Broadway 2 A Day: 1980-1986 (I am falling behind...but there are some great shows in the 80s!)

Hi friends - I am a bit behind this month because I've been busy having fun and leaving the house! I traveled to Boston for work and also had a chance to visit my good college friend Taylor. Then I turned around and went to the beach with my family, it's been a good month.

But I am behind on this blog and there are some great shows in the 80s so let's dive in. 220 shows down, lots more to go...

• Tintypes
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Forgettable
• Synopsis: ‘Tintypes’ chronicles the growing pains of a nation in a musical revue that takes the audience back to turn of the century America, when the innocent, slower-paced days of ice cream socials and hoop skirts are giving way to a bustling world of automobiles, electricity and the telephone, where American optimism and ingenuity run high in leaders like J.P. Morgan, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. It is also a time of growing social turmoil, as increased immigration begins to change the cultural and ethnic makeup of the nation. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Fitting In
• Woman of the Year
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No this was boring as heck but Lauren Bacall did her best with the material 
• Synopsis: The show focuses on the relationship between busy TV personality, Tess Harding, and her relationship with the handsome cartoonist, Sam Craig. As Tess is about win a ‘Woman of the Year’ award, she realizes that she values her relationship with Sam more than her hectic career which is ruining their relationship. Thus, she announces to the world that she is resigning from the show to devote herself to Sam. However, Sam tells her that he wants her to keep her career and they both resolve to work things out and give it another try. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I Wrote the Book
• Merrily We Roll Along
• Have I heard of it before? Yes but I only knew one song from Sondheim medleys
• Did I enjoy it? Yes! If you are a fan of Sondheim, and like shows with irregular timelines like The Last Five Years you will enjoy this. 
• Synopsis: Merrily We Roll Along follows the successful career of Broadway composer turned Hollywood producer Franklin Shepard backward in time. Throughout the course of the show, during which time regresses from 1976 to 1957, we learn how Frank accomplished this - with the help of his best friends Charley (who writes the books and lyrics) and Mary (who is a writer in her own right and is always around for support and guidance). (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Opening Doors
• Dreamgirls
• Have I heard of it before? Yes I'm a big fan of the movie version
• Did I enjoy it? Yes, the original cast is incredible
• Synopsis: Dreamgirls follows the rising stardom of the Dreamettes, an all-girl singing trio from Chicago. The three best friends—the phenomenally talented, but demanding Effie White, the beautiful and appealing Deena Jones, and the eager, romantic Lorrell Robinson—team up with driven, demanding manager Curtis Taylor, who is determined to see their—and his—star rise. As their careers begin to take off, changes are made to ensure their mass appeal to the pop market. Egos are bruised, tempers flare, and hearts are broken in pursuit of stardom. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: It's All Over (unconventional choice but I love a chaotic group number)
• Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, this is a comfort show for me. I love how campy it is and the movie brings me genuine joy even though it's completely ridiculous. 
• Did I enjoy it? Yes the original cast is great and the music is fun
• Synopsis: The biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors comes alive in the musical retelling. Joseph -- the favorite son of Jacob -- is blessed with vivid dreams that foretell the future. Sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph endures a series of adventures that challenge him to his core. A truly timeless Old Testament tale, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is set to a multitude of musical genres, spanning from country-western and calypso to bubble-gum pop and rock and roll. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Prologue - You Are What You Feel
• Pump Boys and Dinettes
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Yes! The music was catchy and it seemed like something a high school or college would do
• Synopsis: The musical tells the story of four men (L.M., Jackson, Jim and Eddie) who work at a gas station and two waitresses (sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp) at the Double Cupp Diner, a dinette, located somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina. The music is mostly from the country rock/pop music genres. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Highway 57
• Nine
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, but only because Laura Benanti was in the latest revival
• Did I enjoy it? Yes this was very dramatic and had cool songs, but it was a biiiiittt too long.
• Synopsis: Nine centers around Guido Contini, a famous Italian film director and ladies man. His last couple of movies have been panned by the critics, and Guido is under pressure to make a return to form with his latest film. However, there is one major problem: he hasn’t written a line of the script and has lost all inspiration. Guido’s professional and personal lives become intertwined as he attempts to save both his career and his marriage. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Unusual Way
• Blues in the Night
• Have I heard of it before? No and I'm starting to wish reveues were not included in this challenge 
• Did I enjoy it? I skipped through this to be honest
• Synopsis: Blues in the Night is a musical review using music from great artists such as Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer and Harold Alen. With no spoken text, the songs tell of the sweet, sexy and sorrowful experiences three women have with the lying, cheating snake of a man who wrongs them. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Another Suitcase in Another Hall (originally from Evita)
• Cats
• Have I heard of it before? It's kind of hard to avoid this one
• Did I enjoy it? I don't hate Cats as much as some people hate it but I also don't enjoy it. I think it's fine but Andrew Lloyd Webber is a weirdo for creating it.
• Synopsis: Based on T.S. Eliot’s whimsical collection of poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s popular musical brings together a tribe of Jellicle Cats on a moonlit evening, who must make the “Jellicle choice” to decide which of them will ascend to the mysterious Heaviside Layer to be reborn. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Memory is too obvious so - Macavity: The Mystery Cat
• Show Boat
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? It was okay, probably one that you need to see to appreciate
• Synopsis: Spanning from the 1880s to the 1920s, Show Boat is an American epic that tells the story of three generations of performers travelling from the Mississippi River to Chicago, and ultimately, Broadway. Join Cap’n Andy and the family of performers on board the Cotton Blossom show boat as they navigate love, heartbreak, ambition, racism, and integration. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Can't Help Lovin Dat Man
• La Cage Aux Folles
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I truly love this show and also the movie The Birdcage which is based on this story
• Did I enjoy it? 100%
• Synopsis: Georges is the owner of the La Cage Aux Folles nightclub, which features a drag show starring his partner and the love of his life, Albin. After twenty years of un-wedded bliss, Georges and his partner Albin face the hardest challenge of their relationship, yet: meeting their son, Jean-Michel’s fiance’s parents. Albin has always raised Jean-Michel, Georges’ biological son, as his own. But when Jean-Michel falls in love and becomes engaged to the daughter of an ultra-conservative, anti-gay politician, Georges feels compelled to try to present a more “traditional” family to Jean-Michel’s potential in-laws. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I Am What I Am (try not to cry with this one, especially if you're a member of the Alphabet Mafia)
• Sunday in the Park with George
• Have I heard of it before? Yes any show with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters in the original case - I'm a fan
• Did I enjoy it? Yes this show has some of my favorite Broadway songs of all time
• Synopsis: Inspired by George Seurat’s magnificent painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s soaring musical is itself an artistic masterpiece. The musical begins with the story of George and his model and lover Dot. As George struggles to find his artistic voice, he becomes more and more distant from the one woman who truly sees him for who he really is. Meanwhile, the characters that inhabit George’s painting have lives unto themselves, which George captures with his paintbrush. A century later, George and Dot’s descendants, themselves struggling artists, grapple with the same issues of artistic ingenuity, and a public who just doesn’t understand. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Finishing the Hat
• Big River
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I feel like every Broadway.com vlogger I used to watch said they grew up listening to this show 
• Did I enjoy it? I really did not so I don't know what I'm missing
• Synopsis: It's Huckleberry Finn. 
• Favorite song: Free At Last
• Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood
• Have I heard of it before? Has anyone?
• Did I enjoy it? No, I might have fallen asleep actually
• Synopsis: Four performers sing a selection of Jerome Kern songs that appeared in Hollywood films. (Playbill)
• Favorite song: Pick Yourself Up
• Song and Dance
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, this might be one of the worst shows I've ever listened to. I don't know how they got Bernadette Peters to be in this but every song is horrible and her British accent keeps coming and going. It is just so bad. 
• Synopsis: Tell Me on a Sunday, the first act of Song and Dance by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black tells the story of an ordinary British hat-maker who journeys to America in search of love. Her romantic misadventures take her on a journey from New York City, to Los Angeles and back to Manhattan again as she moves from one lover to the next, and realizes the road to love is never as simple as it seems. In the second act, told entirely through dance, we examine the journey through the eyes of one of the lovers. (Stage Agent)
• "Favorite" song: Let Me Finish