Musical theater

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. It is closely related to opera, frequently being distinguished by the use of popular music of various forms (and thus usually different instrumentation), the use of unaccompanied dialogue (though some musicals are entirely accompanied, such as Les Misérables, and some operas have spoken dialogue, such as Carmen), and the avoidance of many operatic conventions.

The musical components of a musical are generally referred to as the score, with sung lines considered the lyrics and the spoken lines the book, or occasionally the libretto (a term also frequently applied to text of an opera).

Many familiar musical theater works have been the basis for successful musical films, or were adapted for television presentations. While some popular television programs have set one single episode in the style of a musical as a play on their usual format (examples include episodes of Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's episode Once More with Feeling, or Oz's Variety), the television series Cop Rock, which extensively used the musical format, was not a success.

While musical theater works are performed around the world, they are perhaps most frequently produced on Broadway in New York and London's West End.

Contents

1 In the beginning

2 Operetta

3 The Roaring Twenties

4 The Thirties

5 The Golden Age (1940s/1950s/1960s)

6 More recent eras

7 Famous composers/writers

8 Famous choreographers

9 Famous performers

10 Notable musical productions

11 See also

In the beginning

The first theater piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical is generally considered to be The Black Crook - with book by Charles M. Barras and musical adaptations by Giuseppe Operti - which premiered at Niblo's Gardens in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length kept theatergoers mesmerized enough to run for 474 performances.

Operetta

Probably the best-known composers of operetta were W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, whose prolific output - including The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, and Princess Ida - remains popular to this day, and is often revived by London's D'Oyly Carte company, which is dedicated to presenting their work at the Savoy Theatre. Much of their legacy served as an inspiration for the likes of Victor Herbert (Babes in Toyland, 1903), Franz Lehár (The Merry Widow, 1907), and Oskar Straus (The Chocolate Soldier, 1910).

The Roaring Twenties

The musical developed from opera and operetta, but early musicals in the Roaring Twenties ignored plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs (throughout the first half of the twentieth century, popular music was dominated by theater writers). Many shows were revues with little plot. Typical of the times were lighthearted productions like Lady Be Good, Sunny, Tip Toes, No, No, Nanette, Oh, Kay, and Funny Face. Their books may have been forgettable, but they produced enduring standards from George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Vincent Youmans, and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, among others.

The first production to most resemble the musical as we know it today - a complete integration of book and score - was Show Boat, which premiered on December 27, 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Up to this point, Florenz Ziegfeld had been known for his spectacular song-and-dance revues featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was no common theme tying the various numbers together. Show Boat, with a book and lyrics adapted from Edna Ferber's novel by Oscar Hammerstein II and P. G. Wodehouse and music by Jerome Kern, presented a new concept that was embraced by audiences immediately. Despite some of its startling themes - miscegenation among them - the original production ran a total of 572 performances.

The Thirties

Encouraged by the success of Show Boat, creative teams began following the "format" of that popular hit. Of Thee I Sing (1931), a political satire with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Morrie Ryskind, was the first musical to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The Band Wagon (1931), with a score by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, starred dancing partners Fred Astaire and his sister Adele. While it was primarily a revue, it served as the basis for two subsequent film versions that were "book" musicals in the truest sense. Porter's Anything Goes (1934) affirmed Ethel Merman's position as the First Lady of musical theater - a title she maintained for many years. Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (1935) was closer to opera than it was to the typical musical, but in style and scope it foreshadowed such contemporary productions as Evita and Les Misérables. The Cradle Will Rock (1937), with a book and score by Marc Blitzstein and directed by Orson Welles, was a highly political piece that, despite the controversy surrounding it, managed to run for 108 performances. Kurt Weill's Knickerbocker Holiday brought to the musical stage New York City's early history, using as its source writings by Washington Irving. Clearly, musical theater was evolving into something beyond feathers and beads worn by statuesque showgirls.

The Golden Age (1940s/1950s/1960s)

The Golden Age of the Broadway musical is generally considered to have begun with Oklahoma! (1943) and to have ended with Hair (1968).

A dance sequence from Oklahoma! (1943)

Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! had a cohesive (if somewhat slim) plot, songs that furthered the action of the story, and featured dream ballets which advanced the plot and developed the characters, rather than using dance as an excuse to parade scantily-clad women across the stage. It defied musical conventions by raising its first act curtain not on a bevy of chorus girls, but rather on a woman churning butter, with an off-stage voice singing the opening lines of Oh, What a Beautiful Morning. It was the first "blockbuster" Broadway show, running a total of 2,212 performances, and remains one of the most frequently produced of the team's projects. The two created an extraordinary collection of some of musical theater's best loved and most enduring classics, including Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959).

Oklahoma! inspired others to continue the trend. Irving Berlin used sharpshooter Annie Oakley's career as a basis for his Annie Get Your Gun (1946, 1,147 performances); Burton Lane, E. Y. Harburg, and Fred Saidy combined political satire with Irish whimsy for their fantasy Finian's Rainbow (1947, 725 performances); Cole Porter found inspiration in William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for Kiss Me, Kate (1948, 1,077 performances); Damon Runyan's eclectic characters were at the core of Frank Loesser's and Abe Burrows' Guys and Dolls, (1950, 1,200 performances); and the Gold Rush was the setting for Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Paint Your Wagon (1951).

My Fair Lady Playbill with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison

The fairly brief run - 289 performances - of that show didn't discourage them from collaborating again, this time on an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion - My Fair Lady (1956), with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, which at 2,717 performances held the long-run record for many years.

As in Oklahoma!, dance was an integral part of West Side Story 1957, which transported Romeo and Juliet to modern day New York City and converted the feuding Montague and Capulet families into warring gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. The book was adapted by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by newcomer Stephen Sondheim. It was embraced by the critics but failed to be a popular choice for the "blue-haired matinee ladies," who preferred the small town River City, Iowa of Meredith Willson's The Music Man to the alleys of Manhattan's Upper West Side. Apparently Tony Award voters were of a similar mind, since they favored the latter over the former. West Side Story had a respectable run of 732 performances (1,040 in the West End), while The Music Man ran nearly twice as long, with 1,375.

The incomparable Ethel Merman

Laurents and Sondheim teamed again for Gypsy (1959, 702 performances), with Jule Styne providing the music for a backstage story about the most driven stage mother of all-time, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee's mother Rose. The original production ran for 702 performances, but proved to be a bigger hit in its three subsequent revivals, with Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and Bernadette Peters tackling the role made famous by Ethel Merman.

Stephen Sondheim would be one of the most important composer/lyricists from 1960 on. His first project for which he wrote both music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, 964 performances), with a book based on the works of Plautus by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, and starring Zero Mostel. Sondheim was not one to concentrate on the romantic plots typical of productions of the time; his work tended to be darker, exploring the grittier sides of life both present and past. Some of his earlier works are Anyone Can Whistle (1964, which - at a mere nine performances, despite having star power in Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury - is a legendary flop), Company (1970), Follies (1971), and A Little Night Music (1973), which featured the only standard ever to emerge from the extensive Sondheim catalogue, Send in the Clowns. He has found inspiration in the most unlikeliest of sources - the opening of Japan to Western trade for Pacific Overtures, a legendary murderous barber - Sweeney Todd - seeking revenge in the Industrial Age of London, the paintings of Georges Serault for Sunday in the Park with George, and a collection of individuals intent on eliminating the American President in Assassins. His works are generally known for their lyrical sophistication and musical complexity, which many critics argue has led to his works receiving very little popularity among the general public.

Jerry Herman, too, has played a significant role in musical theater, beginning with his first production, Milk and Honey, about the founding of the state of Israel, and continuing with the smash hits Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. Even a critical flop like Mack and Mabel had a memorable score (and the show later was reworked into a London hit which then found its way back to Broadway). Writing both words and music, he is to the traditional musical what Sondheim is to the avant-garde.

The musical started to diverge from the relatively narrow confines of the 1950s. Rock music would be used in several Broadway musicals, perhaps the most significant of which was Hair, which featured not only rock music but also nudity and controversial opinions about the Vietnam War. Other important rock musicals of the 1960s and 1970s included Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. The musical also went in other directions. Shows like Raisin, Dreamgirls, Purlie, and The Wiz brought a significant African-American influence to Broadway. More and more different musical genres were turned into musicals either on or off-Broadway.

More recent eras

1976 brought one of the great contemporary musicals to the stage. A Chorus Line emerged from recorded group therapy-style sessions Michael Bennett conducted with gypsies - those who sing and dance in support of the leading players - from the Broadway community. From hundreds of hours of tapes, James Kirkwood and Nick Dante fashioned a book about an audition for a musical, incorporating into it many of the real-life stories of those who had sat in on the sessions - and some of whom eventually played variations of themselves or each other in the show. With music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, A Chorus Line first opened at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in lower Manhattan. Advance word-of-mouth - that something extraordinary was about to explode - boosted box office sales, and after critics ran out of superlatives to describe what they witnessed on opening night, what initially had been planned as a limited engagement eventually moved to the Shubert Theater uptown for a run that seemed to last forever. The show swept the Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize, and its hit song, What I Did for Love, became an instant standard.

Gwen Verdon in Chicago

Clearly, Broadway audiences were eager to welcome musicals that strayed from the usual style and substance. John Kander and Fred Ebb explored pre-World War II Nazi Germany in Cabaret and Prohibition-era Chicago, which relied on old vaudeville techniques to tell its tale of murder and the media. Pippin, by Stephen Schwartz, was set in the days of Charlemagne. Frederico Fellini's autobiographical film 8½ became Maury Yeston's Nine. But old-fashioned values were embraced, as well, in such hits as Annie, 42nd Street, My One and Only, and popular revivals of No, No, Nanette and Irene.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the influence of European "mega-musicals" or "pop operas," which typically featured a pop-influenced score and had large casts and sets and were identified as much by their notable effects - a falling chandelier, a helicopter landing on stage - as they were by anything else in the production. Many were based on novels or other works of literature. The most important writers of mega-musicals include the French team of Claude-Michel Schoenberg and Alain Boublil, responsible for Les Misérables and Miss Saigon (inspired by Madame Butterfly); and the British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote Evita, based on the life of Argentina's Eva Perón, Cats, derived from the poems of T. S. Eliot, The Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard (from the classic film of the same name). These decades also saw the influence of large corporations that produced musicals. The most important has been Disney, which adapted some of their animated movie musicals - such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King (which is said to have been responsible for the revitalization of 42nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, previously a strip of tourist trap souvenir shops, arcades, peep shows, and porn theaters) for the stage - and also created original stage productions like Aida with music by Elton John.

The logo seen 'round the world

The growing scale (and cost) of musicals led to some concern that musicals were eschewing substance in favor of style. The 1990s and 2000s have seen many writers create smaller musicals (Falsettoland, Passion); the topics vary widely and the music ranges from Sondheimesque to pop, but they generally are produced off-Broadway and feature much smaller casts (and thus much lower costs).

There also had been the concern that the musical had lost touch with the tastes of the general public in America and that the musical was increasingly doomed to be something viewed by a smaller and smaller audience. One of the most important writers who attempted to increase the popularity of musicals among a younger audience was Jonathan Larson, whose musical Rent (based on the opera La Bohème) featured a cast of twentysomethings and whose score was heavily rock-influenced. The musical would be a smash success, but its composer died of an aortic aneurysm before he could ever see it reach Broadway. Other writers who have attempted to bring a taste of modern rock music to the stage include Jason Robert Brown. Another trend has been to create a plot to fit a collection of songs that have already been hits - thus Mamma Mia! (featuring songs by ABBA), Movin' Out (based on the tunes of Billy Joel), Good Vibrations (the Beach Boys), and All Shook Up (Elvis Presley).

Familiarity may breed contempt - but it's also embraced by producers anxious to guarantee they recoup their very considerable investments, if not show a healthy profit. Some are willing to take chances on the new and unusual, such as Avenue Q (which utilizes puppets to tell its very adult-themed story) or Bombay Dreams (about the "Bollywood" musicals churned out by Indian cinema). But the majority prefer to hedge their bets by sticking with the familiar - revivals of family fare like Wonderful Town or Fiddler on the Roof or proven hits like La Cage aux Folles. Today's composers are finding their sources in already proven material - cult films like The Producers or Hairspray; classic literature such as Little Women and Dracula - hoping they'll have a built-in audience as a result.

At the present time (late 2004), the musical is being pulled in a number of different directions. Gone are the days when a sole producer - a David Merrick or a Cameron Mackintosh - backs a production. Corporate sponsors dominate Broadway, and often alliances are formed to stage musicals which require an investment of $10 million or more. In 2002, the credits for Thoroughly Modern Millie listed ten producers, and among those names were entities comprised of several individuals. Typically, off-Broadway and regional theaters tend to produce smaller and therefore less expensive musicals, and in recent times more and more development of new musicals has taken place outside of New York. Wicked, for example, first opened in San Francisco, and its creative team relied on the mostly mediocre reviews to assist them in retooling the show before it reached Broadway, where it ultimately became a healthy hit.

Famous composers/writers

Lee Adams - Lynn Ahrens - Maxwell Anderson - Harold Arlen - Howard Ashman - Burt Bacharach - Lionel Bart - Irving Berlin - Leonard Bernstein - Marc Blitzstein - Jerry Bock - Alain Boublil - Leslie Bricusse - Mel Brooks - Jason Robert Brown - Sammy Cahn - Petula Clark - George M Cohan - Cy Coleman - Betty Comden - Marc Connelly - Noel Coward - Gretchen Cryer - Micki Grant - Fred Ebb - Ben Elton - Edna Ferber - Dorothy Fields - William Finn - Stephen Flaherty - George Forrest - Noel Gay - George Gershwin - Ira Gershwin - Ricky Ian Gordon - Adolph Green - Adam Guettel - Marvin Hamlisch - Oscar Hammerstein II - Otto Harbach - E. Y. Harburg - Sheldon Harnick - Lorenz Hart - Moss Hart - Jerry Herman - Elton John - Tom Jones - John Kander - George S. Kaufman - Jerome Kern - Saxon Kling - Michael Kunze - Michael John LaChiusa - Burton Lane - Jonathan Larson - Carolyn Leigh - Mitch Leigh - Alan Jay Lerner - Andrew Lippa - Andrew Lloyd Webber - Frank Loesser - Frederic Loewe - Galt MacDermot - Johnny Mercer - Lionel Monckton - Anthony Newley - Ivor Novello - Richard O'Brien - Cole Porter - Tim Rice - Mary Rodgers - Richard Rodgers - Sigmund Romberg - Harold Rome - Willy Russell - Carole Bayer Sager - Claude-Michel Schönberg - Harvey Schmidt - Stephen Schwartz - Julian Slade - Stephen Sondheim - Charles Strouse - Leslie Stuart - Jule Styne - Harry Tierney - Kurt Weill - Meredith Willson - Sandy Wilson - P. G. Wodehouse - Robert Wright - Vincent Youmans

Famous choreographers

George Balanchine - Michael Bennett - Gower Champion - Agnes de Mille - Ron Field - Bob Fosse - Peter Gennaro - Michael Kidd - Susan Stroman - Tommy Tune - Jerome Robbins - Onna White

Famous performers

Julie Andrews - Beatrice Arthur - Lucie Arnaz - Fred and Adele Astaire - Lauren Bacall - Pearl Bailey - Lucille Ball - Michael Ball - Gene Barry - Steve Barton - Herschel Bernardi - Theodore Bikel - Kelly Bishop - Vivian Blaine - Ray Bolger - Sarah Brightman - Matthew Broderick - Yul Brynner - Jack Buchanan - Carol Burnett - Betty Buckley - Richard Burton - Kerry Butler - Liz Callaway - Len Cariou - Carolee Carmello - Nell Carter - Richard Chamberlain - Carol Channing - Kristin Chenoweth - Petula Clark - Glenn Close - George M. Cohan - Barbara Cook - Michael Crawford - John Cullum - Jim Dale - Yvonne DeCarlo - Tyne Daly - Alfred Drake - Hunter Foster - Sutton Foster - Helen Gallagher - Robert Goulet - Joel Grey - Barbara Harris - Rex Harrison - Heather Headley - George Hearn - Ruthie Henshall - Jennifer Holliday - Linda Hopkins - Ken Howard - Madeline Kahn - Lainie Kazan - Ruby Keeler - Larry Kert - Robert Klein - Kevin Kline - Judy Kuhn - Nathan Lane - Angela Lansbury - Carol Lawrence - Gertrude Lawrence - Michelle Lee - Priscilla Lopez - Patti LuPone - Robert LuPone - Mary Martin - Millicent Martin - Jessie Matthews - Marin Mazzie - Andrea McArdle - Audra McDonald - Donna McKechnie - Idina Menzel - Ethel Merman - Liza Minnelli - Brian Stokes Mitchell - Melba Moore - Robert Morse - Zero Mostel - Donna Murphy - Bebe Neuwirth - Jill O'Hara - Jerry Orbach - Elaine Paige - Sarah Jessica Parker - Adam Pascal - Bernadette Peters - Robert Preston - Faith Prince - Jonathan Pryce - John Raitt - Sheryl Lee Ralph - Charles Nelson Reilly - Debbie Reynolds - Alice Ripley - Chita Rivera - Patricia Routledge - Daphne Rubin-Vega - Lea Salonga - Phil Silvers - Emily Skinner - Barbra Streisand - Tommy Tune - Leslie Uggams - Gwen Verdon - Ben Vereen - Colm Wilkinson

Notable musical productions

Legend: (b) = book (m) = music (l) = lyrics (1,234) = number of Broadway performances (original production only)

(Hit songs and/or noteworthy trivia appear in parentheses)

After the Ball (based on Lady Windermere's Fan), 1954, bml Noel Coward (188)
Allegro, 1947, m Richard Rodgers, bl Oscar Hammerstein II (315)
Annie Get Your Gun, 1946, m Irving Berlin, b Herbert and Dorothy Fields (1,147) ("There's No Business Like Show Business")
Anyone Can Whistle, 1965, ml Stephen Sondheim, b Arthur Laurents (9)
Anything Goes, 1934, ml Cole Porter, b Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay, Russell Crouse (420)
Applause (based on All About Eve), 1970, m Charles Strouse, l Lee Adams, b Betty Comden and Adolph Green (896) (Lauren Bacall's musical debut)
As Thousands Cheer, 1933, ml Irving Berlin, b Moss Hart (400)
Babes in Arms, 1937, mb Richard Rodgers, lb Lorenz Hart (289)
Bells Are Ringing, 1956, m Jule Styne, lb Betty Comden and Adolph Green (924) ("Just in Time," "The Party's Over")
The Boy Friend, 1954, mlb Sandy Wilson (2,078) (Julie Andrews' American debut)
Brigadoon, 1947, m Frederick Loewe, lb Alan Jay Lerner (581)
Bye, Bye, Birdie, 1960, m Charles Strouse, l Lee Adams, b Michael Stewart (607)
Cabaret (based on I Am a Camera), 1966, m John Kander l Fred Ebb, b Joe Masteroff (1,166)
Camelot (based on The Once and Future King), 1960, m Frederick Loewe, lb Alan Jay Lerner (873)
Can Can, 1953, ml Cole Porter, b Abe Burrows (892)
Carmen Jones (based on the opera Carmen), 1943, m Georges Bizet, lb Oscar Hammerstein II (502)
Carnival! (based on the film Lili), 1961, ml Bob Merrill b Michael Stewart (719)
Carousel (based on the play Liliom), 1945, m Richard Rodgers, b Oscar Hammerstein II (899) ("If I Loved You")
Celebration, 1969, m Harvey Schmidt, lb Tom Jones (109)
Company, 1970, ml Stephen Sondheim, b George Furth (705) ("The Ladies Who Lunch")
Damn Yankees (based on the book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant), 1955, m Richard Adler, l Jerry Ross, b George Abbott, Douglas Wallop (1,019) ("Whatever Lola Wants")
Fiddler on the Roof, 1964, m Jerry Bock, l Sheldon Harnick, b Joseph Stein (3,242) ("If I Were a Rich Man")
Finian's Rainbow, 1947, m Burton Lane, lb E.Y. Harburg, b Fred Saidy (725) ("Look to the Rainbow," "Old Devil Moon, " "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?")
Fiorello!, 1959, m Jerry Bock, l Sheldon Harnick, b George Abbott, Jerome Weidman (796)
Flower Drum Song, 1958, m Richard Rodgers, lb Oscar Hammerstein II (601)
Follies, 1971, ml Stephen Sondheim, b James Goldman (521) ("I'm Still Here")
Funny Girl, 1964, m Jule Styne, l Bob Merrill, b Isobel Lennart (1,348) ("People")
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1962, ml Stephen Sondheim, b Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart (964)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1949, m Jule Styne, l Leo Robin, b Joseph Fields, Anita Loos (740)
Guys and Dolls, 1950, ml Frank Loesser, b Jo Scoerling, Abe Burrows (1,200)
Gypsy, 1959, m Jule Styne, l Stephen Sondheim, b Arthur Laurents (702)
Hair, 1968, m Galt MacDermot, lb James Rado, Jerome Ragni (1,705) ("Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius")
Hello, Dolly!, 1964, ml Jerry Herman, b Michael Stewart (2,844)
Here's Love (based on the film Miracle on 34th Street), 1963, mlb Meredith Willson (334)
House of Flowers, 1954, m Harold Arlen, lb Truman Capote (165)
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, 1961, ml Frank Loesser, b Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert (1,417) ("I Believe in You")
I Can Get It for You Wholesale, 1962, ml Harold Rowe, b Jerome Weidman (301) (Barbra Streisand's Broadway debut)
I Do, I Do (based on the play The Fourposter), 1966, m Harvey Schmidt, lb Tom Jones (560) ("My Cup Runneth Over")
Jesus Christ Superstar, 1971, m Andrew Lloyd Webber, lb Tim Rice (720)
The King and I (based on the book Anna and the King of Siam), 1951, m Richard Rodgers, lb Oscar Hammerstein II (1,246) ("Getting to Know You")
Kiss Me Kate (based on The Taming of the Shrew), 1948, ml Cole Porter, b Sam and Bella Spewack (1,077) ("Too Darn Hot")
Lady in the Dark, 1941, m Kurt Weill, l Ira Gershwin, b Moss Hart (388)
Little Me, 1962, m Cy Coleman, l Carolyn Leigh, b Neil Simon (257)
A Little Night Music (based on the film Smiles of a Summer Night), 1973, ml Stephen Sondheim, b Hugh Wheeler (600) ("Send in the Clowns")
Lost in the Stars (based on Cry the Beloved Country), 1949, m Kurt Weill, lb Maxwell Anderson (273)
Maggie May, 1964, mlb Lionel Bart (499)
Mame, 1966, ml Jerry Herman, b Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee (1,508) ("If He Walked into My Life")
Man of La Mancha, 1965, m Mitch Leigh, l Joe Darion, b Dale Wasserman (2,330) ("The Impossible Dream")
Me and My Girl, 1937, m Noel Gray, lb Douglas Furber b Arthur Rose (1,046)
Mexican Hayride, 1941, ml Cole Porter, b Herbert and Dorothy Fields (481)
Milk and Honey, 1961, ml Jerry Herman, b Don Appell (543)
The Most Happy Fella, 1956, mlb Frank Loesser (676)
Music Man, 1957, mlb Meredith Willson (1,375) ("Seventy-six Trombones," "Til There Was You")
My Fair Lady (based on G.B. Shaw's Pygmalion), 1956, m Frederick Loewe, lb Alan Jay Lerner (2,717) ("I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live")
New Girl in Town (based on Anna Christie), 1957, ml Bob Merrill, b George Abbott (431)
No, No Nanette, 1925, m Vincent Youmans, l Irving Caesar, lb Otto Harbach, b Frank Mandel (321) ("Tea for Two," "I Want to Be Happy")
No Strings, 1962, ml Richard Rodgers, b Samuel Taylor (580)
Oklahoma! (based on Green Grow the Lilacs), 1943, m Richard Rodgers, lb Oscar Hammerstein (2,212)
Oliver! (based on Oliver Twist), 1960, mlb Lionel Bart (774) ("Where is Love?")
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1965, m Burton Lane, lb Alan Jay Lerner (280)
110 in the Shade (based on The Rainmaker), 1963, m Harvey Schmidt, l Tom Hones, b Richard Nash (331)
On the Town, 1944, m Leonard Bernstein, lb Betty Comden and Adolph Green (463) ("New York, New York")
On Your Toes, 1936, mb Richard Rodgers, lb Lorenz Hart,b George Abbott (315) ("Slaughter on Tenth Avenue")
Pajama Game, 1954, m Richard Adler, l Jerry Ross, b George Abbott, Richard Bissell (1,063)
Pal Joey, 1940, m Richard Rodgers, l Lorenz Hart, b John O'Hara (374)
1776, 1969, ml Sherman Edwards, b Peter Stone (1,217)
She Loves Me (based on the film The Shop Around the Corner), 1963, m Jerry Bock, l Sheldon Harnick, b Joe Masteroff (301)
Silk Stockings (based on the film Ninotchka), 1955, ml Cole Porter, b George S. Kaufman, Abe Burrows, Leueen McGrath (477)
The Sound of Music, 1959, m Richard Rodgers, l Oscar Hammerstein II, b Howard Lindsay, Russell Crouse (1,442) ("My Favorite Things," "Climb Every Mountain"
South Pacific, 1949, m Richard Rodgers, lb Oscar Hammerstein II, b Joshua Logan (1,925) ("Some Enchanted Evening")
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, 1961, mb Leslie Bricusse, lb Anthony Newley (555) ("What Kind of Fool Am I?")
Sugar (based on the film Some Like It Hot), 1972, m Jule Styne, l Bob Merrill, b Peter Stone (505)
Sweet Charity (based on the film Nights of Cabiria), 1966, m Cy Coleman, l Dorothy Fields, b Neil Simon (608) ("Big Spender," "If They Could See Me Now")
The Threepenny Opera (based on The Beggar's Opera), 1954, m Kurt Weill lb Marc Blitzstein (from the German of Bertolt Brecht) (2,707) ("Mack the Knife")
Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1960, ml Meredith Willson, b Richard Morris (532)
West Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet), 1957, m Leonard Bernstein, l Stephen Sondheim, b Arthur Laurents (732) ("Tonight," "Maria," "America")
Where's Charley? (based on Charley's Aunt), 1948, ml Frank Loesser, b George Abbott (792) ("Once in Love with Amy")
Wildcat, 1960, m Cy Coleman, l Carolyn Leigh, b N. Richard Nash (171) (Lucille Ball's Broadway debut; "Hey Look Me Over")
Wonderful Town (based on the play My Sister Eileen), 1953, m Leonard Bernstein, l Betty Comdon and Adolph Green, b Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov (559) ("Ohio")
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (based on Charles M. Schultz's Peanuts), 1967, ml Clark Gesner, b John Gordon (1,597)
Your Own Thing (based on Twelfth Night), 1968, ml Hal Hester, Danny Apolinar, b Donald Driver (933)
Zorba (based on the film Zorba the Greek), 1968, m John Kander, l Fred Ebb, b Joseph Stein (305)