With the passing of Topol and myself isolating with covid (spouse has left and staying with girlfriend), I thought we could have post on Charlton Fans favourite musical's on stage or screen.
My top 5 are
Man of La Mancha, stage not the film
Blood Brothers
Wicked
Guys and Dolls
Phantom of the Opera
Honourable mentions to Mame, stage not film and Dusty.
Comments
Hamilton might be something for the younger generation I assume. It's great that your daughter is in amateur musical production. I read a few interviews with people working in the theatre in New York and it seems a tough business. But I'm always fascinated by the fact that in the Western countries children do plays and there are many relative social groups. I wish I had this kind of environment growing up. It must be a great experience to take part in one of your favourite plays and meet people with similar interest.
High Society
La la land (especially the night scene)
A star is borne (Lady Gaga great)
Saw Phantom of the Opera in Sydney as a special deal which included a glass of bubbly and box of choccies which went down a treat.
And Hairspray in NY which was pretty good.
42nd Street
Lion King
Chicago
Pal Joey
Screen
too many to mention, I grew up in a household where we watched every musical from about 1930 onwards to the present day. A special mention to James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy and, of course, Fred Astaire.
Little Shop of Horrors
The Producers
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Grease
Les Mis
Oliver
Sound of Music
The Producers
Phantom of the Opera
Hair
Phantom of the Opera
Wicked
I also enjoyed ALW / Rice's other works Joseph and Evita. Rice's collaboration with Abba Chess is also worth mentioning. In contrast I am lukewarm about ALW's subsequent works
Les Mis
Fiddler on the Roof
I like most Sondheim works also.
Her theatre group is CLOC musical theatre and often their productions are as good as the pros google it and it shows history
In the UK for many schools part of the curriculum is doing Drama.
That isn’t to prepare youngsters for working in the field, any more than the purpose of doing Physical Education is to turn out Olympic quality athletes.
Both of those school ‘subjects’ (and most others actually) are included because they are seen to have wider value than being narrowly utilitarian.
I once visited an English class in a school in Xian and attempted to do a simple role play in English with a student pretending to buy an ice cream. The dialogue was brief, but I was rather shocked to find that the student really struggled to handle the pretend, and the minimal bit of imagination needed.
China is already a strong country, and would be even stronger if it nurtured more creativity amongst the young.
Outcome, oldest daughter tends to be very narrow minded and does not easily tolerate other views. Daughter 2, can be timid and easily overridden by those in authority.
Youngest who is 40 can talk to people of any status. She works as an advocate for disabled and mentally ill people. Deals with wide group of govt people including courts.
I know people have different personalities but I am convinced her drama education gave her the grounding for her career.
Put on a happy face
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
I'm sure I'll think of a few more
Cabaret - brilliant and love the way it's set in the middle of the room like the actual club.
Back to the Future - most nostalgia i suppose but loved the songs and cant believe how good the transfer to stage is.
Wicked - saw it in NY and London and loved it, but again maybe as i love Wizard of Oz!
Hairspray - saw it with Michael Ball in, was so funny as he kept ad libbing!
Special mention to the worst musical i've ever seen. Spice Girls (yes there was one for a few months). Terrible songs, terrible acting and the ending was crap and sudden.
The only theatrical musical I've seen recently was Sunny Afternoon, which was about the early days of the Kinks. Even then I thought it was ruined when they burst into song. I would have preferred it if the only music was them playing their early hits, say in rehearsal, or a mock up of a pub gig.
But this is very much a case of different strokes for different folks.
And, to be fair, people keep recommending Hamilton, so I might go and see that.