| On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:53 am EDT 08/26/19 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:43 am EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| From TV to film to video games to pop music to art direction in print media and advertising, words like retro, vintage, and old school dominate the trendlines. Neo-soul production made Amy Winehouse an international superstar when she released an album that legit sounded like it could have been left in a profanity-stained trunk in 1964. From the Todd Haynes film "Far From Heaven" to promo ads for Netflix's "Stranger Things," TV and film have dozens of examples of productions that not only depict a previous era, but aim to do so with the look, feel, and production values of the time. In musical theatre, when contemporary composers and lyricists attempt to create songs that sound like recreations of a previous era, most readers here probably know that we call that pastiche. Classic examples of pastiche are the songs from the "Loveland" sequence (and others) in FOLLIES, some of the new tunes that Jeanine Tesori composed for THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, as well as others from THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, DAMES AT SEA, songs from A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD / A NIGHT IN THE UKRAINE, and lots of others. They're written by modern composers, but they sound like they could have been written in a previous time. Although we've had a handful of recent musicals that comment on, spoof or reference previous eras -- say, the way much of SOMETHING ROTTEN, SPAMALOT or THE PRODUCERS do -- here's what I don't see: someone trying to write, produce, and mount a new musical that earnestly feels like it might have been written and produced during Broadway's Golden Age. (And let's not get stuck on technicalities. For the sake of this thread, let's say that the Golden Age is roughly 1943-1959.) Keyword: EARNEST. If there's any big lesson that HAMILTON should have taught us, it was the fact that audiences are fully ready to buy in fully to the earned emotions of a musical, and no winking asides are necessary. The hit revival of HELLO, DOLLY! maintained that same earnestness and went over like gangbusters. If someone had a great story to tell, I'm convinced that a show in the style of Rodgers & Hammerstein II, Lerner & Loewe, Frank Loesser, or Bock & Harnick could be a massive hit. Here's my question: is anyone trying to write that kind of material? Is there anyone out there who could? And if they did, would we respect them? When I listen to Mark Ronson's production on Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black," or the Wham! inspiration on Charlie Puth's production on "Done for Me," or Alan Menken's "An American in Paris" pastiche on "The Big Olive" within the soundtrack to Disney's "Hercules," I sit back and admire their attention to detail. I know how HARD it would be to write music that even got anywhere near the memorable tunefulness of the Golden Age, not to mention the cleverness and ease with a lyric that Hammerstein II, Lerner and Harnick brought to their work. But someone could do it. Who? And would we pay to see a show like that? - GMB |
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