, is aces.
1776: I’d see The Pajama Game over this, but I have to concede that the book is well-constructed (considering we know how it ends), and the songs can be stirring. Yet it’s also one of the least successful in terms of natural song integration, at least on paper; long stretches of dialogue-heavy scenes followed by two or three songs in quick succession make this seem rather logy. Seeing this live would certainly help, but neither book nor score left me inspired to do so.
The Pajama Game: Last but not least. Both the book and score are at least a B- (which speaks to the overall quality of this incredible volume). The story is slight, but it takes considerable talent to turn source material about labor disputes into lighthearted musical comedy. Musically, the score boasts some classic songs, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Adler and Ross’s Damn Yankees!, their follow-up and final collaboration following Ross’s untimely death. Taken together, though, that’s quite the legacy.
1. Cabaret
2. Gypsy
3. A Funny Thing Happened …
4. My Fair Lady
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. Guys and Dolls
7. 1776
8. The Pajama Game
Ranking by Score:
1. Cabaret
2. Guys and Dolls
3. Gypsy
4. A Funny Thing Happened …
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. My Fair Lady
7. 1776
8. The Pajama Game
Hot takes:
Cabaret: One of my top 5 favorite musicals, so there’s a significant bias here. Still, this is one of the best books of a musical in terms of song integration, equally effective within the Kit Kat Klub, when establishing character, and in propelling the plot. A knockout, and tragically relevant in 2020.
Gypsy: The mother of all shows, and certainly one of the most psychologically astute (for a musical, anyway). The book is strong enough to stand on its own; the score lives or dies on its casting. Thankfully, there hasn’t been a Broadway recording that isn’t worth a listen. (The TV version, on the other hand …)
A Funny Thing Happened …: The biggest surprise for me. I’d heard a few songs, but there’s an elegance to this early Sondheim score that, when paired with the book, results in a farce that’s relatively classy. And the book is a riot; if this were revived locally, I’d see it in a heartbeat.
My Fair Lady: Adapting George Bernard Shaw can’t be an easy feat, even if this particular story is strong enough to seem somewhat foolproof. The book itself is amusing and witty, with a perfect narrative arc in Act I. As a score, this (like Gypsy) lives and dies on its two leads, and in a subpar recording you really notice how little the rest of the cast is given to do on the music front. A classic, to be sure, but not a personal favorite.
Fiddler on the Roof: Another no-doubt-about-it classic, with a score I prefer over My Fair Lady. (I love an ensemble number, and Fiddler doles them out with regularity without sacrificing character work.) The book is pleasant enough on its own, but expert casting and staging are needed to make this really sing. (Excuse the pun.)
Guys and Dolls: Hands down one of my all-time favorite scores, which makes it all the more frustrating that the book bores me to tears. Which isn’t to say it’s bad. This is classic Broadway storytelling, itself set in the Great White Way. Gamblers/mobsters and the like just never interest me; Frank Loesser’s score, though, is aces.
1776: I’d see The Pajama Game over this, but I have to concede that the book is well-constructed (considering we know how it ends), and the songs can be stirring. Yet it’s also one of the least successful in terms of natural song integration, at least on paper; long stretches of dialogue-heavy scenes followed by two or three songs in quick succession make this seem rather logy. Seeing this live would certainly help, but neither book nor score left me inspired to do so.
The Pajama Game: Last but not least. Both the book and score are at least a B- (which speaks to the overall quality of this incredible volume). The story is slight, but it takes considerable talent to turn source material about labor disputes into lighthearted musical comedy. Musically, the score boasts some classic songs, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Adler and Ross’s Damn Yankees!, their follow-up and final collaboration following Ross’s untimely death. Taken together, though, that’s quite the legacy.
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