The genre of "jukebox" musicals has related precedents going back even further than has been mentioned so far in this stream. One of the earliest forms of musical theater in this country was "ballad operas", that were performed in the United States even before it was the United States. These ballad operas originally came from England, and the writers generally took parts of familiar popular songs of the day (and some classical pieces), gave them new lyrics, and incorporated them into an original story. The most popular of these was "The Beggar's Opera" in the mid 1700's. Of course, many decades later its basic plot and characters appeared once again with totally different music and lyrics in "The Threepenny Opera"
We're so fortunate that over the last couple of centuries, musical theater has developed, advanced and expanded into the incredibly original and varied art form that it is. Though it's true that many contemporary jukebox musicals are of high quality and are very entertaining, I'm saddened and disappointed by the current diminishing quantity, quality and popularity of musicals with original music and lyrics that get produced on Broadway these days. And there have been and are some really good ones out there. Thank goodness for regional theater. |
