yeah sure, musicals and movies about comic books. its making a lot of geeks/nerds/dorks/crazy fanatical people really happy. i don't think musicals are mainstream yet, but the geeks/nerds/dorks are on to the right idea.
I'd actually say they were more a part of pop culture in the 80's when the Webber and Mackintosh shows were big deals. You saw a LOT more 'Phantom' and 'Les Mis' shirts back then and a lot more casual people own those cast albums and went to those road shows, as well as travelling to New York and especially Toronto to see those shows.
I don't see any of that interest today, regardless of those two movies.
And, frankly, if there's any renaissance of the musical in pop culture, they're either heartless, presentational properties (like Chicago) or "deconstructionist," hypocritical wanna-be-oh-so-hip-and-ironic-yet-want-us-to-feel abortions (like Moulin Rouge). Somewhere along the way the musical has lost its humanity and its ability to sing and celebrate life forthrightly---and that's tragic.
Updated On: 8/19/03 at 12:29 AM
Musicals may not be "mainstream", but they are definaty becoming more popular. With the huge success of "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago", they are getting noticed.
And I don't know if this is because musicals are becoming more popular, the popularity of the show or the popularity of the show's star, but GYPSY is number 9 on amazon.com's Top Sellers list. How many musicals can have that behind them?
~*Christa*~
"Don't ya wanna be the life of the party?" Idina Menzel, THE WILD PARTY
Actually, 'Hairspray' was in the top 10 on Amazon when it was released as well. That's an EXTREMELY skewed number as it doesn't correlate to Billboard or the charts in any way, Amazon being just one retailer, and not one with a non-internet presence. 'Gypsy' won't show up on the Top 100, regardless of how it does on Amazon.
All that shows is that the first-day buying theater audience is likely to use mail order.
But it also is well known that millions of people use AMAZON. I think everyone I know has used it at least once. And that does show that the "young kids" are not the only buyers.