Wednesday, January 11, 2006
I shudder for 42nd St. Moon...75 years from now
Seriously.
When the year is 2080, and the futuristic 42nd St. Moon is looking to the early '00s for inspiration and lost classics...what will they find?
The reviews coming in for San Francisco's latest look at a pre-Broadway tour, Lestat, indicate it won't be, well, Lestat.
Nor the Mambo Kings. Nor Lennon. Nor In My Life.
And I still haven't named a musical that isn't either a movie remake or a jukebox musical. Even the hits, The Producers, Hairspray, Jersey Boys...movies and jukeboxes.
At least when they did jukebox musicals in the 30s they were original songs written for the musical. (I'm not even going to go there that the songwriters were Gershwin, Porter and Berlin, not the Four Seasons or Mel Brooks.)
I'm not trying to be a snob, but I'm really struggling to create a list of fine original works since the year 2000 (here's a list of what's currently playing if you want to pitch in and help):
The Light in the Piazza (based on a novella, that's OK.) This will definitely be a classic musical in 50 years.
Avenue Q...highly original, just not sure the puppeting requirement will be encouraging to lots of theatres putting it on 50 years from now.
Is the Color Purple supposed to be good?
So, help me out: What is 42nd St. Moon ca. 2080 going to have on its season?
(And if you can't think of anything post Y2K I'll let you use the 90's.)
When the year is 2080, and the futuristic 42nd St. Moon is looking to the early '00s for inspiration and lost classics...what will they find?
The reviews coming in for San Francisco's latest look at a pre-Broadway tour, Lestat, indicate it won't be, well, Lestat.
Nor the Mambo Kings. Nor Lennon. Nor In My Life.
And I still haven't named a musical that isn't either a movie remake or a jukebox musical. Even the hits, The Producers, Hairspray, Jersey Boys...movies and jukeboxes.
At least when they did jukebox musicals in the 30s they were original songs written for the musical. (I'm not even going to go there that the songwriters were Gershwin, Porter and Berlin, not the Four Seasons or Mel Brooks.)
I'm not trying to be a snob, but I'm really struggling to create a list of fine original works since the year 2000 (here's a list of what's currently playing if you want to pitch in and help):
The Light in the Piazza (based on a novella, that's OK.) This will definitely be a classic musical in 50 years.
Avenue Q...highly original, just not sure the puppeting requirement will be encouraging to lots of theatres putting it on 50 years from now.
Is the Color Purple supposed to be good?
So, help me out: What is 42nd St. Moon ca. 2080 going to have on its season?
(And if you can't think of anything post Y2K I'll let you use the 90's.)
// posted by ElisaC @ 8:58 AM 
