A Great Musical, Where are you?- Page 2
A Great Musical, Where are you?
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A Great Musical, Where are you?#25
Posted: 6/29/12 at 8:10pm
I have to disagree. I could name tons of recent shows that are tryly magnificent (Wicked, BOM, Newsies, Once, Memphis, Billy Elliot to name a few). I'm sorry if you are not pleased with the modern, fun way that musical theatre is moving toward 
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
A Great Musical, Where are you?#26
Posted: 6/29/12 at 8:37pm
I PERSONALLY dont think broadway has seen a truly Great musical since Next To Normal.I would totally Rank N2N up with Les Miz,Phantom,Into the woods,evita,Wicked,Miss saigon etc etc.
I liked Book of Mormon.I thought it was funny,but i wouldnt pay to see it again.It serves it's purpose but I personally dont get all the hype about it.still a great show though,very funny. This is coming from a guy who LOVES south park.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#27
Posted: 6/29/12 at 8:44pmI think the last commercially and critically acclaimed musical would have to be The Producers and it will be the "last" great classic. Book of Mormon has to run a little longer.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#28
Posted: 6/29/12 at 9:21pm
There were several commercially and critically acclaimed musicals since The Producers, some of which ran longer as well (Jersey Boys Avenue Q and Hairspray spring to mind). The Producers holds the Tony record, which will make it something of a landmark production, but it mostly limped along after Broderick and Lane left. Then the movie bombed. I didn't care for it, but I can see why people thought it was funny. I'm not sure if it will be the "last great classic".
Also, I'm not convinced a "classic" is defined by critical and/or commercial success. West Side Story divided critics and Follies has never had a profitable Broadway production. Like them or not, I think the last "classics" we've seen on Broadway were Rent, Ragtime and Hairpsray with The Lion King, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, Wicked and Book of Mormon being noted as popular blockbusters. Honrable mentions go out to Urinetown, Avenue Q, Caroline or Change, Light in the Piazza, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, Drowsy Chaperone, Spelling Bee, Next to Normal and Once. That's not my order of preference, but rather how I see them being noted in the history books.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#29
Posted: 6/30/12 at 12:11amI know I am going to get shot for this, but Caroline will not be considered a classic in the same league as the others. As great of a show it is, it just won't be.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#30
Posted: 6/30/12 at 12:16am
Caroline will become the Follies of our current era, I think. A show that everyone knows and acknowledges as one of the best of its time, but never becoming truly SIGNIFICANT or successful. Always a footnote, never a crowning moment.
The people who saw the original will remember how good it was, and people will be jealous of it, but it will never be the ultimate moment to the vast majority, just as Follies will never be Gypsy, Company or Sweeney Todd.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
A Great Musical, Where are you?#31
Posted: 6/30/12 at 7:43am
"Lerner and Loewe basically had four Broadway shows (Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady and Camelot; Gigi was of course adapted from the film). "
No they did not "basically" have four. What about The Day Before Spring? That's not "basic" enough for you? Not to mention the shows both of these men created with others.
"Elton John has Lestat, Aida and Billy Elliot, and of course his own film music brought to stage in The Lion King."
So let's see, now... Elton John's film score for Lion King brought to the stage somehow "counts" but Lerner and Loewe's Gigi does not? Come on! Lestat is "basic" but The Day Before Spring is not? Come on!
And you're somehow comparing the works of these men? Come on! It's not a question of quantity, but quality. Frankly, I would have thought you knew that.
The original poster was right. One My Fair Lady is worth a thousand times more than a thousand Aidas, Onces, Spring Awakenings, and Queen of the Mists.
And to the poster who asked what the last great musical was, the answer is Hello, Dolly!
A Great Musical, Where are you?#32
Posted: 6/30/12 at 8:11am
Oh After Eight, I didn't mean to awaken your ire this morning!
I was writing that in response to jasonf's question, "where are the name composers?" and not answering the question about great musicals. He gave an example of Lerner and Loewe (specifically as a team) that had an implication that they churned out golden age musicals at a non-stop pace and you never had to wait for the next one to hit Broadway. That simply isn't the case. Their output is of high quality, but it is not of high quantity.
I was simply pointing out that people like Elton John and even Frank Wildhorn are still "name" composers and their outputs are just as large as many from the Golden Age. I never said, nor implied, that Elton John's musicals were better than Lerner and Loewe's. I only said that he is "name" composer, which was the question asked.
To address your final statements about quality, I happen to like Once a lot more than My Fair Lady, and it will go down as the latest great musical.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
A Great Musical, Where are you?#33
Posted: 6/30/12 at 8:18am
"I happen to like Once a lot more than My Fair Lady,"
Figures.
"and it will go down as the latest great musical."
The latest great fraud, you mean. That is, until the next one comes along.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#34
Posted: 6/30/12 at 10:44amreNt is far from a great musical.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
A Great Musical, Where are you?#35
Posted: 6/30/12 at 12:37pmRENT won the freaking PULITZER PRIZE....its a great musical..
A Great Musical, Where are you?#36
Posted: 6/30/12 at 1:07pm
Rosscoe(au) I agree with you that on face value Rent is not a great musical and with the Off-Broadway revival most of the shows flaws were pointed out, but the problem with critiquing Rent is that it is an unfinished work...since Larson was never able to tweak the show due to his unfortunate death the morning of the first off-Broadway preview. You can compare it to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" by Charles Dickens despite the fact the novel is unfinished due to Dickens death, it is still considered a great work because of its basic elements. The reason Rent is and will always be considered a landmark/classic is because of the shows impact and success.
Of modern "classics" I would put Next to Normal up near the top of the list, but I am kind of afraid that like most "contemporary" set musicals it is not going to hold up over time...even if they are brilliant to begin with. For example How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying won the Pulitzer when it opened and was treated with the same prestige, but over time its ideals and themes have become extremely outdated and the things that once made the show great now hinder its appeal. The same goes for Bye Bye Birdie, (I know it was not critically loved but its a contemporary set show) its recent revival, which even though it was severely miscast, the miscasting pointed how the show doesn't hold up due to it being set originally in the "present". The shows become museum pieces...which I pray is not the same fate for Next to Normal.
The one thing Next to Normal does have going for it is that it is very much a play whose lines are sung rather than a musical or a play with musical, so it does't really have a book to get creaky as time passes. The show is also a true drama rather than a satire or a dark comedy, which often get stale and whose themes(points of ridicule) become a mute point. The show is at its heart a family drama which should allow it to hold up better over time, since we all know its mental illness treatments will become outdated within the next ten years.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#37
Posted: 6/30/12 at 1:22pm
It's very hard to tell what we've seen lately will be considered "great". Caroline, or Change, I think, will be... despite its lack of commercial success or appeal, it seems to have perservered in reputation.
Next to Normal, perhaps, as well. Scottsboro Boys. Hairspray. I think Once will have a strong regional life, which will help it. A few years ago I would've said The Producers, but that's really a show that is so dependent on its cast that I can't say it'll hold up.
I loved Book of Mormon, but I can't see it playing well in decades to come.
The absence of really strong, commercially viable but artistically strong composers is an issue, as has been pointed out.
A Great Musical, Where are you?#38
Posted: 7/2/12 at 4:00am
Ghost and Spiderman have put a damper on musicals with their unhummable music
and dodgy books. Sister Act hasn't helped much.
But I have to agree that Wicked, Book of Mormon, being great musicals.
The Producers and Hairspray, Billy Elliot, Avenue Q were also great musicals.
Great ones don't come around that often.
Not impressed by Once. Or Newsies which had great choreography.. But something's coming....
A Great Musical, Where are you?#39
Posted: 7/2/12 at 4:00am
Ghost and Spiderman have put a damper on musicals with their unhummable music
and dodgy books. Sister Act hasn't helped much.
But I have to agree that Wicked, Book of Mormon, being great musicals.
The Producers and Hairspray, Billy Elliot, Avenue Q were also great musicals.
Great ones don't come around that often.
Not impressed by Once. Or Newsies which had great choreography.. But something's coming....
A Great Musical, Where are you?#40
Posted: 7/2/12 at 11:02am
"Magic Mike will solve that problem for you."
LOLOLOLOL!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
A Great Musical, Where are you?#41
Posted: 7/2/12 at 11:51am
So this season was a watery broth...get over it.
For the record, a friend of mine who is a VERY tough critic saw DOGFIGHT and loved it.
Looking for "Great" new musicals is a waste of time. There's too much history behind it. It's like reading an ALan Hollinghurst novel and saying, "Well...he's no Evelyn Waugh". We should be looking for/hoping for musicals that define an era and shape the art form. I think there's plenty and they aren't always the box office hits...hell, some of them don't even make it to Broadway. FLOYD COLLINS, anyone?
A Great Musical, Where are you?#42
Posted: 7/9/12 at 12:04pm
And to the poster who asked what the last great musical was, the answer is Hello, Dolly!
Thank God that's not true.
reNt is far from a great musical.
Just listened to it again over the weekend and it reminded me how truly great the musical is. Like many other musicals, it is very much a product of its time, but holds up well and will most definitely cemented its place in the classic musical theatre canon.
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