What shows made the list? Nashville's favorite musicals

 

If you were asked to name Nashville's Top Ten Favorite Musicals, what show would you name as number one? Perhaps surprisingly, when that question was posed to a group of Nashville theater stalwarts, the number one-ranked show is Les Miserables (but perhaps it's not that surprising, since Victor Hugo's book was a huge hit in the American South upon its initial publication in this country), followed by A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods claiming the remaining slots in the Top Five.

Les Miserables has played Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center several times in the past 20 years, with the national company again headed this way later this season for yet another run that is expected to be hugely popular with local audiences. Three Sondheim shows in the Top Five should come as no surprise, since those three shows have been done by numerous local theater companies - and national touring companies of Sondheim musicals have graced the stages of TPAC on many occasions.

Nashville has long been called "Music City USA," thanks primarily to the country music industry that calls our fair city home, but it could rightfully be known as "Musical Theater City USA," as well. Let's face it, Nashville is filled with great singers and musicians and a good many people who further their artistic pursuits in the theater, so it's only natural that musical theater here is among the best to be found in the whole USA.

That being said, there are as many favorite musicals as there are singers and musicians, so we conducted a very non-scientific survey of theater-types to determine what shows would make it on a list of Nashville's Top Ten Favorite Musicals. We simply asked people to respond to our query on Facebook.

We asked people to tell us their top five favorite musicals, and we then assigned points to each of their choices. For example, a number one choice garnered five points, number two got four, number three got three, number four got two and number five got one point. (Got it?)

Since it was like shooting fish in a barrel (most of our Facebook friends love theater, with a particular bent toward musicals), it doesn't have any huge meaning in the grand design of life, in general, or theater, in particular. What it does mean is that with all this wacky winter weather we're experiencing this year, we've all had too much time on our hands to fill with fun questionnaires, quizzes and anything else that keeps us from doing our work or venturing into the frigid temps outside.

These are Nashville's Top Ten Favorite Musicals (in descending order): Les Miserables, A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Ragtime, Chicago, Cabaret, Rent and West Side Story. The shows bubbling just beneath the Top Ten are just as interesting, maybe even more so since they represent such a wide variety of subjects - and composers: The Music Man, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Jesus Christ Superstar, She Loves Me, Floyd Collins, Show Boat, Company, The Color Purple, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, Wicked and Big River, among a plethora of other musicals.

Kathleen O'Brien, president and CEO of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, and a member of the 2010 Class of First Night Honorees, picked Les Miserables as her "absolute favorite": "There are so many that I truly love, but my absolute favorite is Les Miserables. It is such a fabulous story of struggle and hope. And it's an historical piece, which I love, too. This may sound a bit corny, but my favorite line from a musical number comes from Les Miserables: 'To love another person is to see the face of God.' If we all could only realize that all love is good and when it's present, we should embrace it, not judge it."

Actress/singer Bonnie Keen, who is well-known to Nashville theater audiences for her roles in Studio Tenn's Hello, Dolly! and Show Hope's all-star concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella - and as part of the Dove Award-winning musical act First Call, listed Gypsy among her favorites.

"On my first trip to New York City, at the Winter Garden Theatre, my first Broadway show was closing night of Angela Lansbury in Gypsy. The love between the cast and audience celebrating this brilliant musical was palpable," she remembers. "I wept from the first note of the score to the last second of the second act. I tend to fall in love with musicals that are not only stunningly written but defy the 'tie-life-up-with-a-bow' cliché. Gypsy spans the gamut of family struggles, the unmet needs of every heart to find its place in this world, dreams lost and found, and ultimately the resilience of a mother bear's heart. Of course, it's also Sondheim on stun! Doesn't get much better in my book."

Actor/director Dietz Osborne, who won the First Night Award for Best Original Work with his writing partner Nate Eppler for Rear Widow (and he's currently in rehearsal for Annie, the upcoming show from the Bethlehem Players), picked Gypsy among his favorites: "Gypsy is very close to my heart," he recalls. "It was the first show I ever did. I played Little Tulsa and I was nine. It's kind of the show that 'bit me' and gave me the theater bug. As an adult, I've been fortunate enough to play Big Tulsa twice. It's got probably the best overture ever written and an entire cast of interesting characters. They are all rich and layered. They all have wants and needs and those wants and needs are expressed through music beautifully."

Keen, who currently tours with her own two-person musical Women Who Dare to Believe (along with Nan Gurley), had the opportunity to play the Witch in Sondheim's Into the Woods in a critically acclaimed staging by Circle Players in the 1990s, directed by Dan McGeachy. As a result, she says, "I have an up-close, personal love for this magnificent musical. Sondheim's work kept me alive during some of the darker days of my childhood. I would put on the cast albums from his work and immerse myself in the genius of his lyrics and haunting melodies. Into the Woods is original musical theater; it's not a re-telling of a Disney work or a revival. Sondheim took all of these storybook characters and put flesh, blood and passion into their stories in a new story - as only Sondheim can do. In this musical they become three-dimensional...they become all of us...lost in the woods of 'life'...and finding our way, laughing and crying and transforming our hearts day by day.

"I adored playing the Witch role (thanking God Bernadette Peters would never be in the audience!). This is, perhaps, my favorite of Sondheim's musicals...no, then there's always Sunday in the Park With George, Passion, Company..."

Actress Molly Breen listed both Ragtime and Rent among her favorites: "Ragtime leaves me speechless," she says. "The layering of the music, the charactgers, the historical events with the fictional stories. There is so much here, yet is all seems effortless. Beautiful, emotional music. The sets and costumes of the production I saw years ago were stunning. I love Ragtime!"

Breen's appreciation of Rent goes much deeper, since she fell in love with the music on CD before seeing the show performed onstage. "I listened to this CD for years before I got a chance to see it performed. Now, it is the musical that I have seen staged the most - several times both in Nashville and in Chicago. When I won the $20 front row lottery tickets at TPAC for one of the touring productions, it was one of the most exciting moments of my life. The message of 'there's only us-there's only this' so resonates with me, and I feel like the characters are good freins who I get to visit when seeing the play/listening to the CD. I love their celebration of life as an artist. I was so happy to see the production at Boiler Room Theatre in a more intimate setting; their Roger (played by Ciaran McCarthy) is the best I have seen yet."

Actress/teacher Joy Tilley Perryman's love of Rent also came as the result of repeated listening to the cast album: "The first time I ever heard the cast recording of Rent and heart about Jonathan Larson's own personal story, I was blown away. I was in love with every character and wanted Angel to be my best friend forever. I so wanted to be as cool as those guys and not just a little girl from Nowhere, Alabama."

Corrie Miller, who played opposite Ciaran McCarthy in Boiler Room's production of Nine last summer, is currently in rehearsal to play Annie Oakley in BRT's Annie Get Your Gun, so it is perhaps no surprise that she lists that show among her favorites. "It's one of those musical that has everything - entertaining characters, an incredible Irving Berline score, wonderful production numbers - and not only is it a beautiful love story, it's an incredible story of resilience, strength and humility," she contends. "I don't understand how anyone couldn't fall in love with Annie Oakley. While the character in the musical is, well, very bumpkin-ized, she is loved from the moment she steps foot onstage, albeit quite rough around the edges. In real life she truly was a pioneer for women who have been so successful in what was then a man's sport - and still is to some extent. While the stage version of Annie's and Frank's story is over the top, the inspirational real-life love story between Annie and Frank Butler still shines through at the end and you just know they were meant for each other. You see this show and leave entertained, happy and humming any number of the classic Berlin tunes. To me, that's what musical comedy is all about."

Jake Speck, Nashville's very own Broadway leading man - he recently returned to his hometown to helm Studio Tenn after a stint starring as Bob Gaudio (who, interestingly enough, also calls Nashville home) in the cast of Jersey Boys at New York's August Wilson Theatre - lists Meredith Willson's The Music Man as his top choice as favorite musical, recalling a special family memory that cements its place in his heart.

"It was my grandmother's favorite movie. I can't even remember the first time I saw it, I was so young. It was always a tradition on my father's side of the family for everyone to come to our house for New Year's Eve," he says. "It also became tradition that my Uncle Mark would perform 'Trouble' from The Music Man in our living every year while my mother and aunts backed him up as the River City ladies. Eventually Uncle Mark grew weary of his annual role and passed on the reins to yours truly as an 11-year-old.

"Cut to my senior year in high school at Christ Presbyterian Academy here in Nashville where I finally played Harold Hill onstage. The show has great sentimental value to me, not ony that but it's just plain fun. There is nothing mind-blowing about the score, lyrics or book, it just flat-out makes you smile. I will always love it and I can't wait to play the role again someday when I'm a little more age-appropriate."

Another role Speck hopes to play when he is more "age-appropriate" is Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, a role he first played some years ago at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. His Aldonza in that production, Kim Thornton Nygren, claims Man of La Mancha "is the perfect musical. There are elements of comedy and tragedy, the music is simple and accessible and the characters are well-drawn and identifiable. I've had the honor of playing all three femal roles in the show and consider Aldonza to be my favorite role ever. Hers is such a beautiful story of redemption. 'The Impossible Dream' is one of the most simple, yet beautiful, songs in musical theater. Perfection."

Jennifer Richmond, who just wrapped up a run in Lydia Bushfield's I'll Be Seeing You at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, lists the role of Sally Bowles on her resume (she played the Kander and Ebb anti-heroine at Boiler Room Theatre), so it's no big surprise that Cabaret is one of her selections. "Cabaret is so open to interpretation which keeps it fresh and alive," she maintains. "I want to see as many productions of Cabaret as possible because each production is different from the last."

Both Lisa Marie Wright and Dietz Osborne picked 110 in the Shade among their favorite musicals. "Okay, I've never seen 110 in the Shade," Wright admits. "Why doesn't anybody ever do it? I've pretty much worn out my CD though. First of all, The Rainmaker is a classic, so you simply can't go wrong with the premise and I just absolutely love the music! There's not a single weak song. You know how there's typically one or two songs that are just 'meh,' and when you're listening to the soundtrack you always skip them? Not true with this show. 'Lizzie's Comin' Home' never fails to make me feel happy and want to dance. And how freakin' fun is 'Raunchy'? It just makes me love and adore Lizzie so much...and I would kill for the opportunity to perform 'Old Maid.' So much passion and a myriad of emotions in that one song. I love the characters, the story and the music. It's as simple as that."

Osborne, on the other hand, had the opportunity to see Audra McDonald play Lizzie during the show's recent Broadway revival from Roundabout Theatre Company: "I had never seen the show before," he says. "I was very familiar with The Rainmaker, but knew very little about its musical counterpart. It was breathtaking. The music was fantastic and getting hear Audra sing it was a true pleasure."

Amanda Lamb, who won raves in GroundWorks Theatre's prodution of Fat Pig last season and has played the the matriarch in the Smoke on the Mountain trilogy at Chaffin's Barn, claims Hairspray as one of her favorites: "It includes fighting all manner of prejudice from size to color to hairdo - all things that are important! It's so bright and happy, and makes my soul happy...and a big girl gets the boy! What's not to love?"

Robert Allen, of Manchester's Millennium Theatre Company, ranked The Drowsy Chaperone at the top of his list: "For me, what securely plops The Drowsy Chaperone at the op of my favorite musicals list is how deftly is satisfies two criteria: 1) What I think makes a good musical and 2) A musical I love. Contrary to the obvious, the two are not mutually inclusive. The Drowsy Chaperone is a theater-lover's musical, concurrently exploring what makes a musical both universally successful and personally relevant. I agree with The Man in the Chair's deconstruction of the flaws of the musical theater genre, yet I relish his uncompromising belief in its power to transcend human sadness, and transport the viewer to a happier, healthier world where people sing and dance and believe in silly, but not illogical ways. If my real world were like that, I'd never been blue."

So what musicals ranked on my list of the Top Five? Gypsy, She Loves Me, Floyd Collins, Show Boat and Oklahoma, in that order. We've covered Gypsy pretty thoroughly, thanks to both Bonnie Keen and Dietz Osborne, so we'll let two other Nashville thespians take up the cause of both Floyd Collins and She Loves Me. Show Boat and Oklahoma need no further explanation for their place on any list of favorite musicals.

Actor/singer and music director Benjamin T. Van Diepen, who's played the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar and Mark in Rent at Boiler Room Theatre, chooses Adam Guettel's Floyd Collins among his favorites (and it's also on my list).

"Floyd Collins manages to be both classic and innovative at the same time," Van Diepen contends. "Adam Guettel's music and lyrics break new ground in musical theatre language, but never let go of their necessary musical theater roots - those that demand good storytelling and depth of character. The music is complex, with intricate chord structures and complicated intervallic passages that frequently only make sense when one steps back to view the song or scene as a whole. He uses his music to create tension and fear and relief, like a symphony or film score. He creates some of the most jarring and most beautiful music that both the musical theater world and the world-at large have ever experienced."

Jennifer Richmond's second-place musical, She Loves Me, also ranks number two on my personal list. Here's her take on that wondrous musical: "From the characters to the score, to the book and lyrics, She Loves Me is perfect in every way. It's everything I want in a classic musical comedy." She sums it up succinctly by saying "She Loves Me is the perfect definition of a classic musical comedy." And I couldn't agree more.

Pictured: Bonnie Keen, Molly Breen and Jake Speck (top to bottom)

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.