I thought it might be fun to do decade-by-decade musical theatre “Top 10” lists and then put everyone’s lists through a points system and see what comes out tops. It’s a bit geeky, I guess, but it seems like it might be fun. We could do each decade over a certain period of time and then move on to the next.
Let’s begin with the decade which draws to a close this year.
Here is what you have to do:
- List your top ten musicals since 2000. You can use whatever criteria you wish to pick your top ten – your favourites, what you consider to be the best and so on. I don’t think we want to get tied up by semantics at this point. This is meant to be fun!
- Order your list from 1 to 10: 1 = your top musical of the decade and 10 = your 10th favourite/best musical of the decade. Your top musical will receive 10 points and your 10th favourite/best musical will receive 1 point. If you post an unranked list, your choices will all receive the same number of points in the final tally.
- You can be as diverse or exclusive in your choices as you wish to be – as long as you remain within the scope of stage musicals. See the list below for further guidelines in this regard.
- Feel free to discuss your choices if you like!
- I’ll close off the votes when replies slow down and then complete the tally, after which I’ll post the results in a new blog entry.
What counts and what doesn’t:
- Original stage musicals are valid. This does not include the entire spectrum of theatre with music and the following are excluded: revivals, even ones that are revisals; revues, even if the Tony Awards considered them for musical awards; opera that the Tony Awards considered for musical awards; ballet that the Tony Awards considered for musical awards; modern dance shows that claim to be musicals; concerts; song cycles; special theatrical events; cabaret; and performance art.
- Film musicals don’t count for this poll, but stage adaptations of film musicals that appeared on stage for the first time in this decade do.
- Jukebox musicals that have a narrative thrust – thus separating them from revues – count for the poll.
- If anything else comes up, I’ll handle it on a case by case basis.
Some suggestions for those who might find it useful:
Avenue Q, The Light in the Piazza, Urinetown, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grey Gardens, In the Heights, The Last Five Years, Wicked, Hairspray, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Wild Party (both versions – and if you do list this show, please specify LaChiusa or Lippa), [title of show], Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spring Awakening, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers, Caroline, or Change, Aida, Xanadu, Billy Elliot, Seussical, Legally Blonde, Young Frankenstein, Curtains, Jersey Boys, Sweet Smell of Success, The Wedding Singer, The Full Monty, The Color Purple, Thou Shalt Not, See What I Wanna See, Little Fish, A Man of No Importance, Bernarda Alba, Closer to Heaven, The Pirate Queen, Little Women, Wise Guys/Bounce/Road Show, High School Musical.
Shows that do not count for this poll:
Movin’ Out (arguably, it’s a dance show), The Frogs (it’s a “revisal”) and Elegies (song cycle). I’m sure this list will grow…
Have fun!
Musical Cyberspace 
My list:
Funnily enough (!) this is more of a sentimental list, I suppose because the 2000s was the time when I have physically been able (and financially be able to afford) to see most of the productions in their original on/off Broadway run. I would imagine Amour will not be listed again, but I seriously loved it!
I’ll weigh in! This list is pretty much just based on a cursory look at the provided “suggestion” list. I’ll also note that this list could easily change if I corrected my current ignorance of In the Heights, Passing Strange, Grey Gardens and Adding Machine. (Damn economy curtailing my cast album buying!)
I’m less familiar with many of the 2000s musicals than I realized, but here’s my list:
I’m really out of it. Frack it, here are 10. In alphabetical order:
Honorables:
Spring Awakening and [title of show] fall just short of being in the “Honorables”.
I’m very sad at the lack of my first choice on people’s list. I’m not sure I know enough to make a great list.
Favorite 10:
Honorable mention:
To close off the voting for this poll, I’ll post my list:
Spring Awakening might just have easily taken the last spot. The choice reflects my gut feeling at this precise moment in time. Thanks for participating. I’ll put up the final tally soon.