Tom Williams Editor’s note: Tom Williams originally published this Chicago Critic list in 2002. Musical-theatre reputations and revival histories have changed considerably since then, so several titles once described as overlooked are now firmly established classics. We’ve cleaned up the original archive, corrected creator credits and added brief context while preserving Tom’s 25 selections. Some of these … Read more
by Tom Williams 1. Show Boat by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II 2. Les Miserables by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg & Herbert Kretzmer 3. My Fair Lady by Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner 4. Gypsy by Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim 5. Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II 6. Crazy For … Read more
The opening ten minutes of a Broadway Musical are critical. Every great show has a great opening. Even if a musical gets the opening correct, the show can still fall apart. But, get the opening wrong and the show surely will fail. The audience’s expectations are sent in the wrong direction and once they realize that they have been misled, they will feel cheated.
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