Ugh. Ryan Murphy wants to bring GLEE to Broadway. — Page 2

Was there ever talk of High School Musical coming to Broadway? That $#*& was incredibly popular and I know there were stage procutions, but it sorta faded out.

I don't think you can reproduce the same thing on stage with an all new cast. Jane Lynch cannot be matched. Fans are used to these characters and might not want to go see people they don't have any connections on stage.

How would you prove such a thing? In any case, the fact that they were on the Tonys means somebody thinks so, though the people who put on the Tonys have been wrong before, heaven knows.

ANY increase in attendance could be attributed to Glee, especially if they are younger than normal. But my point is: there has not been a huge increase in attendance...so they aren't impacting bway at all. (At least not yet.)

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But you would also need to look at, and probably account more for, numbers on the road. That is where Glee would have far more of an effect, especially in the economic times we are currently in. The average Glee fan is not going to be able to convince their parents to spend the money on a pricey trip to New York and Broadway, but would have a far greater chance at convincing them to buy tickets to whatever is coming through their town.

As far as would people see Glee without the actors they recognize, I'm sure the same was said of High School Musical when it went out on a national tour minus Efron and the others. People still went to see it, and it has become a very successful title for summer stock and community theatre.

^ I agree SporkGoddess. Glee rarely uses showtunes and when they do they are usually from older shows not on Broadway anymore.

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PLEASE NO!! NO GLEE ON BROADWAY!

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Glee rarely uses showtunes and when they do they are usually from older shows not on Broadway anymore.

Those "older shows" are infinitely better than some of the dreck currently running on Broadway. Seriously, how can you act like Glee is beneath you as a musical theatre snob while begrudging the show for using classic Broadway standards? We're lucky Glee showcases Broadway with Maybe This Time and Rose's Turn instead of Memphis and The Addams Family. In fact, I just had to check IBDB to figure out what few new shows are on Broadway with original scores. It's either the "old shows", the blockbusters, or covers of Green Day, the Four Seasons, ABBA, and 80s hair bands.

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If Broadway were smarter (and frankly, Broadway has been pretty smart over the last decade) they would eagerly embrace Glee.

The invitation hasn't been made, so Ryan feels no obligation to boost Broadway. He does, I feel, do something positive for people who want to perform and the parents who don't understand them, but not enough for Broadway.

And as for the "Please no Glee on Broadway", people on this site screamed "Please no Disney" on Broadway until they dropped down "The Lion King."

MAYBE Glee on Broadway could be done well. If the Broadway producers approached Fox and brought along some of the crown jewel directors and designers and, rarest of them all, a great librettist, who knows what could come out of such a fusion?

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Wouldn't it be a licensing nightmare to get the rights to do all of the songs from other shows? I would think that just the fees they'd have to pay would make it cost-prohibitive. The whole thing with Glee is it's NOT original songs but arrangements of songs from other actual shows.

Although I agree Glee wouldn't work on Broadway, it doesn't mean it can't be a good thing. When teenagers see some of the Showtunes performed on Glee, it can get them interested in the bigger shows, such as Wicked and Les Mis. This could then spark an interest in Showtunes and Broadway and lead them to seeing more non-mainstream shows,such as Memphis and Next to Normal.

Updated On: 8/9/10 at 06:48 AM

"They show the best of the best of Broadway, some of the blockbuster favorites...and this is a bad thing because why? Because they don't do Next to Normal and In the Heights? Acquiring the licensing and distribution rights for new shows like those would be so restrictive that it wouldn't be worth their effort.

How do you know that using older showtunes won't attract audiences? Maybe there isn't an immediate correlation with increased Broadway sales, but how will theatre benefit in the long run from a generation of kids thinking that show choir and musical theatre are cool?"

It's not a bad thing. I am not saying they should use songs from current shows because, as you said, there is not much new out with an original score. And you are right, the older show tunes may attract audiences to Broadway in general. However, if they are not singing songs from shows currently on Broadway they are not attracting audiences to particular Broadway shows.

For example if they were to perform songs from Next to Normal or In the Heights they would be making the audiences more familiar with modern Broadway shows which may bring more audiences to these shows specifically. You were right about the licensing though and it would not be worth their effort. I am trying to say that Glee is not helping attract audiences to specific shows currently on Broadway. Even if they were to perform songs from modern shows, there is no way of telling whether or not this would help bring audiences to Broadway, it is merely speculation.

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Murphy better watch it or Glee's going to reach its saturation point and everyone will be sick off it (Granted there are those who already are) Time to pull back on some of the Gleeking and concentrate on the sophomore season. It's a TV show and should remain as such...did they learn nothing from that ill-fated American Idol stage venture?

The only way I'd see this if there was a stellar cast.

Maybe this is what is being planned instead of another GLEE tour...? Could we be seeing the GLEE cast on Broadway?