Thoughts on MOTOWN- Page 3

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 8:32pm

I agree with Matt. I was shocked and thrilled that unconventional musicals I loved in recent years like the ones he mentioned--and add Once and American Idiot to that list--made it on Broadway at all. In the same way that people bemoan the glut of bad reality TV shows, at the same time, television has never had as many truly amazing programs as it does now.

True quality stuff does make it through. And for me, because I enjoyed the hell out of Newsies, some of it is actually courtesy of Disney. Nobody HAS to like Hardbody, but anybody who's complaining about the dearth of new original musicals should at least not take delight in its shortcomings.

If Motown brings audiences to Broadway for a joyful celebration of this music--and especially if some of them happen to be people that don't normally come--how is that a bad thing?

[ratherbewhaling]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 8:35pm

We're talking about the future of musicals and every show that you have listed there is from the last decade and has already closed on broadway, except for the one largely written by celebrities so you're not really disproving my point. (the book or Mormon marquee even had the words BY THE CREATORS OF SOUTH PARK on it just in case people didn't get the memo)

Also Light in the Piazza ran for a year at a non profit theatre supported by grants and endowments, so that would not be the example I would use for you either.

I never said a show is better just because it is original. Obviously, I know that all of the golden age classics were not "original" in that sense so there's nothing wrong with something based on another material. I'm saying that there will be less and less of shows of that don't contain some recognizable element, because it's easier to make a large profit with something recognizable, and to me that seems a bit sad.

Updated On: 4/4/13 at 08:35 PM