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Mamma Mia Review: Search for a Father

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Mamma Mia is a song from a legendary Swedish pop group in late 1970’s called ABBA. In 1999, a musical play inspired by the songs from ABBA was made under the song’s title. The songs in the play are completely taken from ABBA’s songs and chained up to form its story. Later in 2008, a Hollywood adaptation movie of the musical was made and hit the big screen. Some critics might have given bad reviews on the movie, but the fact was that audiences kept on flocking the movie theaters to watch the singing and dancing from Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan.

The story of Mamma Mia takes place in a Greek Island and is as simple as this. A single mother, Donna, is preparing her daughter’s wedding, Sophie. Even though Donna has done her best to make the wedding beautiful and memorable, Sophie still feels that her wedding will not be complete without the presence of her father. She then takes her mother’s old diary and finds that there are three men who have the biggest possibilities to be her father. They are Sam – a New York based architect, Bill – a Swedish adventurer, and Harry – a banker. Secretly, she invites these three men to come to her wedding.

Several misunderstandings happen when the three men arrive, creating some commotions before the wedding. However, through these incidents Donna is finding her old-forgotten love back and resulting in a very sweet romance. Donna and her future husband also find reinforcement in their love and wed with the bigger feeling of love.

The two leading roles are played by Meryl Streep as Donna and Amanda Seyfried as Sophie. The three possible fathers are played by Pierce Brosnan as Sam, Stellan Skarsgard as Bill, and British actor Colin Firth as Harry. The quality of the singings in this movie is not too bad even though the songs by Pierce Brosnan are intolerable. This average quality can be covered by the energetic and expressive dancings from the whole cast. The setting which was taken in an exotic Greek island also becomes the eye candy for the viewers.

However, most people agree that the musical play is still much better than the movie. The director seems to fail to transfer the greatness of the musical play to the big screen. The movie is okay for those who haven’t seen the play, but I think it will disappoint those who are big fans of the musical play.

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Waiting for Godot: The Life Time Waiting

Monday, March 8th, 2010

It was years ago when my teacher stood up in the front of the class telling everybody in that room that she was going to ask us to read one of the best plays ever written, Waiting for Godot. He also promised us that we would love this play. I don’t know about my other friends, but I did end up to love the play.

Samuel Beckett was a genius, and he wrote one of the most incredible play ever. Godot is probably one of the most famous character in the stage performance world. I was struggling with that character back in the school, but as the time went by, I realized this particular Godot had something to do with all of us. The emptiness of him is still relevant even until now which makes the play is a legendary play that will never stop to be performed anywhere in the world.

I had the chance to see the play on stage for one more time last April. As always, the theater was fully packed with people and the tickets were sold out days before the performance day. It was surprising though to know that not all of the people who went to see the play actually knew what they were going to see. The person who sat next to me even wanted to borrow my program to try to look for the plot of the drama. Sadly, of course, there was no plot to be found.

Waiting for Godot is not about story with a clear plot. It is about life, the life that all of us is living. It portrays our passion of something that will come without none of us know what it is. Waiting, is the main topic you find throughout the play, and probably after the play.

The play tells about two friends, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), meeting one evening under a tree. They are waiting for Godot, someone who they never met but promised them that he would come to save them. While they are waiting, they are rambling some unclear conversations and fights some ridiculous fights.

After some time, come two other strangers, Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is somehow looked like a lord of manor or something, and Lucky is his slave chained by a string. Pozzo is described to be a mean person, torturing Lucky whenever he can. Lucky is a very strange person who always obey everything his master tell him to do so, including carrying luggage he will never put down until he is told to.

Slapstick is a very dominant aspect in this play. All four characters take turns and collaborate to create slapstick scenes which will make some of the audience laugh. Finally, after some little quarrels, Pozzo and Lucky continue their journey and leave our two main characters. A boy comes right after that, bringing a message from Godot that he cannot come today, but he will definitely come tomorrow.

Finally, there will be many debates about who Godot should represents. Many are convinced that he is supposed to be the representation of God. However, Beckett himself denied that and said that he wouldn’t call him Godot in the first place if it was meant to be God. Godot represents everything we hope to come which we think can make our life a little bit better whether it is a marriage, a promotion, or a child. In the end, the play does represent all of us who are in waiting in mostly all the time of our lives.

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How to Make Your Children to Love Opera

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

If you often take your children to see the professional productions of opera’s famous works, you will most likely get them to love the opera eventually. This is what happens with my children. They have been exposed to the opera songs even from their infancy. I was learning theater and musicals and operas were the ones I have to deal with on daily basis. I spent hours to practice the complex runs, trills, and cadenzas of the songs from every works.

Growing up with the songs from all of the famous works in the opera world, my kids never find strange what most kids will find to be embarrassing. They can happily take their friends home while I am practicing “Think of Me” from the famous Phantom of the Opera. It is quite often that their friends would ask “What in the world is that?” and my kids would answer in their indifference that it was their mom trying to burst her lungs again.

They also come and see all my performance in excitement. When most children avoid such shows which they find weird and embarrassing, my children applause in the end of the show with big smiles. That includes the times when I am wearing a really weird costume and make up.

I was in a production of a dramatic opera composed by Richard Wagner. It was one of his opera which based on the Norse mythology. In this production, I had to put myself into a conical helmet made from what used to be an aluminum pie tin. A pair toilet paper tubes which bent artfully and covered in a massive amount of paper mache represented the Viking horns placed gloriously on my head. My ears got the parts as the holder of long braids of variegated orange which were woven to a plait. Madonna’s breast cones were the last part of the costume that I wore that night.

How were my children’s reactions? They were so pleased about it.

Up to this day, they can enjoy the opera genuinely from their heart. They do not consider it as a boring performance with some crazy disoriented people who screams at each other, mostly in foreign languages. They can appreciate the music, songs, and the stories emerge in it. Watching their mother practicing all their life make them understand the hard work and commitment it takes to produce a high quality opera performance.

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Farragut North: A Political Play in Simplicity

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Farragut North is a play created in anticipation of the US presidential election in 2008. The play is based on the Howard Dean’s primary campaign in 2004. I had the chance to see the Farragut North show last year when it was still performed in New York before it was finally transferred to Geffen Playhouse. To me, the play wasn’t hilarious, but it wasn’t bad either.

The leading role, a 25 year old veteran called Stephen Bellamy, was played by Chris Pine. He did the job of bringing the Bellamy’s character into life very well. He had made so many good emotions. His anger was frightening, his clumsiness made good laughs, and his vulnerability thrust everyone’s heart in the theater. He was definitely the center of the play.

The other leading role, Paul Zara, was played by Chris Noth as Pine’s rival. He played his role quite well even though still could not compete with what Pine did. His appearance was not really convincing as a presidential candidate. Based on how they played these two characters, I would definitely vote for Bellamy in the election.

The execution of the play was minimalist with huge emptiness on the stage set. While the empty spaces on the stage allowed me to concentrate more on the actors and their movements, I found that the world in the story was failed to be built. It was difficult to imagine the world the characters lived in with only little props on the stage.

This was followed with the lack of the sound in the play. It was mostly quiet with only dialogues from the actors to hear. No music, no sound of clanking dishes. I was hoping that they could come up with some audio to balance the emptiness of the stage.
The beginning of the play also started with lack of energy if I may say, as the result of the empty background.

However, the good thing was that the actors could gather more and more energy once they could adjust themselves with the void around them. Reaching to the middle of the play, the play already came to life with the actors feeling comfortable already on the stage.
It did not always bring the negatives though. In the scene where Bellamy had a one way conversation in the phone with his opposition utilized the emptiness very well. It helped to raise the private sense of the monolog and Pine did it very well without rushing the whole thing.

Overall, I recommend people to see this play. The theme of this play is very relevant to present economy and politic. The characters are contradictive yet intriguing at the same time. The political game presented can brings you to contemplate on today’s political condition. This play is successfully captured the today’s politics into a beautiful stage performance.

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Review of Musical : Death Of A Salesman

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Arthur Miller has expressed his social concerns in each of his work from his first play to Death of a Salesman. His life experience in Depression are also present in many of his works.

It is the Depression which influenced Miller’s sense a person’s self and towards society. This in turn influenced his words. These ideas are expressed best in Death of A Salesman. The play was initially named “Inside His Head”, and it captures in whole the idea of society which Miller had in mind. The expression of his idea then gave him Pulitzer prize in 1949. It is also known as his masterpiece.

The main character in this play is Willy Loman, who wants to become successful and respected in society, not knowing that society in itself is unstable just as Willy is. He choose popularity and material as his choice of things to purse, which eventually brought him to his downfall. At his age of 63, he then faces destruction and retirement.

Throughout the play, Willy argues that he is a reputable businessman, honorable husband and good father, however, he still cannot face the facts that his own life is falling apart. He can no longer control his own thoughts, and evident from the car which he always allows to slip from the road. He also cannot pay off his bills, his sales keep dropping, while his sons seem not be successful.

Willy is the idea of today’s “ordinary man” which is a modern day tragic hero. He does not have a dragon to slay, but has to face challenges in society such as failure, instability, and getting used to being rejected. He asks himself why he is always contradicted while not seeing that it is his own life that is full of contradictions.

His car then changes from a fine vehicle to becoming a total junk, while he also face the fact that he talks a lot is overweight and not attractive, still, he argues on his gifted persuasion skills and his ability to please others.

In the final act, Willy was shown to be a tragic hero. He steered his car off the road and finalizes with many avoided suicide attempts. Still, Willy believed that money given by the insurance company from a suicide will make him be a sufficient provider of his family. It is therefore the real picture of how an ordinary man tries to struggle in society and how society views such man.

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Review of Musical : Wicked

Friday, September 25th, 2009

The musical “Wicked”, now playing in New York, London, and Chicago is about finding out the truth by looking into the past and see what happens behind the scene. You must find out things that you knew well and really discover what actually occurred. By doing this you will know what actually happened and how things now actually unraveled.

This musical is one of the creative ones, where we are entertained since start to end by getting in touch with the characters which are supporting cast for the famous story “The Wizard of Oz”. The main characters are Galinda, the Good Witch of the North and the antagonist Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. We can also find Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East.

It started with Glinda talking to Oz after the death of the last wicked witch, however when it was asked how Glinda came to know her, we then get back into the past and one thing after another start to be revealed. It is based on the novel authored by Gregory Maguire, with the same title, and based on the L. Frank Baum novel.

The story sends a message that we should not see things just as they are, because there are always things behind these. It also tries to find out the how things that is considered good came to be, and what is considered to be evil, also why people seem to be evil or good. We are then given the view of investigation effects of prejudice, and how fame and politics can corrupt people.

“Wicked” is a very enjoyable show, as it gives us a very spectacular view. The scenery used in the show is very intricate, and is very supportive for all actions on made on stage. The costumes used by the characters are very well made and also are the beautiful makeup. The actors did a splendid job in acting the story, while all the warmth and comedy in the script was given beautifully.

Despite the splendid acting, scenery, costumes and makeup, there was a small drawback which people loving musical will notice right away. We do not leave the building with a song that just sticks in our head after leaving the theatre. I believe, every musical should have at the least 1 song which will make you think in your mind “I definitely must get the soundtrack to the musical”.

Still, I will definitely recommend “Wicked” for all who enjoy good cast and acting coupled with beautifully made costumes and scenery. Thumbs up!

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Review of Musical : Chicago

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Chicago struck me as a whirlwind of dreams, deceit and corruption all wrapped up in a sultry package of feather boas and neon lights. The themes within Chicago rise and fall as tides, reappearing amongst each other to pose before us the raw, ruthless and condescending human nature. For this purpose, Chicago provides two platforms that always bring out the true nature and intention of people, guaranteed to be cut-throat and dramatic: Showbiz and the American legal system. These are interesting dynamics to share the stage, and while it may seem an odd match at first, it becomes quite clear how much they both depend on the smoke and mirrors of those who have put themselves in just the right places to manipulate it.

Following the story of the demure, hopeful Roxie, we stumble through her pitfalls and accomplishments along her road to Vaudeville. Seeing things as they appear through her eyes, we are leant to give her pause and sympathy, even as she is dripping with lies and finally a full-blown ego. We see her first as the hopeful fan, gazing longingly at Velma Kelly, envious of her freedom to flaunt her sexuality and talent openly and receive such adoration for it. Roxie reaps justice as her own, discarding those she believes to be lying to her or useless in her plight for fame. At one climactic point she is so taken with herself that she nearly denies the help of Billy Flynn, basking in her fifteen minutes of fame and nearly blinded to the fact that she is close to looking death in the face.

The injustice in this work is both frequent and fully accepted by the characters, even as the consequences made blatant and the innocent prosecuted. This is an every-man-for-himself atmosphere and there seems to be only a candy-coated ending for only the most deceitful, those who came out ahead of the game for all their viciousness. Both entertainment and judicial standings are unmasked, stripped of their honorable, positive exterior. We are looking inside these two institutions, and the gears are indeed dirty, greasy and grinding against each other to make it all work. For those on the outside, unaware, it all appears to be polish and order.

Chicago certainly makes the most of it’s musical endeavors. Not only did the music emphasize points of importance and character development in the story, but it also moved the story along, becoming an integral part of the play. This added another dimension of potential to the music, leaving the audience to anticipate musical numbers to provide exciting twists and fast-paced action sequences. The music also becomes the main vehicle to Chicago’s sexual appeal. Throughout the play, in sequences where Roxie is fantasizing or making sense of someone she is meant to idolize, characters (including herself) are always depicted as unleashed sexual mistresses, obviously a repression she longs to break free of. She even puts Billy Flynn in her musings as surrounded by beautiful, scantily-clad women at his beck and call. It is hard to imagine Roxie’s experience unfolding without the aid of the musical performances, our source of knowing how she perceives what is going on inside and around her.

An exception to the dazzling numbers full of writhing body parts and illicit costumes is that of Amos and his burst of crooning. Here is the one guy who has remained faithful, honest and dependable for the duration. Even as the cruel intentions of others are dumped upon him, he carries on, nursing a broken heart and his own humble aspirations. In his song, we see that Amos recognizes his position in the world and that he isn’t happy about it. Though he feels it’s unavoidable, he mopes without ambition to inspire change. We see also a pitiful, submissive German inmate, who, without ability to communicate or scheme her way out as the others, met her demise as the only woman professing innocence and remorse. These two complete the picture, offering a view of the other side of the spectrum. Certainly not given enough exposure to warrant them character status of Roxie or even Mama, they are placed in the background where it seems the honest belong in this world where survival of the fittest seems to be the style everyone’s wearing.

The characters solidly depict the intertwining of preying upon the predator, of success and failure among those who would step on anyone that is naive enough to show an inkling of ability to aid or hinder them in their greed and self-absorption. Here we see not only the plotting and relationships of the antagonists, but also a brilliantly mocking statement about the media and frenzy that it can instill in the public. Our celebrity-centered culture chews so readily on what appears in the papers, spoon-fed to us until people of no credibility or talent can rise to a celebrity position in the hearts and minds of the majority. Ultimately it doesn’t seem to matter anymore why someone is in the news. Just as long as they are put within our daily sights, we can all be comfortable with knowing their face and affording them respect for it. We see Roxie practice her act to become the latest America’s sweetheart, poster child for the evils of gin and jazz. Velma meanwhile obsesses over attempts to top her rival at every turn, all unknown to the blinded public eye, which accepts their every notion.

Chicago thrusts forward a story that displays individuals working an aggressive charm and deceptive allure to achieve what they most desire. This is a rich flow of injustice and scandal, opening us up to see that things might not always be what they seem. Here is a playful romp through the cynical world where the innocent woman dies, the good guy is left alone and the murderers and swindlers are all smiling in the end, misted in glitter and class. Chicago is delivered with all the pizzazz and style that a scandalous story as this depends and flourishes upon. We can definitely draw sense from this pool of sequins and song to apply in our own experiences of celebrity acceptance, if only we had a chorus of nearly-naked dancers to aid in our ponderings.

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Review of Show : Hairspray

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Hairspray Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. This funny and entertaining musical will leave all who attend the theater production feeling invigorated by the energy that exudes from the stage.

This 1960’s era musical is based on the 1988 John Water’s movie and it is not a usual journey to take a movie and springboard a full-blown Broadway musical from it. The expressionistic journey usually takes a stage production and tries to transform it to fit the lens of the movie camera. Yet, this creative translation works and works well in both venues. I should say, I am bias seeing both the movie (actually both movies the new 2007 version and the 1988 version) and the stage production-the stage show is better than what fits through the lens of the movie camera.

The original Broadway cast of Hairspray, including its Tony-winning stars Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy) and Harvey Fierstein (Edna), has long been replaced by other actors and traveling road productions change cast members continually, but the show never loses its vitality. This is a show with a big infectious heart that takes on one of America’s biggest problems, racism.

The story tackles issues that were pervasive in the 1960’s and are still with us today even though in more subtle ways: prejudice about weight, race, the clothes you wear, the part of town you are from and big hair are still with us daily. This warm melodious musical makes the viewer think, while enjoying the highly entertaining dance numbers and odd giddy innocence of Tracy and her mother Edna’s approach to life.

Everyone will enjoy this stage production be it a road show or Broadway theater extravaganza. I like what one reviewer in Ottawa said of the touring production that appeared there:

“..Hairspray earns our applause with a smart script, a ton of talent and a perverse desire to bring an audience to its knees before it brings them to their feet.” Denis Armstrong -Sun Times

The present Broadway production is a high energy delight, but not quite as exciting as the original cast. Who can really ever replace Harvey Fierstein in any role he signatures? No, one. So you take what you get and enjoy the overall spirit of the show that manifests through each player and each song in the show. After all this musical won 8 Tony Awards in 2003, has been running on Broadway for 5 years straight and is now playing around the world! They must be doing something right and entertaining or people would not continue to buy out the shows.

If you are going to New York anytime soon, get your tickets to this show playing at the Neil Simon Theater. It is well worth the $60 -$200 tickets.

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Review of Musical : Jersey Boys

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Jersey Boys is a documentary-style musical about The Four Seasons, one of the most popular rock and roll bands of the 1960s. The musical’s focal point is The Four Seasons’ lead singer, Frankie Valli. However, it’s his interaction with Tommy DeVito, the group’s original driving force, and song composer, Bobby Gaudio, that makes the group’s story so compelling.

Jersey Boys is one of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen, which is indeed high praise when you consider that I normally find musicals boring and tedious and usually see them as a collection of corny songs strung together by contrived stories. I went to see Jersey Boys because I already knew I liked the music, which is terrific, and figured I’d bide my time between songs. I had no idea that the original group members had been such interesting characters. Their personal similarities are probably more obvious to most than their differences, but how they came together against tremendous odds to become a music sensation is really rather amazing.

You’ll be entertained by the telling of the story, which is done through an effective mix of both dialogue and song. You’ll pick up some interesting factoids about the group, such as which current Hollywood star actually introduced two key members of the group, how “Sherry,” the group’s first big hit came into being, and which movie star inspired the song “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Did you know that the group struggled with the music world to record a song that was to become one of Frankie Valli’s biggest solo hits from the late 1960s? Dozens of their hits and other popular songs of the period are performed during this two-act show.

Jersey Boys also provides a view of how city teenagers grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and what it was like to break into the rock and roll business in those days. At the risk of saying too much, I must say that if those four guys hadn’t ended up stars, they might have ended up in the mob, in jail or worse. Whether you grew up in New York or New Jersey in those days or wonder what it must have been like, you’ll want to see this show. It’s absolutely terrific.

Jersey Boys is based on a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and premiered at the LaJolla Playhouse in LaJolla, California. I was fortunate to see the show in South Florida at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Jersey Boys won the Tony Award in 2006 for best musical.

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Best Musical Shows of All Times

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Musical theater is an incredibly unique art form and appeals to different people in many different ways. Because of this variability, rating individual musicals can hardly be objective by any means, even if selection criteria are consistent. Furthermore, selection criteria of musicals can be very different than typical selection criteria for other forms of media. Movies can be rated by earnings, music can be rated by requests, but musicals are distinctively difficult to rate. Having said that, I would propose the following criteria for selecting the best musicals of all time: general popularity, real life applicability, enjoyment of performing, recognition of references, and character of the show. As alluded to previously, these are unique measures to fit an exceptional art form.

General popularity is probably the most obvious, a musical has to have general appeal to a wide variety of audiences and must have made a significant amount of tours to be considered. Real life applicability relates to the ability of a musical to expose and explore real human emotions, teach life lessons, and be transposed (if just in interpretations) to real situations. For musical enthusiasts, the shows they are most sentimental about may be shows they had some part in performing in, even in small-scale, local productions; so the enjoyment artists get out of performing musicals comes in to play. Like popular movies, popular musicals often get referenced in pop culture and in conversation, and recognizing those references indicates a significant impact the musical had on its viewers. Finally, many musicals have traditions or stories behind the performance or plot, and I think these background stories add character to the show, enough that it may change the value of the show in this respect.

Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” tops my list, with a tear-jerking story behind the story and plenty of real life applicability. “Rent” depicts the lives of several young, starving artists in the streets of New York, struggling with their values, love lives, sexuality, figures of authority, and HIV. The phenomenal soundtrack includes the flagship song “Seasons of Love”, emotion-drenched love songs and fun, spirited dance tunes. The movie “Rent” is a good reproduction of the fantastic Broadway show, but nothing beats live theater. The movie “Team America” references the musical in an ironic parody sketch called “Lease” featuring a song stating “Everyone has AIDS. AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!”

I can’t say enough about the musical “Wicked”, which is based on the story of the “Wizard of Oz” but with a comical, clever twist. Wicked soared in popularity, probably because of its relation to real life issues and the attention it commands with its very presence; before even entering the theater, witty “Wicked” paraphernalia makes show-goers and passers-by chuckle at the ironic humor. While it takes place in a completely fictitious world, it deals with realistic issues such as discrimination, heartbreak, gossip, social standards, and moral values. The lyrics of “Defying Gravity” and “Dancing Through Life” are taken literally in the show, but taken figuratively, the show inspires the lives of its fans.

One of the best aspects of live theater is that the performance is not limited to the stage. Even at a conceptual level, I love “Phantom of the Opera” for its adaptation of the entire theater as the setting of the show. Rather than being in a theater watching a show on stage, audience is in a theater in which we are led to believe the story is actually unfolding. The special effects in this musical are breath-taking, and frightening at times, and definitely make it a joy to watch and presumably to perform. Well-known showtunes and life applicability also play into the appeal of “Phantom”. It’s no wonder this musical is incredibly popular. Don’t be content with just watching the movie, the live performance will absolutely blow your mind!

I would include “Pippin” in my list, which may be a significantly more sentimental choice than an objective one, but it is based on the deeply-rooted character of the show. This specific musical may not win Academy Awards, but it is loaded with performing traditions and nuances that an unknowledgeable audience may never pick up. For example, the main character, Pippin, never wears shoes during the performance. Also, the musical has multiple alternative endings, and the director’s choice of ending almost completely defines the mood throughout the entire musical. I’ve seen multiple performances of “Pippin”; one was very bright, bouncy and fun; another was more traditional, emphasizing drugs, sex and power as driving forces of the character’s motives; and the one I performed in was dark, gloomy, and on the verge of being evil. For these reasons, I would say “Pippin” is one of the most diverse musicals, and therefore is more intriguing and interesting to see and perform. While it may not be as wildly popular as the other shows on this list, “Pippin” is very deep, and it definitely can have real life applicability.

“Go, go Joe!” rings out in my head as I think about “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. Based on a Bible story, this energetic, charming and heartfelt show is packed with catchy tunes, funny references, and amazing special effects. While it has been a very popular musical, I wouldn’t rate it high in real life applicability; it may seem ironic (and blasphemous) to say a Bible story doesn’t have a good life lesson, but I think the issue is in the presentation of the story, not the story itself. The musical doesn’t relate to common, realistic emotions as much as some of the others on this list. That issue aside, “Joseph” is a thrill to perform in, and the show has a huge presence and character.

No list is complete without “Les Miserables”, likely one of the most complex and drastically serious musicals of all time. Taking place in France in the early 19th century, the musical portrays the hardships of a multitude of characters struggling with poverty, crime and revolution. There are tons of characters to keep track of, and so many motives and plots; it is very different than watching Dorothy try to get back home to Kansas. For first-timers, I would suggest you read a full synopsis of the plot before going to see it. Nevertheless, the artistic value and life applicability of this musical, plus its huge following and ease of referencing, make “Les Miserables” and must-see. If you are a reader, the musical is based on a very thick book of the same name (written by Victor Hugo), and the musical is just as complex as the book. From the more popular song “Castle on a Cloud”, to references to prisoner 24601, “Les Miserables” is referenced in pop culture more often than many people realize. I was watching “South Park” the other day, and there were obvious references scattered through the episode “Helen Keller the Musical”. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be to perform in “Les Miz”, as it’s called for short; I would guess the acting would be emphasized more than in the upbeat musicals.

My honorable mentions would be “Miss Saigon” for its artistry and drama, “Cats” for its clever choreography and popular showtunes, “Oklahoma” for its traditions and story, “West Side Story” for its reference recognition and popularity, “The Music Man” also for its reference recognition and popularity, “Pirates of Penzance” for its character and performing enjoyment and “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum” also for its character and performing enjoyment.

Looking back on this list of the best theater musicals, I am struck by the variety of seriousness, appealing features, and contexts on which the musicals are based. “Wicked” is a twist on a commonly-known story made movie, “Les Miz” is based on a Victor Hugo book, and “Joseph” is based on a Bible story. On the contrary, there are musicals based on similar themes that I would argue were catastrophic failures; “Jesus Christ Superstar” was ridiculous (I know there is a huge fan base, and I apologize deeply but I just didn’t get it), and “Legally Blonde” was a complete joke. It is apparent that a musical’s success is very difficult to determine; there are no consistent factors that separate hits from misses. However, the few characteristics that I’ve used here in selecting the best musicals, general popularity, real life applicability, enjoyment of performing, recognition of references, and character of the show, may also be used to indicate a show’s potential.

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