The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Episode: The Best Broadway Musicals

Date: August 18, 2025
Participants: John Podhoretz (Host), Abe Greenwald, Seth Mandel, Matthew Continetti

Episode Overview

This episode is a lively, passionate roundtable discussion of favorite Broadway musicals among four Commentary staffers—John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, Seth Mandel, and Matthew Continetti. With a unique angle (“four straight guys talking about Broadway musicals”), the hosts delve into their personal choices for the greatest Broadway musical, relive formative theater experiences, and analyze what makes a musical endure. The tone is witty, affectionate, occasionally self-deprecating, and bracingly knowledgeable.

Main Theme: Declaring and Defending the Greatest Broadway Musicals

• Each panelist nominates a favorite Broadway musical and explains the choice.
• The group discusses the artistic, emotional, and societal resonance of these works.
• Throughout, the conversation references standout productions, creative innovations, and personal Broadway memories.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening: The Podcast’s Premise and Introduction

[00:24-01:22]

• John sets the "Hall of Fame" tone: a break from politics for a discussion on musicals.
• Jokes about being overqualified for the topic:
  “This is a topic that I know perhaps better than any other topic that I know on Earth is the Broadway musical. And so I could just sort of like, never stop talking.” (John, 01:24)

2. Matthew Continetti’s Pick: The Lion King

[02:19-07:02]

• Matt selects The Lion King after seeing it during a holiday trip with his family.
  • Calls it the “best Broadway experience” of his life.
  • Attributes the show’s power to Julie Taymor’s artistic directorial choices—her use of Balinese theater, masks, and puppetry.
  • Describes the immersive staging, especially the iconic opening with animal puppets processing through the theater, as “electric”—a “once in a lifetime experience.”
• Praises the show for expanding upon the Disney movie’s story and music seamlessly:
  • “They expanded it. They produced new songs. ... And so it's not one of those instances where there's any real weak song.” (Matt, 06:09)

Memorable Moment:
“The opening number Circle of Life involves the animals processing to the stage from the audience ... it truly is just a once in a lifetime experience to see this for the first time.” (Matt, 05:19)

• John chimes in, noting the show's revolutionary approach and record-breaking commercial success:
  • “The Lion King is the single most successful work of entertainment ever produced.” (John, 04:15)
• Both agree the first 25 minutes are jaw-dropping and that “no one had ever seen anything remotely like this ever before.” (John, 07:02)

3. Abe Greenwald’s Pick: Sondheim’s Company

[09:17-12:54]

• Abe gravitates toward Company as his Sondheim of choice, despite not seeing it originally on Broadway:

  • Cites Sondheim’s “lyrical play,” “angular melodies,” dissonance, and overlapping lines.
  • Explains the show's innovative, nonlinear structure—a montage-style character study of Bobby, a single man amid friends' marriages.
  • Loves the emotional honesty and the “accretion of snapshots” that give the story its impact.
  • Favors songs like “Company,” “Barcelona,” and “Being Alive.”
    “It's more of this accretion of snapshots that creates a character study of this single guy amid his married friends and what it means to ultimately connect.” (Abe, 10:19)

• John recalls seeing the original cast as a child and having the “most vivid set of memories,” highlighting how memorable set and direction shape the musical’s impact.

Notable Quote:
“Company turned the musical into something that was often more about the concept of the show than simply a three act thing where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl ... and the score is dazzling.” (John, 16:04)

• Discussion expands to Sondheim’s cerebral style and how his shows often lack emotional “satisfaction” but excel in conceptual brilliance.

4. Seth Mandel’s Pick: The Music Man

[18:22-22:25]

• The Music Man is Seth’s personal formative Broadway show:
  • Recalls seeing it as a kid and recognizing new details with age, like the hidden layers about morality, agency, and ambiguity.
  • Appreciates how the show resists simple answers—Harold Hill’s ambiguity as either “a con man with a heart of gold” or not, depending on the audience's perspective.
  • Points to the musical as raising questions about human agency, inspiration, and “can you really fool anyone, or are the only people who are fooled the people who want to be fooled?”

Notable Quote:
“It didn’t get stale for me as I got older because it had all these sort of new, relevant situations and applications and lessons.” (Seth, 22:05)

• John adds historical context, noting Music Man’s uniqueness as a single-creator musical and its innovative spoken “rap”-like song structure—remarkably fresh for its time.

5. John Podhoretz’s Pick: Guys and Dolls (with Shoutout to Gypsy)

[27:06-30:31]

• John declares Guys and Dolls his all-time favorite, rooted in childhood memories of his sister performing “Sister Sarah.”
  • Celebrates the show’s exuberance, humor, and “sheerly musical comedy” roots.
  • Praises its stylized depiction of New York’s “lowlifes” and its “highly, highly articulate argot” that later influenced works like The Godfather.
  • Acknowledges its flaws in pacing but maintains its place among the top five or ten musicals ever written.
• Also highlights Gypsy as perhaps the most perfectly integrated musical, if not for what he calls a “miscast” contemporary production.

Notable Quote:
“Guys and Dolls ... is the most exuberant, I think, of Broadway shows. It's the most sheerly musical comedy of the musical comedies.” (John, 27:27)

6. Insights on Broadway Creation, Adaptation, and Performance

[22:25-27:01; 32:38-40:41]

• Discussion of how single-creator works (Music Man, Oliver, Hamilton, Rent) stand apart for their authorial vision.
• The impact of direction and staging:
  "These shows can be saved or ruined by direction. ... You can take something that's nothing and a genuinely great director can spin magic out of it."
• Abe proudly notes his familial connection—his uncle Michael Kidd choreographed Guys and Dolls and was "one of the two or three foremost choreographer directors of the 20th century." (Abe, 38:42)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Emotional Impact & Innovation:
  “First 25 minutes of The Lion King, there’s almost nothing that has ever come close.” (John, 07:02)

• On Sondheim:
  “He was the most brilliant wordsmith in the history of Broadway lyricists.” (John, 16:04)
  “There's a song in Company called Sorry, Grateful, which is the perfect encapsulation ... life is just ambiguity and you never settle on anything.” (John, 17:35)

• On The Music Man’s Life Lessons:
  “What I like about The Music Man is that ... can you really fool anyone?” (Seth, 22:05)

• On Personal Memories:
  “I saw the original cast at my either 9th or 10th birthday party.” (John, 13:05)

• On Direction and Broadway Magic:
  "Michael Bennett ... single best directed show I've ever seen ... a show basically staged with four light poles, no sets ... I've never, never... it saved the show. It made the show.” (John, 38:11)

Recommended Broadway Book

Question: “Is there a book that people should read about Broadway?” (Matt, 32:31)

Answer:
John recommends Razzle Dazzle by Michael Riedel: “It is both a great social history. It's kind of a political urban history and a story about just these endless crazy... Broadway is a font of crazy stories about lunatic actors and psychotic directors and horrible choreographers and just producers.” (John, 32:42)

Contemporary Recommendation

• If seeing a show in New York right now:
  “Maybe Happy Ending ... a beautiful and unusual show ... about two robots in 2065, Seoul, South Korea ... a gorgeous musical about love and longing and what it means to be human.” (John, 41:08)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:19] Matt nominates The Lion King
• [09:17] Abe nominates Company
• [18:22] Seth nominates The Music Man
• [27:06] John nominates Guys and Dolls (also discusses Gypsy)
• [32:38] Book recommendations and anecdotes
• [38:42] Abe’s uncle, Michael Kidd, and choreography in Guys and Dolls
• [41:08] John’s recommendation for a current Broadway show

Closing Thoughts

The episode not only surveys the best Broadway musicals from individual and historical perspectives, but offers listeners deep appreciation for the evolving art of musical theater—from daring directorial choices and the power of performance, to the emotional complexity (or intentional lack thereof) woven through the greatest shows. The participants’ rich anecdotes, insights, and broad knowledge provide a fast-moving yet nuanced tribute to Broadway’s lasting legacy.