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| Bway - this TONY Season | |
| Posted by: bearcat 03:34 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
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| this might seem a rehash of what so many of us have been thinking and posting over the years, but I am struck in particular this theatre season how de trope so many Bway productions are. Shoo in for Best Play: Harry Potter. This is a "brand" in the public eye for at least two decades now. The fact that this permutation of the epic is written specifically for "the theatre" does not negate the regurgitation element here. Best Musical nominees: Spongebob, a redo of some prepubescent character who has a particular resonance with barely potty trained tween males; Mean Girls, based on an almost two decades old film, but a "property" that has been in the consciousness of tween females since as some sort of right of passage; Frozen, another Disney plop down with shoddy narrative progression and blithe (calculating) assurance that it would audiences are eager to see basically just a stage facsimile of the film. All of these "originating works" appear to be in the canon of what young people are reading and seeing for some time now. As for The Band's Visit: yes, it's based on a film; but the film is not that well known and the stage adaption appears to have a perspective particular to the theatre, so there is something fresh here (so many good musicals have been based on films, but truly 'adapted' not transcribed) I am speculating about a conversation between a married couple east of the Mississippi circa 1970. "you should have stayed up for Carson last night. He had some people on from a Bway show called Company, there were some girls singing like the Andrews sisters, but about their relationship with some guy with real problems in this day and age, it sounded a bit 'risque'. sounded really interesting. Maybe we can see it when we visit your sister in Connecticut. could be fun" I am also thinking about a season like the one in which Cabaret, I Do! I Do!, The Apple Tree, and Walking Happy were nominated for best musical. You had an innovative big musical, an innovative small musical with strong traditional elements, an innovative musical with elements of the zeitgeist and traditions of a smaller dimension, and a standard also ran which had its professionally diverting components. before Bway was the place where work got tested for its quality and appeal and then fanned out to the rest of the country-world. Now, it's the last stop on the road to some kind of overreaching cultural commodity before a property exhales its ultimate breaths. It confirms public tastes rather than expands them... |
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| re: Bway - this TONY Season | |
| Last Edit: EvFoDr 06:13 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 06:11 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
| In reply to: Bway - this TONY Season - bearcat 03:34 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
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| I don't disagree with you. In general I have found myself liking less and less in recent years, but wasn't sure if that was just me getting jaded or what. And unfortunately for me I was a not a fan of Hamilton so I didn't get to ride the wave of history-making and joy that it brought so many. But good for them. I don't need to pick it apart, it just didn't speak to me. I only mention it because I think for many it's a beacon of hope, but I feel like I don't get to share in that. I NEVER wanted to be that guy talking about the good old days. LOL. But hasn't it been true in every "phase"? People probably missed the no-thinking song and dance type shows that were replaced by the integrated R&H type shows of the golden age. Then rock started coming in, then the psychological probing of Sondheim type shows and people were missing the golden age. Then the British invasion. Then a return to more traditional musical comedy (a la The Producers), then the jukebox musicals and shows written by or based on albums of pop/rock artists. Now we seem to be in this heavily branded era. Generalizations, of course, as we also recently got totally original Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away. Although I was also sad to not have really like either of those very much. I try to imagine if I would like theatre if I were coming up with today's shows instead of during the British invasion, Into the Woods and the subsequent Sondheim discovery, Kander and Ebb. Plus seeing some of the classics via film and local productions (the usual suspects, Sound of Music, West Side Story, Gypsy). All things I LOVED so dearly and that set me on the theatre path for life. I noticed I stopped buying sheet music to Broadway shows (I've always enjoyed playing them on the piano for fun). The last two I purchased were Catch Me If You Can and A Christmas Story. Starting to ramble, but in sum it makes me think of Midnight in Paris, exploring the idea that each generation romanticizes the past as the better and richer era. |
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| re: Bway - this TONY Season | |
| Posted by: Ann 04:25 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
| In reply to: Bway - this TONY Season - bearcat 03:34 pm EDT 06/05/18 | |
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| I was talking with someone who has a middling bit of Broadway theatreviewing experience, but none lately - I listed off (all but one - forgot about Prince of Broadway) the new musicals of the season, and she said, "Wow, Broadway has really gone downhill, hasn't it?" | |
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