Help with Broadway musical choices
 

Hello!
Would like your personal preference on which musicals to see for a ladies group going in a few weeks. Love dancing too and production numbers! Want to see 3. Know everyone's opinion will vary! Please rank your choices:
Aladdin
An American in Paris
Beautiful
Fiddler on the Roof
Finding Neverland
The king & I
Kinky Boots
On your feet... Estefan
School of Rock

Thanks for your help!

American in Paris, Beautiful, Kinky Boots

Have only seen King and I, but my group of women friends loved it. Kelli Ohara is wonderful

Good luck getting tickets for your group. We recently saw "Beautiful-the Carole King Musical" and really enjoyed it.
Any show with Kelli O'Hara will be a winner so try to see "The King and I."

King and I would be fine, tickets may be an issue, but I really thing the best choice is An American in Paris.

An American in Paris
King and I
Beautiful if you love her music - otherwise no
Perhaps Fiddler if you have never seen it live

Oh - and if going in a few weeks then get tickets TODAY - esp if you want to sit together

1. King and I
2. An American in Paris
3. Beautiful

But I also agree with everyone who says that Fiddler is a great choice if you have never seen it, but it's going to be the hardest ticket to get.

Wow... amazed at the consensus being rather unanimous!
Out of six replies: 4 for american in paris, 5 for king & I, 3 for beautiful and 1 for kinky boots!
Awesome! Thanks!

Another American in Paris, Kinky Boots and Beautiful reply (although I do love the King and I but can't recommend it because I haven't seen it yet)

Loved Beautiful
Liked Kinky Boots
Want to see Finding Neverland

Thank you all for your replies.

Thought I would update this post on what we did and our experience. Difficult choices for a group of 6. Wish we could have seen more.
We chose:
1. Aladdin. Surprised that it was way better than my expectation. I would rate this as better than Lion King or Wicked. Loved everything about it! A must see for someone like me!!!
2. On Your Feet. We loved it! Went in knowing their music but not their story. Loved it! Laughed and cried and danced. What more can you ask for. I would recommend everyone to see this one too.
3. An American in Paris. Not cracking on other's experience and solely sharing this for other travelers, just not a great fit for me or any of my 5 traveling companions including a dance teacher. She thought the dance was perfect and beautiful, but it was lacking in total experience. Maybe too much of the same type dancing??? All six of us struggled to stay awake. Several feel asleep. Sad for a group anxious to be entertained. Just a heads up for similarly minded travelers.

Thanks again...
I really do appreciate you all and this board.

Well, if you don't care for ballet then American inParis just isn't for you. But it says above that you love dance too.

I'm kind of stunned by your comments about An American in Paris. But I guess we all have totally different tastes and that's what makes the world go round.

But it is interesting that you mention "maybe too much of the same type dancing?" Well, I understand sort of -- as much of it is ballet, but there are various other styles of dancing as well. It is far from all being classical ballet. On the other hand it's clear that On Your Feet is pretty much all one type of dancing. Very good and very energetic and if that's the style you like, then good. So I'd suggest you really didn't mean 'too much of one kind of dancing', but rather styles of dance you didn't care for.

I'm just surprised since the show has the same type of dancing as the movie which I would assume anyone would watch before seeing the show - if they hadn't already seen it.

"which I would assume anyone would watch before seeing the show - if they hadn't already seen it."

Pretty broad assumption. I know many people who see many Broadway musicals without having seen the movie first -- just like many people who see films without first reading the book. And there are certainly vast numbers of people -- especially those under 60 or so who would never have seen the film of An American in Paris. Short of trying to find it to rent or stream, I'm not even sure how they would be likely to see it or even why they want to see it before going to the Broadway musical. I've talked to dozens of people who saw Kinky Boots and never even knew it had been a movie. It really isn't necessary in most cases to see the film first.

Well Kinky Boots was an obscure film. An American in Paris is one of the classic American musicals - and one would thing people who are big fans of dance would be aware in a general way of the history of american movie musicals.

Would I expect it from a 20 something - probably not. But from the wording and tone of the post I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the OP and her friends were of mature years. As for where to see it - there are several basic (free) movie channels devoted to classic movies that play a lot of musicals.

I have discussed the show with a number of people and all - down to people in their 30s - were aware of the Gene Kelley movie. But perhaps I am assuming a level of awareness of our cultural history that a lot of people don't have.

And while everyone certainly doesn't have to like everything (for me, most country music is like nails on a chalkboard) when someone says they like dance I assume that means ballet as well as hoofing. (Nothing wrong with hoofing at all, and my mother was a "chorus girl" in her youth - but it's certainly not all there is to dance.)