Top Ten lists

[rachel]

What are everyone's top 10 songs (musicals only)??
Here's mine.
1) Defying Gravity (Wicked)
2) Wenn ich Tanzen Will (Elisabeth)
3) Wenn das Schicksal dich ereilt (Rudolf)/ Prolog (Elisabeth)
4) Zu Ende (Dracula)/ Do you hear the people sing (Les Mis)
5) Der Weg in die Zukunft (Rudolf)
6) Mrs de Winter bin Ich (Rebecca)
7) Ich Gehor nur Mir (Elisabeth)
8) One Day More (Les Mis)
9) Milady is Zuruck (3 Musketeers)
10) On my own (Les Mis)

And the funny thing is 4 months ago, I only knew the ones from Wicked and Les Mis.

Edit 1) Added Prolog as joint 3rd (It should be up there)
Edit 2) How could I forget Do you hear the people sing, I must have been sleeping when I made this list!

[Cherry-Pie]

Ooo! Here's mine:

1) Defying Gravity/Frei und Schwerelos (Wicked) (It varies...)
2) Gutes Tun/No Good Deed (Wicked) (Same again)
3) The Wizard and I/Der Zauberer und Ich (Wicked) (And again)
4) Wenn ich tanzen will (Elisabeth) (This song is love...and the drum beat reminds me of Bolaro (sp?))
5) Wie Du (Elisabeth) (I don't know why I like it so much, but I do!)
6) My Strongest Suit/Mein Sinn für Stil (Aida) (Same as with the Wicked ones)
7) Every Story is a Love Story (Aida)
8) Superboy and the Invisible Girl (Next to Normal)
9) For Good (Wicked)
10) Ich gehör nur mir (Elisabeth) (This was the first song I ever heard from Elisabeth, a few months before I even watched the musical.)

[rachel]

There are so many others I could have put down from Wicked, Elisabeth, Rebecca and other musicals that didn't even get a mention but if I'd done top 20 it would have been too crazy.
The drum beat in wenn ich tanzen will is really like bolero!!

[Cherry-Pie]

Isn't it? It's one of the first things I noticed. ;D

Honourable mentions for me: Finale B from Rent, Take Me or Leave Me from Rent, As Long As You're Mine/Solang Ich Dich Hab from Wicked, Die Wahrheit from Aida, One Day More from Les Miserables, What Kind of Man Is This? from Eternity, Unlucky in Love from Eternity, Boote in der Nacht from Elisabeth, Surabaya Santa from Songs for a New World, Just One Step from Songsfor a New World, Stars and the Moon from Songs for a New World, Blind von Licht der vielen Kerzen from Marie Antionette...so many...

[digne]

This is just impossible. But I really tried to choose based only on favorite songs alone and not how they are associated in my mind with the shows they are from or any of the performers. But I also have to say that these are just my favorites of the moment 2 months from now, I may very well have a whole new list.

In no particular order:

Vérone (Roméo et Juliette)
Jenseits der Nacht (Rebecca)
Die Schatten Werden Länger (Elisabeth)
Du Måste Finnas (Kristian från Duvemåla)
Vildgräs (Kristian från Duvemåla)
Engel aus Kristall (3 Musketiere)
Le Bien Qui Fait Mal (Mozart L'Opéra Rock)
One Day More (Les Misérables)
Être à la Hauteur (Le Roi Soleil)
Du rettest die Welt für Mich (Elisabeth: Die Legende einer Heiligen)

Runners up:

La Vie Passe (Le Roi Soleil)
Finishing the Hat (Sunday in the Park with George)
Into the Fire (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
When I Look at You (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
Wenn ich tanzen will (Elisabeth)
Live with Somebody You Love (Martin Guerre)
Blind vom Licht der vielen Kerzen (Marie Antoinette)
Ya Got Trouble (Music Man)
Tradition (Fiddler on the Roof)
Place Je Passe (Mozart L'Opéra Rock)
A Little Priest (Sweeney Todd)
Let There Be (Children of Eden)
Wie wird Man seinen Schatten los? (Mozart!)
Finale (Les Misérables)
Night Waltz I: The Sun Won't Set (A Little Night Music)
Endgame (Chess)

[rachel]

As I said, 4 months ago. I hadn't even heard any foreign language musicals. My list would have been full of wicked, les mis, chess, evita and phantom. I still love them but these are my current favourites.

[digne]

Well I only know a couple songs from Aida, I'd only ever heard the title of Songs for a New World (it's Jason Robert Brown right or am I hallucinating?) and I had never heard of Eternity. So last night I was going through YouTube filling in some of the gaps in my knowledge.

But I can't find any sort of plot synopsis of Eternity or even description of the show. Can anyone fill me in?

And since I'm the only one who has mentioned Kristina från Duvemåla any where as far as I can tell on this board. I thought I'd post a YouTube video of one of the songs (with an English translation).

This musical is about 19th century Swedish immigrants to American. It was written by Björn and Benny of ABBA fame. It is considered to be their masterpiece. It elevated Björn and Benny from simply Swedish pop culture to the level of Swedish national treasures.

Herbert Kretzmer who wrote the English lyrics to Les Mis was brought in to help with an English version of the show. The English version is good, but I prefer the Swedish. For one thing the Swedish version was almost 4 hours long. So far the English version has only been presented in abbreviated concert form and the plot suffers (although that's no real clue to how the show would be done on stage in English). But the English lyrics themselves are for the most part excellent.



The English version of this song is called "You Have to Be There" it can be found on YouTube here.


Does anyone else want to share a bit about one of their favorite songs? What is means to you, how you discovered it etc ... ?

[rachel]

I only know "You have to be there" because its on Kerry Ellis's album Anthems. I really love the song though.

[rachel]

I think I'll have to do a runners up list but they won't be in order because it would take to long...

Mut Zur Tat (Rudolf)
Du bist meine weld (Rudolf)
Prolog (Elisabeth)... this should be in my top 10 actually
Die schatten werden langer (Elisabeth)
Elisabeth Mach auf meine engel?? (Elisabeth)... dunno if this is what its called but you know the bit I'm talking about.
The Soviet Machine (Chess)... i don't know why i love this song as much as I do!
Someone elses story (Chess)
I know him so well (Chess)
End Game 3 (Chess)
For Good (Wicked)
I'm not that Girl (Wicked)
Oh dear thats more than 10 and I've so many more. I think I should stop now.

[Cherry-Pie]

I also only know You Have to Be There because of Kerry's album (she sung it beautifully live as well!).

Well, for Eternity, it's a little known (like, really little known. Really) Dutch musical that was performed all in English. For a plot synopsis, from what I've been able to piece together from the one audio of the show I have and from the cast recording, it's about a vampire rock star. Yes, a vampire rock star. Named Star, I think. And he falls in love with Barbara, our main female lead, who is a reporter put on the story of his tour/show/thing, named Eternity. There's also a plot point involving a female singer named Angel but I'm not too sure what is going on there, just that she wants Star and he doesn't want her. As for the rest, I'd need to relisten/finish listening to the audio of the show that I have. And, yes, Willemijn Verkaik is in it. ;D But the cast recording is quite good and I can give it to you if you want since I don't know if they sell it anymore. You wouldn't guess that the singers weren't English. (Except for the occasional strange pronunciation...all I can think of right now is Willemijn pronounces "there" as "thur", if you get me.)

Yep, Songs For A New World is Jason Robert Brown's. Some of it is quite hilarious, for example Surabaya Santa is Mrs Claus complaining about "Nick" (Santa). But some of it is quite sad too. It's a really nice piece.

Aida is one pf my favourite musicals, especially the Tecklenburg production. (Once again, yes, Willemijn Verkaik played Amneris in Tecklenburg). It's one of those musicals that can make you laugh and cry, all in the space of 2 hours or so.

I am also just in the process of downloading Kristina från Duvemåla, since you sparked my interest. ;D

[Havanah]

I will do this when I get a moment. As you may have noticed I'm not around so much as life is pretty hectic so I don't know when that will be!

Eternity sounds really interesting actually! Just thought I'd poke my nose in there hehe

[cen]

Oh, this is such an impossible question! *grins excitedly*


Current Top Ten:

1. Prolog (Elisabeth)
2. Les Rois du Monde/Lehetsz Kiraly (Romeo & Juliet)
3. Wenn Ich Tanzen Will (Elisabeth)
4. Legal Assassin (Repo! The Genetic Opera)
5. Die Schatten Werden Länger (Elisabeth)
6. Beauty Underneath (Love Never Dies)
7. Aimer (Romeo & Juliet)
8. 'Til I Hear You Sing (Love Never Dies)
9. On My Own (Les Mis)
10. Zu Ende (Dracula)

If we could list top 16 songs then these would be next on the list:

11. Heathcliff's Prayer (Wuthering Heights)
12. Tatoue Moi (Mozart l'Opera Rock)
13. Du Bist Meine Welt (Rudolf)
14. Ich Lebe Nur Weil Es Dich Gibt/Loving You Keeps Me Alive (Dracula)
15. I Am What I Am (La Cage Aux Folles)
16. Nu (3 Musketiers)

The rest of my runner's up list is so incredibly long it isn't funny. So, I'll limit myself to 6...

I didn't list anything from Rent or Wicked because I just haven't been listening to them that much lately.

This was a ton of fun! My head hurts a bit now though.

[rachel]

It's impossible. When I read other people's lists I realise how many songs I've missed. Prolog from Elisabeth should be my number 3. Oh wait.. I can modify my posts... sorted.

[rachel]

If you prefer, you could write a list of your favourite scenes, it might be very similar (mine are near identical so i won't bore you with them). In fact, this might be even harder... oh dear

[Havanah]

What about favourite songs performed live?
Some songs just need the atmosphere to make them what they are!