Musicals that use music not written for theatre OR by those who conceived it.

I'm not sick of jukebox musicals. I'm sick of BAD jukebox musicals.

I'm a big believer in Andy Warhol's philosophy. Art (or at least "pop art") is what it is. Anything can be made, transformed or repurposed into a new work of art. A good jukebox musical does more than just hit you with a stream of songs you know and love- it makes you feel or think or experience something more than the song itself would have made you feel. There are more bad ones than good ones (and Menopause is certainly one of the bad ones- a blatant ripoff of Mamma Mia), but there CAN be good ones.

I was never a big fan of Crazy For You, but I know that can't really be considered a Juke Box musical. I guess you have to look at the product itself too. I mean, if they ever made a musical of THE BIG CHILL (which I don't think they need to do) the music in that would affect me differently than if I just listened to the songs themselves.

---

And let us not forget KISMET, which is almost entirely Mussorsky.

A few years ago, I actually opened some talks with the agency that controls the music for (wait for it) the Village People. I had the idea in mind to look at a jukie called MACHO MAN that would use VP songs. Unfortunately, at the time, they were also working on such a thing and werent interested in sharing.

---

Other than Momma Mia and Jersey Boys have there been any that have been real money makers? Momma Mia was very unique at the time and Jersey Boys has a great book and set the bar pretty high for the future.

It seems to me that having a good book with a jutebox musical is quite difficult. To me they are generally not very exciting and seem more like a concert.

>> "Actually, Kismet is Borodin, not Mussorgsky"

OMG, you're right. My music teacher would be appalled with me right now.

---

Both CRAZY FOR YOU, which I adored and saw 4 times, and MY ONE AND ONLY with Tommy Tune and Twiggy, which I liked very much, both utilize the music of the great theatre composer George Gershwin and his brother lyricist Ira Gershwin. These are neither juke box musicals nor revues, since they are book shows. CRAZY FOR YOU successfully re-invents GIRL CRAZY, while adding in songs from other Gershwin shows. The vastly under-appreciated Harry Groener and a stellar cast (except for co-lead Jodi Benson whose vibrato drove me nuts) brought the music of the Gershwin brothers to new heights, aided immeasurably by the brilliant choreography of Susan Stroman.

---

Carmen Jones

I do agree that this is frequently a lazy way of putting a musical together. When Mamma Mia first arrived, the embarrassingly cheezy way that numbers were shoehorned into the plot was novel and fun, but it should have been a one-off, instead of which shows like We Will Rock You, Tonight's The Night and Good Vibrations abandoned any attempt at credible, well written scripts and just hurled the numbers at undiscerning audiences any old how.
Rock Of Ages is genuinely witty and inventive however, and stands as a good example of well-crafted popular entertainment.

IMHO the best example of the genre, by a long margin, was the British musical Our House, which took a clever, emotionally involving script (inspired by the dual "what if"-style storytelling of movies like It's A Wonderful Life and especially Sliding Doors) and used the songs of Madness (the London 80s/90s band rather than the condition!) to propel the story/stories. So cleverly interpolated were the numbers, and so strong was the book (by playwright Tim Firth), that somebody who had never heard of the band would probably have thought they were watching a superb new, fully integrated pop musical (winner of the Olivier for Best Musical 2003 incidentally). The production was classy (directed by Matthew Warchus, and choreographed by Billy Elliot's Peter Darling) and, unusually for this genre, pleased both the Madness fans AND musical theatre afficionados. It only lasted a year in the West End however, which I think is a telling reflection of what the majority of people who flock to "pop" musicals really want.

Also, La Belle, Helen Goes to Troy (Offenbach), My Darlin' Aida (Verdi), Gypsy Lady (Herbert),

I don't necessarily hate the jukebox musical.

I liked PRISCILLA, despite the fact some of the songs changed/added were thrown in (I would've preferred "Downtown" to "It's Raining Men").ROCK OF AGES was a blast because it got laughs by acknowledging it own cheesiness, and integrated the songs into the plot well. I also know many people didn't like AMERICAN IDIOT, but I found it to very effective as mostly sung-through, and the songs managed to flesh out the characters' plights and problems well.

The one jukebox musical that I've seen that was an absolute abortion was BABY, IT'S YOU. I probably heard one complete song in the entire show, and not one of those 40+ songs advanced the otherwise clunky plot.

---

Don't forget Hot Feet!

I love the Chicago production of Alien Queen, a ridiculous and campy adaptation of the first two Alien movies with songs from Queen brilliantly interpolated. I bet you can guess the opening song.

---

And a poor one, too.