"Fans" of Musicals Who Don't Like Golden Age Musicals

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:33pm

I don't get this phenomenon. How can you enjoy musicals, but not like the Golden Age classics? Every musical that has or ever will be written is influenced by the early shows. Just seems odd to me when people shun these shows, and embrace only the modern.

[Just_John]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:34pm

Well I don't love every Golden Age musical but I don't think theres anyone who likes musicals who can't pick ONE Golden age musical that they enjoy.
Updated On: 5/12/06 at 10:34 PM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:35pm

Oh they exist, and they post on this board.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:36pm

It's all about the green girl.

No, seriously. I think I can see not liking them, in terms of saying "it's not my taste," though the people who are absolutely blind to how influential they are do irk me.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:37pm

Those who love Wicked are those who hate Guys and Dolls.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:38pm

Well, the humor and style was a lot more subtle. Subtlety appears to be a dying artform.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:40pm

Very true, in the world where My Name is Earl thrives but Arrested Development fails....even though both of those are the tops.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:40pm

Further proof that people let spectacle rule their aesthetic.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:40pm

*farts loudly*

what?

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:42pm

It kils me. Kills me.

I can go on and on about this. But I wont.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:42pm

Did you just fart in my general direction?

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:42pm

Of every show I've seen on Broadway...there is something about the class of the Golden Age musicals that remains to be far superior in my mind.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:44pm

ljay, you are the perfect example of a young person who embraces the past. I adore people like you. I just feel so sad when people shun my favorite shows from "long-ago". It makes me feel like one day, nobody will remember these shows. The legacy will die.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:45pm

Bobby, what are your favorite shows of yesteryear?

Mine happen to be Guys and Dolls and Pajama Game. Both, however, would never cut it in today's society without star casting.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:46pm

i agree! all this humor! it's so blatant! *burps* I don't get it! what *fart* happened to good ole book musicals? with *burp fart* good ole fashioned wordy humor...

man wicked sure is awesome

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:50pm

Shut your face Caroline!

I've seen WICKED like 876 times. I go like every day!

Eyedina Menzeeel is my best friend. One time she painted me green and let me go on as Elphie for the matinee while she and Taye stayed backstage and smoked up.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:51pm

So many:

Carousel
Sweet Charity
Pajama Game
Damn Yankees
Anything Goes
Kiss Me Kate
Bye Bye Birdie
Hello, Dolly!
Wonderful Town
West Side Story
Show Boat
Funny Girl
Gypsy
Pal Joey
The Boys from Syracuse
The Most Happy Fella

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:52pm

lyke last tyyyme i wHent ToosEE Wykiid Eeyyedini filed a SUPper coOl reTRaInnG oprddER!! she EVEN SIGNEddd IT!

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 10:53pm

Bobby, thank you for your kind comments.

I too am VERY afraid, a lot of the classic Golden Age stars and musicals will be forgetten someday. It is a very scary thought.

It makes me even more angry when kids in my school's music/theatre department are all Schwartz, and only enjoy the musicals of today with terrible pop scores. I know if I started talking to them about my favorite classic performers like Verdon, etc - I would get a bunch of blank faces.

I am the type of person that each season I get way MORE excited for the revivals, than the new musicals. Updated On: 5/12/06 at 10:53 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:01pm

I love Wicked, and really like Guys and Dolls, thank you very much.

I don't even think it's taste as much as it is...the pattern of musicals. Most people in this age have grown up in a completely different time--where spectacles come first, and actors are secondary. the belting like-music seems like Broadway and soprano-singing sounds boring.

I'll honestly say I prefer hearing belting to soprano. Then again, the first showtunes I ever heard was Liza Minelli singing Cabaret songs...

I agree, to ignore the influence and dismiss classic musicals is wrong. But I don't blame those who don't *like* them. I mean, I really dislike the Music Man. Sure, the way the melodies intersect is incredibly intelligent, but it's all...too happy for me.

But...I don't think the blame can be entirely on the individuals. Broadway itself and others don't make enough effort to educate new theatregoers on the past shows. When new musicals are so different than they once were, people just don't have a taste for it.

I mean, every so often it drives me crazy too--people calling Brooklyn the best show ever. But I won't get mad if Brooklyn is someone's favorite show. Or if someone says the score for West Side Story is boring...I mean, what??

I just think we'd be a lot better off if people made this distinctions about their favorites/taste, not in terms of good/bad.

[JustABroadwaybaby2]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:13pm

I feel like all musicals that are written well, with a sweet score, that's fun and/or provoking are the musicals and plays that withstand the test of time, but some people don't go and delve into them. I personally love a bunch of old musicals, (Oklahomma, 42nd street, gypsy, south pacific, pajama game, etc) but I like new ones too, (wicked, avenue q, etc) Not every theatregoer is well balanced, and I can see that. Maybe it's because they don't have the money, or time, but theatre is still an enjoyable experience, and it won't die, even if people make Harry Potter: the musical, or whatever.
I can't imagine a "downfall of theatre" because it has been going on, maybe not on broadway for a couple thousand years now!
And I have to say, all you guys who are making fun of a bunch of theatregoers, those were funny, especially the misspelt "EYEDINA RESTRAINING ORDER" one.

Updated On: 5/12/06 at 11:13 PM

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:19pm

I don't think it's a dislike so much as an ignorance.

You know, the mentality that it's different than what's on Broadway now, and there's no Idina Menzel, and the title doesn't sound all that interesting, so I'm going to decide that I don't like it.

Living nowhere near New York, I was never exposed to newer theatre, and grew up with the classics, whether by film, regional, or community. I don't know how I would feel about some of the older musicals if they hadn't been with me since I can remember.

It's all about perspective. :)

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:20pm

Or maybe it's the "stereotypes" surrounding old school, Golden Age musicals that turn people off.

I mean, the Golden Age of glitz and tits is fine, but when you say, "Sure, Funny Girl is great," people think you like the glitz but shun the tits.


Updated On: 5/12/06 at 11:20 PM

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:26pm

I'm going to assume that these "fans" are predominately teens, and say that being a teen today is all about being "hardcore." It's fading a little bit into "artsy/hardcore," but still "hardcore" nonetheless. RENT has that rocker appeal, and saying that you like Wicked (in a mainstream world) makes you look cultured and "artsy."

Older musicals make you "gay" and "cheesey."

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 5/12/06 at 11:26pm

I agree it has to do a lot with the way the theater has been shaping. There's nothing wrong with some people nowadays who get introduced to musical theater through a show like Wicked, some of us are lucky to be old enough that we were able to be introduced to musical theater through shows like Passion, Grand Hotel, Dreamgirls, Nine (I was born in 1980), I mean even in the late 90s there were some shows like Fosse, Titanic, and the Chicago and Cabaret revivals that perhaps instilled us to go back to the roots of musical theater, see what shows Fosse had done, what other shows Kander & Ebb had written, how Sondheim got started, etc. Rarely does a show in the present get that effect from people, obviously Wicked is influenced by Rodgers & Hammerstein, yet it doesn't evoke a sense of the great history of the Broadway musical. I respect a lot of younger people who are interested enough that they will go back to see how these shows were influenced.
I personally dislike some golden age musicals in that some are too happy for my taste. I am a bit too cynical for a show like Pajama Game or The Sound of Music; yet I appreciate their historical value. I enjoy the more witty and clever pieces like Pal Joey, The King and I, Guys & Dolls, Gypsy, Wonderful Town, and West Side Story.
Updated On: 5/12/06 at 11:26 PM