Best Composer Ever- Page 2
Best Composer Ever
Elizabeth_DeBris
Broadway Star Joined: 1/29/05
#25re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 6:45pm
No one's mentioned the Gershwins, yet? Wow.
It depends on how you define "best," really. Favorite? Most legendary? *cough* Largest fan base? Most revolutionary?
Too many variables, for me.
I don't know who the "best" (Broadway) composer is/was, or even if there is one, but my favorite composer is Sondheim. *Points to avatar* Unworthy of your words, indeed.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#26re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 7:00pm
Oh, for the love of God. Go ahead, rationalize it however you like, Rent fanatics. It's only an opinion thread, after all.
But look at it another way. I'm a member of a baseball website where people argue about the comparative quality of the careers of players all the time. And one of the big arguments is longevity vs. peak. Which is more important? That you reached amazing heights, or that you were good for an exceptionally long time? Both are commendable, to be sure. But if you want to get into the Hall of Fame, you need both.
You can argue that Larson had a very high peak, but you can't argue that he maintained that peak for any amount of time. To put it more plainly, he was a one-hit wonder. That's not his fault, obviously, but it's still the truth. So even if you place Rent up there with any other musical ever written, I don't see how you can place its author up there with people who have written more than one musical that's just as good.
There are other great musicals written by composers who weren't heard from again. Would you place them on a level with Sondheim, Rodgers, and the other greats, too?
Updated On: 2/11/05 at 07:00 PM
#27re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 7:02pm
Stephen Flaherty
His musicals never sound the same. The only signature that they have is that all the characters are introduced in the first song. Other than that, you can't tell it's Ahrens and Flaherty unless you know it.
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.
dotmarie
Broadway Star Joined: 8/14/03
CurtainUp
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/9/04
#29re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:09pmSONDHEIM!!!
Rosencrantz: "Be happy - if you're not even HAPPY what's so good about surviving? We'll be all right. I suppose we just go on."
- from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Feodor Sverdlov
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/21/04
BWayBoy88
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/04
#31re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:37pmI would have to say Sondheim, but I think Jason Robert Brown has major potential to being just as great, maybe even greater(who knows) than Sondheim.
seasons of love
Leading Actor Joined: 1/8/05
#32re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:38pm
Stephen Sondheim
Jerry Herman
Jonathan Larson
George and Ira Gershwin
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Cole Porter
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Irving Berlin
"I am unfinished- I am diminished
With or without you..."
#33re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:39pmALW, sondheim, JRB, kander, cole porter, rogers, hart, hammerstein
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
lyfeisacabaret
Understudy Joined: 8/18/04
#34re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:40pmSondheim and Rodgers, but I'd also like to mention Burt Bacharach, not as the greatest or most prolific, but as a huge innovator for modern musical theatre.
Understudy Joined: 12/31/69
#35re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 8:45pm
I have always enjoyed the works of Ahers and Flaherty (I KNOW I spelled it wrong)
and I also have loved the music of Sondheim and Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb and ....
#36re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:22pmI don't think anybody has mentioned Bill Finn yet.
#37re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:33pmI love William Finn! I love Jonathon Larson too, but, I'll have to go with Plum on this one. Larson created two wonderful shows, one of which has gained legendary status on Broadway. However, one show alone can make him great but not the greatest. To sya that he is greater than Sondheim, Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin, and Porter who have managed to create numerous shows with numerous great scores is a little absurd. I mean ,the man has done some wonderfu lthings, but who knows what he could have done? True, he could have gone to create amazing shows, or he could have remained a one hit wonder. We'll never know. And longevity and peakness in one's career both matter if you're going to call them the best.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#38re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:37pm
You really can't judge someone on what they could have done. Yes, he wrote two wonderful shows and died. It's sad, but he's not the best.
MY TOP 5:
SONDHEIM
WILLIAM FINN
COLE PORTER
BOCK AND HARNICK
KANDER AND EBB
#39re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:40pm
My top five:
Rodgers
Gershwin
Sondheim
Porter
Kander/Bock (tie)
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
Updated On: 2/11/05 at 09:40 PM
#40re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:43pm
SONDHEIM
but also, Kander and Ebb
Jason Robert Brown has definite potential
Some people analyze every detail/
Some people stall when they can't see the trail/
Some people freeze out of fear that they'll fail/
But I keep rollin' on/
Some people can't get success with their art/
Some people never feel love in their heart/
Some people can't tell the two things apart/
But I keep rollin' on
#41re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 9:45pmAbsolutely, Kate. I see him as the next Sondheim. he has written-thus far-three perfect score.
#42re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 10:10pm
I'd say my favorite composers are those whose work I have enjoyed without exception. I can't say that for Sondheim and others. My favorites are Menken, Finn
Flaherty, and Kander.
#44re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 10:24pmALW, Larson, Sondheim, Gerswhin, Kander/Ebb.
I have my books and my poetry to protect me...
#45re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 10:30pmI adore Bernstein, mainly for the orchestrations. Sondheim is a close second, but Bernstein's orchestrations win me over.
#46re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 10:33pmI think Larson's own opinion would have been that Sondheim was the best musical theatre composer ever.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#47re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 11:31pmBlueWizard i think you're absolutely correct. He did Idolize him. I mean Sunday in tick...tick...BOOM! was modeled after Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George.
CAGES OR WINGS? WHICH DO YOU PREFER? ASK THE BIRDS. FEAR OR LOVE, BABY? DON'T SAY THE ANSWER, ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
Ebonic_Singer
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/18/04
#48re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/11/05 at 11:45pmI am definately with Jason Robert Brown he is my favorite composer.
MusicMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#49re: Best Composer Ever
Posted: 2/12/05 at 12:15am
Favorably comparing the efforts of Finn, Larson, Brown, etc. to Sondheim's masterful output doesn't even merit comment.
Updated On: 5/1/08 at 12:15 AM
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