Getting a new cast recording, tearing off its plastic wrapping, and putting the CD in the CD player for the first time.

Getting a new cast recording, tearing off its plastic wrapping, and putting the CD in the CD player for the first time...or, another thread discussing jukebox musicals...

Since the beginning of this year my cast recording collection has more than tripled. So much so that I have had to purchase an external hard drive to store all my music on, and I will later purchase an iPod.

Anyway, I was just thinking that even though I now have over 100 shows in my collection (excluding multiple casts and film/tv musicals never to be on stage), there really are so few shows available to us. There are SO many artists in each genre of music releasing CDs week after week after week but for the stage, we are lucky to get ten new cast recordings A YEAR! Look how few composers we have that I'm sure are writing and writing but getting the show produced is just HARD.

I feel so priviliged to know and enjoy so many shows and have a renewed appreciation for the stage musical. That is, the non-jukebox stage musical, even if the book is brilliant (JERSEY BOYS).

I feel like it's a waste to have a show PRODUCED on the great white way revovling around the music of a particular music group. I'm not opposed to having the show be WRITTEN, but to be PRODUCED on Broadway when there are so many other NEW or LESSER-KNOWN shows out there is just disrepectful. The music of the Beach Boys, Four Seasons, ABBA, Elvis, etc. have all had their time. In fact, most of the music is TIMELESS and is still appreciated today. So why do we need a Broadway show about some made-up cock-and-bull story that includes their biggest hits? I don't care if it's brilliant like JERSEY BOYS or horrible like LENNON (I've read/heard) - in my opinion, there is no room for these shows on Broadway as long as there are composers out there writing new scores. I'd rather see a horrible new show than a great jukebox musical.

I know this thread is beating a dead horse, here. It's just fresh in my blood at the moment. If only MAMMA MIA! could close and THE OPPOSITE OF SEX could open. Broadway was once the heart of creativity. It's now gone Hollywood. Let's let the jukebox shows TOUR and thrive on the road and let Broadway go its own course.

---

Updated On: 11/6/06 at 06:02 PM

Unfortunately, audiences are generally afraid of new things. There only a few of us "serious" theatregoers who thrive on new, creative ideas. Most ticket buyers just don't want to have to work that hard.

It sucks, but Broadway will always be about the bucks. The truly fun stuff is happening off and off-off. (And sometimes, like Grey Gardens and Spring Awakening--they move!)

---

I completely agree with you, Capn. Too many jukebox musicals that take away from the real magic of a real Broadway show. How much less respect would shows like A Chorus Line or, say, Annie be if they still retained their great stories, but had random oldies scattered throughout? I agree that I'd love to see a horrible new musical that attempted to have original music versus a show that just serializes a story that involves someone's greatest hits.

I agree with jasonf, though, about the cast albums. It's great to get a cast album when they're released, but too many of them would spoil the fun, and spoil my wallet. I experienced this firsthand when I bought the Jersey Boys recording and began to love it (ironic to what I just said! Oy!), then bought The Wedding Singer about five days later and completely shunned my JB recording. Still, between Tarzan and A Chorus Line, I bought nothing. It's time for the new Mary Poppins, I think...

Thank God

I was worried we would not have a Bryan CD For Every Show post. Now I can sleep tonight

---

It just bugs the **** out of me that talented young composers, lyricists and bookwriters are stuck looking for a theatre and revising their work workshop after workshop for years because some schmuck witn no interest in musical theatre except money wants to put on a hokey review celebrating the life of some popular singer from days gone by.
The sadder fact is that legends like Kander and Ebb, Sondheim and others have to ALSO wait with these young people because of this reason.
I am totally against jukebox musicals. If someone were to make a law against them (yeah, like that'll happen) I'd be thrilled. They waste space.

90% of all actors are unemployed.

Some of them get jobs by appearing in jukebox musicals. Do we really need another bad adaptation of a 2nd rate film? Let the jukebox musicals come in. If the producers want to put them up and create about 150 jobs for unemployed workers, what's it to you?

Are you saying that if you were offered a job in a musical based on the music of The Eagles, you wouldn't take it because it's not original?

"TRUE: Jukebox shows are a hit with tourists."

And that's the reason why they're produced.

"ALSO TRUE: If a "writer" hadn't written a show with the music of The Eagles, then the producer would have to choose another show to produce."

And that's why if the Broadway Gods would come in and say "no more jukebox musicals" producers would have to choose alternative shows...like...original ones...

But that'll never happen. But this is beside the point. Every time someone comes in and says "this show should close" or "these shows shouldn't be produced" there is always someone that comes in and complains that artists would be out of work. That's the case with ANY show. The *point* is that jukebox shows prevent a show with original music to have a go.

---

Let's have a look at the many shows (of late) with original music.

Lestat
In My Life
The Wedding Singer
Brooklyn
The Woman in White
Dracula
Little Women
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

See a theme? All of these shows were poorly reviewed flops. I'd rather see a crowd pleasing show that's making money, like Mamma Mia, play for 10 years than have something that left audiences disappointed like Little Women play for a year and lose money. What was LW replaced by, incidentally? Jersey Boys....one of the most successful Broadway shows of recent memory.

I got out the book 'Broadway, The American Musical' (the tie-in book to the PBS special) and its descriptions of turn of the (20th) century revues sounded much like contemporary jukebox musicals today. Which makes me think the jukeboxes, in some form, have been around as long as there has been musical theatre. I could be wrong though.

I don't like the jukeboxes, personally, but it is nice that they are keeping actors employed.

Sure, but you forgot to mention:

- Grey Gardens
- Avenue Q
- Urinetown
- Thoroughly Modern Millie
- Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
- Hairspray
- The Color Purple
- The Drowsy Chaperone
- Caroline, or Change
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Spamalot
- The Light in the Piazza

You somehow forgot to mention all these hit (including two mixed reviewed) original shows...

---

I'm with you, Capn.

I do not get excited over the cast albums of the jukebox shows, and rarely play them. I only get themn because..well i get everything and I do get most free anyhow.

Note too that of the 11 Jukebox shows you listed that were entirely made up of old songs only 3 (MAMMA MIA, MOVIn' OUT and JERSEY BOYS) have been successful. The others were all expensive failures. (I Know, THE TIMES... is still running but what are its chances of recouping?)

Sorry Bryan but LENNON and GOOD VIBRATIONS do not need cast albums. You can assemble one using the Lennon or Beach Boys cuts.

I DO agree that new scores should be recorded but if the show is a outright failure and not likely to have a life beyond Broadway (like IN MY LIFE) the costs of producing a cast album are just to high to balance sales of maybe a few thousand copies. The labels will only keep making cast albums if there is a chance of eventual profit.

I also wish there was a way to record worthwhile new shows that appear in regional theatres that may not ever reach Broadway. (Some Canadian musicals that have not been recorded and SHOULD have been: THE HOUSE OF MARTIN GUERRE (by Leslie Arden), LARRY'S PARTY (by Neil Bartram) and Bartram's new show THE STORY OF MY LIFE.) It was the Toronto cast recording of JANE EYRE that helped keep interest in that show alive and led to an eventual Broadway production...4 years later.

---

Okay, time to step in again. First off, the whole argument of creating jobs for people is a BS argument that should never be brought up again in any situation, especially this one.

People have jobs. People lose jobs. More people get jobs. That's Broadway. Doesn't matter what kind of show -- the job flow is constant. No more of this, kids.

Second, I have to just re-emphasize what I said before. A jukebox musical can be a fantastic hit, a beautiful money-maker, with amazing talent, gorgeous sets, and a great overall theatrical experience. I don't think they shouldn't be produced at all, as that's what it's all about -- the overall experience. Still, I think more time should be spent on developing newer musical talents.

How are we ever going to find the next Sondheim or Kander and Ebb if more jukebox shows are being produced? I know there's no trend that shows it, but I just hate the idea of something like Jersey Boys winning Best Musical when an equally impressive show with an equally hilarious book and a slightly less equally beautiful score is overlooked. (Not to get into the Tony argument, but if a show has the best notes and the best words to go along with such notes, it's the best musical. End of story.) Forgetting my Drowsy love, though, I'm serious -- how do we find the next big legend if we're afraid to lose money investing in new names?

Jukebox shows are fun, but I'd appreciate them once every couple of years. Argue with me, but that's my opinion. Give me facts to refute, saying that no more jukebox shows open than do originals, but it's my opinion. I just watched an amazing episode of Desperate Housewives, and I'm on the tip of my toes right now. Have a nice night.

Updated On: 11/6/06 at 02:39 AM