Jan 2. marks the end of the "typical" Broadway show

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:03pm

I saw 42nd Street for the first time a few days ago.

All I have to say is, I am sorry I didn't see it sooner - now there's no time to see it again!

42nd street, to me, embodies the "typical" Broadway show - a light plot, OK to GOOD Music, and a lot of GREAT dancing...

With 42nd Street closing, we are seeing the end of the typical Bway show.... Updated On: 12/21/04 at 08:03 PM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:05pm

I am very sad this show is closing. This is the only show I wish wasn't closing on the 2nd.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:06pm

Is this post a joke? It's a revival to begin with. It's had a very healthy run on Broadway - twice. Two successful runs - that definitely means something.

But please tell me you were joking...and how your point is logical...

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:07pm

My point is that 42nd Street is the TYPICAL Broadwya musical.

All the new, modern (contemporary, if you will) musicals have been eating away at the heart of Broadway....

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:09pm

munkustrap- that was completely unecessary. So what if it had a great run? She/he is allowed to express their sadness for a great show closing!

[kim1061]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:11pm

im sad its closing as well i loved it. its definately one of those actual broadway shows. its not all cheesy and what not, its one of a kind. how long was it running for?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:11pm

Thank WP

After I posted my Response I realized, well that was dumb of me. The only thing I ever read by Munk is negative.

(And, he)

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:13pm

No, it really wasn't. The original post said that with 42nd Street closing, we see the end of the typical Broadway musical. This show was written twenty years ago, so that's not even a relevant statement. It's not like there aren't other "typical" shows on Broadway right now, like:

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
THE PRODUCERS
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
HAIRSPRAY
BOMBAY DREAMS
WONDERFUL TOWN

I don't understand how by a revival closing, it's like the end of an era. It doesn't make sense to me and seems a tad dramatic.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:14pm

That's only a matter of preference. There's nothing wrong with modern musicals; there are many bad ones, to be sure, but there are thoroughly contemporary gems like Avenue Q and Caroline or Change that I prefer over the old, Golden Age musicals. I mean, even Sondheim musicals are considered contemporary. I, for one, am not head over heels with revivals of "light plot, OK to GOOD Music, and a lot of GREAT dancing..."; I think they've had their time and it's time to produce something new.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:20pm

With the exception of La Cage - the others are not typical Bway shows.

Yes, the producers has the attributes of a bway show - but in the end it was made to mock them....

BatB - umm, Disney is not "typical" Broadway
Hairspray - no
Bombay Dreams - lack of taste, but that's another thread
Wonderful Town - I can kind of give you that one....

Even La Cage - isn't typical.

Although 42nd Street is a "recent" show (even the original is recent) it's heart is still rooted in the early 1900s...
One reason the original was such a success was that it WAS a show that embodies what Broadway used to be....

All the new, modern (contemporary, if you will) musicals have been eating away at the heart of Broadway....

That was a bad statement. I too enjoy the new, modern shows. Sometimes I like to see a show, like Chorus Line or 42nd street, that is all about the dancing and singing...

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:25pm

I think this idea of a "typical" Broadway show has died A LONG time ago, and hasn't been "typical" for decades. Really, these shows are more accurately called the "golden age musicals" or the "old classic musicals."

Updated On: 12/21/04 at 08:25 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:26pm

Exactly - it dies a long time ago. The last show that really encompasses that is 42nd Street

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:29pm

I don't know what your definition of typical is if you don't consider Wonderful Town or Hairspray to be "typical"

They are very typical of old-fashioned musical comedy.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:30pm

Don't worry, these types of shows constantly get revived, because they're nostalgic for Broadway's biggest audiences: aging theatregoers who want to remember the dazzling days of the Great White Way.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:34pm

dazzling days of the Great White Way.

perfect description -

typical is a show with a loose, not-very-interesting, plot....

(42nd Street - girl wants to get into showbiz)

[magruder]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:36pm

I wouldn't say Chorus Line is just about the dancing and the singing. I'm not sure if your point was to group Chorus Line and 42nd Street into the old-fashioned glitzy musical comedy type model, but that's never been what Chorus Line was about.

The thing that I mourn with the passing of 42nd Street ... when you paid $100, you got your $100 worth of show on that stage. I can't say that about everything that's running currently.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:39pm

I put Chorus Line into a show with singing and dancing -

I would say that both shows have catchy tunes, but nothing that I could sit down and listen to on repeat - do you know what I'm saying?

[magruder]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:46pm

Oh, I'd say the songs in 42nd Street are major standards for a reason... "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me," "Young and Healthy," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "42nd Street," "I Only Have Eyes for You," "Dames," just to name a few, are the epitome of classic Hollywood songwriting. They are GREAT songs.

Chorus Line was always less about the score, and more about Michael Bennett's electrifying staging, but even there, "At the Ballet," "Nothing," "Hello Twelve," "Music and the Mirror," "What I Did for Love" and "One" all strike me as great songwriting as well.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:47pm

It may be enjoyable to many people, but 42nd STREET was yet another cut-and-paste ripoiff of an old Hollywood musical from 1933.

And I ALWAYS prefered Dorothy Brock to the annoyingly perky Peggy Sawyer.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:48pm

I would definitely put A Chorus Line on the list of "contemporary musicals" because of its structure (I resist calling it a narrative), which is definitely of the New Musical Theatre tradition.

I think what we seem to be talking about (if we want to put ACL and 4nd Street in the same category) is the alleged "death" of the dance musical -- a show with lots of singing and dancing, where both are of equal importance, and that usually features a large ensemble.

I don't quite necessarily agree that the dance musical is dying -- look at Movin' Out and the Tony Award wins for Fosse and Contact -- but I definitely think that it's changing.

EDIT: I just realized that Movin' Out, Fosse and Contact aren't the best examples, because they feature all dancing and either no plot or no singing. I therefore offer Hairspray and the revival of Chicago as examples.

One example of a musical that is both in the dance and "Golden Age" tradition is The Producers. A friend of mine and I were having a conversation, and she remarked how "old" the comedy of The Producers felt. I definitely agree; Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman have definitely styled the show after the classic musical comedies of the 1940s, complete with fedora hats (or whatever those black hats are called), glittering chorus girls and slapstick characters.

Updated On: 12/21/04 at 08:48 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:49pm

I'm going to miss 42nd Street...only saw it once on tour.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:52pm

Indeed,, both scores are great, just not something I would put on my CD player and go jogging with, lol

[Joshua488]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:57pm

I don't think that 42nd STREET is the end of the "typical" Broadway shows. When I think "typical, old fashioned" Broadway musical, I think of shows that have the basic plot of a girl (or person) from a small town moving to New York and making it. That kind of plot (or a similar variation) seems to be in a few of the more well-known "typical" Broadway musicals. WONDERFUL TOWN seems to fit that category. I wouldn't agree with HAIRSPRAY because the music is too recent... it's '60s-styled, which is much later than the pre-1950's music in lots of the "typical" Broadway shows.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 8:57pm

What the dance musical needs is for someone to pick up where Bennett (unfortunately) left off, which was a director with an overarching vision to unify score, book, design and performance into one cohesive whole. A genuine auteur. Tommy Tune was heading there with Grand Hotel (although the material in that show was a little spotty), and then he took a step backward with The Will Rogers Follies and didn't quite ever return to form again. There doesn't seem to be an heir apparent to Michael Bennett, the way Bennett was their heir apparent to Jerome Robbins. Shows are often so aimless now because they are produced by giant corporations or by committee, instead of one person who knows how to get the best out of all of his or her collaborators and who calls all the shots.

Updated On: 12/21/04 at 08:57 PM

[CanWeTalkBroadway?]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 9:26pm

This thread perfectly illustrates why the powers that be here at BWW.com might want to seriously consider a Students Board. Collegians! High Schoolers! Middle Schoolers! Grammar Schoolers! And one Very Special Ed Student! Stand up, if possible, for your right to associate as the teens and tweens and young adults that you are! Regale each other with your grasp of theater history, post-RENT of course! Delight each other with your icon photos showing off your latest knock-offs from the club kid culture that ended 15 years ago! Use words like "classic" and "amazing" and "whatnot" to your hearts' content!

It's your right, young people. Why hang out with a bunch of old fuddy-duddies anyway? Find your corner of the sky! PM the moderators, it'll be the fashizzle!