What is your favourite opera, ballet and/or musical?

‘West Side Story’ is my favourite musical I have to say. I don’t know any operas apart from ‘Carmen’ which I like.
Ballet is very expensive in London so I have never seen one, but the music of Tchaikovsky is wonderful.

Kind of similar to yours. My favorite musical is The Phantom of the Opera, followed by Wicked and Guys and Dolls.

My favorite ballets are the Tchaikovsky trilogy: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. I also really like Delibes’ ballets: Coppelia and Sylvia. Underrated and excellent.

My favorite opera would have to be La Boheme, followed by Prince Igor and Boris Godunov.

WestSide Story in my favorite Broadway show because of the story, the choreography, the staging, the music and the lyrics.
Turandot is my favorite opera for the lush music, the melodramatic fairytale plot, the costumes, and the characters.
Ballet: Swan Lake for the choreography, the plot and the music.

Bat Boy: The Musical and The Pirates of Penzance are pretty awesome. I adore the music from The Black Rider but I’ve never managed to see it.

For favorite operas, it’s really hard to pin it down to one, but among them would be La Boheme, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto (all three of them tragic operas), and, for a lot of very melodic fun, the comic opera Die Fledermaus. Boheme and Fledermaus are two of the ones I would recommend to an inexperienced operagoer because they are so melody-rich and so easy to follow (the storyline actually has some kind of appreciable logic to it), and they are typically visually delightful as well.

As for ballet, after all these years I am still a pushover for Swan Lake, but I also love Prokofieff’s Romeo and Juliet.

For wonderful comic light opera (often referred to as operetta; there’s plenty of spoken dialogue), those of Gilbert & Sullivan are in a class by themselves. The “big three” are The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance. I also love the others, especially Iolanthe, Patience, and Princess Ida. I have a special affection for The Yeomen of the Guard, which is the only one that doesn’t end happily for everyone.

HAIR is my favorite musical, easily. Sorry, but I haven’t seen many ballets.

My favourite musical is Phantom followed by Love Never Dies (Lloyd Webber’s sequel to Phantom) and Les Miserables. Sunset Boulevard is also brilliant.

My favourite opera is Carmen. I really want to see Tosca.

I haven’t seen any ballets yet but I plan to change that when my finances are a bit healthier.

I love classic ballets like Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker.

Musicals would be Les Miserable and Wicked are at the top. I love Mama Mia for the music and humor, but the story is stupid. Oh, HMS Pinafore, mentioned above, is always fun to see and Fiddler on the Roof is cute too.

Edit: just remembered I can see The Producers more than once also. It’s so funny.

I like the original version of Pippin. I saw that on Broadway, it was amazing. Swan Lake and the Nutcracker are always good.

I love musicals but if I had to pick one that was my all time favorite, it would be RENT. I can watch it over and over ad infinitum and not get bored. A close second would be Rocky Horror and Les Miserables.

I lvoe almost all musicals. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be The Music Man.

Musicals – it has to be Phantom first, but I’m also a fan of Miss Saigon, Rent, Wicked, and Chess… Heck, I enjoy the music in Jesus Christ Superstar too, but that’s not on stage anywhere.

Opera’s – Puccini’s Madame Butterfly is just so beautiful (and as you can tell from above, a story I love), and for comedy there’s Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, really catchy tunes and great fun visually.

Les Miserables, hands down.

Musicals?

My Fair Lady and South Park: The Movie.

@Blondesjon Ooh, I totally forgot about My Fair Lady! Good shout :-)

Porgy and Bess. I’m somewhat confused as I am certain that I was a senior in high school when I first heard songs from this folk opera. I remember walking down the street one evening singing “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” to a girl from the drama club. However I graduated in June 1958, and according to Wiki and other websites the film version was released 1959. Perhaps I had heard cuts from the 1951 recording played on WFMT’s Midnight Special.

I thought that I bought the sound track album before seeing the movie, as I remember being disappointed by Sammy Davis, Jr. in the role of Sportin’ Life. Because of contractual conflicts, Cab Calloway replaced Sammy Davis, Jr. on the LP and to my mind was clearly better in the role. So much for fifty year old memories.

Favorite musical is Fiddler on the Roof. Runners up Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Grand Hotel, West Side Story.
Ballets: Swan Lake
Opera: La Boheme
”harpie”:http:// Jesus Christ Superstar is playing in NYC now!

I like “Bitch, the Musical!” and “Carousel.”

Not really my thing, but I think the “American Idiot” musical by Green Day would be pretty cool.

@harple what is it about Miss Saigon that you enjoy? (Personally I’m not a fan but I would love to hear your opinion)

@Bill1939 I love Porgy & Bess, but have been unable to get the soundtrack for it which is disappointing. I have seen it as a musical in a theatre, and love the songs but am pretty sure I am singing them wrongly!

@ilvorangeiceblocks Have you seen it? The first time I heard the music I hated it; couldn’t bear to listen to it. Then I saw the show, and I was blown away. I guess it all had a meaning then. The story is heartbreaking. I can see that the music in isolation can seem somewhat cheesy, but I am able to lose myself in the story.

@ilvorangeiceblocks like @harple I think Miss Saigon is a beautiful show. The story is so powerful. What is it about this show that you don’t like?

@harple and @Leanne1986 i absolutely loved the story, probably a stronger plot and more powerful character relationships than most other musicals but for me, the music seemed almost monotonous by the end of the first act. I think i’ll have to go and see it again or at least listen to it because feel that I under appreciated it, seeing what other people think of it.

@SomeoneElse I recently saw Porgy and Bess on Broadway with Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis. It was a shortened version of the opera and it had new orchestrations. Since Gershwin himself had done the original orchestrations many critics objected to this. You can see many of the versions available here
If you are a purist and want to stick with the original this version seems to be the ultimate recording to have. Can’t say that I’ve heard this second version but I’m interested in what you as a real fan would think of the difference between the current show and the classic. I love the song Summertime and I can’t say that I was blown away by the current Broadway rendition of it.

I love this acoustic version of Summertime by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.