Amanda e-mailed, asking for suggestions for musicals to teach. I came up with this:

When I think of musicals, they tend to fall into 4 categories:
1) Musicals which most Americans know (or at least have heard of) or would recognize a song from it. Nevertheless, these shows deserve to be called “classics.”
2) Musicals which are lesser known, but surely any thespian worth their spit can sing two or three songs from each.
3) Musicals that are already too well known (and may or may not live up to that reputation) and shouldn’t be bothered with.
4) Delicious treasures which may not have any historical significance, but are gems to those who know them.

With that said, here is how I would categorize most of the musicals out there. I will includ in () significant notes and sometimes a song suggestion for each of the first two categories. Hmm, and since I’m putting so much effort into this, I’ll post this on my blog as well (hey, I just did!). I love not working on Fridays!

1) Well known – every American should know these:
Oklahoma (Americana, Rogers and Hammerstein’s first smash, first use of dance as a narrative tool rather than entertainment)
“People Will Say We’re in Love”
South Pacific (Interracial relationships, nature vs. nurture)
My Fair Lady (Julie Andrews debut, good example of an adapted book musical)
Fiddler on the Roof (psychological musical about modernization)
“Miracle of Miracles” or “Do You Love Me?”
Guys and Dolls (clever use of vernacular in lyrics, costuming was contemporary in its time, yet now it’s done as a period piece)
“Sue Me”
King and I (Racial tension, big skirts)
Man of La Mancha (another good example of an adapted book musical)
West Side Story (More choreography as narrative, another contemporary turned period piece, Bernstein and Sondheim)
“Tonight” or “America”
A Chorus Line (innovative narrative, first use of workshops)
“God I Hope I Get It” or “What I did for Love”–which is NOT about a person, it’s about dance
Les Miserables (Best of the big budget Mackintosh)
“Do You Hear the People Sing”

2) Lesser known – every thespian should know these:
On the Town (Gotta get some Comden and Green, empowerment of women during WWII) “Let’s Go to My Place”
The Music Man (Comforting Americana)
“Trouble”
Caberet (Dark, sexuality, innovative format)
“Wilkommen”
Chicago (Fosse, plays on the Caberet format, explores the cult of celebrity)
“We Both Reached for the Gun”
Company (innovative storytelling, dark musical about the people who probably go to see musicals [upper middle class])
“Company” or “Another Hundred People”
Hair (Rock musical, last time musicals intertwined popular music, great period piece)
“Hair” or “Aquarius”
Into the Woods (Sondheim’s lyrics, so hard to choose one song!)
Rent (Updated opera-turned-musical, AIDS crisis)
“Would you light my Candle?” or “One Song Glory”
Ragtime (Great period piece, example of the modern coporate musical)
Lion King (Best of Disney’s adapted movies, Taymor’s direction)
“He Lives in You”

Already too well known – don’t even bother including:
Cats
Phantom of the Opera
Grease
Sound of Music
Hello Dolly
Annie
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

Delicious, but not necessary:
Sunset Boulevard
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Bye Bye Birdie
Kiss Me Kate
Damn Yankees
Victor/Victoria
Evita
Sweeney Todd
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Little Shop of Horrors
City of Angels
Once upon a Mattress
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Tommy
Forever Plaid
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
The Last Starfighter (Ben made me include it)

Key People
Musicians:
Richard Rogers
Oscar Hammerstein
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
John Kander
Fred Ebb
Stephen Sondheim
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Actors:
Ethel Merman
Mary Martin
Julie Andrews
Joel Grey
George M. Cohen
Zero Mostel
Chita Rivera
Gwen Verdon
Choreographers:
Agnes DeMille
Jerome Robbins
Bob Fosse
Producers:
Cameron Mackintosh
Hal Prince