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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 09:22 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 09:12 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - MockingbirdGirl 08:13 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| Definitely a semi-defense... and more of a self-defense of the critic's role in reviewing jukebox musicals. I saw a great jukebox musical at the Minnelli widescreen festival at Metrograph last week, KISMET, based on the Borodin catalogue. It was complete orientalist kitsch which I found pretty irresistable in the hands of Minnelli and his cast. It got me thinking that most of the deals behind these jukebox musicals are quite unimaginative and mostly reflect the audience that they hope to capture. There are a lot of catalogues out there that could make great musicals but which are not obvious catnip to a contemporary Broadway demographic (and I'm not talking about just classical music) but perhaps it's better to leave them alone. |
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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:57 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - singleticket 09:12 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| I'm not sure that on any level I would call Kismet a jukebox musical. Even if we open up the definition to include non-pop musical styles such as classical, there's not really enough Borodin in the score IMO. (A good number of the songs are based on musical themes, but then developed into popular song forms using additional music by Wright and Forrest. For instance, only the A section of "Stranger In Paradise" is Borodin.) | |
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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 07:16 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 07:08 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - Chromolume 05:57 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| there's not really enough Borodin in the score IMO I'm sure you're right. I don't know the Borodin sources well enough to say. Check this out: Robert Wright and George Forrest had adapted classical music for shows and pop songs before (Grieg for Song of Norway and Rimsky-Korsakov for the film Balalaika), but Borodin was actually their third choice for Kismet. And, fortunately for them, by the time they finished writing, Borodin’s music had come into the public domain so they wouldn’t have to pay royalties. As it turned out, they filed their copyright on Kismet the very day that the copyright on Borodin’s music expired. |
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| Link | Behind the All-Stars: Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances |
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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Posted by: downtownlw 12:28 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - singleticket 09:12 am EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| I don’t see what the problem is. People forget that there was an era when show tunes were the popular tunes of the day. Recording artists were rushing to record the next hit from Broadway. That’s where some of the best song writers worked. It’s just the other way around now. I love to see a brand new, original musical but if they keep doing shows like Moulin Rouge, I’m there! | |
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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:38 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - downtownlw 12:28 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| "I don’t see what the problem is. People forget that there was an era when show tunes were the popular tunes of the day. Recording artists were rushing to record the next hit from Broadway. That’s where some of the best song writers worked. It’s just the other way around now." I understand your point, and I don't completely disagree. But of course, there is a fundamental difference between (1) songs that were originally conceived to be part of the storytelling of golden-age musicals and wound up becoming pop hits also, and (2) pop hits that were written as stand-alone songs and are now being shoved into musicals, with plots written around them. (I'm not talking here about the bio-musical sub-genre, which is a different matter.) Some people would argue that this is where the problem lies. |
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| re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals | |
| Posted by: ashleylm 02:16 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Brantley offers a (semi-)defense for jukebox musicals - Michael_Portantiere 12:38 pm EDT 09/04/19 | |
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| pop hits that were written as stand-alone songs and are now being shoved into musicals, with plots written around them. While we're splitting hairs (fun!) there's also, to my mind, a big difference between writing plots around Abba or Billy Joel's greatest hits (Mamma Mia, Movin' On) or writing plots around any song from anybody at any point in time, so long as it works for the plot (Moulin Rouge). In one case you have to uncomfortably contort your plot/characters to fit, but in the other case you can easily pick useful, appropriate songs--if I remember correctly, Moulin Rouge ranged from Offenbach to Nirvana. |
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