What would it take to make a great jukebox musical?- Page 2

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 4:39pm

I am totally 100 percent against jukebox musicals (and say what you will Lennon is one of them). They are unoriginal and from what we can seen majority are failures! However I do agree that Meatloaf would make a great jukebox musical! LOL

[Fosse76]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 5:12pm

AMEN! I am not opposed to turning movie musicals into stage musicals, provided it could actually work on stage (I think Newsies, and to a lesser extent, Aladdin, would work well). Jukebox musicals are simply the result of greedy producers trying to make easy money, thinking the music itself will sell the show. Hopefully "Lennon" will be one of the last we see.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 5:17pm

People forget that "jukebox" musicals aren't new! Mamma Mia only made a success out of something that hadn't been tried on a big level in a long while.

Some of the best Hollywood musicals from the Golden Age could be classified as "jukebox." They were new, original stories written around established songs from a single composer or songwriting team's catalogue. This would include "Singin' in the Rain" (Comden & Green made up their new story around Arthur Freed's hit songs from two decades earlier), "The Band Wagon (around the Dietz & Schwartz catalogue of hits).

Also "An American in Paris" had a new story fashioned around the Gershwin brothers' catalogue.

It's not easy to do it well... but these are only a few good examples of what to aspire to! With a lot of imagination, and good songs that lend themselves to being intigrated into stories and plots... the sky is the limit.

Updated On: 8/23/05 at 05:17 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 5:30pm

I should have gone on to answer your question about "what would it take"...

Well, besides a lot of imagination... It would take songs that have emotional threads and through-lines in them. Not necessarily telling a specific story in them, because that confines the book writer's imagination too much. The old standards lent themselves to this much better than most pop or rock songs. Why? Our modern hit songs (in the past 50 years) are mostly based on "hooks." Repetetive lines or musical phrases that are often centered around a beat or rhythm (whether rock, dance or otherwise), rather than a through-line lyric. Great for hit songs today, but not very theatrical or dramatic (in and of themselves). Creative staging could help, but you need a "strong bones" skeleton in the material. Pop ballads are more often the exception today, but you can't have a stage show with too many ballads in it, or you'll put your audience to sleep very quickly.

It's hard to find a single modern songwriter's catalogue that would fit the bill, but they're out there. Dig deep! (And secure the rights first!)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 5:39pm

I had a long rant a while back that was probably not very coherent but nevertheless, the main point of it was to get across the idea of Mamma Mia! being the best jukebox musical ever. But, remember, that's not saying much. It is a mediocre show with great songs (although a few are a bit misplaced) and a corny, somewhat predictable book but there will never be a really phenomenal, wonderfully constructed jukebox musical, IMO. I think Mamma Mia! did it first and did it right so all these producers jumped on the idea and bought the rights of all these band's music and threw it together thinking it would work just like Mamma Mia! and well...it didnt. They're just used to attract tourists, which is a way to make money, but good reviews and good buzz with an edge that attracts outoftowners would be ever better. And I know Mamma Mia! got mixed reviews when it opened but word of mouth is stronger than anything. They all think that if they throw together some songs, dumb dance moves, and a usually very talented cast the show will fly but most of the time it doesnt even take off.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 6:00pm

I'm with best12bars. You've got to remember that "jukebox musicals" have been around since the Golden Era. Basically every Cole Porter show could be considered a "jukebox musical," using pre-existing songs and throwing them into a ho-hum plot.

In my opinion, the greatest jukebox musical is Crazy For You. If not exactly a jukebox show (the plot is based on the Gershwins' Girl Crazy, and a few songs are from that show), it interpolates so many Gershwin standards VERY well and is the most coherent and entertaining one I know. (many people leave that show going, "I didn't know all those songs were from that show!" not even realizing it's a jukebox musical)

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 6:24pm

You're right that they're being thrown together way too quickly to cash in on the success of Mamma Mia. That's always the case with something so popular that's viewed as easy to pull off.

But here's your first-level list of steps for any would-be writers out there...

JUKEBOX 101...

1) Find a song catalogue with a lot of up-tempo material and a FEW well-chosen ballads. (A FEW only.) The up-tempo songs could be anything: dramatic, happy, scary, etc. but they will drive the pace of your show and define its energy.

2) Make sure nearly all of the songs have an emotional through-line, and they don't just hammer a repetetive "hook" without any advancement of thought or feeling. (You can throw them a catchy bit of fluff every now and then for its sheer fun aspect, and it will work... but it can't be all like that or you won't have any weight to the show.)

3) (the obvious)... Be creative! For a "jukebox" musical... it's ALL about the book and the solid intigration of the songs. That will make it seem new. Otherwise, they'll be sorry they didn't just go out and buy a best-of CD.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 6:28pm

You're right, bjivie2! I forgot about "Crazy For You!" (How could I?) It hasn't even been that long ago since the last one!

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 8:01pm

well one can also argue (and I agree) that Hollywood and movies are not how they once were! The glamour and the passion and originality! So with that in mind they might have worked back then, but they don't now! It takes a lot more than a bottle of whiskey and two nights to write a show!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/24/05 at 9:48am

You're absolutely right, theatreboi11! It also takes a carton of cigarettes, and a well-edited Technicolor montage.

[BoxFive]

Posted: 8/24/05 at 12:46pm

Wow bjivie2, that was well written! I agree, my sister wrote a paper on that very subject for her class at NYU.