Favorite Musical?

I have too many favorite musicals.


I guess you can say that I absolutely love the genre.  Leora blogged about seeing West Side Story with her daughter...  on Broadway.  That must have been something grand.


When I was a kid, my mother signed me up for a series of musicals in a less impressive setting, some school.  I loved them.  And we went to a "theater in the round" as a family, I think it was in Westbury, Long Island.


My mother has always loved the theater, both the stage and audience.  I inherited that gene, though the only real performing I've done has been in the classroom.  Yes, as a teacher, because teaching is theater!


But what's my favorite musical?  I guess it's best to make dozens of categories so I can list as many favorites as possible.  That includes choreography, not just songs.


Here are just a few, add what you think deserves to be on the list:

• opening dance: West Side Story
• dance narrative: crap game in Guys & Dolls
• action dance: Cuba night club in Guys & Dolls
• exotic: Bali Hai in South Pacific
• closing: Dreamgirls
• general choreography: Gene Kelly, Brigadoon
• most unlikely plot: Oliver
• didn't expect to like it as much: Bird Cage
• hated the ending: My Fair Lady
• just for the dancing: Dirty Dancing
• before its time: A Hard Day's Night (think of it as a music video)
• making music out of misery: Les Miserables
• fun memories, seen on TV only: Peter Pan (with Mary Martin)
• impressive on both stage and screen: Phantom of the Opera
• etched in my mind (half a century): Porgy & Bess
• not really a musical, but catchy tune: Cat Ballou
• is due for a new production: Showboat
• not really a musical: Some Like It Hot
• great lesson: Wizard of Oz
• my amateur stage performance (SCW): You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown