What makes a Musical worth watching multiple times? I’d suggest the music is a key part of the equation.
It’s not by accident that Les Miserables has become the best attended show in recent years and the fact that there’s a huge Arena Tour taking place this year, which includes several performances at the Manchester Arena over the festive period, proves my point.
Les Miserables has a powerful story, but I doubt the show would be celebrating nearly 40 years in the West End if the music wasn’t so brilliant. A story about love and loss during the French revolution certainly wouldn’t have me watching it repeated times. Mamma Mia!, Phantom of the Opera and the Lion King also fall into the category of music led shows that audiences return to time and time again.
I suppose that explains the desire to create juke box musicals as a way of tempting people into the theatre. I’ve seen several shows that fit that description in recent years. The Jersey Boys is one of the most successful, telling the story of the Four Seasons, but there have been shows based on the songs of Take That, Stock Aitken & Waterman, the Spice Girls and the Go Gos, to name just a few. Generally, I’ve found Juke Box Musicals very enjoyable, but I guess that unless you’re a fan of those acts or genre, they don’t bear repeat visits.
There are biopic musicals too, like Rocketman (Elton John), the Osmonds: A new Musical, Get on Your Feet (Gloria Estefan) and Neil Diamond: A beautiful Noise (soon to end it’s run on Broadway). There are plenty of Musicals that are written by successful singer/songwriters that are not based on their own lives, like Pretty Woman, which is currently touring, with music by the Canadian rocker Bryan Adams. The Time Travellers Wife, which I’ve praised in previous columns, ran in the West End for four months with music by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart (the Eurythmics).
One of the most anticipated upcoming new shows is The Devil Wears Prada, based on the 2006 film starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. The Musical, which opens in the West End in October, will have original songs by Elton John and star Vanessa Williams as Miranda Priestly.
Is this the direction that Theatre will go more and more? I’m certainly excited by the prospect of a new show with music written by Elton John, but I hope that new writers will also have the chance to create original work too.
The Lowry Theatre in Salford is a place where new original, professional works are given a chance and I certainly enjoy my trips there. In the last few months I’ve seen Unfortunate, the untold story of Ursula the Sea Witch, which is a parody based on the Little Mermaid fairytale, with music by Tim Gilvin. Opening on 18th April is “42 Balloons”, which tells the story of American Larry Walters, who flew above Los Angeles in a Lawn Chair carried by 42 helium filled weather balloons. The music is described as an 80s pop inspired score from Jack Godfrey. It sounds fabulous and I was lucky enough to be at the press launch and hear a couple of the songs.
There’s room for the familiar and the less familiar in Musical Theatre and I love both. Look out for the very popular and familiar Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, at Stockport Plaza next week and Jekyll & Hyde at Hyde Festival Theatre in mid-March; both are packed full of great songs. I’ll feature Jekyll & Hyde, and it’s creatives, on the radio this week.
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