Pick Your Best/Worst Pop Top 40 artist that writes for Broadway... so far.

Burt Bacharach and the ABBA boys.

Well, since Sheik has had a hit in the top 40, I'm pretty sure you can say he's a top 40 artist...

And yes, I think I'd have to say Green Day too!

Does Rupert Holmes count?

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I'm going to say favorites are Green Day and Elton John.

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I thought parts of THE CAPEMAN were absolute genius.

I have always thought that 1970's Billy Joel should have written a musical for the stage.

Always hoped Jim Steinman would write for the stage - until he actually did.

I'd enjoy a revue of Shel Silverstein's Dr. Hook songs.

Definitely David Bowie - but it would have to be THE PERFECT material.

Bowie would be pretty amazing. So many stories to tell.

Capeman was also a great musical venture in some places.

Bacharach/David for sure. Benny/Bjorn from ABBA of course. I think Duncan Sheik did a great job--and have a soft spot for Pet Shop Boys-Closer to Heaven (a mess of a show, a brilliant score).I've only heard it live once, and the demo, but I think Jake Shears' Tales of the City score is very good.

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 01:14 PM

Costello working with Bacharach was the last time Bacharach really had some of his old magic--and he does understand a variety of different songwriters and styles, so I think he could do something interesting.

Jimmy Webb understands the form very well--his books on songwriting even mention the different requirements of a theatre score to pop music (one of his books even goes into the strengths of Sondheim vs older composers, etc), and he desperately wanted for a while to write a musical. Michael Bennett and him worked on a few things that never seemed to happen--one was called The Children's Crusade, I think and the other of course is the awesome sounding workshop they were working on near the end of Bennett's life, Scandal which we've discussed on here a lot. To the best of my knowledge nothing has leaked from either except for Only One Life which I think was sung at Bennett's funeral and was finally recorded on Michael Feinstein album of the same name, which is all Webb.

That album has a few Webb standards (no MacArthur Park or Whichita Lineman, or Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but...) but also some unrecorded stuff including a song from a musical of Webb's based on Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine--which is a fave novel of mine. I've been able to find next to no info, but it seems a workshop or staging of this musical was done somewhere in the USA and then completely disappeared. The same album also has a song each from two other Webb musicals that seem to have never gotten past readings--Tuxedo and an adaptation of A Bronx Tale, and Instant Intimacy which did get a public workshop. While I have no idea how any of these would work on stage, they're all fantastic songs which make me wish we could at least hear the score. It just seems too bad that such a talented songwriter has had so much bad luck getting his dream of doing a musical.

Does the score for Carrie count?

As or Steinman--I admit he's a guilty pleasure of mine, and it's true a lot of his material was written for a rock, post apocalyptical Peter Pan musical called Neverland. I believe this came out of an even earlier, weirder (think killer future nuns) Peter Pan themed work The Dream Engine which Joseph Papp saw a studenty production of, and so tried to work with him (they did a few workshops, I believe one was called More Than I Can Give). It's All Coming Back To Me was written for a Wuthering Heights adaptation... I can barely count the score for Dance of the Vampires because really so much of it is from past material. And although the demo was often beyond cheese (that song by the Joker about toys), at least what was written for his planned Batman musical sounded more fun than what I've heard of the Spider-Man one.

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 01:02 AM

ABBA
Burt Bacharach
Jim Steinman
Elton John
Stephen Schwartz
Frank Wildhorn
Roger Miller
Michael Gore

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I love Sheik's soundtrack for "A Home at the End of the World". I was able to tell him that in person and he said he was happy to hear someone was still listening to it. I also love his score for "Whisper House". I don't see it as a Broadway show but maybe an off-Broadway show.

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I agree Betty. At least about those shows where they use old music.

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Updated On: 5/26/11 at 01:52 PM

I had a lot of issue with the movie of Home at the End of the World, mainly just cuz the novel is so great and brilliant and the movie despite a couple of good moments leaves one with a big feeling of "so what was the point?" (an example why often novelists shouldn't adapt their own books to the screen, though maybe only a miniseries could have done it justice), but I did love Sheik's score for it. Since it was directed by Michael Mayer, I always wondered if it led to him working on Spring Awakening with Sheik. I would like to see Whisper House staged as well, but yeah it wouldn't work on Broadway.

Benny and Bjorn definitely count--even if the shows are a mess (though I guess Kristina works much better wiht its original lyrics and in a country where people already know the story), both scores are often brilliant, I feel no shame in saying. But I do agree that jukebox musicals don't really count in this thread whatsoever. It would be a completely different set if one were to ask me which pop composers or performers' songbook would work best on stage, as much as I tend to not like those shows anyway.

(And speaking of Kristina's mediocre to awful lyrics--why does Herbert Kretzmer so often get the job of doing lyric translations, when he is so lacking in discernible talent? Is it because people recognize his name from Les Miz? Is he just a super duper nice and fun guy to work with??)

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 06:36 PM