stupid stupid people

i just read a book that described in extensive detail the fall of american musical theater. It was 500 pages of why no musical will ever live up to the standards of A Chorus Line and West Side Story.

Theres a whole chapter about how into the woods was the beginning of the fall of theater. THE FALL OF THEATER???

That is total crap! Who out here has this mentality? The author was a dancer and apperently if a show had no dancing, it wasn't a musical, in his book.

Does anyone agree with me? Margo? can you please say something intelligent?

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I'd like to know how Into the Woods, of all shows, could be considered the start of the fall of musical theater.

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How freekin STUPED is that!!!???OH MY GOD!!!!! I'm a dancer more than anything and would NEVER say anything bad about a show JUST becouse it did not have dancing!!!!

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Maybe just some bitter person wanted to write that book....but saying into the woods was the fall of theatre is just an opinion.

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just did
sorry, it was a heat of the moment kinda thing

I bet the guy was just pissed he didn't get cast

Updated On: 7/29/04 at 12:35 AM

wow etoile thats deep... but honestly, of all shows, why into the woods?

Sounds like an unfortunate book to me. Why must people forget that theatre must evolve? That theatre goes through cycles?

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Hey Bobo,

Could you give me the title and author of the book when you get a chance (it sounds vaguely familiar but I'm having trouble placing it)?

Such assessments are always subjective. No matter what the person's credentials, it's only an opinion, and no matter how well informed the author might seem to be, his basic hypothesis sounds rather overstated and not terribly well-reasoned. I'd like to read his entire argument before I pass judgment on it.

From the few lines you mentioned, he seems to be arguing that musical theatre as an artform has stagnated and failed to produce any new and noteworthy creations in the 15 or so years since INTO THE WOODS. You know, it's always difficult to evaluate individual works as well as larger trends that may be occurring in the present day, in terms of how they compare to the great works and trends of the past (it usually takes several years to see the significance of a particular contemporary work in the context of history). But, before I launch into some broad critique of his points, let me read his entire analysis.

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Updated On: 7/29/04 at 05:00 AM

"How freekin STUPED is that!!!???OH MY GOD!!!!!"

Do you mean "freakin' STUPID"?

I'm with Margo. Title and author would help immensely.

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well, I didn't post a title and author cause i didn't want to give it any sort of publicity. and because i dont really remember. It was Musical Tour something or other. Ill find it out at the library and check it back out, i suppose.

And Etolie, how glad i am you came to post on my thread. You know i always enjoy what you have to say to me. I didn't really read the book the whole way through. I would read it, get annoyed, then jump pages to find the "just kidding" by the author. Never found one. I didn't read every page. And i would hardly call being informed on someone elses opinion, however vastly different it is than mine, stupid.

And from what i remember, the basic reasons why it was the decline was some vauge idea about it being boring and there is no dancing. Negitivity does not become you.

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The main thing is that people have been predicting the fall of musical theater since the rise of musical theater. The form is not even 100 years old (if you count 1927--Show Boat--as the beginning of what we know as musical theater). But its death is constantly predicted, even by people like Sondheim. I'm just glad that Broadway continues to prove everyone wrong, year after year.

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