March Broadway Madness

March Madness lives! I know all you sports and betting fanatics missed it terribly last year when COVID cancelled all games. So I’m sure you’re happy it’s back.

I’m not much of a basketball person. I follow my NY Mets during baseball and NY Giants during football but I just never got into basketball (except in college during our girls’ team’s Cinderella run – go Marist Lady Foxes) . Nor am I interested in really doing a proper March Madness bracket.

But you know what I am interested in? Broadway musicals.

You know what I miss? Broadway musicals.

So while everyone follows along on their brackets, I’m going to make one of my own featuring all the Broadway shows I remember seeing – I’m pretty sure I forgot a couple. (And I know it’s a privilege that I could have seen so many that not only did I forget some but I still had enough for a 34 team match up).

Here’s how it will work: I used a bracket generator to randomly assign shows against each other. I will write several posts (hopefully every day) where I go through the different rounds, picking from the brackets until I get to the best show that I’ve seen – in my opinion. I’ve decided that all the shows on the “left” side of the bracket I’ve created will be the “Nederlander Conference” and those on the “right” side of the bracket will be the “Shubert Conference.” The shows have not been divided up by whether they played in a Nederlander or Shubert theatre, it just seems easier to keep track.

Here’s the line up:

“Wild Card” Round – Nederlander Conference

Mary Poppins v. Rent

Hello, Dolly! v. Frozen

“Wild Card” Round – Shubert Conference

The Addams Family v. The Wedding Singer

Gigi v. Spamalot

Round 1 – Nederlander Conference Group A

Memphis v. (Winner of Mary Poppins v. Rent)

Jersey Boys v. White Christmas

Little Shop of Horrors v. Hairspray

Wicked v. Pippin

Round 1 – Nederlander Conference Group B

Anything Goes v. (Winner of Hello, Dolly! v. Frozen)

The Music Man v. The Sound of Music

Beauty and the Beast v. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Les Miserables v. On Your Feet!

Round 1 – Shubert Conference Group A

Spring Awakening v. (Winner of The Addams Family v. The Wedding Singer)

Aladdin v. Cinderella

The Pirate Queen v. Little Women

Newsies v. Avenue Q

Round 1 – Shubert Conference Group B

Moving Out v. (Winner of Gigi v. Spamalot)

The Phantom of the Opera v. Tarzan

Godspell v. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Anastasia v. Jesus Christ Superstar

Make your picks and find out which comes out on top in my opinion. Feel free to play along in the comments below!