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

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:30am

In another thread, there's a discussion going on about U2-Spiderman and musicality for the stage.
It got me thinking about posting this question:

What is your favorite / or LEAST favorite musical written by pop top 40 artists so far?
Whether it be jukebox or not....

AND....who do you think should definitely write for the Broadway Stage that hasn't already done so?

_________________________________________

I'm going to have to go with Boy George for Taboo as a recent fave.
and feel Duncan Sheik did a great job with Spring Awakening.

I also feel Queen for 'We Will Rock You' was a disappointment because the book/story was horrible. But it was great to hear the songs on stage in a show.
Great material for storytelling. Just not for We Will Rock You.


I think Madonna's songs have quite a lot of storytelling over the past 30 years and am surprised there isn't a show based around her music yet.

Interested in seeing if Tina Turner's 'What's Love got To Do With It' will make it onto the stage as recent news articles have been reporting...

Also, I wonder what Spiderman would have been if David Bowie would have written the music/lyrics.





Updated On: 5/22/11 at 08:30 AM

[chewy5000]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:32am

Burt Bacharach and the ABBA boys.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:55am

I would hardly call Duncan Sheik a "Top 40 artist".

I don't know. I guess Elton John counts but I sort of hate most of his scores. Can I say Green Day?

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:57am

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!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:18am

Since 1997, Duncan Sheik has had 4 top 40 hits

"She Runs Away" and "Barely Breathing" which dominated the Adult & Pop charts for a very long time (Over a YEAR) and to this day, is a staple in the Lite Fm station.
He also had a dance hit "Reasons for Living" a little after that.

He also contributed to the wonderful and best selling 'Great Expectations' movie soundtrack in the late 90's...

and has released a good handful of of albums under his belt. About 5 or 6?

He also had a #1 dance hit a couple of years ago "On a High"- which played in a lot for the clubs here in NYC--he even promoted it a lot with small club appearances---I still remember getting a free promo copy at a bar.



I consider him a pop artist for sure.


Updated On: 5/22/11 at 09:18 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:22am

Does Rupert Holmes count?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:26am

^ OMG yes..

Rupert Holmes had an awesome album in the late 70's 'Partners In Crime' with a cheesy album cover
But his big hit there was 'Him' and of course 'the love it or hate it 'Pina Colada Song/Escape" which was a HUGE #1 song.

he's had a good number of hits after that. Not chart toppers...but top 40 singles nonetheless.

He had a handful of albums in the 70's and into the early 80's before jumping into "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" ( a personal favorite). Updated On: 5/22/11 at 09:26 AM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:43am

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

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 3:06pm

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.

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 3:06pm

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.

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 3:06pm

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.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 12:05pm

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

Capeman was also a great musical venture in some places.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 12:34pm

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

Stephen Schwartz reached out to him to be a part of the collaborative process that led to Working, but unfortunately Joel didn't get back to him until after the show was already over. It's discussed in that new Sondheim and Co.-like book on Schwartz's career, Defying Gravity by Carol de Giere.

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

Depends on what you mean. Three of the songs (and that tiny dialogue) on the original Bat Out of Hell album (and maybe a couple more on Bat II) were great tunes meant for a musical called Neverland that could not have possibly been a hit in its original form, because the book was pretty awful. The Batman demos were similarly negligible. Tanz der Vampire in its original (pre-U.S.) form is the only show where it really came together for Jim, and I think that's partly because he had next to nothing to do with the book or the storyline, and re-used all of the best tunes in his trunk in a unified form that actually worked instead of shoe-horning them into his "post-apocalyptic Peter Pan" mythos.

Updated On: 5/23/11 at 12:34 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 1:14pm

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

[canthumthetunes]

Posted: 5/25/11 at 7:34pm

I've still been hoping for an Elvis Costello musical ever since his Bacharach collab a decade or so ago. Anyone think we'll see anything from him sometime soon?

Scissor Sisters sound like they know what they're doing, too - looking forward to hearing their new musical.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:02am

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

[philly03]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:17am

Frank Wildhorn (obviously), who among other hits also made "You Are My Home" from The Scarlet Pimpernel concept recording a top 40 hit. Plenty of other pop hits from artist such as Whitney Houston to Stacy Lattisaw to Kenny Rogers!

His Broadway career, of course, hasn't been as successful (though 5 shows and all flops... a testament to himself that his music keeps getting recorded and produced!).

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 10:44am

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

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:15pm

As for 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 apocalyptic Peter Pan musical called Neverland.

This is true. He's thrown out snatches about the plot before, but it always manages to sound like someone did several lines of blow while simultaneously watching Mary Martin in Peter Pan followed by a Fifties sci-fi marathon with Bruce Springsteen and The Ring Cycle on full blast at the same time drowning out the TV. I love Jim; he's a brilliant composer and an okay lyricist, but needless to say, his book work is stuck in late Sixties-to-mid Seventies experimental theater, and to my knowledge has not developed much farther since. I haven't seen the latest reading of Bat Out of Hell, his new rendition of the Neverland piece, but from what I've gathered in Pat Cerasaro's frequent Steinman mentions, it hasn't progressed by great leaps or bounds in terms of concept or execution.

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).

One is very hard pressed to describe The Dream Engine as anything related to Peter Pan; a close look reveals it's more like Brecht's Baal and a more violent version of Hair grafted together. About the only enlightened thing one can say about the work is that it eerily presaged the Manson killings by months and the Kent State massacre by a year. Large portions of it did wind up in the later Neverland in '77, but it's unclear as to how much of it remains in the show now.

As for More Than You Deserve, that was an entirely different show with a book by Michael Weller (Moonchildren, screenplays of Hair and Ragtime). It's mainly noted by Steinman fans because it was the first pairing of Jim and Meat Loaf. Reading the script, one sees that Steinman's final score for the show is vastly at odds with the show Weller tried to write (shades of DOTV).

It's All Coming Back To Me was written for a Wuthering Heights adaptation...

Yes, and then unwisely dropped when that adaptation finally got made in 2003 for MTV. Another ignominious flop; I kind of wish they had hearkened closer to the book in the final script, as Steinman's initial ideas were steeped in Bronte's novel while setting it in the present in California and thrown out.

I can barely count the score for Dance of the Vampires because really so much of it is from past material.

At the end of the day, however, compared to the past material that spawned it, it really is the best assemblage of Jim's trunk tunes. It's one of the few musicals that has turned out to be a smash for Jim (in Europe). Everything else, for whatever reason, has never come together.

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.

On that, I can agree!

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 01:15 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:33pm

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.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:42pm

Do folks like Green Day and ABBA who just slap their old songs into a musical with a loose narrative even count as people who "write for the Broadway stage?" I think not.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:52pm

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

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

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 1:54pm

Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus also co-wrote "Chess" and "Kristina," although both admittedly have checkered histories in terms of Broadway.

Benny's score to "Kristina," in particular, is absolutely gorgeous. It's the pedestrian nature of most of the English lyrics and trying to squeeze the four books it's based on into three hours that are making it a hard sell on these shores.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 6:36pm

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

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/26/11 at 10:02pm

Don't know that he's ever been Top 40, but Ben Folds would write a killer score for a show. Listen to "Rocking the Suburbs" if there's any doubt.

Bruce Springsteen could probably do a pretty good job - I bet Spiderman would have been better...