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Best Musical Songs 
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Fresh Face
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Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:47 am
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Post Best Musical Songs
I made this video about my favorite musical songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqIG3xCIN_Y

I know that many of you will disagree (for example, I honestly didn't know that The Last Night of the World was not usually chosen to be the favorite from Miss Saigon). So, what is your top 10 for the best musical songs?


Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:53 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
I think some of your choices make sense, some others are a bit surprising and some I disagree strongly with. The song you chose from Les Misérables has a particularly awful arrangement, and I can't stand Can you feel the love tonight ;)

I made a compilation cd for myself of these a ehile ago. It's difficult to limit it to ten, and Sondheim is in a class for himself:

Selling out - Tomfoolery
If I loved you - Carousel
Mad dogs and Englishmen - Words and Music
I get a kick out of you - Anything Goes
Waltz for Eva and Che - Evita
Glitter and be gay - Candide
The Masochism tango - Tomfoolery
Soliloqui - Carousel
Tonight quintet - West Side Story
Everything's coming up roses - Gypsy
Unexpected song - Song and Dance
Cabaret - Cabaret
Brush up your Shakespeare - Kiss Me, Kate
Feed the birds - Mary Poppins
Poisoning pidgeons in the park - Tomfoolery
I've grown accustomed to her face - My Fair Lady
Rose's turn - Gypsy
Make our garden grow - Candide

Anyone can whistle - Anyone Can Whistle
A little priest - Sweeney Todd
Send in the clowns - A Little Night Music
Please, hello - Pacific Overtures
Sooner or later - Dick Tracy
Finishing the hat - Sunday in the Park with George
Losing my mind - Follies
The Ladies who lunch - Company
The Miller's son - A Little Night Music
I'm Still Here - Follies
Everybody ought to have a maid - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
You're gonna love tomorrow/Love will see us through - Follies
Putting it together - Sunday in the Park with George
Could I leave you? - Follies
How I saved Roosevelt - Assassins
Fear no more - The Frogs
Sunday - Sunday in the Park with George

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Formerly known as Dvarg

\"Hans usually knows his shitt when it comes to theatre.\" - Salome

\"You all are f***ing crazy, except Hans, who is actually quite smart\" - Jennyanydots


Wed Sep 22, 2010 11:38 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
You have the good taste to place Memory at place numbero uno where it belongs, at least. :clap:
Its a bit hard to do a top ten list, but putting all the charaoke/Jukebox musical aside my top list so far would be:

1: Memory - Cats
2: Youll have to be there - Kristina from Duvemåla (In swedish thou)
3: Anthem - Chess
4: Music off the night - Phantom of the Opera
5: Defying Gravity - Wicked
6: Can You feel the Love Tonight - Lion King
7: In the Streets Where You Live - My Fair Lady
8: Gabriellas Song - As in Heaven (Swedish movie but stil a musical song.)
9: America - West Side Story
10: Getshemane - Jesus Christ Superstar.

There is probebly a whole bunch off songs that could fight for the last place or two, Come what may, Last night off the world among them and I have probebly forget a bunch off good songs, not to mention more song from Cats but that would be a bit one sided, I think.

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Wed Sep 22, 2010 1:40 pm
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
acr8080 wrote:
I made this video about my favorite musical songs. [...] So, what is your top 10 for the best musical songs?


Wait, what are you meaning here? The best or the favourites? Those are different things, of course. In general I wonder what the criteria for your list (and ours) are?

I am ashamed to admit that my lists are motley mishmashes of best songs, most representative songs and best recordings (Cabaret and Clowns are obviously not the "best" in any regard, allthough they both are good, but those specific tracks are sung by Judi Dench - she could have sung Make up my heart, and I'd included it :-" ).

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Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:42 am
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Fresh Face
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
You are right! I was thinking about this just before I posted the video. I think my video is about the songs which I consider to be the best and most representative, not necessarily my favorites. Maybe I'll do another video later with my favorites...


Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:31 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
acr8080 wrote:
I think my video is about the songs which I consider to be the best and most representative, not necessarily my favorites.


In that case, I disagree strongly with you in most examples. But I am very interested in hearing why you have chosen these songs.

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Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:56 am
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Fresh Face
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
What I did was first pick which I considered to be the best songs from the musicals that I know:

The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Cats, Miss Saigon, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sunset Boulevard, Aspects of Love, Whistle Down the Wind, Oklahoma!, songs of Jerome Kern, Song And Dance, songs of Cole Porter, The Wizard of Oz, Porgy and Bess, more songs of George Gershwin, West Side Story, State Fair, Flower Drum Song, Carousel, Pal Joey, songs of Rodgers & Hart, Walk the Line, Dancer in the Dark, Oliver!, The Lion King, White Christmas, Top Hat, songs of Irving Berlin, Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Finian's Rainbow, Hairspray, High School Musical, Chess, Mamma Mia!, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, The King and I, Notre-Dame de Paris, Rent, Romeo et Juliet, A Chorus Line, Grease, Dreamgirls, The Music Man, Tarzan, Moulin Rouge, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hoy No me Puedo Levantar, An American Tale, The Prince of Egypt, Anastasia, Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Mulan, Hercules, The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Man of la Mancha, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hello Dolly!, Wicked, Chicago, 42nd Street, Meet me in St. Louis, Singin' in the Rain, A Star is Born, Annie Get your Gun, Victor/Victoria, The Producers, Babes in Arms, Funny Girl, Aida, Camelot, Company, Follies, Starlight Express, and Enchanted.

I have to say that probably I was influenced by the books:

The Best Broadway Songs Ever http://www.amazon.com/Best-Broadway-Songs-Ever/dp/079350628X
The Best Songs Ever http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Piano-Vocal-Guitar-Songbook/dp/0793504457

Anyway, I know that the list is very subjective because still it depends on what I like more and what I know. Which song you think shouldn't be there?


Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:33 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
There is nothing wrong with doing top lists, as longs as youll remember that its youre (or the authors) individual opinon on whats make a song worthy being on such a top list. but its still great joy to listen to the video and hear the songs, I wish I could do something simular with my top list off songs.

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Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:03 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
acr8080 wrote:
Anyway, I know that the list is very subjective because still it depends on what I like more and what I know. Which song you think shouldn't be there?


I'm sorry if I sounded like I was critisizing your list, you're entitled to put whichever songs you like there. I just wonder what about them you like - particularly since the list over musicals you are familiar contains so many songs that are (in my opinion) so very much better than those you have chosen. Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart for example.

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Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:43 pm
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
The worst aspect of your list is, I think, the lack of variation. If I remember correctly, there are no comedy song, no satire, no extended musical scenes or ensemble numbers. Few of these songs you hgave chosen show that particular brilliance of lyrics that almost exclusively is a feature of the musical theatre genre. It makes such a list very little representative of this genre.

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Formerly known as Dvarg

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\"You all are f***ing crazy, except Hans, who is actually quite smart\" - Jennyanydots


Fri Sep 24, 2010 1:25 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
I can imagine one problem with ensamble songs is that they seldom stand above the shows showstoppers (like Memory). America is an exception and made it into my top ten.

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Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:38 am
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Post Re: Best Musical Songs
I don't agree (provided I understand what you mean when you say that they "stand above" the show stoppers). Prima Donna is for example much better than most of the other sonfs in POTO. A list over best songs in musical theatre would at any rate be unbalanced without examples of them.

That, and lists over Best Songs that don't mention A Little Priest, Please Hello or Finishing the Hat are rather strange.

Besides, if we're talking about specific recordings of musical theatre songs, I think no such list could be complete without the presence of Angela Lansbury and Jodi Dench (by the way, your video shows the logo of the Bernadette Peters production of S&D, while it's Sarah Brightman singing Unexpected Song...).

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Formerly known as Dvarg

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Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:59 am
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