We are living a Golden Age in Musicals- Page 2

[newintown]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 8:50am

You misunderstand, Hogan - I was referring to Dave28282 repeated claim that Miss Saigon represents the height of sensitivity to Vietnamese issues.

[bwaydreamer]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 12:30pm

newintown said: ""I would add that we have two genius young composers who are writing new musicals regularly to semi-regularly who have huge careers still to go in Jason Robert Brown and Adam Guettel."

Adam Guettel writes new musicals regularly? Where are they? I thought that he's only written two in the last 20 years."

 

Guettel wrote Myths and Hymns, Floyd Collins, Light in the Piazza, worked on the Princess Bride for 3 years, and is about to be done with Millions all since 1996 so I'd say 5 works in 20 years is semi-regularly as I said.  Sometimes less is more newintown and it would be a nice reprieve for all of us if you spared us some of your negativity sometimes.....

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 12:59pm

I agree with the OP. This is the first May since I left NYC in 1985 that I really wish I could afford to spend the month in New York attending theater.

I'm not sure everyone appreciates how slim the pickings were during most seasons in the late 1960s and 1970s. Often there was little to see but the one musical (usually by Sondheim) that won the Tony; certainly, 1970-1979 should be remembered for the musical and theatrical experimentation of Sondheim, Prince, Bennett and Fosse. But I didn't see SWEENEY TODD 15 times just because I liked it (though I did); there was simply little else on.

This year I'd like to see all the best musical nominees plus WAR PAINT, and several of the musical revivals. I'd certainly want to see LITTLE FOXES and any number of plays, which I'd be following more closely because I was there.

On the other hand, here are the nominees for Best Musical for a period in the late 1950s through the early 1960s. There are a handful of great shows here (including THE MUSIC MAN, WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY. But the rest of the nominees are significantly mediocre, IMO.)

1958
The Music Man

West Side Story

New Girl in Town

Oh, Captain!

Jamaica

1959
Redhead

Flower Drum Song

La Plume de Ma Tante

1960
The Sound of Music

Fiorello!

Gypsy

Once Upon a Mattress

Take Me Along

1961
Bye Bye Birdie

Do Re Mi

Irma La Douce

Now I have almost all of these OBCRs and I continue to play them. That doesn't make them masterpieces.

[newintown]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 1:56pm

Myths and Hymns is a song cycle, not a musical. Guettel has had two musicals produced in his lifetime. That's not negativity, just facts. Unlike the statement that he is "writing new musicals regularly."

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 9:43pm

 "But I didn't see SWEENEY TODD 15 times just because I liked it (though I did);" 

You sat through that sickening thing 15 times?

That speaks volumes.


"On the other hand, here are the nominees for Best Musical for a period in the late 1950s through the early 1960s. There are a handful of great shows here (including THE MUSIC MAN, WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY. But the rest of the nominees are significantly mediocre, IMO.)

Bunk, bilge and balderdash! Every one of those so-called  "mediocrities" was 5 million and fifty- five times superior to the tuneless duds nominated this season, and 500 million and fifty-five times superior to the wretched fare awarded a thousand and one raves and awards these past seasons. Give us Flower Drum Song and A Hundred Million Miracles every day of the week over these.


 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 11:12pm

After Eight, I know it's damp there under the bridge where you live, but that doesn't make FLOWER DRUM SONG anything but mediocre R&H. Not a bad show, mind you, but not a brick on which to build a Golden Age. (I'm not arguing that the 40s-60s wasn't a Golden Age, but FDS wasn't reason.)

And, yes, I saw SWEENEY 15 times--but that was only the original Broadway run. I've since seen the Teeny Todd, City Opera and Reprise! productions as well as every other production that played in my vicinity.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 6:55am

"that doesn't make FLOWER DRUM SONG anything but mediocre R&H." 

What you call "mediocre" R& H towers over the godawful critics' darlings that win raves  and prizes nowadays. Too bad they all can't write scores as good as "mediocre" R & H. That way we could still hear "You Are Beautiful" or "Sunday," instead of the drab, dreary fare served up to us today.


"And, yes, I saw SWEENEY 15 times--but that was only the original Broadway run. I've since seen the Teeny Todd, City Opera and Reprise! productions as well as every other production that played in my vicinity."

That makes you a true iron man --- of sorts.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 7:19am

A8, I'll agree that even mediocre R&H (with the baffling exception of ME AND JULIET) has its moments, but there's no way FLOWER DRUM SONG or PIPE DREAM can compete with LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, GREY GARDENS, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, FALSETTOS, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, FOLLIES, AMERICAN IDIOT, THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, FUN HOME, THE VISIT or HAMILTON, or any of a number of other shows that have been created or revived in just this decade.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 7:52am

^

You've got it backwards. There's no way these dreary, tuneless, lamentable exercises can compete with Flower Drum Song.

I'm sorry you compiled this wretched assemblage. Reading those titles brought back the worst possible memories. You've already spoiled my morning.

I'll now compile my own list as an antidote to yours to chase the blues away --- just like the light does to creatures of darkness.

Good News; Oh, Kay!; Anything Goes; No, No, Nanette; The Boy Friend; Flower Drum Song; Take Me Along; Little Mary Sunshine;, Bye, Birdie; Irma La Douce; Milk and Honey; Tovarich; Hello, Dolly!

Gee, that did the trick! I feel so much better! Now I can whistle a happy tune and face a bright and sunny day.

Updated On: 5/11/17 at 07:52 AM

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 8:44am

KnewItWhenIWasInFron said: "Dave28282 said: "Miss Saigon is...one of the best shows ever written in my opinion.

 

"

I think you misspelled "most racist shows."

 

"

That award should go to all the shows (and there are a lot) with a full white cast when the setting doesn't really call for it. I do understand that those who want or need to be spoon-fed are incapable of seeing those great ironies about, for example, capitalism and communism having more in common than you might've thought added in the new production. Many of them only read the first paragraph of the synopsis and call the deeply troubled character who is eventually made to realize that all he's done is not really for the "good" a "white savior." They are also unable to see beyond the superficial and easily dismiss the symbolism of a mother's remarkable act out of unconditional love and extraordinary self-determination as "subservience."  

[Kad]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 10:15am

Gaveston, A8 has said several times on this board that he believes that last worthwhile new musical to have been written was La Cage.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 10:28am

the posturing troll's tiresome repetition of the same canard isn't worth discussing. Even assuming for sake o argument that it is in fact a firmly held conviction and not just a posture, its repetition does not engage any meaningful discussion because it is stated as a conclusion without intellectual weight. 

[markypoo]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:30pm

Pipe Dream and Flower Drum Song are Madama Butterfly, Norma, and Mefistofele combined  - when compared to the glorified trash previously mentioned in this thread.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:42pm

A8, NO, NO, NANETTE? Yeah, I was thrilled when Ruby Keeler tapped down those stairs, but come on. "I Want to Be Happy" is no "Defying Gravity", much less "Un Bel Di". And BYE, BYE, BIRDIE is second-rate and TAKE ME ALONG is downright painful.

But I find much to enjoy in the rest of your list. You can't really turn this around on me. I'm not a teenager and I don't think musical theater began with RENT or HAIRSPRAY. (I did love the latter, however, and saw the film in the theater seven or eight times.)

***

Thanks, Kad and Hogan. I do know A8's position, but sometimes I just can't let it go unopposed. I do wonder how and why he manages to see EVERYTHING, when he hasn't enjoyed ANYTHING in 30 years!

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:50pm

"A8, NO, NO, NANETTE? Yeah, I was thrilled when Ruby Keeler tapped down those stairs, but come on. "I Want to Be Happy" is no "Defying Gravity", "

Thank heavens.

"And BYE, BYE, BIRDIE is second-rate"

Now you're trolling. But since you have no credibility left, I guess you've nothing left to lose.

"TAKE ME ALONG is downright painful."

Uhh, just read the titles on your list. THAT is what painful is. I know, having experienced that pain first hand.

[CallMeAl2]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:54pm

And then there's Cats.

But that's really a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent season.

 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:56pm

Darling After Eight, instead of seeing every musical that opens, why don't you just see Hello, Dolly! every week instead? I'm sure we would much appreciate your positive remarks on here all the more. Besides, I was able to see it last night and cried throughout, AND I thought First Daughter Suite was a masterstroke of musical genius. Just because some of us appreciate LaChiusa, Guettel, or - the horror! - Sondheim, it doesn't make our opinions or tastes invalid. You'd be best to learn that.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:57pm

^^ So true, Gaveston. I love a lot of A8's favorites...but I accept a lot more than just anything written 40-plus (or more) years ago.

Updated On: 5/12/17 at 11:57 PM