Broadway 2 A Day: 1974 - 1977 (Chicago, Chorus Line, Godspell)

Hello again! Once again I am bad at planning these so this may be a bit long. Might want to grab a snack or drink before you dive in. 

Before I dive in I have to highlight some new music from Eleri Ward. Eleri is an independent musician, theatre performer and content creator. Her new album, A Perfect Little Death takes the music of Stephen Sondheim and blends it with the folksy style of Sufjan Stevens. If you like calming, pretty folk music (big Joni Mitchell vibes too) - I urge you to give it a listen on Spotify (linked above) or whichever streaming service you use.

Now let's get into it. 189 shows down!

• Shenandoah
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Music wasn't super exciting to me
• Synopsis: Shenandoah centers on a pacifist widower, Charlie Anderson, living with his large family in the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. While trying to keep his family shielded from the war, he is forced to take action when his youngest son is taken prisoner by Federal soldiers. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Only Home I Know
• Where's Charley
• Have I heard of it before? Has anyone?
• Did I enjoy it? Another one that has already left my memory
• Synopsis: Taking place in 1892, Oxford University students Charley and Jack are excited about their upcoming date with young and attractive Kitty and Amy. Unfortunately, Charley’s aunt Lucia, who is needed as a chaperone, fails to arrive. In desperation, Charley disguises himself as his aunt so they young ladies can still visit. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Once in Love with Amy
• Goodtime Charley
• Have I heard of it before? No, and somehow this is unrelated to the last show - what are the odds of two Charleys in a row?
• Did I enjoy it? This had a couple funny moments thanks to Joel Grey and Ann Reinking (RIP), but wasn't amazing overall
• Synopsis: Putting a comic spin on history, Goodtime Charley re-tells the story of Joan of Arc and a fun-loving, hedonistic Dauphin of France. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: You Still Have a Long Way to Go
• The Rocky Horror Show
• Have I heard of it before? Oh yeah, although I did discover it through Glee. It's still a goal of mine to go to a live performance and throw toast or whatever it is they do.
• Did I enjoy it? Yeah it's a fun one
• Synopsis: One fateful night, Brad Majors and his fiancée, Janet Weiss — a wholesome, well-behaved, utterly normal young couple in love — innocently set out to visit an old professor. Unfortunately for them, this night out is destined to be one they will never forget. A thunderstorm and a flat tire force them to seek help at the castle of Dr. Frank ’N’ Furter, an alien, transvestite scientist with a manic genius and insatiable libido. Brad, Janet, and Frank’ N’ Furter’s cohorts are swept up into the scientist’s latest experiment. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Sweet Transvestite
• Very Good Eddie
• Have I heard of it before? Nah
• Did I enjoy it? This was a filler show
• Synopsis: Eddie Kettle is a very short young man. He is newly married to Georgina, who is spectacularly tall. They honeymoon aboard a Hudson River Day Line. Also on board: Percy Darling, an athlete, who is spectacularly tall, and his new wife, Elsie (very, very short). Chaos ensues when two honeymooning couples cross paths and trade partners…. accidentally. The vaudeville adventure continues while the mismatched couples find their way to each other and somehow, true love prevails. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: If You're A Friend of Mine
• Chicago
• Have I heard of it before? Yes! This is my favorite stage-to-screen movie adaptation, but I'd still love to see it live one day.
• Did I enjoy it? Of course - the original cast was Gwen Verdon (Roxie) and Chita Rivera (Velma) so you can't go wrong
• Synopsis: Broadway’s longest-running American musical, Chicago is a dazzling and satirical look at fame, justice, and the media machine. Set in 1920s Chicago and based on real-life murders and trials, Chicago follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudevillian star who murders her lover and is arrested, despite her attempts to convince her pushover husband, Amos, to lie for her. In the Cook County Jail, Roxie meets her hero, the famed double-murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. When both acquire the same lawyer, the greedy and lustful superstar, Billy Flynn, tensions come to a head as they vie for the spotlight. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Roxie (but all of them)
• A Chorus Line
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I love the music. The movie is meh so I'm dying to see it on stage. 
• Did I enjoy it? Yes I listened on the $2 vinyl record of it that I have
• Synopsis: A Chorus Line examines one day in the lives of seventeen dancers, all vying for a spot in the “chorus line” of a Broadway musical. After the first round of cuts, Zach, the director and choreographer, asks each dancer to speak about themselves. Discomfort opens into revelation, confession leads to redemption, and within the bright, outwardly homogenous chorus, the audience begins to see each dancer’s individuality. Based on real Broadway dancers’ stories, as told to fellow dancer and choreographer Michael Bennett, A Chorus Line is funny, heartbreaking, and refreshingly honest. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Music and the Mirror (it's my fave right now, but it changes)
• Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, I listened to this for 5 minutes and had to give up, I can't do opera
• Synopsis: Treemonisha is an opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin. ... The opera celebrates African-American music and culture while stressing that education is the salvation of African Americans. The heroine and symbolic educator is Treemonisha, who runs into trouble with a local band of conjurers, who kidnap her. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Overture (we all know what that means by now)
• Bubbling Brown Sugar
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? Not really, revues are not for me
• Synopsis: Bubbling Brown Sugar is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Fats Waller. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Stormy Monday Blues
• Pacific Overtures
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I knew Sondheim did the music and lyrics but I never listened to it
• Did I enjoy it? No, I had high hopes for this but the music was really boring
• Synopsis: Taking place in 19th century Japan, the story concerns the culture clash sparked by America's 1853 mission to open up Japan to the West. Up to this point, Japan had been an island empire living in peace for centuries, undisturbed by foreign intruders. However, once Commodore Perry and the Americans arrive, a civilization of timeless tradition and seamless serenity begins to unravel under the impact of new ideas. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Someone in a Tree
• Rex
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, this was soooooo boring. At this point I'm suffering.
• Synopsis: Taking place in 1520, the show revolves around Queen Elizabeth I of England and her father, King Henry VIII. (Stage Agent) That's all we get.
• Favorite song: Overture and Te Deum
• Threepenny Opera
• Have I heard of it before? Yes but knew nothing about it
• Did I enjoy it? More suffering - maybe I need to watch it instead of just listen
• Synopsis: The Threepenny Opera is a biting satire of the post-war rise of capitalism, wrapped up in Weill's jazzy score, and the tale of Macheath (Mack the Knife), a debonair crime lord on the verge of turning his illegal empire into a legitimate business. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Pirate Jenny
• Godspell
• Have I heard of it before? Yes I like a few songs but never really got into it
• Did I enjoy it? I did, it's got catchy songs and there's not a lot of "skip tracks"
• Synopsis: Based on the Gospel according to Matthew, Godspell is the first musical theatre offering from composer Stephen Schwartz who went on to write such well-known hits as Wicked, Pippin, and Children of Eden. The show features a comedic troupe of eccentric players who team up with Jesus to teach his lessons in a new age through parables, games, and tomfoolery. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Bless the Lord (Lindsay Mendez version)
• The Robber Bridegroom
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, only because Patti LuPone was in the original off-Broadway production at Julliard
• Did I enjoy it? It had some toe-tappers and seemed like it would be a fun show
• Synopsis: Set in eighteenth-century Mississippi, ‘The Robber Bridegroom’ is a darkly comic Southern fairy tale about a charming gentleman bandit, the rich plantation owner’s daughter he loves, the wicked stepmother who wants her dead, and an evil thief who carries his brother’s head around in a trunk. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Love Stolen