Would a musical adapted from Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer" work?

[Huey's Pop]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 10:19pm

Seems to me the movie has some great songs that could be translated to the stage. Comments?



Updated On: 1/27/15 at 10:19 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 10:20pm

Who knows?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 10:47pm

I do.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:46am

We haven't had a show featuring blackface for a while, would be interesting to see how that goes over!

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:51am

I am tired of juke box musicals. If he was to write a show with new songs about another subject like Sting than I might be interested in it.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:55am

How would taking an existing movie that features original music and putting it onstage be a jukebox musical?

[JayG 2]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:55am

Original poster must be very young and weaned on junkbox musicals. To suggest that the theater needs another one is preposterous. Hello, they are killing (have killed?) the original American musical.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 9:58am

I think the quotes truncated the title, wasn't the suggestion that they bring Neil Diamond's The Jazz Singer movie to Broadway? Not a Neil Diamond jukebox show.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:00am

Did not see title of movie, like you said later it must have been truncated.

[Huey's Pop]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:12am

Lol. The original poster is on medicare!!

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:28am

Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer"?

Really? It was a remake of Al Jolson's 1927 movie of the same name, which was famously the first big hit "talkie" and heralded the end of silent movies.

Both are based on "The Day of Atonement" a play by Samson Raphaelson.

But, to the OP's question. Yes, a musical based on that story could make a great stage musical.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:32am

No.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:49am

To Jay G

Jukebox musicals are not killing theater. Mama Mia & Jersey Boys keep on running and running and one after another original musicals & screen to stage musicals open an close quickly. Blaming jukebox musicals is like convicting someone of murder on circumstantial evidence. Stratospheric prices are killing theater more. If there were no discounts available to any shows and everyone had to pay full price, how would attendance be than?

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 10:54am

The jukebox stuff was because BWW doesn't like double quotes in thread titles, so "The Jazz Singer" wasn't appearing on the main board or in here as a subject line earlier this morning. It is back now.

What show that isn't a hit is charging stratospheric prices, though? I think some shows use pricing strategically, if you price it a bit high, you sell a chunk of the house, but then if you knock 40% off, you're still getting a good chunk of change and people think they are getting a deal. It is the new MSRP.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 11:19am

To Roxy,
Prices are ridiculous but they are not killing the theater. Attendance was up this past year if I recall. When I say KILLING theater I mean killing the quality of musical theater. Mamma Mia, Motown, and Rock of Ages are perfect examples of dreck that have run for years, monopolized theaters and have bred similar garbage. Jersey Boys, I guess, is slightly better than those two, but hardly makes a case for musical theater originality prospering.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 11:32am

"When I say KILLING theater I mean killing the quality of musical theater. Mamma Mia, Motown, and Rock of Ages are perfect examples of dreck that have run for years, monopolized theaters and have bred similar garbage. Jersey Boys, I guess, is slightly better than those two, but hardly makes a case for musical theater originality prospering."

It makes you wonder about the average theater person seeing shows. Shows you mentioned run forever and high quality shows like "Spring Awakening", "Billy Elliot" etc close after a few years. I guess a bunch of people rather see a show with familiar music then take a chance on the "unknown" - lol

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 12:15pm

Go hang outside of Wicked, Phantom, etc., and listen how much English you hear being spoken... I mean, the Wicked lottery is roughly 60% Japanese... there is something to be said for a show people can sort out across a language barrier.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 12:24pm

Prices do enter into it. How much would attendance be up with no discounts at all with everyone paying full price? Take discounted tickets out of the mix and see what attendance is.

People know the music from Jukebox musicals.They go with what they know. Quality new musicals are dropping like flies. It cannot be blamed on jukebox musicals. If you have a limited amount of money to spend on theater, whether a city resident or tourist, you pick and choose what to see. You go with what you know. 5 years ago who would have thought $ 140 plus for a non musical?

We go but nowhere near as much as we used to. We pick and choose. Some shows we would normally have seen unfortunately went by the boards. That's life

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 12:28pm

"Prices do enter into it. How much would attendance be up with no discounts at all with everyone paying full price? Take discounted tickets out of the mix and see what attendance is."

So, if we imagine an alternate reality, your point is valid?!

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 1:52pm

Can't think of a time when the broadway musical has been healthier.
More theaters than every before.
Regularly 1/2 dozen shows near 100% for the week.
More shows running 5+ yrs.
More new productions with more new writing teams than ever before.

I realize R&H aren't around anymore. But, not even in the 1950's did you have the possibility to see as much great talent and diversity of shows as you do now.

When you look back all you remember is the best of each year/decade and there are more good ones in total in the past than are currently running. That is not a fair comparison. Look what was running at any one time in the past and compare it to what is running now and it compares very favorably in mho.

Until they invent time travel be greatful for what you've got, remember you could be stuck with broadway in the 80s!

Updated On: 1/28/15 at 01:52 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 1:58pm

I would take that any day of the week. You could see shows for a fraction of the cost now with no discounts.

I disagree but you are entitled to your opinion.Take all discounts away and make the same statement. We did not even go to etiquette or lack thereof.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 2:04pm

Diversity of shows? On Broadway? In what way is any Disney show any different from Wicked or Matilda. Where is the diversity when one musical after another awkwardly forces some old composer's song catalogue into a silly plot. Forget diversity, let alone creativity. Any open ended run is exclusively for musicals now. Dramas are gone. Can you imagine Death of a Salesman or Streetcar even being produced as an open ended run today. Not unless Linda Loman was played by Jennifer Lopez and Blanche DuBois by Hugh Jackman in crag.
We are at the bottom of creativity on Broadway. The producing cartels feed the masses junk food because that is what today's theatergoers thrive on. And their choices to not foster diversity. They want to be fed the same claptrap over and over because it is familiar and makes them feel warm and fuzzy. Challenging, diverse, creative theater has disappeared from Broadway and to believe otherwise is believing in fairies.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 2:32pm

When I say KILLING theater I mean killing the quality of musical theater.

You do know, of course, that there have ALWAYS been lousy, stupid and idiotic musicals. Don't you?

Even in the "Golden Age of Musicals," when there were MORE musicals, it didn't mean that all of them were good. As a matter of fact, there were more bad musicals back when there were more good musicals.

I have just three words for you: Bring. Back Birdie.

I have two more words for you: Pipe. Dream.

And one more: Flahooley.

"Bad" is nothing new on Broadway. There has been bad theater since Euripedes.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 2:38pm

Roxy has a point, but as per usual, it is made in a vacuum where Broadway is doing something unique here. But all forms of entertainment are experiencing the same thing. Which is why we get so many remakes of old horror movies and TV shows into movie franchises, why most movie budgets have to be either $500,000 or $150M, since the entire middle of the market has been gutted. Why we get 5 hit singles from one artist, because labels slashed through and dumped thousands of artists who weren't making enough money. Why book publishing is huge pushes for established authors and TV personalities, and everyone else is selling e-books. And on and on... so, Broadway is endemic of larger market forces affecting everything.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/27/15 at 3:06pm

Broadway cannot afford creativity. The landscape is littered with creativity. They close in a few months losing tons of money for investors

Broadway has become a cutthroat business. Not only is it survival of the fittest but those that should make it get tossed aside like yesterdays garbage.

Broadway is like a sideshow barker selling his attractions. When quality creative shows like Sideshow or The Last Ship cannot survive, producers start shying away from creativity & try to cater to the lowest common denominator.