My Top 10 Favorite Broadway Musicals
With Broadway dark for the past 8 months, I’ve had time to reflect back on some of my favorite nights sitting in a theatre as the lights came down and the overture started up. The first Broadway show I saw was almost 45 years ago, and I would guess that I’ve seen somewhere in the vicinity of 500 shows on Broadway, and certainly well over 1000 performances when I take into account Off-Broadway (which is a specific thing, by the way, not just a show in New York that isn’t on Broadway), Off-Off Broadway, Showcase productions, Regional theatre. So for me to look back and pick a 10 best takes considerable rumination. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve had some time on my hands.
So, my Ten Favorite Broadway musicals in no particular order.
But let me start by saying that the Broadway that went dark last March was an extraordinary moment for the Broadway musical. There were three brilliant musicals playing at the same time; certainly the only time in my 45 years of Broadway-going that includes 3 of my top 10.
1. Hamilton: Is it as good as the hype? No, it’s better. The word-play, the story-telling, the psychological insight, the way it turns on a dime emotionally in the middle of a phrase, the STAGING which never stops for a moment, the performances. I saw it twice on stage, a number of times on Disney plus, and have listened to the cast recordings many, many times, and I still am in awe.
2. Dear Evan Hansen: I saw it twice, and both times missed Ben Platt, which I understand was one of the great Broadway performances in my lifetime. Even so, the storyline is brilliantly constructed, the characters and situations are incredibly moving, and it’s all perfectly conveyed through the music. I’m getting choked up right now remembering it.
3. Hadestown: Ah! You may have missed this one. Certainly didn’t get the hype that the other two did. But it is remarkable. Dark, moody, incredibly romantic, complex, atonal. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it stays with me.
4. After starting with the end, let’s go back to the beginning: A Chorus Line. It was the first show I ever saw on Broadway, on the night of the day I arrived in New York for the first time. Now, almost 45 years later, it may seem staid, old-fashioned, maybe even corny. But it was as big a game-changer in its time as Hamilton was in its.
5 & 6: Two Stephen Sondheim musicals from the mid-‘80’s; Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. The moment at the end of “Sunday in the Park” when the actors form the painting is one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen on stage. And the first time I saw “Into the Woods,” I went out at intermission and said, “It’s very clever, but I expect more from Sondheim than clever.” And then went back and found that Act I was a set-up for the brilliance of Act II.
7. Rags Ha! No one saw that one coming! A musical about Eastern European Jews settling on the Lower East Side at the beginning of the 20th Century. Opened in 1986, 18 previews and 4 performances. Yes FOUR performances. The critics HATED IT! I saw it 3 times in that short run. It’s incredibly moving, and the music is GORGEOUS!
8. Rent: Saw that 5 times on Broadway. It actually opened off-Broadway in the East Village when I was doing an Oscar Wilde play on the other side of the wall. Loud rock-and-roll music was pounding through the brick wall while I was trying to be in 1895 London. I had a chip on my shoulder when I went to see it after it moved to Broadway, but I couldn’t resist. I cried every time I went to see it. The movie isn’t very good.
9. The Lion King The story-line is annoying patriarchal, but the first 15 minutes of this musical may be the most inventive thing I’ve ever seen on stage.
10. Gypsy: Not even any particular production of “Gypsy.” I saw it with Tyne Daly, with Bernadette Peters, and with Patti LuPone. I just love this musical. Fun, sad, and an incredible vehicle for a lead actress. When Patti LuPone did it, I think the show stopped for about 10 minutes as the audience applauded “Rose’s Turn.”
Honorable Mention: “In the Heights,” “Pippin,” “Once on this Island,” “Song and Dance,” “Light in the Piazza,” “Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Porgy and Bess,” “Urinetown,” “Hairspray.”
So now weigh in with your favs in the comments section below. No judgement, even if you say “Phantom of the Opera.”