Pop culture and Broadway. They have a long history together; Broadway tunes became radio hits over a hundred years ago, and stories that originated on the stage were turned into some of the earliest “Moving Pictures”. More recently, box-office hits at the movies have been transformed into Broadway musicals (and sometimes – see Hairspray) right back again. Stars of the screen have become marquee names at Broadway houses, and many of the most accomplished film actors got their starts on the New York stage.
However, there remains a divide – brought into the spotlight in recent days after Randy Jackson, for the umpteenth time, dismissed a contestant on American Idol as “too Broadway” for the competition. He spouted the critique “show tunes turn me off” and continued, “you know what I hate about all musicals? It brings out that vibrato-o-o-o-o-o” (a mockery of what he considers to be a “Broadway” voice).
Broadway’s stalwarts weren’t taking it lying down. My twitter newsfeed (which consists entirely of people & entities related to the theatre world) exploded with indignation. “How dare he?” was a common sentiment, as was “That dawg is crazy”! But the loudest objection came from Betty Buckley, the Tony-winning actress known for Cats, Pippin, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
In 140-character bursts, Betty went on a rant aimed specifically at Randy Jackson and the producer of Idol, Nigel Lithgow, whom Betty apparently held somewhat responsible for the frequent use of “Broadway” as an insult on Idol. Included in her lengthy commentary were the statements “I am sick & tired of Randy Jackson bashing what they think is Bway singing!”, “By these constant disses he is tellin' Amer. kids that Bway is some kind of inferior art form,” and “‘Dog’, your opinion is whack & uninformed!”
Again, my twitter feed blew up – but this time with retweets and “Amens” to Ms. Buckley. And the support didn’t stop there. The New York Post picked up the story, and the New York Times referenced it as well.
Suddenly, Randy was on blast in a very public way, leading to a public statement (“I love [Betty Buckley], I also love broadway, I am a huge broadway fan,”) via his own twitter feed.
It was Howard Sherman, theatre pundit and former Executive Director of the American Theatre Wing, who tweeted “The irony is that while American Idol disses Bway, so many of their final contestants aspire to work there...and do.” I was reminded of a column I wrote during last year’s American Idol competition, titled aptly “American Idol and Broadway".
In it, I pointed out that the first nine seasons of Idol all introduced talent that would come to Broadway or had already been there, from Tamyra Gray (RENT) to Adam Lambert (Wicked). Not to mention Jennifer Hudson, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of a classic theatre role, Effie White, in the movie version of Dreamgirls – and Katherine McPhee, currently starring as a Broadway actress on the new hit TV show, Smash.
Which brings me to my point.
It’s time for shows like American Idol and its NBC counterpart, The Voice, to fully embrace what the TV-viewing (and contest-voting) public already has: that musical theatre has exploded out of its niche and become, unquestionably, a mainstream form of pop entertainment.
