Tag Archives: plays

The Show Must Go On: Introducing the Best Musicals Meta-Lists

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A regular reader of the Make Lists, Not War website recently suggested that I create a meta-list of the Best Musicals of All Time. I thought it was a great idea, but I realized immediately that one list would not be sufficient. Stage musicals and movie musicals are very different genres (although many musicals have both stage and film versions), so I created a pair of meta-lists for both stage (also sometimes referred to as Broadway) musicals and movie musicals. For each format, I’ve created a ranked list (with the musicals on the most lists at the top) and a chronological list.  The ranked lists have more pictures.  For the stage musicals, I tried to find original posters to use as the images. For the movie musicals, I used still images from the films. Each entry includes relevant information.

Here are the links:

Best Stage Musicals of All Time – Ranked
Best Stage Musicals of All Time – Chronological
Best Movie Musicals of All Time – Ranked
Best Movie Musicals of All Time – Chronological

Finding lists of best stage musicals raised an interesting question. For stage productions from the 1950s and earlier, the number of people still living who saw the original production is probably small, so many excellent musicals may not make the list only because few of those who saw them are still among us. Some of those older musicals may be revived, however, giving new, younger audiences a chance to enjoy them (and put them on “best musicals” lists).

The sources of the stage musicals are diverse. Some are based on novels, short stories, non-musical plays, and even nonfiction books (like Hamilton, which is based on a biography of Alexander Hamilton). Some musicals are based on movie musicals (like The Lion King, Singin’ in the Rain and Moulin Rouge!); some are based on non-musical movies (like Hairspray, Sunset Boulevard, and Little Shop of Horrors). Some are pure originals.

Most of the movie musicals fall into one of three categories:
(1) Original movie musicals in the old style (examples: Gold Diggers of 1933, Singin’ in the Rain; Top Hat, The Band Wagon)
(2) Film versions of stage musicals (examples: Oklahoma, West Side Story, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd)
(3) Original movie musicals in a newer style (Dancer in the Dark, Once, Sing Street)

Here are some facts about the lists:

— Number of Musicals on the meta-lists:  83 stage musicals & 76 movie musicals
— Top Rated Stage Musical: West Side Story (1957) (on 15 lists)
— Top Rated Movie Musicals: Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (on 10 lists) & West Side Story (1961) (on 10 lists)
— Oldest Stage Musical: Show Boat (1927) (on 5 lists)
— Oldest Movie Musical: Love Me Tonight (1932) (on 3 lists)
— Most Recent Stage Musical: Moulin Rouge! The Musical (2018) (on 3 lists)
— Most Recent Movie Musicals: West Side Story (2021) (on 4 lists) & tick, tick… Boom! (2021) (on 3 lists)

Reading in the Rearview Mirror: Best Books of the 1980s and 1990s

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Why is it that sometimes we love the old and other times we love the new?  When it comes to the arts, my sense is that many people appreciate old paintings, sculpture and architecture, even to the exclusion of modern examples, but when it comes to movies, books and music, they only like what’s new.  (In the case of music, I find many people get stuck listening to the music they liked in their teens and 20s for the rest of their lives, as if music that happened before they were born or after they turned 30 holds no possible interest.)

I find these attitudes perplexing, but I am not going to try to argue folks out of their particular tastes when it comes to art.  I will say that my life has been enriched immeasurably by opening myself up to works of art from all time periods.  (It is no coincidence that most of the meta-lists on the Make Lists, Not War website include the phrase “of all time” in the title.) This includes paintings, sculptures, mixed media and architecture, on the one hand, but also music, literature, photography and film.  Watching Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante or Carl Theodor Dryer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc is just as thrilling to me as watching the latest art film playing at the local theater.  Reading literature from Ancient Greece and Rome, or from the Middle Ages, or even the mid-20th Century has provided me with artistic experiences that are equal to and in some cases better than from reading current books. Similarly, with music, I find recordings from the 1920s, 1930s and later to be as fulfilling to listen to as the latest albums from contemporary musicians, and music composed in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods does not disappoint merely because it is hundreds of years old.

I’ve been doing “best of the year” lists since 2000, but there is no reason to stop there. Although getting information for specific years prior to 2000 is difficult, there are plenty of “best of the decade” lists available.  With these thoughts in mind, I decided to go back just a little bit and find lists of the best literature of the 1980s and 1990s.  These lists are interesting because in addition to literary fiction and important works of nonfiction, there is quite a bit of genre fiction on the lists: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, young adult, children’s literature. In the past, the experts, academics and critics haven’t always been kind to genre fiction, but it seems to be getting more respect in recent years.  In the future, I plan to collect lists from even earlier decades. 

Here are the new lists:

Best Books of the 1980s
Best Books of the 1990s

On the Town: Live Performances I’ve Attended

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Although most of the lists on Make Lists, Not War are meta-lists, some are more personal in nature. Most recently I published a list of every place I’ve lived. Other personal lists include: Where Have I Been? (all the states and countries I’ve visited), The Birds (all the birds I’ve ever seen), My Backyard Menagerie (all the creatures I’ve seen near our house), Native Plants I Have Grown and Loved (Part I and Part II) and Concert Log (all the music and comedy performances I’ve been to). I recently revised the Concert Log to add plays and other theatrical performances, so that all the live performances are together in one list. (Note: I’ve omitted performances in which I participated in some way.)  There are significant gaps here – I know there are other plays, concerts and performances I’ve seen that I can’t recall right now, but I think I’ve covered the most significant ones. Here is the revised list: Live Performance Log.

I guess the real question is, why would anyone but me be interested in this list?  I don’t know the answer.  Some people like to look at other people’s experiences because it provides the vicarious pleasure of seeing through another’s eyes (“Oh, I would love to have seen Led Zeppelin live!”).  Others may use it as inspiration to dig into their own pasts (“I’m going to make my own list!”). For others, reading this list would be a complete waste of time.  No problem.  Read it or not, here I come!