A Few of My Favorite Things

My 5 favorite musicals (in no particular order):


Into the Woods- My favorite Sondheim musical. Excellent musical mash-up of various Grimm's fairy tales including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. We did a dinner theater show of this when I was involved in community theater about 15 years ago. I played the Baker's Wife. I LOVED every minute of it!! The PBS recording starring Bernadette Peters and JoAnna Gleason is fantastic. There is a film being made of it right now, which I really hope they don't ruin. 

Cast Photo of Into the Woods. I'm front and center with The Baker. 

Little Shop of Horrors- I was also in a production of this with our community theater many years ago, but it's always been a favorite of mine. I love the '80s film version with Rick Moranis. I love the Broadway version where (SPOILER) everybody dies. I love the music, the setting, the characters, the sci-fi geekery-- the whole thing is a genuine great time.

Cast Photo from Little Shop of Horrors. Again, I'm front and center. 

from broadwayworld.com

Les Miserables- Every theater geek loves Les Mis and I'm not exception. The best video production I've seen (even better than Hugh Jackman) is the 25th anniversary concert version starring Alfie Boe. If we could just trade the actor who played Marius in the 2012 film version for the Jonas brother in the concert version, you would have the ultimate perfect cast. Music that sweeps you up and breaks your heart, humor, drama, heartache, and France. What's not to love?


The Pirates of Penzance- Probably my first favorite musical. When I was a kid, we would put on the VHS tape of the movie version (Kevin Kline as the Pirate King was brilliant!) and sing and dance and act it out. Performing in it (as Edith) way, way back about 16 years ago fulfilled a life-long dream of mine. Almost. I really wanted to play Mabel. Still worth it, though. it's a rollicking good show with humor, romance, excellent Gilbert and Sullivan music and funny pirates. 

My "sisters" and me. Terrible scanned copy of a photo. Still... what a fun memory. 

Singin' in the Rain- I wrote a long piece about this a couple of years ago. This movie holds up so well to the test of time. My kids love it as much as I do! This is one worth going back to again and again. 

from steamrollerchicago.com

What musicals would you include on your top 5 list? It's very hard to narrow it down. In fact, I might swap one of these for another from time to time, depending on my mood.