Playbill Mixtape: Musical Theatre 101, 2000s Edition | Playbill

Playbill Playlist Playbill Mixtape: Musical Theatre 101, 2000s Edition You might think you know the early aughts, but do you really know all of these milestone musicals?
Playbill Mixtape: Musical Theatre 101, 2000s Edition Graphic by Felicia Fitzpatrick

Thanks to the increased release of cast albums (yes, there was a time when not every Broadway show produced one) and increased availability of YouTube videos, fans have unprecedented exposure to scores and musical numbers from recent musicals. Still, the early aughts have been a prolific time for theatre and there are shows and writers you may not be familiar with—but should be.

From insta-classics like The Producers to cult hits like Here Lies Love, from Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years to Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Pulitzer-winning Next to Normal to Jeanine Tesori’s Thoroughly Modern Millie, from adaptations of big titles like Monty Python’s Spamalot and Legally Blonde The Musical to small personal stories like Everyday Rapture, this week’s Playbill Mixtape brings you the must-know tunes of the 2000s.

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An historical guide for your listening education:
“Welcome to My Party” – from The Wild Party by Michael John La Chiusa
“Omigod You Guys” – from Legally Blonde the Musical by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
“Big Girls Don’t Cry” – from Jersey Boys by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
“As We Stumble Along” – from The Drowsy Chaperone by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
“The King of Broadway” – from The Producers by Mel Brooks
“Not for the Life of Me” – from Thoroughly Modern Millie by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan
“Dancing Through Life” – from Wicked by Stephen Schwartz
“The Life of the Party” – from The Wild Party by Michael John LaChiusa
“Under the Sea” – from The Little Mermaid by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, and Glenn Slater
“Amayzing Mazie” – from Seussical Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens
“Practically Perfect” – from Mary Poppins by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
“There Is Life Outside Your Apartment” – from Avenue Q by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx
“The Revolutionary Costume for Today” – from Grey Gardens by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie
“Run, Freedom, Run!” – from Urinetown The Musical by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis
“Breeze Off the River” – from The Full Monty by David Yazbek
“Come to Your Senses” – from tick, tick…BOOM! by Jonathan Larson
“I Believe” – from Altar Boyz by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker
“Find Your Grail” – from Monty Python’s Spamalot by John Du Prez and Eric Idle
“Suddenly” – from Xanadu by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne
“96,000” – from In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Without Love” – Hairspray by March Shaiman and Scott Wittman
“I Can Do Better Than That” – from The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” – from All Shook Up by Elvis Presley
“The I Love You Song” – from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn
“I Hate the Bus” – from Caroline, or Change by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner
“What About Love?” – from The Color Purple by Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell, and Allee Willis
“The Light in the Piazza” – from The Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel
“Astonishing” – from Little Women by Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein
“Who I’d Be” – from Shrek The Musical by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire
“Get Out and Stay Out” – from 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
“Up the Ladder to the Roof” – from Everyday Rapture
“I Am The One” – from Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
“Please Don’t Touch Me” – from Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks
“It’s Your Wedding Day” – from The Wedding Singer by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin
“The Lamest Place in the World” – from 13 by Jason Robert Brown
“Touch Me” – from Spring Awakening by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater
“Electricity” – from Billy Elliot The Musical by Elton John and Lee Hall
“Married” – from A Catered Affair by John Bucchino
“Next Best Thing to Love” – from A Class Act: A Musical
“At the Fountain” – from Sweet Smell of Success by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia
“Here I Am” – from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by David Yazbek
“Show People” – from Curtains by John Kander and Fred Ebb
“See What I Wanna See” – from See What I Wanna See by Michael John LaChiusa
“Number 5 With a Bullet” – from High Fidelity by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green
“What’s Inside is Just a Lie/And Now I’m Ready to Explode” – from Passing Strange by Heidi Rodewald and Stew
“Trouble Sleep” – from FELA! by Aaron Johnson, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Jordan McLean and Jim Lewis
“Steal Your Rock ‘n’ Roll” – from Memphis by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro

 
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