Unimpressed

A slight break from my top 100 list to give you guys an update on the new musicals I'm listening to:

The Last Five Years: I gotta say, I'm really kind of disappointed. I guess I shouldn't be, but I had such high expectations based on the great things I'd heard about this show. I'll start out with the good: "Still Hurting" is great and stinging, it even made my top one hundred list. Most of Jason Robert Brown's jokes and lyrics are pleasurable and very real, probably too real. I always get a feeling that I'm listening to his autobiography, and I just want to say, "Too much information man". But that is also a part of the beauty of the show: it's realism is admirable even if annoying.
Now to the bad (though you see I couldn't even finish the good without taking a couple shots at the show): I'm most disappointed in the Act 1 Finale, "The Next Ten Minutes" and the finale "Goodbye Until Tomorrow". It seems to my amateurish ears that Brown has missed one of the simplest tricks of songwriting: He doesn't present a catchy, repeated key line. It feels like there is no chorus, it's all verses leading to nowhere. The rest of the songs are, though sometimes heartfelt, are just fluff.
I'll keep listening and I'm sure eventually this show will find a way to win me over.

Hair: This one was difficult for me to listen to, it's definitely not my genre of music, but I was immediately thrilled with "Aquarius" and a few other songs. Most of the other songs seemed to just blend together, until I found the movie on YouTube. Now I kind of really love the hippie feel of the music. I'm still getting to know most of the songs, but this one looks like it has a very promising future on my iPod.

The King and I: I'm only given this show two or three listens, but my initial observations seem to be that it is very simple, not bad, just simple. It's nothing like the beauty and complexity of "Carousel" or even "Oklahoma". But perhaps the classic nature of the musical is rooted more in it's staging, dancing, and superb acting. Oh, but a bonus: As a cast album junkie, I often lose the beauty of the ballets and dance numbers because I skip over them, not so for "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" which is hilarious and a signature part of the show.

Rent: Again, the word, "unimpressed" comes to mind. True, because of it's length it's difficult to sit down and listen to a large chunk of it at a time, but that's part of the problem. Larson's "conversations in music" are a nuisance. I listen to thirty minutes of useless conversations put to music to get to one or two good songs.
But, THE BEAUTY IS that those one or two songs are just simply wonderful. "Seasons of Love",  "La Vie Boheme", "Will I?", and others are beautiful. But overall, the album is hard to get into when I'm interrupted every other song with a "Tune Up" or a "Voice Mail".  

90-81

90. Getting Ready- 13 
Wait, don't tear me apart yet! This is the only other song from 13 on the list, but if this show had an intermission, this would be it's act one finale. And I love act one finales. This is the teenage version of "Tonight" from West Side Story which will definitely appear later on the list. I love how each of the character's come into the song with singular motives, and they each have a unique melody that they bring out. Lucy and Kendra also have a hilarious and tuneful exchange. 

89. You Should Be Loved- Side Show
When Side Show was produced, it was a disappointing flop with audiences, and in a way, I understand that (awful lyrics at points), but it is a deeply emotional, thought-provoking show as well. It's about Siamese twins that are conjoined at the hip and stars the fabulous Alice Ripley. This song is sung by the African American Jake, to one of the twins. He confesses his love for her, but she rejects him because she wonders what the world would think of an interracial marriage. The most telling line comes when Jake cries, "If I can see past your affliction, why can't you see past mine?" It really has a moving message and fine, rousing music.

88. Watch What Happens- Newsies 
Please legit theatre fans don't stone me yet, I promise there is only one other Newsies song on the list, but to be honest, I found the score genuinely listenable. But, the problem with this show, and most Disney shows is that in about 3 listens I've got it. It doesn't delve deep into the philosophy of anything, and it's not very emotionally challenging. In comparison to Next to Normal, Wicked, or the 25th Annual Putnam County SB, it's downright simplistic, but I did include "Watch What Happens". 
It is an original song from Menken, it is fast paced, and includes fine, well-suited lyrics for the female lead, who originated in the musical. But, the best part of the song is that it has a climax. A climax is very rare for most fast-paced, female ballads, and even more, a natural climax comes from the song that leads to anticipation for the plot. And since this is the closest any Disney show might get to legitimate character analysis, why not try to give them a nod for their efforts.

87. Rose's Turn- Gypsy
This kind of feels wrong since this is one of the most innovative and thought-provoking songs ever crafted on Broadway, but I've always viewed it as a great work of art, but not necessarily a fun one to listen to. Basically, Rose has a mental breakdown onstage, music and all. Gypsy is more than a good musical, it's a fantastic character study. 
One of the big discussion points for Gypsy is of the cast recordings is the definitive one? I prefer the original with Ethel Merman and the most recent with Patti LuPone. But, for this song, I like Merman. She's an institution, a goddess. 

86. I See A River- Urinetown

I See A River has a vague, hymn-like quality, that is used admirably for a closing number. My favorite part of the number is just the general irony and the philosophy of it. The people of Urinetown have run out of water to drink, but Hope Cladwell insists it doesn't matter because "the glass of water is inside of you". Urinetown's final jab at government and politics is the conjecture that often oppressive leaders will popularize meaningless statements just to get people to follow them and ignore their troubles. 

85. Yours, Yours, Yours

A sweet, very classically beautiful love song that is delivered in both the movie and on the cast album with heart-felt passion. Love songs make up some of my favorite Broadway songs. This one might be higher if were a bit longer, it is relatively short for show tune standards. And, it really is so beautiful I'm always left wanting another verse. 

The song in context is made even more touching because Adam and Abigail are separated, and this song is sung through letters. Well-written with fantastic harmonies

84. Don't Walk Away

The only song from the musical Xanadu which played on Broadway in 2008, but is based on the movie starring Olivia Newton-John. The musical itself is hilarious. The song itself has some fantastic music. There is a very retro feel to keyboards that really gives the song some fire. It has alright lyrics that are inexplicably undecipherable without reading them while you listen. Cheyenne Jackson is a perfect combination of heartfelt pleading and hilarious irony. The second I hear the first chord from this song, I'm in my own Xanadu.

83. The Beauty Is Reprise

I believe this is technically the only "reprise" on this list. Usually reprises are shorter and less memorable in shows, but in The Light in the Piazza Adam Guettel really shows off his genius. The reprise of "The Beauty Is" is actually a completion of a key theme. The first time it is sung, Clara is singing about the mysteries of Italy and of love, but Margaret's version is also a song of love, but also of regret and passion. She's singing of her love for her daughter Clara, and in the music you can almost feel Margaret reaching out to Clara. As for the music, I can't really say more than that at one point in the song, Victoria Clarke hits an incredible high note that literally gives me the chills every time I listen to it.

82. What is This Feeling? 

This is a less classically beautiful than a lot of the songs here, but how I can resist a song that has funny jokes and great actresses trying to out-sing each other? Am I a Wicked fan-girl? Maybe, just maybe. Honestly, I love when there are two melodies going on at the same time in a show and that's what happens here. That's good enough for me. 

81. Wishing You were Somehow here Again

The, I repeat THE most underrated song from Phantom of the Opera. This song is beautiful, and it assaults my unexplainable affinity to strong female ballads. The climax for this song will leave you breathless, or at least it does with me because I frequently can't resist singing along.