Just something I've been thinking about- Since Book of Mormon has become such a hit, don't you think writers would start trying to create new works in this style? I'm not saying they should copy them or even write similar scores, but obviously something about the show is working. I think its main asset is that it is everything a good old musical is/was but with brand new text and pop culture infused with a fantastic score. It seemed to just have the perfect team and concept at a great time, and look where it is now. They took the risk instead of trying to base it off of a movie or something else. You would think that this would have sparked at least a few new great shows. When shows like Ghost try to be too technological and too innovative it doesn't seem to connect if the show itself isn't good- something that all audience members can recognize. Don't you wish more new shows were up to par?
Maybe there are writers out there who may be creating the next big musical but I can't see that happening in such a short time as I would suspect the shows, or most of them, were scheduled to open this past season a year or so ago. So that is a short amount of time for a show to be written, get backing, find a theater, open and become a hit. Just my random thoughts.
This is a great question. I don't care much for this show,but it is a good musical.It's not another Les Mis or POTO but I respect it for it's originality. Sadly,I think the "cool" thing on broadway right now is to adapt movies into musicals. I think the mindset is "Why be original when I can just take a hollywood movie and add some songs to it".
"I think its main asset is that it is everything a good old musical is/was but with brand new text and pop culture infused with a fantastic score"
Exactly why This show is Succeeding. This show takes risks,while also being tasteful.The songs are ACTUALLY goood! Most new shows that come out these days have a lacking score and a good plot. BOM has a great score and a good plot.
I've learned that a show as big, popular & well written as Book of Mormon only comes along ever 10 years(or once a decade).
The 1950s had My Fair Lady, the 1960s had Hello, Dolly!, the 1970s had A Chorus Line, the 1980s had Cats, the 1990s had Rent, the 2000s had The Producers & the 2010s has The Book of Mormon.
That's a nice sentiment but it seems so oversimplified to suggest that only 6 musicals have been as "big, popular and well written" as THE BOOK OF MORMON..what about, WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY alone in the 50s? And I know it's 1949 but also SOUTH PACIFIC..I don't know. It just seems odd to condense "big, popular and well written" into those 6 musicals to me.
The next BoMs are probably out there, but how many of them have the resources that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had? They had money to burn and many years to incubate the show.
Considering the amount of time it takes for a new musical to make it to Broadway, I would think that just about everything opening on Broadway now had been in development before BoM became the phenomenon that it is. If it has any effect on the standard of new musicals, it'll be some time before we see it.
Also, remember that in the old days, Musical Theatre was still a big deal to the masses. The biggest names in entertainment wrote for the musicals, and the biggest stars did the musicals. In the past few years, musical theatre has had a little bit of a pop-cultural renaissance, but the only two "big names" to the public who have taken to the stage are Green Day and Parker and Stone. Even Green Day had written a rock opera and expanded it for the stage as an adaptation, so that's one step removed. For Parker and Stone, arguably the biggest names in comedy and satirical writing in the country, to write an original Broadway musical, is a big deal to America at large.
I don't agree that there is only one great show per decade. Few in the 1960s would have claimed that HELLO, DOLLY! was a better show than FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, to take but one example. (For the record, I personally prefer DOLLY, but it's hard to argue with FIDDLER's success.)
The 1950s had MY FAIR LADY, but it also had THE KING AND I. Etc. and so forth.
But even if one buys the one-great-popular-hit per 10 years premise, it's only 2012 and a little early to crown a king for this decade.
Even though it wasn't a big hit I was hoping that Caroline or Change would "set the new standard". It too is a brilliant show and in some people's opinion a masterpiece.
I am sure there are writers out there creating isky, fun, original works. But right now we are lacking great producers. I feel like the movie tie in thing feels safe and may also help lure investors, but anyone paying attention can see that basing a show off a film doesn't equate to box office. Yet, producers continue to go for musicals based on mediocre movies.
One thing BOM had was the ultimate in celebrity casting in that the creators were stars, and they could generate buzz. In addition, the use of musical numbers in South Park had cultivated an audience. They are also much more saavy than the typical producer these days.
The good news is that as one lame movie musical after another flops, even the dumbest will eventually look elsewhere for material. Hopefully, somehow, they will also grow a pair and take a shot at putting on something great instead of just something safe.
If you judge everything by comparisons, you will always be disappointed--and people will always argue with you anyway.
Why not just enjoy each one for what it is? (Or realize you just don't enjoy it at all.) Understand what each one's artistic aspirations are and decide for yourself whether the creators succeeded at realizing those aspirations--or not? (Or even surpassed them!) Enjoy each one's unique entertainment value, and see if it makes an emotional connection with you?
Some will simply not be to your taste--and don't be surprised if your tastes shift over time. In fact, look forward to it!
That way you can enjoy the lavish spectacle and the intimate chamber piece, the uproarious comedy and the touching slice of life, the satiric, the sincere, the powerful, the gentle, the strange, the wonderful, the dark, the light...the Stephen Sondheim, the Stephen Schwartz, the Jerry Herman, the Jerry Bock, the Frank Loesser, the Frank Wildhorn, the Wicked, the West Side, the Book of Mormon, the Once... Enjoy each one for what it is--or simply don't! But don't dismiss it for what it is not.
There is no ONE standard of musical. And wouldn't you be bored if there were?
1. If BOM were to have the effect you want you would not see it for many years as the avg broadway musical takes 7 yrs to get to broadway.
2. You assume that greatness equates to successful, never has never will. It is magic when a successful show happens to be great.
3. You assume the tastes won't change.
4. I found much of the BOM unnecessarily vulgar and offputting and I don't consider myself a prude. I will be seeing BOM a 2nd time in the spring so we will see how I feel then. It is a fun show and I enjoyed it and worthy of success, but I wouldn't put it in my top 10. I enjoyed "Spelling Bee" , "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Grey Gardens" more... to mention shows I've liked more on broadway in the last 6 years.
5. I can't believe the mention of CATS as one of the best shows of all time didn't get flamed!
It sounds like this may be a discussion about the difference between a good musical comedy (like Book of Mormon) and musical drama (Next To Normal, which I admit I find poor - but there are some who think it's great art).
It also seems like a large number of young musical theatre writers want, above all, to be seen as profound, turning out "artistic" pieces like Adding Machine or humorless works like Bonnie and Clyde. It feels as though I leave most musicals these days wishing they had some small speck of a sense of humor.
This may be why shows like Book of Mormon, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Producers, etc., feel like oases in a desert.
Personally, I think that musical theatre writers should try to avoid "being profound," unless they can do it unusually well and with a sense of humor (like Sondheim or William Finn).
I think that dismissing Book of Mormon so casually ignores the fact that it's a lot harder to write a good comedy than a drama.
It's the old Academy Award blind spot - because our culture doesn't have much of a sense of humor, we tend to disregard comedy in favor of drama, assuming (incorrectly, I think) that the latter is more significant and profound.
Personally, I would rather laugh than listen to a woman and her family shriek banalities at the top of their ranges about her bi-polar issues for two hours.
Well take a look at what's coming down the pipeline. "Nerds," which is finally going to make its way to Broadway, is fantastic with a very funny score. But you do have to realize how long it takes to get a musical to Broadway. I saw Nerds in 2007, and it probably won't make it to Broadway until next Spring. Good musicals take time, that's what makes them good.
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Posted: 9/13/12 at 05:29pm