It's delightful, it's delicious, it's dlevy!

Jesse (severe-tire-damage) asked the above question. It should not surprise you that I have opinions. Here is my complete list of the 100 must-have musical theater recordings for advanced beginners, followed by a selection of film soundtracks that are at least as essential. (Why advanced beginners? Because this goes beyond 10 albums I think you’ll love but doesn’t dive so deep as to include shows that I think are worthy and interesting but not essential.)

Note: I am more interested in the scores than the particular recordings. I’m offering a suggestion for a best recording, but more often than not any number of substitute recordings will do. More often than not I default to an original cast recording; when I make a different suggestion, there’s probably a reason. And if you want to argue about the choice, let’s just say I am far more interested in debating the relative merits of the various recordings of Show Boat or Carousel than I am in Gypsy or Follies.

Also, this list is in the order they come to me, which will probably reveal a lot about how my brain works.

1. Show Boat (John McGlinn 1988 complete recording)
2. Girl Crazy (John Mauceri 1990 complete recording)
3. Of Thee I Sing/Let ‘Em Eat Cake (Michael Tillson Thomas 1987 complete recording)
4. Porgy and Bess (Simon Rattle recording)
5. The Boys from Syracuse (Encores recording)
6. Pal Joey (1950 Columbia studio cast album)
7. Babes in Arms (1989 concert cast recording)
8. Anything Goes (1988 Lincoln Center recording OR 1962 off-Broadway recording)
9. The Boy Friend (1954 Broadway cast)
10. No, No, Nanette (1971 Broadway revival)
11. The Threepenny Opera (1954 Off-Broadway, Blitzstein translation)
12. Lady in the Dark (Risë Stevens studio recording)
13. Oklahoma! (1979 revival)
14. Carousel (1994 revival)
15. The King and I (film soundtrack)
16. South Pacific (Original Cast recording) 
17. The Sound of Music (Original Cast recording, although the soundtrack is also fairly essential)
18. West Side Story (Original Cast recording, although the soundtrack is equally excellent)
19. Candide (Original Cast recording)
20. Wonderful Town (Simon Rattle 1999 complete recording)
21. On The Town (1960 studio recording) 
22. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Original Cast recording)
23. Gypsy (Original Cast recording)
24. Funny Girl (Original Cast recording)
25. Peter Pan (Original Cast Recording) 
26. Guys and Dolls (Original Cast recording, although the 1992 revival is excellent)
27. The Most Happy Fella (Original Cast recording)
28. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Original Cast recording)
29. Sweet Charity (Original Cast recording)
30. City of Angels (Original Cast recording)
31. Carnival (Original Cast recording) 
32. Brigadoon (Film soundtrack; really, I don’t love any one recording of this show enough)
33. My Fair Lady (Original London Cast recording, which only wins over Broadway by a hair because it’s in stereo and Harrison is a little better on it; Andrews is better on the original.)
34. Camelot (Original Cast recording)
35. Finian’s Rainbow (2010 revival)
36. On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (Original Cast recording)
37. Cabaret (Original Cast recording, although the 1998 revival is a viable alternative)
38. Chicago (Original, Revival, or London are all great)
39. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Original Cast recording)
40. Hello, Dolly! (Original Cast recording, although you can’t go wrong with the Pearl Bailey recording)
41. Mame (Original Cast recording)
42. La Cage Aux Folles (Australian recording if you can find it)
43. 42nd Street (Original Cast recording)
44. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Original Cast recording)
45. Company (Original Cast recording)
46. A Little Night Music (Original Cast recording)
47. Follies (Concert Cast)
48. Sweeney Todd (Original Cast recording)
49. Sunday in the Park with George (Original Cast recording)
50. Into the Woods (Original Cast recording)
51. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1982 Broadway cast recording)
52. Jesus Christ Superstar (Concept Album)
53. Evita (Concept Album, unless you REALLY love Patti & Mandy)
54. Cats (ugh, I can’t listen to any of them, but it’s hard to argue for its exclusion. Broadway highlights?)
55. Phantom of the Opera (London Cast Album)
56. Sunset Blvd (Canadian Cast Album - preferable because it’s fairly complete but one disc)
57. Nine (Original Cast recording)
58. Titanic (Original Cast recording)
59. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Original Cast recording)
60. The Fantasticks (Original Cast recording)
61. 110 in the Shade (Revival Cast)
62. Fiddler on the Roof (Original Cast recording)
63. She Loves Me (1993 revival)
64. Bye Bye Birdie (Original Cast, although should be supplemented with film soundtrack) 
65. Annie (Original Cast)
66. Godspell (Original Cast)
67. Pippin (Original Cast)
68. Wicked (Original Cast)
69. Little Shop of Horrors (Original Off-Broadway)
70. Dreamgirls (Original)
71. A Chorus Line (Original)
72. Next To Normal (Original)
73. Rent (Original)
74. Avenue Q (Original)
75. The Producers (Original)
76. Hairspray (Original)
77. Annie Get Your Gun (1966 Lincoln Center revival)
78. Call Me Madam (1950 Ethel Merman recording)
79. Kiss Me Kate (Original Cast recording)
80. Once Upon A Mattress (Original Cast recording)
81. Les Miserables (Original London Cast recording)
82. Miss Saigon (Original London Cast recording)
83. March of the Falsettos/Falsettoland (Off-Broadway Cast recordings)
84. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Original Cast recording)
85. Hair (Original Cast recording)
86. Starting Here, Starting Now (Original Cast recording)
87. Baby (Original Cast recording)
88. Grease (Original Cast recording)
89. You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Original Cast recording)
90. Promises, Promises (Original Cast recording)
91. The Wild Party (Michael John LaChiusa)
92. Oliver! (Original London Cast recording)
93. Stop the World, I Want To Get Off (Original London Cast recording)
94. 1776 (Original Cast recording)
95. Li’l Abner (Original Cast recording)
96. The Music Man (Original Cast recording)
97. Man of La Mancha (Original Cast recording)
98. Once On This Island (Original Cast recording)
99. Ragtime (Original Cast recording)
100. Songs for a New World (Original Cast recording)

Plus, from the realm of made-for-cinema:
Singin’ In The Rain
The Wizard of Oz
Easter Parade
(Although you could forego the above and just get the excellent six-disc That’s Entertainment set.)
A Star Is Born (Judy Garland)
State Fair
Meet Me in St. Louis
Yentl
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

And from the realm of movies aimed at kids:

The Muppet Movie
Snow White
Pinocchio
Cinderella
The Jungle Book
Mary Poppins
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King 
(Although really a decent Disney boxed set would do the trick, and then you’d get important songs like “He’s A Tramp” that don’t necessarily warrant acquiring an entire soundtrack, but the above are the Disney essentials.) 

It pains me to leave off certain things from this list: there’s no Harold Rome, not enough Cy Coleman or Harold Arlen, no room for second-tier Bock/Strouse/etc. and some of the one-hit wonders of the 80s such as Big River and Drood… You could argue for more Richard Rodgers (my next round would add On Your Toes, Confederate Yankee, Flower Drum Song, and No Strings). But this is me trying to be conservative/realistic about what’s *essential*. (Still, I am not sure that Cabin in the Sky and St. Louis Woman shouldn’t replace, say, Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever on the list… Oh shit, just realized I forgot Grease. So long, Close Than Ever.) 100 isn’t a very big number, you know!

I keep writing additional paragraphs about hard decisions. No On the Twentieth Century or Little Me? No [title of show] or Grey Gardens? Should off-Broadway crowd-pleasers like Nunsense and Forever Plaid and even Oh, Calcutta! make the cut? How on earth can I justify the exclusion of Merrily We Roll Along? What about Rocky Horror? Is Songs for a New World the most important/representative of Jason Robert Brown’s work? Should In The Heights be in here somewhere? And why for the love of God do I insist Cats be allowed to take up valuable space on this list??? But I could write for days about this, so I’ll spare you.

I should also point out that I did this entirely from memory, consulting neither the internet not my cd collection nor any reference books. So feel free to argue for things I’ve omitted.

What do you think I missed? What did I include that you would not?

ETA: Here’s a Spotify playlist with one song from each of the albums that was available, and a song from a different recording of the score for those unavailable.