Which american president's life would provide the best material for a musical?

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:31pm

I think it is probably an advantage if the president either was shot during the tenure or led the forces in a war (may the presidents and the victims of those wars rest in peace).

As far as i know, four presidents were shot to death.

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. James Abraham Garfield
3. William Mc Kinley
4. John F. Kennedy

Appearently William McKinley was an inspiration for the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz.

Overall i guess Abraham Lincoln is a great choice considering his class journey, winning of the civil war, abolition of slavery and dramatic death. Washington because he was a founding father and fought against the British. Roosevelt because of the depression and second world war and Kennedy because he was the first modern president and because he was murdered. George W Bush is of course also very interesting material.

Ok im sorry if this post come off as a bit tasteless but as i see it a lot of tastelessnes dissappears with time. With that i don't mean that dead people shouldn't be respected, they definetely should but it becomes more accepted to deal with tragic aspects of peoples lifes after they have been dead for several years. There is a famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi which is about the murder of the swedish king Gustav III. At its premiere they felt it was safest to change the story so that it was about a british colonial governor in Boston. In this century the opera has been performed many times with the original true story. This year in Sweden it was performed but with the action changed so that it was about the swedish primeminister Olof Palme who was shot 20 years ago. This of course created controversy and was critiqued by some relatives to him but it nonetheless was performed.



Updated On: 10/19/06 at 06:31 PM

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:32pm

JFK

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:32pm

1776. Updated On: 10/19/06 at 06:32 PM

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:35pm

Thomas Jefferson. We Americans could really use a wake up call when it comes to the character of our Founding Fathers. After all Jefferson is the man who raped and fathered children with his 13 year old slave-girl sister-in-law. If they had told us that in history class, I might have stayed awake.

This is the man who wrote about the equality of man and had his own son in slavery. To this day we are still split in this country between what we profess and how we behave.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 06:35 PM

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:37pm

I read somewhere that the Wizard of Oz was not really based on McKinley and it was just a teacher who used the stiry to explain late 19th early 20th century politics. I don't know though. His life would make a cool musical.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:06pm

Lincoln, JFK, FDR -- these are all too easy. Take someone like Coolidge, who was so oblivious to the country's slide into the Depression (as well as ignoring the obvious signs that were leading to WW2). Now you have something worth looking at.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:10pm

There was a JFK musical done in Chicago in the early 1980's. It was titled ONE SHINING MOMENT. The concept was a "show within a show" about a group of college students creating a show about JFK (hmmm... a little like "Merrily We Roll Along"...).

The cast included Kevin Anderson as JFK, Megan Mulally as Jackie, and Alan Ruck as LBJ.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:23pm

It's true that it might be more exciting with a lesser known president, at least for those who know american history well. If the musical would be about John Adams it would end with him uttering the famous alledged last words "Thomas Jefferson still survives" (He had died five hours earlier which Adams was unaware of). Hell, that would be a good ending if the musical was about Jefferson as well.

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:40pm

"After all Jefferson is the man who raped and fathered children with his 13 year old slave-girl sister-in-law."

Is it just me, or does it sound like Jefferson and the slave-girl spent time raping children and fathering them together?

Not that being with a 13 year old isn't rape anyway - just a poor sentence structure.

I think they should do a musical on William Henry Harrison -- hell, at least it'd be short!

[faithanytwo]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:06pm

of course the first one that came to my mind was W, on the same lines of "That's My Bush", which seriously needs to get back on TV. I think the lesser known presidents would be great, especially Franklin Pierce, he's our one claim to fame in NH and I heard he was a wretched president.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:21pm

Actually,

Clinton's life is pretty damn interesting.

Dad died before he was born, stepdad was a drunk who abused his mom and his half-brother, meets JFK while a teen, put himself through school, becomes a Rhodes scholar.

Becomes Govenor or Arkansas, and then loses, then wins, and eventually becomes President.

All of the scandals.

Impeachment.

Heart surgery.

And now, as an "elder statesman" of the Democratic party, redemption and as the builder of a global charity.

[Lizzya9]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:31pm

Their lives are interesting but I can't really think of any music that would suit them...

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:40pm

Picture Nixon standing by the helicopter before leaving the White house and singing "Don't cry for me USA"

[Lizzya9]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 8:48pm

LOL. My point exactly. And what costumes? They would be non-existent. And the prez in a sparkly sequin suit would just be in poor taste...

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:34am

Just checkout the Capitol Steps.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:52am

Back in the 80s, Len Cariou and Beth Fowler starred in the musical TEDDY & ALICE, about Teddy Roosevelt's first term in the White House. It flopped, but it featured a score by John Phillip Sousa (plus additional music from Richard Kapp and Hal Hackaday).

There was also a rather famous and ambitious flop in the 70s from Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner called 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, focused on the issues of race and slavery through the eyes of several Presidents from 1800 to 1900. Ken Howard and Patricia Routlesge played all the Presidents and First Ladies, respectively, including Jefferson (and the whole Sally Hemmings affair), Monroe, Andrew Johnson and Rutherford B Hayes. A fascinating idea and score that never quite came together as a fully satisfying show.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 1:43am

I'm sorry, but if ever a president lent himself to fodder for a musical comedy, it would be Nixon. Imagine the production number that could be built around "I Am Not a Crook!" (And the word "crook" just rhymes with so many words.)

[broadway_socialite]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 3:33am

Alexander Hamilton. Yeah, I know, not a President, but he was deffinately the hottest founding father. Womanizer, killed in a duel, genious, and creator of our countries economic foundation? BEST musical EVER.

[mauriposa]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 3:46am

Lincoln already had a musical, too. I don't know anything about it, except that it existed and that its existence frightens me.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 4:55am

Why can't you imagine what kind of music it would be? After shows like Assassins, Evita, Ragtime, and Les Miz, I should think it's obvious if it's to be a drama. And if, it's to be a satire, then you could go in many directions there.

Why would there be a need for sequined costumes?

It seems that people forget that musicals can be dramatic whenever someone people up a serious topic for musical theatre. Silly butts!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 6:47am

If you can find it, check out Adams' NIXON IN CHINA, an opera about Nixon opening relations with his trip to Beijing. Written in the mid-80s, it's a pretty amazing piece of work.

[actor]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 7:18am

1. Harry Truman
2. FDR
3. Teddy Roosevelt
4. George Washington
5. Abraham Lincoln

[GClef2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 7:24am

CLINTON

[bschneid76]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:41am

What about our Bachelor president James Buchanan????

[Calvin]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:43am

Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce already have Pacific Overtures.