|
(The images below are thumbnails – click on them
to see larger versions.)
Jukebox Triumphant
Audiences cheered for Jersey Boys (2005 - 2,300+ perfs, still
running), a thinly dramatized
collection of pop hits introduced by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, but
some in the profession expressed concern when this show became
the first jukebox musical to win the Tony for Best Musical.
This pleasant tuner would delight suburbanites and tourists for years to come. Its main
rival was The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 - 674 perfs), a spoof of 1920s musicals that
bore no real resemblance to its supposed targets. A handsome adaptation of the
hit novel and film The Color Purple (2005 - 910 perfs) was
plot-heavy, but a promising score and generous publicity (courtesy of producer
Oprah Winfrey, who plugged the musical on her popular daytime talk show) helped
keep the show running strong for more than a year.
And several failures drew attention. Few mourned when
Andrew Lloyd Webber's mawkish The Woman in White
(2005 - 109 perfs) and Disney's earthbound adaptation of the animated Tarzan
(2006 - 486 perfs) both lost millions of dollars. And there was positive
glee when Elton John's unimaginative score helped bury the vampire musical
Lestat (2006 - 39 perfs). The spectacular failure of Shonberg &
Boublil's dreary The Pirate Queen (2007 - 85 perfs) verified the
public was no longer buying the old megamusical formula either. And Mel Brooks
stumbled with an uninspired adaptation of his own Young Frankenstein (2007 - 484
perfs). Was the endless stream of Broadway musicals based on films finally
coming to an end? Like a breath of fresh air, America's growing Latino
population made a long overdue appearance with In the Heights (2008 -
1,184 perfs), which took actor-songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda from
off-Broadway obscurity to Tony-winning fame with a salsa-infused score and tons
of critical approval.
And a Little Child Shall Lead Them . . .
A spunky little musical called [title of show] (2008 - 102 perfs) that
featured its two authors spouting musical theatre in-jokes took an innovative
approach. It parlayed several brief runs off-Broadway into an avalanche of
low-cost internet publicity, but once on Broadway could not find a substantial
audience. A heavy-handed adaptation of the animated film Shrek
(2008 - 441 perfs) had trouble filling seats.
On the other hand,
audiences packed the tuneless but energetic adaptation of Billy Elliot
(2008 - 1,100+ perfs, still running), which had three talented young actors alternating in
the role of the poor coalminer's son who dreams of studying ballet. While this
British import won the Tony for Best Musical, the awarrds for score and book
went to Next to Normal (2008 - 733 perfs), a native born show
about a family facing emotional meltdown set to a powerful rock beat.
Although no one dared say it, Broadway had just offered a full season in
which no successful new musical featured traditional showtunes. Those were heard in
Patti Lupone's exciting revival of Gypsy (2008 - 332 perfs), a
superb restoration of Rogers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (2008 -
996 perfs), and a coolly-received bilingual revival of West Side Story (2008 -
748 perfs). But the presence of these Golden Age shows merely made the change
all the more apparent. After a reign of more than a century, the showtune was now a
dinosaur, even on Broadway. With tourists making up more than 60 percent of
its audience, the Broadway musical resigned itself to being little more than
another tourist trap -- like the soul-less floor shows of Las Vegas, but with
occasional sparks of invention.
Christmas Annuals
New York has a long tradition of annual productions associated with the holiday
season, most notably the annual Christmas Show at radio City Music Hall, and the
Madison Square Garden Theatre's musical version of A Christmas Carol that ran
through the 1990s. But the mid-2000s saw two musicals make repeat appearances on Broadway as
holiday season events. Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas
(2006/2007) was a charming adaptation
of the classic children's story. And Irving Berlin's White Christmas
(2009/2010) turned a popular 1954 film into a critic-proof crowd pleaser. Elf
(2010) proved profitable with no major stars and weak reviews -- the well
known film title sold tickets.
(As the story goes on, more will be added.)
Next: And the Future?
|