The Showtune Thread, or Can You Hear the People Sing?

Although I can't say I'm a theatre buff, I've had my share of its music. Right now I haven't really gotten into any of the newer things, like RENT (I find its soundtrack pretentious). I really prefer those OLD ones, like My Fair Lady, Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, etc. They have gorgeous or memorable songs.

And I'm a fan of Phantom of the Opera. It's songs are catchy, you have to admit, although singing with it is nearly impossible unless you're trained. The range is large. Mostly because Weber wrote the part for Brightman.

One semester I did a production of La Cage Aux Folles (The Birdcage), mainly because I was forced to do it out of a lack of participants. It was a fun experience, but the music became so annoying after the tens of practices and performances we were doing that I swore off doing another musical unless I know the music is something I can enjoy a bit better. I never knew how the music sounded in La Cage, but when I did hear it, I didn't necessarily liked it unfortunately.

I've never seen Mamma Mia!, but I'm an unbelievably huge ABBA fan (don't laugh... *does disco dance*) that I feel like no one else can give their music justice (not even frickin' A-Teens or Madonna's terrible sampling practice of Gimme Gimme Gimme). I don't think anyone can sing better than Agnetha with ABBA songs anyway. But if someone can prove me wrong, I would like to hear it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.