Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Albums (May 2022)

The Top Musicals Originally posted 5/22/2022. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the fourteenth group of album inductees. These are the top musicals of all time, excluding previous inductees South Pacific, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Porgy and Bess, and Camelot. See the full list of album inductees here.

Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) Fiddler on the Roof (1964) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Fiddler on the Roof tells the story of a Jewish family trying to hold on to their simple values in the shadow of the impending Russian revolution. With more than 3000 performances, it was the most successful musical up to its time and gave us standards like “Sunrise, Sunset” and “If I Were a Rich Man.” It won a Tony for Best Musical and the cast album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. Read more.

Galt MacDermot (music) with Gerome Ragni & James Rado (lyrics) Hair (1967) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Hair threw away the conventional approach to musical theater in favor of a musical that catered to the hippie vibe of the late ‘60s. The cast album reached #1 and sold five million copies in the United States. It is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. It won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album and was named one of the top albums of the 20th century by the Recording Industry Association of America. Read more.

Lin-Manuel Miranda (music & lyrics) Hamilton (2015) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Inspired by Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a musical that combined the traditional style of show tunes with hip-hop, R&B, pop, and soul in a move that seemed destined for derision, but it became one of the most successful musicals of the 21st century. Hamilton won a Tony for Best Musical, a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Read more.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) & Tim Rice (lyrics) Jesus Christ Superstar (1971) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice couldn’t get funding for a stage production of their rock-music infused, controversial modernization of the Christ story, they released a studio album. Its success (including being named Billboard magazine’s album of the year) led to an eventual run on Broadway and an eight-year run in England, making it the country’s longest-running musical at the time. Read more.

Cole Porter (music & lyrics) Kiss Me, Kate (1949) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Kiss Me, Kate was the most successful Broadway musical of Cole Porter’s career, winning the Tony for Best Musical. It came at a time when he was thought to be in decline. Patti Page, Gordon MacRae, and Dinah Shore all had top 20 hits with the show’s song “So in Love.” The cast album spent 10 weeks at #1 in the U.S. and has been added to the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. Read more.

Meredith Willson (music & lyrics) The Music Man (1957) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

The Music Man was a story of a con man trying to swindle the people in a small Iowa farm town. It won the Tony for Best Musical. The cast album sold a million copies and spent 12 weeks at #1 in the U.S. The album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame. “Till There Was You” and “Seventy Six Trombones” were the show’s best known songs. Read more.

Richard Rodgers (music) & Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) Oklahoma! (1943) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

This was the first show written by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It was a ground-breaking musical, taking the unusual approach of actually having the songs grow out of the characters’ situations. The cast album reached #4 and sold 3 million copies in the U.S. It is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry. The 1955 soundtrack topped the charts in the U.S. and U.K. and sold two million copies in the states. Bing Crosby has top-five hits with his recordings of the show’s “People Will Say We’re in Love” and “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.” Read more.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) with Charles Hart & Richard Stilgoe (lyrics) Phantom of the Opera (1986) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

The Phantom of the Opera was based on a 1911 French gothic mystery novel. The story is about a disfigured, musical genius who becomes obsessed with a beautiful soprano singer. The show became the longest-running Broadway musical of all time. It is estimated that the show has played to more than 100 million people in 125 cities in 25 countries. The cast album sold 4 million copies in the U.S. It won both the Tony and Laurence Oliver awards for best musical. Read more.

Jerome Kern (music) & Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) Show Boat (1927) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Show Boat is generally considered the first true American musical play. It broke tradition from the typical musical revues by telling an actual story accompanied by music. Kern and Hammerstein based the show on Ednar Ferber’s 1926 novel of the same name. The show’s best known songs are “Ol’ Man River” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” The cast album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. Read more.

Leonard Bernstein (music) & Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) West Side Story (1957) Inducted May 2022 as “Top Musicals.”

Romeo and Juliet gets an update in West Side Story as a conflict between rival gangs in 1950s’ New York. The cast album hit #5 and sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, but was eclipsed by the monstrous success of the 1961 soundtrack, which spent 54 weeks at #1 in the U.S. where it sold 8 million copies. The cast album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, won a Grammy for Best Musical album, and was named Billboard’s album of the year. “Somewhere,” “Tonight,” and “Maria” are among the show’s best known songs. Read more.

The Top 100 Broadway Songs

Broadway: Top 100 Songs

Since the early part of the 20th century, musicals have fueled American music with some of its most beloved standards. In the first half of the 1900’s, many pop hits were recordings of songs which had originated on the Broadway stage. What follows is a list of the top 100 Broadway songs, as determined by an aggregate of 34 Broadway song collections and best-of lists. The show and the year of its stage premiere are listed after each song. Click here to see other genre-specific song lists. 1. Memory (Cats, 1981) 2. Ol’ Man River (Show Boat, 1927) 3. Some Enchanted Evening (South Pacific, 1949) 4. Tonight (West Side Story, 1957) 5. If I Were a Rich Man (Fiddler on the Roof, 1964) 6. You’ll Never Walk Alone (Carousel, 1945) 7. Send in the Clowns (A Little Night Music, 1973) 8. Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ (Oklahoma!, 1943) 9. Seasons of Love (Rent, 1996) 10. What I Did for Love (A Chorus Line, 1975) 11. The Sound of Music (The Sound of Music, 1959) 12. If I Loved You (Carousel, 1945) 13. On the Street Where You Live (My Fair Lady, 1956) 14. All That Jazz (Chicago, 1975) 15. Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (Evita, 1978) 16. The Impossible Dream (Man of La Mancha, 1965) 17. I Don’t Know How to Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar, 1971) 18. Aquarius (Hair, 1967) 19. I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables, 1985) 20. Tomorrow (Annie, 1977) 21. Cabaret (Cabaret, 1966) 22. Defying Gravity (Wicked, 2003) 23. Bewitched, Bothered, & Bewildered (Pal Joey, 1940) 24. The Music of the Night (The Phantom of the Opera, 1986) 25. I Could Have Danced All Night (My Fair Lady, 1956) 26. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (The Sound of Music, 1959) 27. My Favorite Things The Sound of Music, 1959) 28. Till There Was You (The Music Man, 1957) 29. My Funny Valentine (Babes in Arms, 1937) 30. Somewhere (West Side Story, 1957) 31. Oklahoma! (Oklahoma!, 1943) 32. On My Own (Les Miserables, 1985) 33. There’s No Business Like Show Business (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946) 34. I Got Rhythm (Girl Crazy, 1930) 35. Luck Be a Lady (Guys and Dolls, 1950) 36. Put on a Happy Face (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960) 37. Seventy-Six Trombones (The Music Man, 1957) 38. Getting to Know You (The King and I, 1951) 39. Can You Feel the Love Tonight? (The Lion King, 1997) 40. The Time Warp (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1973) 41. Hello, Dolly! (Hello, Dolly!, 1964) 42. Do-Re-Mi (The Sound of Music, 1959) 43. Sunrise, Sunset (Fiddler on the Roof, 1964) 44. Day by Day (Godspell, 1971) 45. Shall We Dance? (The King and I, 1951) 46. Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (Show Boat, 1927) 47. If Ever I Would Leave You (Camelot, 1960) 48. The Party’s Over (Bells Are Ringing, 1956) 49. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Roberta, 1933) 50. As Long As He Needs Me (Oliver!, 1960) image from the odysseyonline.com 51. All the Things You Are (Very Warm for May, 1939) 52. Summertime (Porgy and Bess, 1935) 53. Circle of Life (The Lion King, 1997) 54. Everything’s Coming Up Roses (Gypsy, 1959) 55. Written in the Stars (Aida, 1999) 56. One (Singular Sensation) (A Chorus Line, 1975) 57. Someone to Watch Over Me (Oh, Kay!, 1926) 58. You’re the Top (Anything Goes, 1934) 59. Maria (West Side Story, 1957) 60. I Love Paris (Can-Can, 1953) 61. Hello, Young Lovers (The King and I, 1951) 62. New York, New York (On the Town, 1944) 63. Almost Like Being in Love (Brigadoon, 1947) 64. I Get a Kick Out of You (Anything Goes, 1935) 65. The Lady Is a Tramp (Babes in Arms, 1937) 66. People Will Say We’re in Love (Oklahoma!, 1943) 67. Once in Love with Amy (Where’s Charley?, 1948) 68. Maybe This Time (Cabaret, 1966) 69. You Can’t Stop the Beat (Hairspray, 2002) 70. Falling in Love with Love (The Boys from Syracuse, 1938) 71. Superstar (Jesus Christ Superstar, 1971) 72. Comedy Tonight (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1962) 73. This Is the Moment (Jekyll and Hyde, 1997) 74. People (Funny Girl, 1964) 75. The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In (Hair, 1964) 76. All I Ask of You (The Phantom of the Opera, 1986) 77. Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz, movie: 1939) 78. Edelweiss (The Sound of Music, 1959) 79. Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (My Fair Lady, 1956) 80. Try to Remember (The Fantastics, 1960) 81. Mack the Knife (The Threepenny Opera, 1928) 82. Younger Than Springtime (South Pacific, 1949) 83. Bill (Show Boat, 1927) 84. Summer Nights (Grease, 1972) 85. Hernando’s Hideaway (The Pajama Game, 1954) 86. June Is Bustin’ Out All Over (Carousel, 1945) 87. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1965) 88. I Enjoy Being a Girl (Flower Drum Song, 1958) 89. This Can’t Be Love (The Boys from Syracuse, 1938) 90. The Phantom of the Opera (The Phantom of the Opera, 1986) 91. So in Love (Kiss Me, Kate, 1948) 92. Camelot (Camelot, 1960) 93. Where or When (Babes in Arms, 1937) 94. Close Every Door (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, 1972) 95. For Good (Wicked, 2003) 96. There’s a Small Hotel (On Your Toes, 1936) 97. Wheels of a Dream (Ragtime, 1996) 98. Springtime for Hitler (The Producers, 2001) 99. Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast, 1998) 100. It’s a Hard-Knock Life (Annie, 1977) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists” First posted 6/27/2016.

50 years ago: Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway

Fiddler on the Roof Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics)

The Musical

Opened on Broadway: September 22, 1964 Number of Performances: 3242 Opened at London’s West End: February 16, 1967 Number of Performances: 2030 Movie Release: September 19, 1968

Cast Album

Charted: October 31, 1964 Peak: 7 US Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Genre: show tunes

Soundtrack

Charted: October 30, 1971 Peak: 30 US, 26 UK Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: show tunes

Songs: Prologue: Tradition (aka “Prologue and Tradition and Main Title”) Matchmaker, Matchmaker If I Were a Rich Man Sabbath Prayer To Life Miracle of Miracles The Dream (aka “Tevye’s Dream”) Sunrise, Sunset Wedding Dance (aka “Wedding Celebration and the Bottle Dance”) Now I Have Everything * Do You Love Me The Rumor * Far from the Home I Love Chava Ballet Sequence ** Anatevka Finale ** * on cast album only ** on soundtrack only Singles/Hit Songs: These were covers of songs from this musical which became hits: “Sunrise, Sunset” – Roger Williams (#84, 1967)

Rating: 4.482 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined) Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Show: “Fiddler on the Roof is one of Broadway’s great classics. Based on the tales of Sholem Aleichem, the musical tells the humorous and heartbreaking story” DH of “Tevye, a Jewish milkman who lives in Russia with his family (including five daughters).” ER “He tries to maintain the simplicities of his traditional life even as his daughters grow up and Russia heads toward revolution.” DH “Anti-Semitic notions abound as Tevye and his family find themselves being forced from their village. Tevye’s daughters break from their village’s tradition as they marry for love, not for prosperity. Throughout all of this, a symbolic fiddler lingers over them.” ER “Fiddler on the Roof was the most successful musical up to its time, running for over 3,000 performances.” ER “The music is beautiful, and haunting at moments” ER while the musical “was also the origin of several famous and now-standard songs” ER like Sunrise, Sunset, If I Were a Rich Man, and Matchmaker, Matchmaker. “As Tevye, Zero Mostel leads – and at times dominates – the original 1964 Broadway cast, displaying irrepressible swagger and bluster.” DH “The original Broadway cast…also had Beatrice Arthur as Yente, the matchmaker.” ER “A young Julia Migenes plays his middle daughter, Hodel, while those who only know Bert Convy as a game-show host will be surprised by his pleasant voice as her suitor.” DH The movie version of Fiddler on the Roof “became the top-grossing film of 1971.” WR The soundtrack “stretched out Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s song score with musical adaptations by conductor John Williams. There was plenty of screen dialogue, too. But the appeal of the work continued to be the wonderful songs.” WR Topol, who starred in the 1967 London production, EV takes on the role of Tevye for the movie. He “wasn’t as funny as Zero Mostel…but gave it more gravity. Occasionally on the soundtrack, he sounded so tired, though, that he barely got his lines out. Happily, he nailed ‘If I Were a Rich Man,’ which is Tevye’s real showcase number.” WR The soundtrack also features Isaac Stern as the fiddler. EV “Still, the Fiddler album to buy is the original Broadway cast recording.” WR

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jerry Bock DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sheldon Harnick ER Sarah Erlewine/ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide c DH David Horiuchi, Amazon.com c WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide s EV Elisabeth Vincentelli, Amazon.com s First posted 9/21/2011; last updated 12/24/2021.