Concept Albums That Should Be on Broadway

[latitudex1]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 7:43pm

We've discussed everything from books to tv to movies here, concept albums were just the next logical step. What concept album do you feel needs to be seen fully realized on stage?

There's this interesting Folk concept from 2002 called Tallahassee. The music and story are pretty simple, but it's very engaging. Would probably work pretty well as a two character off-Broadway piece.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallahassee_(album) Updated On: 9/1/10 at 07:43 PM

[twinbelters]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 7:50pm

I've always wanted a Portishead musical, but would want them to write a wholly original score. A trip hop musical sounds incredible to me. Maybe a musical using various songs from their catalog could be devised?

BUT, what are actual potential realities are stage musical adaptations of Stuart Murdoch's (Belle & Sebastian) concept album "God Help The Girl" and the Byrne/Eno collaboration "Here Lies Love"-an Evita-like song cycle about Imelda Marcos.

The Decemberist's "Hazards of Love" could make a nice musical if done right. Could I get a "The Love Below" musical?

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 8:02pm

Stacking my vote for Anais Mitchell's recent indie smash "Hadestown."

[Annas_Priest]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 8:12pm

Ludo's BROKEN BRIDE

[starspangledjenny]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 10:27pm

Meat Loaf - Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 10:31pm

Updated On: 9/1/10 at 10:31 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 10:54pm

Rogers & Hammerstein's "Allegro". I really love the music. Actually have it in rotation this evening.

Thought about "The Wall" but it was a theatrical event when they did it in concert and you can also now buy "The Wall- Live in Berlin" on DVD. I have owned it on VHS and CD for about 13 years. Not sure I would pay to see it in a Broadway theater. JMO

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 9/1/10 at 11:25pm

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love.

No, seriously. It's a disco opera about the life of the Filipino dictator's wife Imelda Marcos, famous for her rags-to-riches-to-rags story and her opulent lifestyle. It's Evita on steriods.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 9/2/10 at 3:52am

As though that hasn't been mentioned.

[rorschach37]

Posted: 9/2/10 at 7:32am

Well, with the success of American Idiot, Green day can always opt for a 21st Century Breakdown musical!!!

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/2/10 at 8:47am

21st Century Breakdown wouldn't work. It had four small substories in one album, and a large chunk of the material was taken out and put in American Idiot.

The Wall, on the other hand, has been tried repeatedly as a musical. The famous Berlin production was sort of an early stage of its theatrical development. A more developed version, complete with extra Pink Floyd songs and a full theatrical staging, was tried out at England's Malmsbury School, and a better version of that production was performed at an American college in the late Nineties. The script from that one was copyrighted and I believe published, but never released on a large scale due to the show never really "making it."

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 9/2/10 at 3:26pm

Maury Yeston's "Goya: a Life in Song" could have worked if it had been made into a pop-opera. There's no way a good book could have been written for it because the story is too sprawling. But, as a sung through...

One problem with the recording is, to give it crossover appeal, it's cast with someone from each different field of music. Plaisido Domingo as Goya. Dionne Warwick as his titled ladylove. And Gloria Esteban and Richie Havens were on it also.

Had it been staged back when it came out, you could easily have cast Raul Julia and Patti LuPone.

[Leia947]

Posted: 9/2/10 at 3:59pm

If Green Day can do it... And I personally think the storyline to the album is much better than American Idiot... My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade"

[ReiVallejo]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 12:43am

"The Black Parade" would be awesome! Totally agree to that.

I've always wanted a Marilyn Manson musical too. I can see it now: a gothic-freaky-circus-rock show. A story about the obsession with celebrity and super stardom and the negativity that occurs when one is consumed by it. Something along the lines of that. Who’s with me?

He can even use one of the song titles as the title for the show - - “mOBSCENE”, “The Dope Show”, “The Beautiful People”, “The Red Carpet Grave”, “Para-noir”… the list goes on and on.

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 10:05am

The Black Parade would be great... the only trouble is that it's lighter on plot and more vocally demanding than American Idiot, and what little plot it has is virtually identical to Pink Floyd's "The Wall," which they lampshade at the beginning of the album by making its opening number, "The End," a shoutout to "In The Flesh?" from The Wall.

That said, if they did the Wall on Broadway, I would think Gerard Way would make an amazing Roger Pinkerton.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 10:11am

I would love to see the Black Parade! The music is very theatrical.

And come on, it has Liza Minnelli as the mother. Can you imagine if they wrote a bigger part and she actually played it on stage?

(I know, but we're just wishing here, right?)

[brightasyellow]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 2:17pm

twinbelters - God Help the Girl is being filmed so we'll see how it works! I'd totally see "The Hazards of Love." I would love, love, love for Jenny Lewis to write music and lyrics for a show.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 12:56pm

Meat Loaf - Hang Cool Teddy Bear

Thinnest plot-line ever. It would take a ton of work, even using that short story as a basis, to turn this into any kind of musical.

A story about the obsession with celebrity and super stardom and the negativity that occurs when one is consumed by it. Something along the lines of that. Who’s with me?

Isn't that Jesus Christ Superstar?

[twinbelters]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 3:04pm

brightasyellow - I've not been hip to the B&S tip, so thanks for bringing my attention to the fact it will be filmed! So cool!

On the same line of thought as your Jenny Lewis fantasy, I would love if Beach House (specifically Victoria Legrand, daughter of composer Michel Legrand) would write a musical. Grizzly Bear, too, I think would make a beautiful romantic musical with some killer melodies.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 3:24pm

Liz Phair, "Exile in Guyville"