From jazz hands and high kicks to Sondheim magic

[showtunesgirl]

Welcome to the Mumsnet Musical Theatre thread.

Pull up a sequinned pouffe, get cosy with a porn star martini, kick off those character shoes, take off the wig and let out your inner Bernadette Peters.

This is a thread for lovers of musical theatre, whether watching or participating in it. Anything Goes here so to speak...

I'll kick off by saying that in the last week I saw The Book of Mormon and sob, Merrily We Roll Along. Both excellent in completely different ways.

Anyone else?

agree about Passion...would be a little worried if it was your absolute favourite!

Showtunes - do you know Light in the Piazza? If you like Sondheim, I would expect you to love it.

PS, thanks for this fab thread.

OK, putting it out there. Jerry Herman. Love Mame. Love Mack & Mabel. Love La Cage Aux Folles. Adore Dear World - odd show, fabulous score. But Hello Dolly leaves me stone cold. Don't get why people love it so.

It's on my list to listen to!

The show I have never got is Rocky Horror. I know I should like it but again it leaves me cold.

I cannot abide Hello Dolly. I wish I could articulate exactly why but it's just not my cup of tea not enough sequins probably

Sorrel - thank god, I was beginning to think it was just me.

I'm also going to put it out there that while Rodgers & Hammerstein could write some good songs, I wouldn't sit through any of their shows. Sound of Muesli is saccharine. In Carousel everyone thinks a wife beater is a real swell guy. King & I just goes on and on. And don't mention those dream ballet type things.

Hello Dolly is very silly... lame plot and has to have an amazingly charismatic Dolly to be even watchable.

I've never seen Assassins or Anyone Can Whistle, they're now on my list. I loved Into the Woods when I saw it at Regent's Park a few years ago, though. Such a clever subverting of the original fairy tales.

But I love Run Eliza, run! Run from Simon!

I think it's what our ears are used to listening to though. I went to A Night Of Musicals at my local church recently. In my part of London, there are A LOT of performers / musicians so everyone who sang on that night was a pro. They went through musicals chronologically and my ear just wasn't interested in the R & H stuff.

Mooncup - you could probably accuse at least a third of the musicals ever written of being very silly or having lame plots. I think I just find Dolly a total PITA. Assassins is fabulous and thought provoking theatre when done well. Anyone Can Whistle is almost never staged and doesn't actually work on stage (think Sondheim himself admits this) but as a score just to listen to, it's brilliant.

Of course, I am totally biased, as Anyone Can Whistle was Angela Lansbury's first musical.

I don't think you can discount R&H musicals- they were written in a very different era. They marked a huge change in the way musicals were written (songs moved the plot along) and they did have some strong messages for their time. Some have become dated but some are still relevant- I saw South Pacific again recently and was really moved by it. "You've got to be carefully taught" is as relevant today as it was then.

Ofcourse - I don't discount the songs, they wrote lots of good ones. As much as I hate Carousel, If I Loved You is just stunning. But When I Marry Mr Snow makes me want to puke!

I'm not a 'ballad' person and therefore can discount quite a few R&H numbers from my play list. I can't abide Carousel and I'm not keen on The Sound of Music (I've said that if my group ever do it I'd rather play a Nazi than a nun!). My view on Oklahoma! however was forever changed by the NT version and having just done a run as Ado I won't have a word said against it. . The dream ballet is problematic and we nearly cut it altogether but with some judicious pruning and some quirky touches I think we pulled it off! I've got some rehearsal footage of anyone's bored interested.

I'm not averse to South Pacific actually. Some interesting themes.

Uggghh, Rocky Horror. Overhyped and basically a pile of poo.

I think I've got fairly wide range of musical tastes. I like a real mix of shows. I'm a dancer really so anything with great choreography really gets me going. Shows like A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Anything Goes, Crazy For You etc. when done well, make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I cried at the end of Anything Goes Act 1 at Drury Lane when the funnel revolved during the title number .

and so does the clambake song!! still am amazed at their body of work- so many classics in there- is quite a challenge to stay 'relevant' 70 years on.

Oh I know Jessica, but a good musical can make you suspend your disbelief (most Cole Porter plots are totally ridiculous, but who cares?), whereas Hello Dolly never quite achieves that.

I absolutely love the song Anyone Can Whistle... might have to buy the whole soundtrack now.

Mooncup - Anyone Can Whistle is another of my most favourite songs. There's a lot of good stuff in that show - some of it very odd, but very catchy. The Act I finale lasts over 12 minutes and is barking mad (a lot of the show is actually about madness) but fabulous. In fact, am listening to it now at work!

OK, putting this out there too..... stands by for flaming.... I don't like Les Mis or Miss Saigon either.

I'm indifferent to Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Cats and Phantom!

For me, Les Mis and Phantom, it depends on who is in it.

Saigon, I love apart from the REALLY long endings of songs.

Cats, no.

I haven't listened to Miss Saigon or Phantom in years- but wouldn't say I don't like them- will just get a show in my head, listen to it for a few weeks or months (currently Godspell!) until something else takes it place.

so thinking of R&H and shows that are still around after so many years- what ever happened to Camelot? that was a classic that came around every decade- but haven't seen it mentioned in ages.

hit send too soon- has great songs- and not like Lerner and Loewe are no longer in fashion...

In my head I always rhyme Camelot with Spamalot and push the pram a lot

I think precisely because of Spamalot, it would now be hard to revive Camelot!

BTW, off to NY tomorrow so suggestions for a show would be welcomed. I think we'd like to see something that isn't on/hasn't been on over here. Newsies? Pippin?

Yes, I would have suggested both of those.

Patina Miller won for Pippin. I saw her over here when she was on Sister Act. She was great in it, shame about the show though. I loved the film but the show was all Disco!

Parents just saw 'nice work if you can get it' - all Gershwin - Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara- they loved it. You can probably get half price tickets for it in Times Square. Have heard some less than glowing Newsies reviews from friends. Think Pippin would be my own first choice.

forget that last one- Nice Work closed last week!