Isherwood on the Season, the Tonys, Glee, and the State of the Art of the Musical

[lull89]

Posted: 6/13/10 at 12:18am

Interesting write-up from Isherwood about the season and the awards. I don't really agree with a lot of what he says (does anyone else really think American Idiot deserved a choreography nod?), and I think that he doesn't take into account some of the stuff that's already announced its coming in for next season, which seems a bit more exciting and new than what we got in this year's snoozer of a season.

Thoughts?

The Musical Has Lost Its Voice Updated On: 6/13/10 at 12:18 AM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 6/13/10 at 8:48am

Psh. Another boy who cried wolf article. So we had a rough season. The musical's been called dead more than Saturday Night Live, but people seem to forget that Broadway had the exact same hit-or-miss track record back in the "Golden Age", in fact, even more misses. For every "West Side Story", there were a million other horrific duds. Now they just have the music of Earth, Wind and Fire.

In the past few years we've seen the premiers of In the Heights, Next to Normal, Passing Strange, Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Urinetown, Caroline or Change, Grey Gardens, and much, much more. This season alone we had the groundbreaking Fela! and American Idiot. The musical ain't going nowhere. As lull said, next season we've already got a killer lineup. Leap of Faith, Women on the Verge, The Scottsboro Boys, Yank!, Little Miss Sunshine, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Catch Me if You Can and Minsky's all angling for or confirmed for a Broadway bow. These shows are all bursting with creativity and talent. The musical ain't goin' nowhere.

I also take issue with Isherwood's disparaging Glee - like the show or hate the show, you can't deny that it's doing great things for musical theatre. It's putting songs by Barbra and Bacharach at the top of the iTunes charts, it's getting kids interested in musical theatre and performing, and it's renewing interest in arts education. The guy who reviews the show for the A.V. Club over at the Onion said it best when he said that Glee, like no other show in history, captures that intoxicating, indescribable feeling of performing, doing something you love in front of an audience of people. How is a show like that getting 13 million viewers a week bad for musical theatre?

P.S. Lull, I thought Hoggett's work on American Idiot's choreography was the best of the season, second only to Fela!.

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 6/13/10 at 11:14am

I'm not worried at all. Next year's lineup looks ****ing beastly. If next year flops like this year then I will be worried. But timing is everything.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/13/10 at 4:01pm

For every "West Side Story", there were a million other horrific duds

Even West Side Story was a dud.