Let's examine the centerpiece of Rent, the Up With People On The Fringe-esque routine that closes the first act: "La Vie Boheme" is a tribal chant heralding any and all things counterculture. It's "We Didn't Start the Fire" from the perspective of East Village artists. It's a list of everything that you need to know to be hip. There is a song by King Missile called "It's Saturday" that opens with the line, "I want to be different, just like everyone else I want to be like." This sentiment is the heart of "La Vie Boheme." The number embodies an unembarrassed need for self-expression and a yearning for recognition that usually gets supplanted in adulthood by the desire to appear aloof (even though, hello, you're wearing an army jacket, Captain Alt). READ MORE

When my best friend and I were nine, and the rest of the neighborhood was playing house, we were perched on PVC-inspired bar stools in the basement, rubbing our temples and sighing to one another about how hard it was to find good talent. READ MORE

In 1995, French director Claude Lelouch adapted Les Miserables for the screen. Instead of post-Revolutionary France, he transposed the story to Nazi-occupied France. Though this adaptation didn't get much attention in the states, it's very successful. You can imagine the parallels during the time periods–and the actors are very good. Perhaps the success of this adaptation pushed for an American film version of the musical. In 1998, Les Miserables was released starring Liam Neeson as Valjean, Geoffrey Rush as Javert, Uma Thurman as Fantine, and Claire Danes as Cosette. It was a flop. ("Made me feel transported back to high school history class," wrote Roger Ebert.) It's easy as a director to get too confident when you have Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush on a bill but it was tedious and flat, which is the opposite of the play: frothy, heady-and rich with opportunities for hot European actors to rip their shirts off. READ MORE

As an extremely passionate fan of (almost) all things musical theater, I do have to honor Oklahoma!'s is milestone status-it is perhaps the most influential American musical ever made. And it was, at least, revolutionary for its time. When it opened on Broadway in 1943, Oklahoma! got rave reviews in almost every paper for, as critic Brooke Atkinson wrote, making "the banalities of the old musical stage ... intolerable." And playwright Thomas Hischak wrote "[Oklahoma!] is the first fully integrated musical play and its blending of song, character, plot and even dance would serve as the model for Broadway shows for decades." And that's true: Oklahoma!, Rogers and Hammerstein's first collaboration, marked in many ways the beginning of the "book musical." Okay, that's nice. Oklahoma!-cutesy as a jackrabbit, sugary-sweet as one of Laurey's gooseberry tarts, subtle as Ado Annie herself-is so earnest and corny that it necessitates the exclamation mark tacked on to the end of its name and also, now that it is 67, a permanent retirement. READ MORE

Julie Klausner: A big pet peeve of mine is when people confuse Bob Fosse's stiff jazz hands for spirit fingers. READ MORE

Spring Awakening was first produced off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company, an institution that has built its reputation on the in-your-face masculine hyperrealism of Mamet and Shepherd and McDonagh. It featured music by somewhat disappeared (but actually really good!) pop singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik, and words by playwright Stephen Sater. READ MORE

When the choir director, Mr. Swiggum, announced that the spring musical my senior year at Whitefish Bay High School would be The Wiz, it seemed an absurd choice. Our northern Milwaukee suburb was already colloquially known as "White Folks' Bay," and the preceding year had not done much to improve the community's image in a city that studies have suggested is America's most segregated. READ MORE

I'll never forget the night my mom quit going to musicals: it felt like the first and only time she abandoned the family because, technically, she did. It was 1993 and as a very special treat, just before Christmas, my mom, dad, brother and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond at the Chicago Theater. We'd have dinner, see the show and then spend the night downtown. Fancy! READ MORE

30. sweet READ MORE