Beloved shows that will never be revived

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 12:51pm

Within the last year or so the mention of some beloved shows have been talked about and criticized as being out of date. Im curious what shows that are most beloved will not have any more revivals on broadway. (Some which break my heart)
Ive heard:

Miss Saigon
Hello Dolly
South Pacific
Book of Mormon
The Producers

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 1:14pm

All of those will continue to be produced. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 2:41pm

BYE BYE BIRDIE
NEW GIRL IN TOWN
I LOVE MY WIFE
STEEL PIER

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 2:51pm

Kismet (?)

 

 

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 3:05pm

ggersten said: "Kismet (?)

You might be right about that one.  The ethnic issues in casting and certain stereotypes could present a nightmare.  Love the music, though.  

"

 

[undercoveractor]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 3:08pm

Sadly, I think a lot of the classic musicals will now be viewed through the the lens of current times....often for the better, but very often not. One of my favorite shows....LIL ABNER...is probably not coming back to stages any time soon.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 3:48pm

Regardless of what people who are trying too hard to be woke think, The King and I is probably too popular to stop reviving and, while somewhat clumsy, South Pacific has enough of an anti-racist message to be valuable. I feel the same about Show Boat. Whereas, I think Porgy and Bess is on shakier ground as is Flower Drum Song. And Miss Saigon has forever and always been messy. Honestly, I think the less beloved shows will be easiest to revive less frequently. I love the Kismet score but how many people were really doing productions of Kismet in the last 10 years?

[A.J.]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 4:39pm

I think it’s safe to assume the rights for Throughly Modern Millie won’t be licensed again until the creative team is able to establish the changes they intended for the  2020 Encores! Production.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 5:21pm

VintageSnarker said: "Regardless of what people who are trying too hard to be woke think, The King and I is probably too popular to stop reviving and, while somewhat clumsy, South Pacific has enough of an anti-racist message to be valuable. I feel the same about Show Boat. Whereas, I think Porgy and Bess is on shakier ground as is Flower Drum Song. And Miss Saigon has forever and always been messy. Honestly, I think the less beloved shows will be easiest to revive less frequently. I love the Kismet score but how many people were really doing productions of Kismet in the last 10 years?"

I actually disagree--I think Porgy & Bess is much more likely to maintain its legacy than South Pacific and The King & I. While certainly controversial, Porgy & Bess has also been embraced by many members of the black community, and many of its songs have been interpreted by black musicians over the decades. And of course, there's the upcoming film adaptation from Dee Rees as well. The R&H shows have not had the same embrace from the communities they represent.

I think we can safely say that we won't be seeing Finian's Rainbow very often, though.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 5:38pm

Ravenclaw said: "I think we can safely say that we won't be seeingFinian's Rainbow very often, though."

Haha. Yes, I agree with you there. 

I think many of the songs from South Pacific and The King & I have endured. It's hard to fully quantify how much a show has been embraced by the communities it's supposed to represent except from anecdotal evidence. To me, Flower Drum Song is the R&H show that doesn't have the support. 

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 5:56pm

Of course no group of people is a monolith, but with Porgy & Bess, those songs have been covered by the likes of Nina Simone, Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and more. I can't think of any AAPI performers who have reinterpreted "A Puzzlement" or "Happy Talk", but covers of "Summertime" by black performers are too numerous to count.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 6:24pm

I can't contradict that specific argument because there aren't a lot of AAPI performers who work in a musical theater/jazz/standards sphere who have gotten the chance to professionally record music. But I do think the Anna songs from TK&I get covered a bit and "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" has been being performed more. Of course, we're talking about revivals because that's the subject of this thread but I do think that the focus should be on creating new shows that are better representative of these communities rather than debating the merits and faults of these older shows (if they are not causing tangible harm). 

[joevitus]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 9:06pm

Ravenclaw said: "VintageSnarker said: "Regardless of what people who are trying too hard to be woke think, The King and I is probably too popular to stop reviving and, while somewhat clumsy, South Pacific has enough of an anti-racist message to be valuable. I feel the same about Show Boat. Whereas, I think Porgy and Bess is on shakier ground as is Flower Drum Song. And Miss Saigon has forever and always been messy. Honestly, I think the less beloved shows will be easiest to revive less frequently. I love the Kismet score but how many people were really doing productions of Kismet in the last 10 years?"

I actually disagree--I thinkPorgy & Bessis much more likely to maintain its legacy thanSouth Pacificand The King & I. While certainly controversial,Porgy & Besshas also been embraced by many members of the black community, and many of its songs have been interpreted by black musicians over the decades. And of course, there's the upcoming film adaptation from Dee Rees as well. The R&H shows have not had the same embrace from the communities they represent.

I think we can safely say that we won't be seeingFinian's Rainbow very often, though."

This. I'd love for The King and I and South Pacific to continue to resonate, and the response to the last revival of South Pacific (long after the work had been written off as trite and the weakest of the big R&H shows) gives one some hope, as does the continued popularity of The King and I. But no question Porgy and Bess has a greater shot in the long run. It's part of the operatic repertoire around the world, and as noted, has been embraced both on an individual number basis and as a whole work by many Black artists. 

[binau]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 8:22am

It's very interesting to hear that South Pacific had such a poor reputation before the latest revival because the show feels like a classic to me now (and of course I've only seen that revival - not even the film or concert versions). Do you think the perception of the show was just plain wrong or was it based in truth but it was the production that saved it? 

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 9:49am

Theatrefanboy1 said: "Within the last year or so the mention of some beloved shows have been talked about and criticized as being out of date. Im curious what shows that are most beloved will not have any more revivals on broadway. (Some which break my heart)
Ive heard:

Miss Saigon
Hello Dolly
South Pacific
Book of Mormon
The Producers"

Not sure why HELLO DOLLY is in this list but hopefully it will be revived again someday.

[binau]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 9:56am

I think it would be lovely to see Dolly revived in 5-10 years with Patti LuPone. Or 15-20 years with Audra. 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 9:58am

Not necessarily a beloved show but I don’t see The World of Suzie Wong being revived anytime soon.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 10:19am

Yeah, why is Hello, Dolly! on that list? I only saw the show once on tour a couple years ago, but I can’t remember anything in there that made me think, “Oh no, today’s woke crowd wouldn’t like this.”

[nsguy45]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 10:19am

What about Finian's Rainbow?

[unclevictor]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 10:38am

Dames at sea
Hairspray
Grand Hotel
Oklahoma
Annie Get Your Gun

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 10:56am

Elfuhbuh said: "Yeah, why is Hello, Dolly! on that list? I only saw the show once on tour a couple years ago, but I can’t remember anything in there that made me think, “Oh no, today’s woke crowd wouldn’t like this.”"

There are leagues of shows that needeth not be produced before Hello, Dolly!, but I definitely think there are some questionable (at best) gender role ideas being potreyed in songs like It Takes a Woman, where arguably the entire motivation behind Horace's desire to marry is to find a woman who can work for him in the kitchen and take care of the house. It just comes off as very dated if you ask me, do a quick google search and read the lyrics.

Updated On: 4/26/21 at 10:56 AM

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 11:29am

40 years since the last revival of Brigadoon (well except for a couple of one-night concerts in 2010 and 2017)

Rachel Rockwell's revival at the Goodman in Chicago was well received. 

 

But, Kelli O'Hara, Patrick Wilson, Stephanie Block, Robert Fairchild, etc.

 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 5:12pm

Revived? Is Book of Mormon closing??

I do wonder what will happen to the planned AIDA revision.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 5:55pm

binau said: "It's very interesting to hear that South Pacific had such a poor reputation before the latest revival because the show feels like a classic to me now (and of course I've only seen that revival - not even the film or concert versions). Do you think the perception of the show was just plain wrong or was it based in truth but it was the production that saved it?"

I never saw another version of South Pacific either after the 2010 PBS telecast.

[goodlead]

Posted: 4/26/21 at 6:23pm

Anyone who listened to the orchestra playing the overture to "South Pacific" during the Lincoln Center revival knows better than to call it trite or old-fashioned or outmoded.  It's classic and great.