The Legacy of This Season's Musicals

So what do we think the legacy of each of this year's Tony Nominated musicals will be in about 15-20 years? What will we remember them for?

I feel like shows such as Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away will go down with positive legacies, and the revivals of Falsettos and Miss Saigon also will not have a stained legacy. I think that Great Comet, while at first will have a good legacy, may start to lose a bit of its positives over time.

The two shows that, in my opinion, will have negative legacies are Hello, Dolly! and Groundhog Day. I think that this revival of Hello, Dolly! will go down as having been tainted by Scott Rudin, and it being such a prideful, closed-door, secret cool kid show that it will not have a good legacy. I feel like Groundhog Day will, unfortunately, be remembered for Andy Karl's ACL injury, which is unfortunate.

So what do you think the legacies of this year's shows will be?

I think the legacy of this thread will be that it is one of the most preposterous in an already crowded field.

willrolandsframes said: "The two shows that, in my opinion, will have negative legacies are Hello, Dolly! and Groundhog Day. I think that this revival of Hello, Dolly! will go down as having been tainted by Scott Rudin, and it being such a prideful, closed-door, secret cool kid show that it will not have a good legacy. I feel like Groundhog Day will, unfortunately, be remembered for Andy Karl's ACL injury, which is unfortunate."

That's all I hear from people coming out of seeing Dolly, that Rudin tainted it and they hate being labeled cool kids. And then most of the time they try to figure out who was the actress playing Dolly and comment that she wasn't bad.

And yeah, shame about Karl's ACL. If only he didn't have to miss 6-8 weeks to recover and somehow could have worked through it, he would have been hailed as a hero and a true professional. The show might have survived and his incredible dedication might have become the show's positive legacy or maybe that it was just a really good show and surprised people. But sadly it was just not to be. So yeah, negative legacies for both, clearly.

I think that Dear Evan Hansen will have a very healthy life in regional theatre. Next to Normal is not very easy to produce for a number of reasons and I also think that DEH has the far superior score, so I wouldn't be surprised if it took over the crowd that would typically be doing N2N. TGC will be very hard to do at schools and community theatres, but I'm sure that the score will live on. CFA will probably have a long life in hick town community theatres where it belongs (yes I do not love that show, please do not fight me over it) and I'm sure that Groundhog Day will be a similar situation.

I also agree that this production of Hello, Dolly! will not have a great legacy. A lot of people found the cast album to be mediocre and their Tony performance was embarrassing. The actual production is magnificent, but if you weren't there to see it, you may not be very impressed.

From someone that has both directed a production of N2N and starred in a production as Diane, it is a hard score to sing. It has a lot more singing than DEH does and it's just really difficult to perform and stage. I think the material is pretty flawed also, which makes it rather difficult to hide those flaws. I just think that DEH is a safer and easier show to do so long as you have a strong leading man to fill the role of Evan. It covers a lot of the same themes and is pretty similar, so I could see some theatres choosing to do DEH over N2N.

Also, while DEH's score may seem influenced by N2N, I think that it is more just influenced by modern pop music with some inspiration from N2N, and N2N was clearly influenced by Rent. Nothing is completely original. Also, there are very few pop and rock chords, so all pop and rock music is basically kind of all the same thing. This is probably why so many people are hearing so many similarities. I happen to prefer the score of DEH to the score of N2N, simply because DEH is more melodic and has slightly better lyrics. Neither one is perfect, but some of N2N's flaws are much more glaring to me.

Fair enough, I just have substantial problems with N2N's structure most of all and it's musical diversity is what makes it so difficult. All that being said, I still enjoy both shows very much.

No one bashed anything or anyone. People were having a pretty civil DISCUSSION about music. Sheesh.

Leave you to what?

Not only was DEH a part of this season, thus the title of the thread, it also won more Tonys than any other show. Im tired of the show getting written off by the members of this board. The show is sold out for a reason.

Hello Dolly! was phenomenal. I don't really care that Rudin's a jerk. I saw Groundhogs Day in London. It was enjoyable, but not the second coming the way people talk about it. I can't see Great Comet having a long life because it will be too expensive to produce and the score and storyline are so inaccessible.

Come From Away will tour and be performed regionally and in high schools. Anastasia seems to be doing fine on its own. That will also have a successful tour and be done regionally.

DEH will have a successful tour. I doubt that it will be done on the West End though. N2N wasn't done on the West End either. DEH might also become a film project.

Updated On: 6/16/17 at 07:54 AM

I love N2N. I think it's s phenomenal show and most definitely paved the way for DEH. I feel like criticizing Great Comet makes one persona non grata on these boards. That's why people are forced to start DEH positivity threads.

Actually, I think there were more people that didn't care for Comet then DEH....but it might be closer to even. I think the things peeps don't like about Comet just don't stir controversial discussion -- how much can you say about style over substance, for example. I think, DEH fans seem to take it more personally when someone isn't in love with the show.



I loved both shows, actually, although I think I favored Comet just a tad. I can love a show and still talk about its flaws....like blindly following religion without question, so is blind belief in perfection about a show. There is no perfect show, (Well, maybe Kander and Ebb's stuff) nor is there any show that 100% of its audience will love. And think how boring conversations would be....I mean, just how many times can you read/say, I love it/him/that?

Impossible to say but to play along...

I hope Great Comet is remembered as Dave Malloy's first foray into a string of innovative Broadway musicals. I don't think it will set off a wave of copycats or wildly change the theater landscape (unfortunately) but I hope it brings in more young performers and audience members and that people come to appreciate unique and versatile voices like Amber Gray and Grace McLean. I think part of it's legacy will be Rachel Chavkin not winning the Tony she deserved.

To me, A Bronx Tale is the Alan Menken/Glenn Slater partnership finally finding its footing. Is it the greatest show? No. But even though there's a lot of pastiche, it convinced me that Alan Menken has one or two more great shows in him if he can find the right material (and maybe the right lyricist... OK, fine, I haven't completely gotten on board with Glenn Slater yet).

Like the original movie, I think Anastasia will have the legacy you'd expect as a knockoff of a Disney princess movie. I think it will be similar to the Disney shows, beloved and performed in schools, just not as long lasting or iconic. I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what it means for Ahrens and Flaherty though I did not like the music for Rocky and their music wasn't nominated for Anastasia. I would love it if they still had great shows in them but they seem to be going a more commercial route.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is making money so no one will learn any lessons about taking a commercial property and making something with questionable artistic merit.

I hope The Little Foxes encourages more dynamic revivals of plays. I don't know if anyone will try the role swapping anytime soon.

Amelie will likely join Tuck Everlasting in the bin of forgotten shows that aren't remembered with the fervor of a real cult fan base. Just pleasant efforts that didn't live up to their potential.

I honestly think that Comet is ahead of its time, much in the way SITPWG, Sweeney, and Scottsboro Boys were, for example. I find the storyline , and the way music relates to it, incredibly moving - and I know a lot of others do as well. I have a feeling in a few years, we'll be talking about Comet in the same terms.

P.S. "Stop bashing on DEH, Comet fans!" Says the poster who then immediately proceeds to bash Comet's storyline.

Honestly, I have my own problems with DEH, but I don't spend all day bashing it. I think DEH fans have confused "debate" with complete and total adoration.