Why is Jersey Boys considered a musical?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:19am

What is it that makes something a musical? If the songs in Jersey Boys do not help to advance the plot then why is it still considered a musical? Is it not just a play with music? Like Souvenir was? Someone please explain this to me. Shouldn't the songs in a musical advance the plot and explore the motives of the different characters?
Updated On: 6/5/06 at 04:19 AM

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 7:23am

Well, that's what I was wondering when Contact won the Tony in 2000. So I think what makes a musical is basically if songs make up most of the night. A play with music just has like one or two songs in it.

Most recently, there have been questionable elements in a "musical":

* Original plot?
* Live music?
* Choreography?
* Dialogue?

Updated On: 6/5/06 at 07:23 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 3:18pm

Yeah, Contact to me doesn't seem like a musical at all. The music wasn't live and no one was singing.

Posted: 6/5/06 at 3:24pm

These days, it seems as though the only thing that qualifies a musical as a musical is that it doesn't have anyone with the bio credit of "playwright".

Along the same lines, at what point does a sung-through musical become officially billed as opera? Does setting an opera in English and changing some bits to dialogue turn it into a musical.

Oops. Yes.

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:32pm

What about movie wise- Walk the Line was nominated as a best musical/comedy at the Golden Globes and it certainly wasn't a comedy...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:36pm

What category would you all have put CONTACT in? Originally it was called a "dance play," which certainly fits. They had to choose play or musical for the Tonys. It would have seemed odd to put it up against other plays.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:36pm

Exactly. To me it seems like Jersey Boys is basically "That Thing You Do" on stage. And "That Thing You Do" Definently wasn't considered a musical, so what makes Jersey Boys a musical? Yes, the leads sing live, but it's not done to enhance the characters.

I looked up "opera" and it said "a dramatic work set to music" - so in a way that embodies a musical? Those two are easily confused and a lot of shows (RENT, BARE) use the term opera a little too loosely just because they're most sung-through.

But back on topic, why is Jersey Boys considered a musical?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:42pm

The songs in Jersey Boys do advance the plot, just not in a traditional way. You wouldn't have that plot without the songs. Get it? Have you even seen Jersey Boys, or is this another show you're judging before seeing it?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:43pm

I too thought it felt more like a play with [lots of] music, but I still wouldn't consider it one.
I wouldn't let the show compete with The History Boys (which has some music in it) or even Souvenir.
I don't know, it just is a musical. I guess not all songs in a musical have to "enhance the characters," but all of the songs in Jersey Boys are certainly relevant to the plot.

~Steven

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:50pm

Enhance the characters? SO you're saying this music had no effect on their lives? I think the music very much "enhances"/changes the characters.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:57pm

No no no, I'm agreeing with you. It was a poor statement using RentBoy's words trying to say that the "enhancement" doesn't have to be obvious. The songs themselves represent what is happening in their lives, but what I was trying to say is that the lyrics don't necessarily have to be a character telling another character something. Well, I guess yes it does in this show too with the Four Seasons communicating to each other and the audience, etc. Hmmm, I guess it's a more complicated thing to explain than I thought! But I am agreeing with you, Bobby.

~Steven

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 4:59pm

If it isn't obvious, RentBoy isn't going to get it.

[QueenS]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:03pm

In "Souvenir," the songs only existed as songs within the world of the play. That is, she only sang when FFJ herself was actually singing.

In "Jersey Boys," while many times they sing as a performance of the songs in question (such as in "Sherry"), there are other times they sing "in place" of dialogue (as in "Oh, What a Night") or even to comment on the action of the story.

To me, that's what makes a play with music ("Torch Song Trilogy") differ from a musical.

"Contact" seems to be a genre to itself. But does fit better with musicals than plays. As do dance pieces ("Movin Out" and "Swing") and revues ("Ain't Misbehavin'" and "A Grand Night For Singing") which aren't technically musicals either, but how many categories can you have?

[bwaybabe3]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:13pm

well in Jersey Boys the songs kind of are the plot... I mean the musical is structured around the formation of the band and then in turn how they created and came up with all these wonderful songs. So the songs do further the plot because they were written by people who were dealing with emotions of certain plot points... it's kind of backwards. Like in most muscials songs tell you what a character is thinking but in Jersey Boys you find out what happenns and then the creative output that stems from it.

[jdixon69]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:22pm

"Jersey Boys" is a concert, with loosely connected skits interspersed between the songs.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 5:24pm

Rentboy...did you SEE Jersey Boys? I don't understand how it's possible to miss the fact that the songs further the plot. Example, "Fallen Angel" takes us through the grief that Valli feels after losing his daughter. "Sherry" focuses around the moment the Four Seasons made it big, and it is very clear (the scene with the bright red jackets in all the ads). What about this doesn't fit the requirements of a musical?

EDIT: Address this to Rentboy and jdixon69 Updated On: 6/5/06 at 05:24 PM

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:40pm

i'm with bj on this one. only a person who hasn't seen the show would question whether this is a musical. they sing TO characters in the show...

[Stagerage2003]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:43pm

If you haven't seen it Don't judge it. Jersey Boys IS a musical. It is a peice that requires the actors to recreate lives of other people and tell thier story. The music itself in places had Lyrical changes so the songs would help tell the story. Oh What A Night is the perfect example.

Its not a concert. Its a story, a very interesting, very complex story, and it is one that gives John Loyd Young a run for his money every night!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:43pm

Because it has music, songs , lyrics, dancing etc etc

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 8:48pm

I agree with people who answer, "because the songs DO advance the plot"... however I think it's a bit deeper than that. I seem to remember reading some interview where it was suggested that the show would stand up on it's own without the songs. True, Marshall Brickman and Rick Ellis have turned out a VERY strong bio-play, but I think it just wouldn't work the same way without the music. By the time you get to "Sherry", 40 minutes of the show have gone by and you've witnessed these four guys struggle their way to a hit record. We're rooting for the guys to make it, and if they didn't burst forth with "Sherry" at that point, the scene would seem hollow- no payoff.

A musical, in the traditional sense, should do the same thing. The songs are organic and come from a very personal place within the characters. Just because the four Jersey Boys break in to an oldies hit that everyone knows doesn't HAVE to cheapen the moment. Frankie, Tommy, Bob and Nick are absolutely BLOWN AWAY that this is happening to them- and the exhuberance of the actors' performances expresses this. When you've been struggling since your teens to get people to even listen to you play, it's quite a coup to suddenly be selling millions of records and performing for Ed Sullivan's audience.

So, yes. To me, Jersey Boys is a musical and succeeds wildly where it's other "jukebox brothers" have failed. You can dismiss it if you want to, but you don't know what you're missing.

[kaboodles041]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:38pm

I agree with most of the above. The music is JB certainly helps to develop the plot. As has been said, alot of the music the Four Seasons wrote remarkably matches what was happening in their real lives, so hence it does help to further the plot since the musical is about the band's rise.
Off topic--but please, I have to say this: JB is not the first and only great jukebox musical!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:46pm

So we need a "new" category,
"Best play with old music used to advance the plot even though the songs were not written for that purpose"
DROWSY and JERSEY are so different.
It's just a matter of what the voters liked better.
I liked DROWSY
but JERSEY is certainly a Musical in the new sense of Broadway.
Updated On: 6/5/06 at 10:46 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 11:56pm

Wow, I think you all got the question wrong. First, I wasn't ripping Jersey Boys - I don't care for the show, but I don't hate it - I was just asking: What makes something a musical? I changed the title of the thread to get more attention, which it did. I don't care that Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical, they don't bother me. I was just asking, what makes something a musical. I don't care that the songs are recycled. Just a question. Put your rifles away.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:04am

The category at the Golden Globes is not Best musical/comedy it is Best musical OR comedy.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:16am

First off, a musical IS a type of a play. So to all of you who say, "I hate when people say [insert musical] is my favorite play" - get a grip!

Secondly, JB is as much a musical as GYPSY and Frank Valli is now as much a character as Mama Rose.

To jdixon - that would be LENNON. "Jersey Boys" is like the movie "La Bamba" that goes through the life of the artisit(s) and using their music. Much like DREAMGIRLS in some ways.

There is no rule that the music has to be played live to make a show a musical. That's why CONTACT (as much as we may hate this fact) is a musical.

Why are shows like SOUVENIR and MASTER CLASS not musicals? Because they are straight plays. I am sure there is a certain amount of the show that has to be comprised of music to make it a technical musical.

But let's look at Brecht. His stuff is full of music. Yet people refer to 3PO as a musical, but GOOD WOMAN as a play. And 3PO has a lot more music.

The point is, it's up to the author or the producer how it's billed. SOUVENIR isn't a musical because the music wasn't written for the show and the author wants to focus on the written word with the music as an added bonus.

If the music isn't used to move the story or plot, then it really is NOT a musical.

JB's music DOES move the plot. And if you've seen it, you would know the show is about the music.

Updated On: 6/6/06 at 12:16 AM