Plays vs. Musicals

[theaterlover45]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 7:59pm

How come musicals run longer than plays. Is there really a logical answer? Or do people simply like musicals better? What is it?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:01pm

I think one reason is because you can listen to the songs of a musical through a CD. people can't do the same thing w/ plays.

[WiiCKED x3]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:01pm

^ Yeah, I think that's it.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:03pm

I don't think it is about the CD but musicals for me are more fun to watch and hear, although I do love plays.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:05pm

I think musicals draw the tourists. They like to see the spectacle- the singing and the dancing.

[Just_John]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:06pm

"I think one reason is because you can listen to the songs of a musical through a CD. people can't do the same thing w/ plays."

--How does that make sense??

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:08pm

The posters on a board such as this notwithstanding, I'd venture to guess that most of the theatregoing public prefers musicals to plays.

Updated On: 6/19/06 at 08:08 PM

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:08pm

"How does that make sense"

What I meant is that for a musical, if someone is interested in seeing it, they can go and but the cast recording. Plays don't have that advantage.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:09pm

Here's something I posted in another thread on this subject:

I have always found it fascinating that up until the 1940s or so, audiences seemed to favor plays as much as, if not more so than musicals. Sure they went to a lot of musicals, but it was a rarity for a musical to run more than a year. No musical ran over 1000 performances until Oklahoma (1943), whereas plays like Abie's Irish Rose (1922 -- 2327 performances), Tobacco Road (1933 -- 3182), Life With Father (1939 -- 3224), Arsenic and Old Lace (1941 -- 1444) and Voice of the Turtle (1943 -- 1577) ran for years.

Life with Father held the record as the longest running show in Broadway history for three decades, until Fiddler on the Roof finally surpassed it in the early 70s. Since then, every long run that has passed Fiddler on the list has been a musical and it's very rare for a play to run more than even a year or two. It's interesting how things have changed. My guess is that part of the reason why has to do with television. Since in the early 50s, tv has regularly shown full length dramas and comedies on an almost daily basis. Back in the 50s and early 60s, they even broadcast productions of recent plays on a weekly basis (there was even a show called "Play of the Week" for a time). The proliferation of so much free quality comedy and drama had the impact of eroding the regular audience for nonmusical works on Broadway.

Full-length musicals, on the other hand, have always been something of a rarity on television. Only a relatively small percentage of musical shows have ever been broadcast (at least in their stage versions -- there obviously have been lots of film adaptations). I think because of that, the audience for musicals is still very strong, and, if anything, has grown through the years. Musicals are still considered something special and unique (unlike most drama and comedy) that audiences continue to seek out and are willing to pay a premium price to see.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=894898

[theaterlover45]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 8:11pm

OOPs!! sorry guess I missed that one while searching.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 6/20/06 at 5:12am

Here in the West End, plays often have longer runs - the obvious example being the cast iron everlasting Mousetrap which has now been playing for 54 years. Shows like 'Run for Your Wife' and 'No sex please, we're British' were also record breakers at their theatres (though this was back in the '70s).

With the Mackintosh musicals, the general public began to expect spectacle at the theatre which they rarely get with plays, and so long runs of purely dramtic works became less common, though some such as An Inspector Calls and Noises Off bucked the trend.

The situation on Broadway is simply that there are fewer plays anyway (and still fewer new works) and they often reply on star-power to sell - once the star goes, the play closes. With musicals, often the show itself (Wicked, Phantom) is the star, so attracting an audience is far easier. Updated On: 6/20/06 at 05:12 AM

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 6/20/06 at 6:00am

Is the Mousetrap still as good as it was fifty years ago? I read the play in high school and loved it. Christopher Wren is actually one of my dream roles.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/20/06 at 6:03am

I have a feeling that this all has to do with the dumbing down of our society. In the 70's a serious drama like EQUUS could run for several years. The same was true with AMADEUS. However, I don't think today's audiences are interested in thought-provoking works. A fine drama like DOUBT hardly runs 18 months. COPENHAGEN baffles almost everyone who saw it.

Take a look at what becomes truly popular in today's world: a novel like THE DaVINCI CODE, television shows about swapping housewives, movies like DUMB AND DUMBER. I used to love watching television's PLAY OF THE WEEK and the mind games of Alfred Hitchcock's TV shows. I'm afraid that the mindlessness of the average musical is merely a reflexion of a society that wants to be entertained rather than prodded into thinking seriously.

Now don't get me started on the qaulity of today's musicals as opposed to what I grew up on in the 60's...