Broadway Book Club: Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hits and the Biggest Flops of the Season-1959 to 2009

Welcome to a new series Broadway Book Club, where I take advice as well as share on Broadway based books I have been reading in my free time. Today's book is " Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hits and the Biggest Flops of the Season-1959 to 2009" by Peter Filichia. This is a wonderful book that can be found for a reasonable price or at your local library. This show is a guide to the biggest hits and misses spanning the years listed, you can read it in order or skip to the years your favorite shows premiered and find out how it was when they first began, some shows have stories that you would not expect, and some of the biggest and best composers may have written a flop or two. This book is very fun and very informative. I highly recommend if you want to discover shows, and just because a show flopped does not mean it is bad, just unsuccessful. You may find a show that has a good soundtrack as well as learn new facts. This is a great read. What Broadway books have you been skimming through? till next time hope you day is a showstopper

Shows I Love: Newsies

Welcome to the first post in the month long theme of love. One of the shows I love dearly is Newsies.
This show is one of Alan Menkins finest. This follows the tale of many young boys who make their living selling papers, as the head of the paper raises prices they decide to take a stand, against all odds. The music is all memorable and catchy, you will be humming these tunes as soon as your done listening to them, the choreography is jaw dropping and the story may be simple but it has tons of heart, and very likable characters.

The songs are amazing, they are each unique and will inspire and get you fired up. It is one of my favorite soundtracks in any musical. The soundtrack is amazing, every song is worth at least one listen. Here are some of my favorite tracks

Carrying The Banner
The World Will Know
Seize the Day (L)
Santa Fe (L)
King of New York 
Once and For All ( L)


if you want to watch the show, try to find a tour when it comes around, but you can watch the live taped version on Netflix called " The Newsies Broadway Experience", it is a live production with the original cast, an audience, and even an intermission. I highly recommend if you are interested, it is one of Disney's best shows, and one of my favorites, and if you enjoy it on Netflix you may want to see it live, it is in my top three Broadway musicals of all time, it was my second show for countless reasons, check it out you may find a new favorite.

Source: Disneyplus.com

Musicals that Would have an Awesome Film Adaptation

In the early days of this blog I picked a few movies that I believe would have really cool stage musical adaptations, like parent trap and la la land. Now time for the opposite, as I sat watching videos on YouTube an Advertisement for " Mama Mia 2, Here I Go Again" came up, I was beyond shocked since the stage didn't have a sequel yet the movie did. and I thought what stage shows would translate to the screen well, here are my thoughts and feel free to share yours as well.

Hamilton- I would love to see how this would translate to film, the energy of this show is one of a kind and I wonder how the choreography and acting would translate, I would at least would enjoy an attempt

Annie- Annie has had multiple adaptations, the last adaptation was not the best I would really love to see an adaptation with nothing added or changed so we could see this wonderful timeless story the way we do on stage

Dear Evan Hansen- This wonderful story with a pop soundtrack would be great, set in high school with a powerful message about life itself, this show should have a wider audience

What shows do you wish had movie adaptations, what shows that were originally movies do you love, one of my favorites is " Catch Me if You Can"

Coming Soon...

February will be an experiment, an entire month fitting through the entire month, February will be Love. Broadway songs I love, Broadway shows I love, Broadway love songs. Now that January is over and a new month begins I finally wanted to try an entire theme. See you in February but first...

Broadway Songs for a Good Workout

When I get the time to go to the gym, I like to bring theater with me, here are some Broadway hits that will make your workout shine

My Shot (L) - Hamilton

You Can't Stop the Beat (L)- Hairspray 

Don't Rain On My Parade- Funny Girl

Screech In - Come From Away

Live in Living Color- Catch Me if You Can

Freak Flag- Shrek the Musical

When Your'e Home- In the Heights

Waving Through a Window- Dear Evan Hansen

Whipped into Shape- Legally Blonde

Hero is my Middle Name- Spongebob Squarepants the Musical

One Day More- Les Miserables

Seize the Day(L), Once and For All ( L), King of New York- Newsies

these songs are bound to  change up your routine

Stage Vs Screen: Les Miserables

Welcome to the first edition of a new series of posts, We love musicals, we love movies and sometimes there are adaptations of our favorite shows, yet is it like our argument with books, where one is just always superior or can film outclass the stage. I decided to put that to the test with my first and favorite musical, after seeing a touring production I decided to also give the film a revisit and see which was superior, should someone pay for a ticket or just watch the movie instead.

I'm comparing the stage version which I have seen three times, with the 2012 movie. in 3 categories. , Set Design, The Musical Performances/Acting, and Story. Story is for how well the plot is conveyed as well as  what was added, or subtracted, from this adaptation and if it made it better or worse.  Lets begin with my first and favorite musical Les Miserables , I was beyond excited for the movie, I had watched the 10th and 25th anniversary concerts as well as seen a touring cast twice before seeing the movie, did I enjoy it and does it hold up? lets find out by the end of the day.

The Story: 

For those of you who have not looked into one of the longest running Broadway Smashes, this show follows ex convict Jean Valjean as he is release from being in prison for nineteen years, after not being able to find a life outside of prison due to being judged and his reputation following him, he steals gold and silver from a friendly priest, the priest covers for him and allows him to use what he stole to start a new life, Valjean breaks parole and escapes town, with Javert a policeman from his prison, giving pursuit. And that is the prologue, there are many plots in this show and a lot of characters, there is romance,  a revolution, the chase between Valjean and Javert mentioned just a moment ago, some comic relief, Valjean trying to live a normal life, and many more, and this show is a drama, it will not hold back on the heavy moments alongside the inspiring ones. So which one tells the story better.

The show is three hours long, it tells the main and other various plot lines very well, though long, the story is very gripping, if you are disinterested in one of the plots it will be over before you know it, but if you if you may not get to spend as much time with your favorite characters as you think.

The movie has to cut a few things to fit the length of a movie, such as a few plot lines and a few songs, they also move a few events around such as " I Dreamed a Dream" after Fantine hits rock bottom instead of just after she gets fired. Yet the movie adds some an original song, instead of keeping things at good enough.

Though the movie version is shorter, I would say the stage version gets a point for this round for giving the audience the full experience, it tells the multiple plots well and doesn't cut things.

Set Design:

The sets in the show are amazing, large set pieces such as the barricade and the buildings really bring you  into 18th century Paris, the buildings, the bridges , the street lamps it really is amazing.

The movie is the same, large sweeping sets and great lighting, doing a great job to set the mood and have a great atmosphere as well.  so is this round a tie? I'm afraid not, the point goes to the stage version due to the camera work of the film, the sets may be amazing but this movie focuses on close ups so often that you can barely enjoy the awesome sets.

The Acting/Music:

Since i have seen the show three times, I will base my opinion of the production I saw late last year. The acting in the production was amazing, there was not a weak performance, the cast was smaller then usual but from the extras to the leads, they were amazing, so amazing that the applause after the show lasted for at least five minutes and it was well earned. If you have an opportunity to see Les Mis see it. whether it is a touring cast, a civic theater, or a DVD anniversary production, it is one of the best shows to hit Broadway.

The movie is hit and miss , some of the actors hit it out of the park such as Hugh Jackman as Valjean and Samantha Banks as Eponine, and Anne Hathaway who got an Oscar for her performance, but for every stand out performance there is a weak one, and for those who  have seen the film they know exactly the ones.

The movie did add a new song that was nice but it didn't necessarily have too, Les Mis has some of the best songs in theater history that have been performed over the years such as " Do You Hear The People Sing" and " Bring Him Home". Some songs in the movie are performed very well but overall the point goes to the stage version.

Final Thoughts

Score: Film:0 , Stage: 3.

In this case I believe the film outclasses the stage version, I recommend looking up a filmed anniversary concert or seeing it in person if you can, Watch the movie if you want to see another interpretation of this amazing musical, but maybe you will enjoy parts of the movie more then the stage version.

Thank you for reading, and have an amazing day 

Historical Figures That Could Have Awesome Musicals

As i was listening to  "Hamilton" again I remembered on of the reasons why I loved the show was that it told a story that was unknown to many, but not a lot of people love it and consider him their favorite founding father, for good reason. History being my favorite subject had me thinking, what events and people could be in awesome plays or musicals.

Shakespeare- though we have a great and fun adaptation in "Something Rotten", it would be cool to see a show about Shakespeare writing his shows and trying to live his life, also it would be a big inspiration to upcoming playwrights 

Walt Disney-  A story of joy and imagination, but maybe also would show things we don't know about him, it could be a feel good fun story.

Mozart- we have a lot of shows based on musicians coming and that is a topic for another day, but with shows like " Beautiful the Carole King Musical" arising in popularity maybe it would be cool to learn more about such a talented  artist and his very interesting life

Amelia Earhart- A story about rising above what others think of you and following your dreams, though with a sad ending her story would be informative and give people more facts about a very well known story 

Rosa Parks and The Civil Rights Movement- a story that could inspire as well as be a great drama

Maya Angelou- A spoken word show about an amazing poet, whose words inspire people to this day.

You may have noticed a common theme, a lot of these stories such as  Hamilton" or " Come From Away", don't just entertain, they encourage chasing your dreams by showing people who had the courage to do so.