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Good WDers, as has been proved on so many occasions, we Know Our Shit. So I have a request for those of you who are well acquainted with musical thatre. (Eileen, Crystal, Allison, and Danielle, I'm looking at you guys especially!)

I need some guidance with musical theatre! I feel a bit like I'm stagnating at the moment and I need some inspiration.
I grew up during the Menken/Ashman Disney era so stuff from Little Mermaid onwards will always be very dear to me. (I think Little Shop of Horrors is amazing.) I love love loved Wicked, and also Avenue Q. I have enjoyed the bits of Forbidden Broadway that I've heard, and I also adored the remake of Hairspray.
I quite like Oliver!. I don't mind the Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice stuff I have come into contact with so far, (Joseph mostly) but I suspect there's better stuff to try. I quite like Cole Porter's songs but I'm not familiar with many of his shows - are there any I should start with? My mum had a tape of Les Mis which I used to make her listen to a LOT but I have never seen the actual show.

A lot of artists I enjoy and admire have stated their love of Sondheim - is there a particular starting point I can try for him?

Please also bear in mind that I can't stand the following:
The Wizard of Oz, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Grease, Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music.

Any and all suggestions are very much appreciated! (Unless it involves The Sound of Music )

Based on your dislikes, I'm afraid you may be a lost cause.

I'd say give Singing In The Rain and White Christmas a go. Just don't tell me if you hate them, OK?

I'm going to have another coffee and see if it sparks any further ideas.

Okay, I'm going to go on the assumption that you're particularly interested in musicals you can get on DVD - I'm afraid I'm not terribly up-to-date on most current stage musicals.

The only two Cole Porter musicals I'm very familiar with are Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate. I've never actually seen Anything Goes, but it has a wonderful collection of Porter standards and the storyline is pretty cohesive (which isn't always a given in some of the earlier musicals). Kiss Me Kate is pretty enjoyable - about a divorced couple who are putting on a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. It has the novelty of having Bob Fosse dancing some of his own (uncredited) choreography.

Speaking of Bob Fosse, I'm very fond of Chicago. Some of the movies of his other shows are hit & miss for me (even the ones he directed).

Another musical I'd recommend (based on your lists of likes/dislikes) is The Music Man - the original version with Robert Preston. The TV remake with Matthew Broderick isn't bad - but nothing beats Preston.

I'm hesitant to suggest any R&H musicals given your antipathy towards Sound of Music, but you might enjoy Oklahoma (although I always ff the ballet dream sequence) or South Pacific.

Other composers/lyricists that I love are Lerner & Loewe (particularly My Fair Lady and Gigi - I have personal issues with the film version of Camelot - but you might enjoy it too) and Frank Loesser (specificaly Guys and Dolls.)

I could probably list quite a few more, but my suggestions are starting to look old & hoary enough as it is .

CD-wise, I'd say "Chess". The lyrics are pretty outstanding - I wish I could have seen it performed live. The closest I got was being in my halls of residence's production of it. Plus it has Elaine Paige. And the following lines (from the "Quartet/A Model Of Decorum" song):

"Through the elegant yearning of this compelling dispute
Comes the ghastly suspicion my opposition's a fruit."

God bless Benny and Bjorn, they certainly know how to nail some mighty fine lyrics Right now, they are making me chuckly muchly, and I'm sure you know why

I saw one last night, called "Ordinary Days" - it's very new and small. It started at Penn State this summer, and the man who went on to direct it heard some of the composer's songs on MySpace. It's finishing a run of a few nights in a theatre in London (the equivalent of off-Broadway ), in a venue that only seated 50 people. I'm not kidding - intimate was an understatement. It was the tale of a girl losing her thesis notes, and how the lives of her and 3 other New Yorkers ended up intersecting. Pretty good, I thought - I'm hoping it gets a bigger place to air some time in the future (so this is a "keep an eye out for it" one).

I also like "Chicago" and "Evita" (though that is admittedly based on the film, and yes, I like Madonna's singing in it).

I'd second Annika's suggestions of White Christmas and Singin' in the Rain, and Cassy's suggestion of Guys and Dolls, definitely.

And my own suggestions, just picking a few from my own collection of CDs that you might like, Rent, The Last 5 Years, The Producers and Godspell (not the film version of this though - that sucks!). Also if you liked Les Miserables*, you might also like Phantom of the Opera (which is the best ALW show, in my opinion). Different writers and compsers, but I've always lumped these two shows together, for some reason.

If you want a copy of any or all of these, give me the nod and I'll send them your way. I just bought a new spindle of blank CDs!

I would highly recommend the DVD Hey Mr Producer!, a concert celebrating Cameron Macintosh's shows. I saw this for the first time years ago, and it introduced me to a lot of music that I didn't previously know. It also has an amazing cast. This has a section of Sondheim music. I've never really clicked with Sondheim stuff myself, but I've only ever heard the songs individually, never as part of a show.

And filmwise, maybe Annie, Meet Me In St Louis, Moulin Rouge (not original music, but still worth a look) and the original version of Hairspray with Ricki Lake (different songs to the remake).

As for Cole Porter stuff, the only one that springs to mind that you should check out is Anything Goes. I've only ever seen it on stage (with John Barrowman, no less!), so don't know if there's a film you could watch, but there must be soundtracks out there.
(Edit: Hey presto! The John Barrowman version.)
He also did High Society, which isn't one of my own favourites, despite having a great cast (I always preferred the movie it was based on, The Philadelphia Story), but a lot of people love it.

* If you ever fancy a trip to London to go see Les Miserables (and if you've never seen it, you should!), you could totally count me in! I love that show and haven't seen it in years.

Gandalf wrote: * If you ever fancy a trip to London to go see Les Miserables (and if you've never seen it, you should!), you could totally count me in! I love that show and haven't seen it in years.

Ooh yes! Caz, come down here so we can do this! I've never seen it live, but had a spell of LOVING it, I think I wore out the tape on which I recorded the 10th anniversary show [doh]

I highly recommend Funny Girl, but it kinda depends on how you feel about Barbara Streisand. Her voice is amazing in this and the songs are wonderful.

Annie is very cute, and I'll also second my beloved Meet Me in St Louis. And just about anything else Judy Garland sings in (Other than Wizard of OZ. I'm right there with you on that one.).

tinkcat wrote:I'll also second my beloved Meet Me in St Louis

It's the best, isn't it! I wore out my tape of it when I was younger (god bless DVDs!) and I could quote the entire script, I watched it so much. I haven't seen it in a while though, must hunt it out.

It is! My aunt and I used to watch it every year around Christmas. I haven't seen it in a couple of years and now I have an overwhelming desire to go dig it out and watch it right now!

My favourite Sondheim is Into the Woods, and if you've seen Sweeny Todd, then that's Sondheim as well.

We did bits and pieces of Nine, Chess and Chicago when I was in university, and I loved them all.