Best products from r/musicals

Anything Goes

How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying

Wicked

Gypsy

Avenue Q

The Book of Mormon

South Pacific

Chicago

Guys and Dolls

West Side Story

Funny Girl

Fiddler on the Roof

Into the Woods

An American in Paris

Ragtime: The Musical

Music Man

Phantom of the Opera

Oklahoma!

My Fair Lady

Les Miserables

Hello, Dolly!

Hairspray

Gigi

Cats

Cabaret

Bye Bye Birdie

Carousel

The Sound of Music

Allegro

I tried to mix new and old. I am a sucker for the classics tho. The first three are my top pick in that order the rest are things that I thought where good in any order. I linked the version of each I liked to make it easier to find. Most are streaming on Amazon unlimited or Spotify.

There is a professionally filmed recording (i.e. Legal, not a bootleg) of the final Broadway performance that you can buy on amazon. It's not the original cast, but it's still really good.

http://www.amazon.com/Rent-Filmed-Broadway-Tracie-Thoms/dp/B001LMAKAG

I definitely recommend this for a first viewing. After that, try the movie if you're so inclined. I personally don't like it all that much, but it's not awful. The upside is that is has most of the original Broadway cast.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading (or listening to, there's a great Audiobook) Jack Viertel's The Secret Life of the American Musical.

It will help draw parallels between songs from different shows, and demonstrate how they function similarly in their respective books. It's really well-argued and I think it would contribute to your appreciation as you consume a large amount of material in a short time.

There's a number of good books out there, with the Woolford being the best I've read to date:

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Broadway-Musical-Aaron-Frankel/dp/0306809435

http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Theatre-Writers-Survival-Guide/dp/0325007861/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HYJ16TZG6J6MQMR2J5K

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Musical-Theater-Allen-Cohen/dp/1403963959/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HYJ16TZG6J6MQMR2J5K

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Musicals-Informal-Introduction-Musical/dp/0879100958/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HYJ16TZG6J6MQMR2J5K

http://www.amazon.com/How-Musicals-Work-Write-Theatrebook/dp/1848421753/ref=pd_sim_b_10?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HYJ16TZG6J6MQMR2J5K

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This doesn’t have the OBC, but it is the full theatrical production. It does have Tracie Thoms (reprising Joanne from the movie), Eden Espinosa (as Maureen, she’s a professional Idina Menzel replacement), and Renee Elise Goldsberry (as Mimi, OBC Angelica from Hamilton).