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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 04:57 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 04:52 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - MattPhilly 04:09 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| If there's any time when the moment is ripe, it's gotta be now, and it's especially the kind of thing we could do in America. We're all feeling pretty emotionally in-tune these days. But musicals are the perfect vehicle to explore those emotions, and the Golden Age's format plays right into our vulnerability. The reality is that the 'buy in' for an audience to suspend disbelief during a musical is the transition from spoken scene into song, and that transition was both an innovation and eventual convention of the American musical comedy / musical drama, popularized during our Golden Age. We are tremendously lucky -- as Americans, especially -- that we're so steeped in musicals now that huge masses of audience members will happily join in that journey to song, provided that the writers convince us that they know what they're doing. Our cultural adeptness in this area is breathtaking, really... even casual audiences who don't see a whole lot of musicals can instinctually feel when a song's coming on. And if it's good, they're on board. So I would LOVE to see writing that really feels like it might have been written during that period. It's an insanely high bar. Virtually no one is even attempting to put the focus on melody the way those writers did. Are there talented composers who might adapt their style for the work? Probably. The harder part would be finding a lyricist who could do it. Because if you really go back and look at those lyrics -- for the best of them -- there's a surprise rhyme or unexpected twist on nearly every stanza. Today's lyricists are rarely so ambitious; we're lucky if the lyrics even scan on the melody correctly and manage to sound like a unique character's voice. So that's what I'm dreaming of: great writing that honors and replicates the style of that era. And I'd love all the other conventions of the time: scenes 'in one,' any number of endless reprises of the best melodies, a full overture and entr'acte played by a full orchestra. And heck, If this could be matched with extended dance sequences and highly stylized choreography, that would be terrific, but that may be asking a bit too much! - GMB |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Last Edit: keikekaze 07:37 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 07:34 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - GrumpyMorningBoy 04:52 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| I too am extremely fond of the whole kit of "classic" musicals, from the full orchestras playing the six-minute overtures to the 32-voice choruses to the scenes and songs "in one." But it isn't really necessary to write Fifties pastiche to write a good musical--not even a good musical of the kind you're describing. What you want (I think) is the wit, the literacy, the daring, the cheek, the imagination and the satire so often applied to the contemporary world in Fifties musicals to be applied to the contemporary world of the 21st century--but melodically, and with lyrics that scan and rhyme properly. That's what I want, anyway. And actually, it's the melodic music and the cleverly, properly constructed and still character-driven lyrics that are the ***easy*** part. They're not as hard as all that to write, and there are always at least dozens of people working who are capable of doing it at a Broadway level. (If the writing were as hard as all that, there would not have been dozens of different people in the Forties and Fifties capable of doing it so well.) It doesn't require "genius"--just literacy, verbal dexterity, application, and the determination not to settle for the first thing that falls into your head. Right now, we've got Yazbek, Michael Korie, Scott Frankel, Jeffrey Stock, Susan Birkenhead and others already named in this thread, as well as many more people, no doubt, that I'm not aware of. Yes, I'd love to see that type of musical come back. It will come back, I think, when there's an audience that demands it. The audience in the Forties and Fifties didn't want to see the same old Shubert operettas anymore--or anybody else's operettas. That audience demanded new (more than anything), and if they also got ground-breaking and genre-expanding as well, then so much the better. We'll see the next big step forward in Broadway musicals when the audience demands it. That may happen when they get tired of the same old Lloyd Webber operettas, the pointless Disney/kiddie musical commodities, and the ancient song catalogues of decrepitating pop idols. |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 07:58 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - keikekaze 07:34 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Great thoughts. I agree that both you and I do want that level of writing, and if we're fair to the guy, that level of writing is exactly why HAMILTON became such a smash success. The writing really is that good. But Lynn Ahrens always talks about how the restrictions and limitations of a genre are what invite real creativity; artists who are only given 3 colors of crayons are forced to get more creative than those who get all 64. And that's why I'd enjoy seeing some of the writers you mention -- or others whom I may not be familiar with -- try to do it. I'd love to see them write within the restrictions of a previous era. If I'm honest with myself, what I really really really want are are gorgeous melodies. I have a hard time understanding why some of our greatest living melodists -- John Williams, Paul McCartney -- don't write musicals. - GMB |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:18 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - GrumpyMorningBoy 07:58 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| It may be that Williams and McCartney don't have a lot of interest in writing musicals. Williams did write one, Thomas and the King, produced in 1975 in the West End. It flopped. Writing musicals is tough, it's collaborative, composers often have to put their egos aside for the good of the show. It's not for everyone. You work hard for at least a year, often for several years, and it flops. I think it's easy to understand why Williams hasn't written another. The surprise isn't that more people don't write them. The surprise is that so many people do. | |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:48 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - AlanScott 08:18 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Totally had no idea about that John Williams musical. Wow. We've certainly seen any number of talented melodists try, right? I think Paul Simon is a damn good songwriter. I'd say the same for Sting. And the dudes from ABBA. Alas. I'd probably label some of the flaws of KINKY BOOTS, AIDA, BIG RIVER, and THE SECRET GARDEN as rookie mistakes that are only to be expected from pop writers, and I'd probably attribute those shows' successes to be more the result of a great team of collaborators rather than the pure strength of the composition. But to bring this back to the original topic, nearly ALL of those pop writers -- when interviewed about why they wanted to write a musical -- referenced growing up with musicals from the Golden Age and always dreaming how much they'd love to write a musical one day. I hate to say it, but I really do still feel like that output represents the purest and best version of the art form. - GMB |
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| For the record, Paul McCartney IS writing a musical | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:25 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Link | Variety: Paul McCartney Has Been Secretly Writing 'It's a Wonderful Life' Musical |
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| WHOA! I hadn't seen this! That's exciting! (nm) | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:57 am EDT 08/29/19 | |
| In reply to: For the record, Paul McCartney IS writing a musical - WaymanWong 03:25 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| nm means nasty misterpotter | |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: MattPhilly 06:05 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - GrumpyMorningBoy 04:52 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| I agree with you on all of this, and yes, the time is now to do it! One of the reasons I love the Golden Age musicals is that they are such well fleshed out stories with great characters, not to mention the music that enhanced those stories. Let's hope that some musical theatre makers are reading this thread! | |
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