Standout track/s: New Music; Back To Before; Make Them Hear You.
You’ll like this if you enjoy: Shows that deal with racial and class injustice like The Scottsboro Boys and The Color Purple, Ahrens and Flaherty shows like Seussical, Anastasia, and Once on This Island.
Click here to listen to the Ragtime cast recording.
Vanities is based on the 1976 play of the same name. The story is centred around three best friends, and their journey from high school to adulthood (and inevitable falling out). It’s a beautiful exploration of friendship and relationships, and how even the most unlikely people can be close friends. Each of the girls has their own distinct personality – Joanne is the naive southern girl, Mary is the confident leader, and Kathy wants to make sure her life goes to plan. The original play had one of the longest off-Broadway runs ever, playing for approximately 1,785 performances in its over 4 year run. And fun fact, Kathy Bates was in it! The musical made its off-Broadway premiere in 2009, starring Lauren Kennedy (Side Show, Sunset Boulevard), Sarah Stiles (Avenue Q, Tootsie), and Anneliese van der Pol (That’s So Raven, Beauty and the Beast). The score is fun, and the fact that the cast is made up of 3 means that it would be a great choice for a smaller independent company or university production.
Standout track/s: An Organised Life; I Can’t Imagine; Letting Go
You’ll like this if you enjoy: Coming-of-age musicals like Is There Life After High School and Glory Days, women-lead musicals like Tell Me On A Sunday and The Life
Click here to listen to the Vanities cast recording.
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an interesting show. Based on Mark Twain’s novel of the same name, the musical follows young Huckleberry Finn and his friend Tom Sawyer’s discovery of a fortune. Set in Missouri before the Civil War, the show is a snapshot of life in the American south – slavery included. When watching the show back, it does tell a story of two young white boys discovering the horrors of slavery, but the voices of the slaves are faint in comparison. The musical was extremely successful in its Broadway run, playing for over 1,000 performances and winning 7 Tony Awards. It had a revival and an Encores! concert, but otherwise has not seem many modern productions. I think it’s a show that will remain part of theatre history. Interesting to listen to, but more so to understand how far we have come in terms of storytelling and giving agency to BIPOC characters and their experiences – particularly when shows like Ragtime do it so well.
Content Warning – Big River contains reference to slavery, racism, and death.
Standout track/s: River in the Rain; When the Sun Goes Down in the South; Worlds Apart
You’ll like this if you enjoy: The work of Mark Twain, Bluegrass/country musicals like Bright Star and Floyd Collins