Oh I'm so happy someone made this thread! I've been a theater geek since my middle school years, always fun to see other people who love it!
I'm gonna go a little bit stereotypical here and list Wicked first. Yes I agree it's a bit bubblegum, but it really does have heart and I love pretty much every song in it's soundtrack. It also helps that it's the first "real Broadway" musical I listened to the whole album for and managed to see pieces of online. Favorite song is probably No One Mourns the Wicked since it captures a semblance of the concept the novel really delved into.
I also love Sunday in the Park with George, it's a classic and a beautiful one at that. I made the mistake as a naive college freshmen of using Finishing the Hat for my audition to transfer to a four year college. Appreciation does not mean you possess the life experience required to perform that particular song, lesson learned
Heathers was an obsession in high school, really wished we had had the students in our little theater group and the kind of program needed to pull it off! Love the tone, love the songs, love the show! Beautiful is a brilliant song!
I see that everyone has kind of expressed some issues with this one but I do have to say Dear Evan Hansen spoke to me on some level - at least, some of the ideas behind it did. I get what people are saying about the awful behaviors the main character exhibited and the lack of consequences for them, and I agree that the show's plot addressed those poorly. But just to add my perspective as a young man with anxiety, a touch of depressive episodes, and on frequent occasions major self esteem issues, part of the point of the show to me was when you don't like yourself you make bad decisions that hurt other people. I think a 2 hour show tried to tell a very complex story involving some really difficult issues - Evan is a teenager in high school. Kids make stupid, hurtful mistakes at that age. The character should have had more consequences but I think the writing tried almost too hard to make us sympathetic toward him at the expense of creating depth for the character and the story at large.
Evan Hansen as he is written is not a likeable character. But people who say things like "I never let them see the worst of me - cause what if everyone saw. What if everyone knew - would they like what they saw? Or would they hate it too?" Are often unlikeable in that state of mind. That's not to justify the behavior exhibited and as someone who related to the character in that respect, there should have been a bigger plot point in Evan getting both therapeutic/psychiatric help.
TLDR - As someone who struggles with self esteem and anxiety, I appreciate the ideas behind Dear Evan Hansen while recognizing that the show has some major flaws.
Some of the shows I have been in -
Hairspray as Wilbur Turnblad, absolutely the most fun I've had on stage. This was my first musical and my first major role, and I could not have asked to have joined a better musical family when I performed it!
Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella as Prince Charming was my junior year musical and another absolute blast. This was my first leading role and it felt like a real recognition of how far my singing skills had come!
RENT was the first time I saw college kids who were serious about their craft and it was a really cool to see the amount of talent and dedication they all had to performing. I was an ensemble member and it was a great way to learn a lot of skills fast, helping out with all aspects of production and doing so in a matter of 4 weeks.
Glad to see lots of other theater peeps here!