Trust What You Know

Whether it’s based off a movie (Newsies), a jukebox musical with no new songs, (Rock of Ages), a revival (The Glass Menagerie), or a show that was once original, but has been playing for so many years that it’s become stale (Phantom of the Opera) it feels like there’s no new material on Broadway anymore. In a city like New York, bustling with fresh and innovative artists, countless underground performance spaces throughout the boroughs, and many of the world’s most renowned theatre conservatories, it seems a shame that we’ve come to such a standstill on the great white way.
Of course, new material is constantly being produced, and some wonderful shows such as the incredibly novel two-man musical, Murder for Two and the vaudevillian burlesque La Soiree are original works that were creative and successful in their smaller venues. Additionally, in the past few years there have also been shows that once were big Broadway hits but have moved off-Broadway, like the adult rated spoof on Sesame Street, Avenue Q or the hilarious prequel to Peter Pan, Peter and the Starcatcher. (Okay, this one is based on a book, but not one that is well known.) However, when it comes to the Broadway theatres, the vast majority of shows opening and sticking around are recognizable commodities. 



Broadway tourists

From November to January, New York City gets a flood of out-of-town visitors, and the general consensus (with the help of crafty, large budgeted advertisers) is that visitors who only have a short amount of time in the city will tend to trust that the best shows will be the biggest Broadway hits. This causes some of the better, albeit smaller, pieces to get easily overlooked. It is a running joke amongst people in the business that the only reason that The Phantom of the Opera, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, is the longest running Broadway show, is because it’s the longest running Broadway show.
Many people who know nothing about the other contenders assume that because it’s been running for so many years, it must be the best, which causes more people to see it, sales to go up, and therefore allows it to run longer. I am by no means suggesting that this classic is not worth seeing, it’s just not the only thing out there, and I think it’s a shame that a groundbreaking and emotionally powerful show like the Pulitzer prize and Tony Award winning Next to Normal (with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt) was only able to run for less than two years.
That being said, just because the material is not entirely original or trailblazing, does not mean it is going to inevitably be an uninteresting or timeworn production. Some of the best shows on Broadway right now come from other sources. The ever so popular Roald Dahl book (and later movie), Matilda, has been turned into a magical Broadway production. Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots, though based on a film and with a celebrity named attached, has edgy content and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Pippin may be a revival of a Broadway classic, but this production is incredibly different than ones in the past, thanks to its cirque-du-soleil-esque choreography. Another big hit this year was a revival of Rodger’s & Hamerstein’s Cinderella. This is not based on the Disney film, although that is where the story was most popularized. The production itself has a rather dark sentiment and has become most well known for its sets and costumes.

No chance of success

Just as a recognizable title does not necessarily amount to bad product, it certainly doesn’t automatically mean a good one either. After a stressful run, Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, based on the world famous and popular Marvel Comic Book franchise, finally announced that it is closing on Broadway. This show spent over $75,000,000 and went through an array of unfortunate errors, from stopping the show during previews to rewriting the entire script, not to mention actors getting severely injured on stage and even hospitalized. While Spiderman has, essentially, become the joke of Broadway, I will admit it was entertaining; the flying spectacle was definitely impressive, and it was one of the most inventive sets I had ever seen. Yet, I am not disappointed, as a Broadway devotee, that it is leaving town. It felt as if the producers were more interested in wowing the audience with stunts and artifice than creating a meaningful story and good music.
Disney tends to have a much larger budget than some of their competitors, which has allowed them to turn many of their most popular films into Broadway shows. Nevertheless, even within the realm of Disney, it is the quality productions that have had the most success and lasted the longest. Newsies, which is based of the 1992 Disney film, won the 2012 Tony Award for best choreography and best score. It deserved these awards along with the six other nominations the show received. Like any good Broadway/Disney experience, the audience spirits are bolstered.
The Lion King has been going strong for nearly seventeen years and it continues to enchant audiences. I would see it again and again just for the opening number alone. It was state of the art when it opened in 1997, and has stood the test of time. (Perhaps, this is what gave director Julie Taymore the confidence to spend so many millions on Spiderman.) Meanwhile, shows like The Little Mermaid, lasted for less than two years. While there were talented members in the cast, the overall production was poor. Tarzan, was also only on Broadway for a little over a year and closed after 486 performances due to low-ticket sales.
A major trend taking over Broadway today is the «jukebox musical.» The books of these show are new, but an artist or group has previously recorded all of the songs. Now, there are two types of jukebox musicals - those where actors portray the musicians whose songs they are singing, (Jersey Boys) and those where a story is crafted using the musician’s songs (like the long-running Mamma Mia or the short-lived American Idiot.) Mamma Mia has no original music (it is collection of songs by the band ABBA, strung together.) and the story does not have much substance; yet, the reason it has been running so long is because it pure entertainment and simply fun. Sometimes, people aren’t looking for quality art and just want a cathartic escape from reality for two and a half hours.
Motown is another example of a show that people see to hear pop soul songs of the past sung by talented musical theatre actors. The two shows that are getting the most praise right now, both through reviews and word of mouth, are A Night with Janis Joplin and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, featuring the stunningly talented singer, Jessie Mueller as Carole King. Like Jersey Boys, (the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), these two musicals convey the compelling stories behind the songs. Jersey Boys has been running for a little over eight years and continues to be a great success.

Theatre

While musicals may be the blockbusters of Broadway, staying around the longest, and raking in the largest audiences, they do not constitute all that’s on Broadway today. This season has been filled with considerable Shakespeare. Although the theatre community may perceive Shakespearian revivals differently than musical revivals or unoriginal works, it is interesting that here, too, the recognizable names are the most prevalent in the Broadway houses. Plays based on little known scripts are usually only commercially viable if they feature a celebrity. (In London, successful film actors will often appear in bit roles in West End productions, or even take parts in a fringe show, the British equivalent of Off-Broadway.) There’s Macbeth at Lincoln Center featuring Ethan Hawke, and Romeo and Juliet featuring Orlando Bloom. Both of these productions made contemporary choices in regards to costumes and modern technology, and yet the most talked about and highly regarded Shakespeare productions right now are Twelfth Night and Richard III which showcase the same company of men, sometimes performing both shows in the same day.
Forget modern, these productions are true to the original shows that you would have seen at Shakespeare’s Globe. The lead in both of these productions, Mark Rylance, may not be a movie star like Bloom and Hawke, but his utter talent is enough to keep audiences enraptured for a three-hour production in archaic verse. Because plays are already second to musicals, there is a little bit more leeway when it comes to new works. One of the best shows of the season was The Assembled Parties, a relatable tale about a Jewish family living on Manhattan’s upper West Side. This show even extended it’s run. A current big hit is, again, a revival of the classic The Glass Menagerie. It has been getting stellar reviews, but also was highly anticipated, given that this Tennessee Williams play is the favorite of many.
While it doesn’t look like the trend of unoriginal works taking the limelight is going away any time soon, there are some very exciting revivals and adaptations to look forward to for the rest of this season. The classic hit Les Miserables is returning to Broadway and will be opening this March, with a fresh young cast. Another favorite that is returning to Broadway is Cabaret featuring Broadway veteran Alan Cumming as the flamboyant Emcee. Disney is bringing Aladdin to the Broadway stage in March, filled with many new faces as well. It will be moving into the New Amsterdam Theater, which housed Mary Poppins for six-and-a-half years. There is a new musical we’re excited about, called Bullets Over Broadway. While the music is from the 1920s and the book by Woody Allen is based on the movie he directed in 1994, the play takes Broadway´s self-referentiality to hilarious extremes. The new Broadway musical Bullets is a play based on a movie about theatre people trying to put on a Broadway musical. The show features the talented and well-loved Zach Braff, the star of the movie Garden State and the hit TV show, «Scrubs.»
The beloved Hedwig And the Angry Inch is finally making its Broadway debut, after opening off-Broadway in 1998. This innovative work about a German transgendered singer named, «Hedwig» and her rock music band stars a celebrity well worth his clout, Neil Patrick Harris, as the lead. Although there are some completely new works coming along like If/Then (which will star two of the lead actors from the original Broadway cast of RENT), like the producers of today’s Broadway hit shows, we’re a little more confident about what we already know.     ●

Amelia Bienstock is a born-and-bred New Yorker who attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Columbia University School of Journalism. With a degree in theater studies, Amelia also writes and performs comedy at The Peoples Improv Theater in Manhattan.