Please Tell Me That Not All Younger Musical Theatre Fans... — Page 3

I've been tempted to poll BWW boarders on this topic at some point. I may do a survey at some point gauging interest in musical theater history and preservation throughout different age ranges. (And measuring interest in unreleased cast recordings in the same survey)

I think there are two important things to consider:

1. How much of an advocate are you, as an "older" musical theater fan, of musical theater history to the next generation? A big problem of a lot of established organizations is they don't know how, or don't deal with, cultivating a new generation of advocates. Think about what you can do to share your collection or your knowledge with youngsters. They may surprise you by how receptive they are.

2. It takes time to cultivate a cast album collection and develop and discern personal tastes in musicals. I remember having a crazy obsessed Sondheim phase, than a flop phase, than a megahit phase--then a new musical/workshop phase.... now it is all evened out purdy much.

That being said our culture scares me with the way we toss out the old, and don't remain diligent in archiving and preserving the work or our forebears. Do some research! Read a book! Write a book! Write a musical while you're at it! And don't adapt it from a movie from the last decade, please.

Someone said the Golden Age is termed so because it was the era in which the landmark shows were produced and the major talent was working. That's it in part, but I think the 40's through the 60's saw musical theater as a leader in mainstream popular culture. As the counterculture of the 60's took its grip and pop/rock music became the accepted mainstream norm, musicals were forced follow mainstream culture to find audiences well into the 70's and has been that way since.

It still blows my mind that theater music was THE popular music of the time during the Golden Era. With the elimination of televised variety shows and various musical movie bombs a generation was deprived of regular exposure to musicals and that has caused its drop in popularity--in part. Economics don't help neither.

*scurries off to listen to Regina*

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As a 21 year old, I have experienced first hand that most of my peers really do not have an appreciation for musicals written before they were born. This has been the cause of a perpetual state of frustration for me, as most of my favorite musicals (with a few exceptions) were written before I was born. I think many people have already made important points as to why this is, but I just figured I would add my 2 cents to the discussion.

The biggest difference I have seen between young theatre fans who appreciate "old" musicals versus those who only appreciate more recently produced musicals is definitely what they have been exposed to. However, I wouldn't say that this exposure comes merely from what is being produced on Broadway/being converted into a movie musical at the time. I would say that most of what they are exposed to is a result of what the adults who introduce them to theatre- whether it be family members, friends, teachers, etc- push them to try. For example, the teens in the community theatre company that I participated in are much more open to (and even excited about) pre-1980s musicals than members of my theatre group in high school and even people I took theatre classes with at Fordham. In my community theatre, the vast majority of the shows that are produced are older musicals, as the shows tend to bring in an "older" audience. In addition, the adults we worked with always encouraged us to have a well-rounded book with songs from a variety of different periods, forcing us to explore shows we might not otherwise have come across.

On the other hand, most of the musicals I've seen done in my high school and in college have been written much more recently. I don't claim to know what the primary cause for this is, but I have seen several factors at work. Those in charge have always tried to select shows that a high school/college audience would have heard of or would be intrigued by. In turn, the actors involved know that they can get into a modern show using an audition piece from- you guessed it- another modern show. Eventually has eventually reached the point where most of the students in the two specific school groups I worked with have NO real knowledge of shows from earlier periods and just give a stock answer when asked why they don't want to put them on as they have no clue what they are talking about. I'll admit that on a college level there are some "Golden Era" shows that may not seem particularly challenging to the cast or relevant to the audience, but there are plenty more shows which have been dismissed from consideration simply because the board wasn't familiar with them. And with so many modern shows requiring more pop/rock belts than legit/operatic sounds, most theatre students I know have never even thought about working on these different sounds. While I understand that you need to do something that will bring in an audience, I do feel that the fear of not appealing to enough people is creating limitations for students going into theatre (NB I'm sure many high school and college programs are not this way- just speaking to my own experience) In trying to appeal to young theatre lovers, do their mentors limit the expansion of both their knowledge and appreciation for shows that might not initially catch their attention? Is it better to take a risk and challenge youn theatre lovers even though it may turn some people away?

I think the thing is that a few more vocal posters who do only seem to like contemporary shows are casting a shadow on the group as a whole.

But I also want to know what you view as "young"? Under 30? Under 21? What?

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A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the Showtune Showdown on Seth Rudetsky's Live On Broadway program (Seth was out that week) from Times Square. Anyway, I was up against a musical theater major, so I thought it would be a long day. Long story short, he knew virtually nothing, and I won in a runaway.

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I'm 17 and I just got interested in Broadway this winter when I went to go see Wicked. Now, I'm kinda obsessed with it. Although I love shows like Wicked and the Lion King, I agree that they are not the best shows ever. I love anything by Rogers and Hammerstein!

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This has been a fascinating thread and I'm glad it has been mostly civil, too. I was very careful about wording. I have been thinking about this a lot lately but almost lost it the other day when I was looking for Broadway stuff on video and someone had made a "Best Musicals of All-Time" video that featured Wicked, Wedding Singer, and the like. Favorite, sure, but best of all time? I almost cried.

And by younger I mean teens/early 20's, I guess.

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Really fascinating thread. Though, to the people who reference "exposure": there are plentiful resources to learn about musicals. Why doesn't it occur to do research older musicals, and read older librettos? Purchase vintage cast albums? Why does one need to be "exposed"?

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Schmerg's choice of the word sweeping reminded me of something I love about older musicals that doesn't seem as commonplace anymore: the overture. There have been many many days when all I want to do is listen to overtures. The overtures that were written for shows like Gypsy or South Pacific just don't exist anymore. When a friend and I went to see Finian's Rainbow, she actually turned to me during the overture and said "Oh, there's an overture for this show?"

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My daughters are 23, 19, and 15, and if asked to name their favorite shows, the combined list would include 1776, Sweeney Todd, Chess, Les Miserables, Fiddler On The Roof, Into The Woods, and A Chorus Line. I feel that qualifies me as a good parent.

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Well, twinbelters, I actually think it's exactly that...it doesn't occur to people to look into the older musicals. I think there's a misconception that the classics are all hokey or silly (which, granted, some of them are), and I think a lot of people aren't interested in that. Many of my friends who are devoted theater fans don't take it upon themselves to research things they haven't seen, or make it a priority to see the revivals of the classics. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing...there's room for all types of theater fans.

I think that my experience has just been different because my parents and my grandma love theater and they took me to see a wide variety of things when I was young, from Wicked and Beauty and the Beast to Wonderful Town and Annie Get Your Gun, so it was just part of the theatergoing experience for me and I developed a deep love for the older shows when I was very young. Like I said before, I love many of the more contemporary shows just as much as the classics, and I think that both types of shows serve a purpose and be just as engaging and wonderful.

I was listening to PASSION when I was 15, lol.

I'm 17 and I grew up listening to Showboat, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Guys and Dolls. Hell, when I was seven I dressed up as the Phantom for Halloween. Hooray for supportive parents!