Links to sites devoted to the American musical theatre
This is my Web treasure trove. If you love musicals as much as I do, this may become yours too.
By the way, I took this picture at the 1998 William Inge
Theatre Festival, which honored Stephen Sondheim. The 2002 Festival
honoring John Kander and the late Fred Ebb was also a great success.
The annual Inge Festival
is the most fun you can have in Kansas. For more info, go to their website.
You might want to start by browsing through the links in the following popup menu:
Here are some sites for several other Broadway composers and lyricists.
The well-known playwright Robert Anderson came up with the memorable quote, "The theatre is a place where you can't make a living, but you can make a killing." Today, Mel Brooks and Disney are among those in the latter category. See why for yourself:
The Producers,
even after 9/11 and the Henry Goodman debacle, continued as a
hit on Broadway, although replacement casts were never been able to
re-capture the magic of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick (whom I was
fortunate to see just one month after the show opened). The show has closed, but fear not--Mel's new musical (you guessed it--Young Frankenstein) will open soon.
Disney
Presents: The Lion King. The Mouse is roaring on 42nd Street (having moved from the New Amsterdam Theatre to make room for Mary Poppins)
with this incredibly popular live-action adaptation of the Disney animated
film. From
its opening in 1997
until the day The
Producers opened,
this was the hottest ticket
in town.
Both of these shows are based on successful films, and The Producers was
made into a film of the musical. Coincidence? Not really. Thoroughly
Modern Millie was a hit starring overnight star Sutton Foster (she's
currently starring in the improbably titled The Drowsy Chaperone).
Even more notably, Hairspray,
based on the John Waters film, instantly became the biggest hit on
Broadway, and it has also been remade as a film, with John Travolta playing Tracy Turnblad's mother. I saw the show on New Year's Day 2003, and it earned a
rare standing ovation from me. Standing ovations *should* be reserved
for special performances, not merely serving as a way to stretch
your legs or see over the person in front of you. The film-to-musical trend has continued with The
Color Purple, The Wedding Singer, High Fidelity, Legally Blonde, and...well,
you get the idea.
Another trend is that of the "jukebox musical," in which the
catalog of a famous songwriter or singer is turned into a musical score.
More
often than not great songs are forced to serve a bad show. Recent
examples ranging from mediocre to horrible include shows based on the
songs of Burt Bacharach, The Beach Boys, Earth, Wind, and Fire, John
Lennon, Elvis, and Johnny Cash. The outstanding counterexample is Jersey
Boys,
the 2006 Best Musical based on the lives and songs of Frankie Valli
and the Four Seasons. Listen to the original cast album and be reminded
of how many hits this group had.
Links to sites devoted to theatre (not necessarily musicals)