Angel’s Official List of 50 Shows to Experience Before Your Inevitable Death
I know that not everyone has the time, money, or energy to see live theatre (and finding good productions of every single one of these shows near you would be difficult if not impossible), so when I say “experience”, I mean read the script, watch a film adaptation if there is one, listen to the soundtrack, read up on the production history, watch a professional recording if there is one, or a bootleg if there isn’t. All of that good stuff counts. I’ve also excluded Shakespeare’s works from the list because everyone should experience Shakespeare (particularly The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream) before they die. So, in no particular order, Angel’s Official List of 50 Shows to Experience Before Your Inevitable Death:
Musicals
1. A Chorus Line by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante
2. The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel
3. Spring Awakening by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik
4. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by by Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn
5. Tuck Everlasting by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle
6. Wonderful Town by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields
7. The Color Purple by Marsha Norman
8. In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes
9. Newsies by Alan Menken, Jack Feldman, and Harvey Fierstein
10. Merrily We Roll Along by George Furth and Stephen Sondheim
11. Show Boat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
12. Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt
13. Les Miserables by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
14. Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
15. Chicago by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse
16. Cabaret by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff
17. Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Murray Howitz and Richard Maltby Jr.
18. City of Angels by Larry Gelbart
19. West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim
20. Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
21. Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda
22. RENT by Jonathan Larson
23. Come From Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein
24. Waitress by Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson
25. Spamalot by Eric Idle and John Du Prez
Straight Plays
1. The Language Archive by Julia Cho
2. Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
3. The Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson
4. Fences by August Wilson
5. Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
6. Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias
7. I And You by Lauren Gunderson
8. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, adapted by Douglas W. Larche
9. The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman
10. Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play by Anne Washman
11. Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Ellis
12. Jump by Charley Evon Simpson
13. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
14. The Pillowman by Martin Mcdonagh
15. Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
16. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, adapted by Nia Vardalos
17. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
18. Detroit by Lisa D’amour
19. The Deepest Trench by Chloe Whitehorn
20. The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth
21. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
22. Angels in America by Tony Kushner
23. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
24. Noises Off by Michael Frayn
25. Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
Might pass out after looking up all those authors, might fuck around and add a “why you should experience” line for each show. Idk yet.
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