Musical Theatre

1960s

100

Opening in 1969 this musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document.

What is 1776

200

Opening in 1966; this series of three musical playlets with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Bock and Harnick with contributions from Jerome Coopersmith. Each act has its own storyline, but all three are tied together by a common theme (someone who believes that they want something, but once they get what they wanted they realize that it wasn't what they wanted) and common references, such as references to the color brown. The first act is based on Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve; the second act is based on Frank R. Stockton's The Lady or the Tiger?; the third act is based on Jules Feiffer's Passionella.

What is The Apple Tree

300

Opening in 1960; this musical originally titled Let's Go Steady, the satire on American society is set in 1958. The story was inspired by the phenomenon of popular singer Elvis Presley and his draft notice into the Army in 1957. The rock star character's name, "Conrad Birdie," is word play on the name of Conway Twitty.[1] Twitty is best remembered today for his long career as a country music star, but in the late 1950s, he was one of Presley's rock 'n' roll rivals. The original Broadway production was a Tony Award-winning success.

What is Bye Bye Birdie

1970s

100

Coming out in 1975 was a retelling of the story The Wizard of Oz. Its score was brimming with rock and soul producing a style that distinguished it from the rock musicals of the decade. This work won a Tony Award.

What is The Wiz

200

Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lyrics by Time Rice,opening in 1979.With Patty LuPone (Lead), it was a success and ran originally 1,567 times. The story involved a young girl who used her feminine powers to climb the ladder of success to become the most powerful woman in South America. In 1996, the screen version came out featuring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

What is Evita

300

Opening in 1978; this musical revue with a book by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr., and music by various composers and lyricists. It is named after the song by Fats Waller (with Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf), "Ain't Misbehavin'". The musical is a tribute to the black musicians of the 1920s and '30s who were part of the Harlem Renaissance, an era of growing creativity, cultural awareness, and ethnic pride, and takes its title from the 1929 Waller song "Ain't Misbehavin'". It was a time when Manhattan nightclubs like the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom were the playgrounds of high society and Lenox Avenue dives were filled with piano players banging out the new beat known as swing. Five performers present an evening of rowdy, raunchy, and humorous songs that encapsulate the various moods of the era and reflect Waller's view of life as a journey meant for pleasure and play.

What is Ain't Misbehavin'

1980s

100

Opening in 1980; this musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit.

What is 42nd Street

200

Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

What is Les Miserables

300

musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as "the Jellicle choice" and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Cats also introduced the song standard "Memory".

What is Cats

1990s

100

The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance on Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All", "Voulez Vous", "SOS" and the title track. Over 54 million people have seen the show, which has grossed $2 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. A film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters was released in July 2008.

What is Mamma Mia

200

a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. The music includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and ragtime and the production is mostly sung-through.

What is Ragtime

300

a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson[1] based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York City's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

What is Rent

2000s

100

This 2008 musical, written by Jason Robert Brown, follows the lives of teenagers as they discover the trails and tribulations of turning 13

What is 13

200

Opening in 2009; this musical based on the 1980 movie of the same name, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It features a book by Patricia Resnick, based on the screenplay by Resnick and Colin Higgins.

What is 9 to 5

300

Opening in 2005; this musical with music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and book by Kevin Del Aguila (based on an idea by Marc Kessler and Ken Davenport). Centering on a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio, the show satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands and the popularity of Christian-themed music in contemporary American culture. It began an Off Broadway run on March 1, 2005 and closed on January 10, 2010, having played 16 previews and 2,032 regular performances making it the 9th longest-running Off-Broadway musical of all time.

What is Altar Boyz