I always find it fascinating how much hate some have for musicals. I guess because when you are from NYC, you think of musicals as this mighty engine that drives the Great White Way and not some novelty. Not, mind you, that I have much idea what is actually on Broadway or if Broadway is making any money. That said, I don't entirely get t…
I always find it fascinating how much hate some have for musicals. I guess because when you are from NYC, you think of musicals as this mighty engine that drives the Great White Way and not some novelty. Not, mind you, that I have much idea what is actually on Broadway or if Broadway is making any money. That said, I don't entirely get the need to turn everything into a musical now.
I first encountered the Smothers Brothers on a revival of their show on CBS in the 80s. The show was filler during a writers strike, but that strike didn't include variety shows. So they were back on the network that screwed them. And it was okay, still funny but generally fluffy. nothing like what they did the first time around. It would be a long time till I saw what had been, and learned the whole thing. (There is a great book about them from maybe 20 years ago.) There is one other odd place I encountered them. In an episode of Benson where the cast was in Las Vegas, the brothers were performing in an elevator while Benson was riding between floors. He was really impressed that in Vegas, it's not just elevator music. After he left, one brother turned to the other and said, "we really need to get better bookings." RIP Tommy.
If anyone knows someone at AC/DC, put me in touch. I am convinced an AC/DC jukebox musical would print money. You've got songs everyone knows and the obvious story arc with Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. Hell, you ever get an obvious stopping point for the first act.
I recently watched Mean Girls for the first time. It's solid and there's a lot of story there, though TBH my gut feel was some plot points could have gone deeper. If you remake the movie and add half a dozen 5-minute songs, what 30 minutes are you cutting? Or are you adding 30 minutes? And that's not even a musical in my mind; that's a movie with some singing in it. When you turn the whole thing into musical numbers, you give up a good chunk of plot and character development. And many movies already condense a 6-hour story into two hours of screen time.
A musical can be perfectly entertaining if written as a musical and the viewer KNOWS they're getting a musical. But the surprise musical feels lacking.
I always find it fascinating how much hate some have for musicals. I guess because when you are from NYC, you think of musicals as this mighty engine that drives the Great White Way and not some novelty. Not, mind you, that I have much idea what is actually on Broadway or if Broadway is making any money. That said, I don't entirely get the need to turn everything into a musical now.
I first encountered the Smothers Brothers on a revival of their show on CBS in the 80s. The show was filler during a writers strike, but that strike didn't include variety shows. So they were back on the network that screwed them. And it was okay, still funny but generally fluffy. nothing like what they did the first time around. It would be a long time till I saw what had been, and learned the whole thing. (There is a great book about them from maybe 20 years ago.) There is one other odd place I encountered them. In an episode of Benson where the cast was in Las Vegas, the brothers were performing in an elevator while Benson was riding between floors. He was really impressed that in Vegas, it's not just elevator music. After he left, one brother turned to the other and said, "we really need to get better bookings." RIP Tommy.
If anyone knows someone at AC/DC, put me in touch. I am convinced an AC/DC jukebox musical would print money. You've got songs everyone knows and the obvious story arc with Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. Hell, you ever get an obvious stopping point for the first act.
I can recommend that you see “Some Like It Hot”. It got it exactly right.
Here's *my* gripe with musicals.
I recently watched Mean Girls for the first time. It's solid and there's a lot of story there, though TBH my gut feel was some plot points could have gone deeper. If you remake the movie and add half a dozen 5-minute songs, what 30 minutes are you cutting? Or are you adding 30 minutes? And that's not even a musical in my mind; that's a movie with some singing in it. When you turn the whole thing into musical numbers, you give up a good chunk of plot and character development. And many movies already condense a 6-hour story into two hours of screen time.
A musical can be perfectly entertaining if written as a musical and the viewer KNOWS they're getting a musical. But the surprise musical feels lacking.
There are plenty of musicals which entirely meet your criteria. Hadestown, for example. South Pacific. 1776. Some Like It Hot. Anything Goes. Wicked.
Last January, on my most recent trip to New York, I saw five musicals in four days. Yeah, you could say I’m a fan of them.