It's pretty hard to argue with "Show Business" as the best. I had never come across the film of "Call Me Madam" until finding it on FXM Retro. What a show; Ethel Merman is a real tour de force! It ran for about 700 performances in the 50's. (with the great Tommy Rall too) Great Irving Berlin bouncy cute score, including this gem, "You're Just In Love" with Donald O'Connor.
I think it was at Encores in the 90's with maybe Tyne Daly.
If having a degree in musical theatre allows you say definitively what the best musical song is, just talk to any of the homeless people on the streets of New York.
have to also submit "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" as a worthy candidate for this title, given the immeasurable impact of Oklahoma, and the melodic delight and infectious positivity of this song opening the listener to the possibilities that lay ahead....
Steve C. said: "It's pretty hard to argue with "Show Business" as the best. I had never come across the film of "Call Me Madam" until finding it on FXM Retro. What a show; Ethel Merman is a real tour de force! It ran for about 700 performances in the 50's. (with the great Tommy Rall too) Great Irving Berlin bouncy cute score, including this gem, "You're Just In Love" with Donald O'Connor.
"You're Just in Love" is probably the greatest counterpoint duet written for the theater. Some might choose "Lida Rose" from The Music Man. I wonder why more composers didn't write any. They are fun.
Here is MGM's anthem to show business, written by Schwartz and Dietz for the 1953 film The Band Wagon. In November, 2015, City Center produced a Kathleen Marshall musical version. Some clever lyrics, here performed by Judy Garland (short):
It might be a fight like you see on the screen A swain getting slain for the love of a queen Some great Shakespearean scene Where a ghost and a prince meet, and everyone ends in mincemeat.
Speed said: "This is easy. I have a degree in musical theater, I see everything, and the best song is "The Last Real Record Store On Earth" from High Fidelity.