But IT IS KNOWN BY MANY MASSES. Perhaps not "THE masses" that you seem to insist include all people.
But name be 10 musicals written after 1970 that are known to the masses.
-Les Miserables, perhaps the most popular musical ever written, ran forever, and currently running and recently made into a big movie
-Phantom of the Opera... same
-Cats, because of bad reputation and long long run on Broadway
-Miss Saigon maybe...
...and... what?
-Wicked... that might be it, and Wicked isn't something everyone's heard of for good reason either.
Maybe The Producers. And Book of Mormon maybe. Monster monster hits, and 4 of the 7 I just listed are currently running.
Into the Woods is one of the few that people do actually know the name of from the past 30 years who didn't see it on Broadway.
Also, Sound of Music, West Side Story, and Grease have not only been around for many more decades, they are also three of the most popular musicals and movie musicals OF ALL TIME. Of course 99% of the population is going to have heard of them.
The fact that you are here comparing Into the Woods to The Flower Drum Song as your argument makes me really think you're just unwilling to see the reality.
No one is claiming Into the Woods is as beloved or popular as the obvious ones you listed. Nothing is. To be "beloved" you don't have to be at the level of Sound of Music and WSS or you're just not beloved. I'm not trying to argue that Assassins is "beloved"... but for a show that didn't even run 2 years originally, and a show that had no stars and no movie for the last 27 years, it is still one of the most performed and known of shows of the last 30 years, easily. If you don't think love of the show isn't part of that, then I think you're just refusing to acknowledge reality or you are arguing of semantics.
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