The Flying Anvil a small (and notable) theater group in Knoxville, TN recently engaged Eugene Wolf's to stage and to perform his one man show, The Book of Mamaw. It's a tender and touching Jukebox Musical with a gripping plot.
Gene uses music and his exquisite physicality to bring his memoir to life and bring the audience to tears and a standing "o" night after night. This work and performance provides "the madeline"audiences are looking for with a delightful and timely story that stands on it's own two legs. Please check it out Messrs. Brantely,& Green, and Ms. Vincetelli. It will not disappoint.
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Honestly can’t stomach jukebox musicals. As in, i really really hate them. The storylines are never cohesive or compelling. Everything feels oddly uncomfortable; a stepsister cramming her foot into the shoe. I hate myself every time i try to give them another chance, and i think Jesse Green gets to the root of the problem by pointing out that the songs in these shows are not typically theatrical. To me, there’s always something lost in translation from regular concert performance to theatrical stage performance. I genuinely cannot understand peoples attraction to these Frankenstein-esque productions... not a fan.
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@TokyoBeth, that's why it's valuable that they sometimes get people like Lynn Nottage, or someone who was in musicals before being a playwright like Craig Lucas. It takes them away from the many plays they'd probably write with the time, but they seem happy too be doing the projects. Opinions seem to vary a bit about "On Your Feet," but I felt it really benefited from having a bookwriter with enough cred (from co-writing the Oscar script for "Birdman") to be able to do a bit more offbeat work here and there than might have originally been expected.
The last thing any of us wants to hear about is more of Ben Brantley's opinions on Head Over Heels, though I could have stopped that sentence at "opinions."
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I vote for commentator @Freddie of New York City, NY to be the historian for these NYT theater discussions.
@Kanaka, LOL, and if it means getting to hear the journalists, too, I'd work cheaper than cheap - I'd pay them to be a fly on the wall to hear the unedited versions!
I've been binging on Theater Talk this weekend, and sometimes - the things they say even knowing the cameras are rolling. :)
It’s too bad Mr. Green didn’t get the memo about “setting aside the snark.”
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It seems to me that all the negativity heaped on the Jukebox Musical is more a labor of love on the part of the critics than diatribe. Yet, if more of the critical explanation expounded in this professional discussion accompanied actual critical reviews of Jukebox Musicals, then this new (not that new) species of musical perhaps has more chances to excel critically. Is it the money? Lets throw millions into a show that's going to fail. No one's going to do that. Why would anyone want to do that except The Producers. And that was a hit! Critics have to go with the wave. Jukebox musicals are coming to Broadway like a tsunami. Hopefully, their producers will fund a company that will attempt to meet the challenges of the critics, but only if the critics' (with their vast experience and knowledge) nudge these shows along with constructive criticism. Face it folks, people are flocking to Disney musicals (a species of its own) and they will flock to see their favorite Jukeboxers on stage. So critics, help them to be great. Genre does evolve.
"Suggest the songbook you’d love to see used for a musical."
The Band
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Each of these jukebox musicals needs to be judged on its own merits. Just like every other show; there are good ones, and not-so-good ones. I enjoy those with music from artists I like. I was leery about Rock of Ages, but found it entertaining. My favorite, that is not mentioned, is The Boy from Oz. Got tickets during previews without knowing a thing about it. Did not even know who Hugh Jackman was at the time - 2003. I was totally gobsmacked by the show and the performances. Terrific all around.
I prefer new shows with new music, but a well done jukebox show is still a good time.
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I, too, loved Mamma Mia for the sheer audacity of shoe-horning and gerrymandering songs that had nothing to do with an overall "other" plot other than the "plot" of the individual songs. I loved the movie even more because it was so obvious Meryl Streep and the rest were having such a blast "slumming."
And, it's not so long ago....well, actually it is, that the American Musical was, absolutely, plot, plot, plot, stop to sing a song that hopefully becomes a hit outside the show, rinse and repeat.
I'm also disappointed that so little was written or an example made of "Beautiful, The Carole King Musical," which I loved. It DID have a story to tell and the songs were, since the 4 main characters actually DID write them, organic to the plot. It comes closest, I think, to NOT being a jukebox musical, while, I guess, being one.
Not so much with "Summer, the Donna Summer Musical," in large part, in my opinion, because the authors of the "libretto" never really made enough sense of her life and contributions.
I'm very much looking forward to "Ain't Too Proud," the Temptations musical and hope what can and should be a VERY interesting story, will be.
I'd like to see a Velvet Underground musical. There plenty of Narratives and characters in their songs -- Sister Ray, Waiting for the Man, Venus in Furs, Sweet Jane and others. And it's so very New Yawk...
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Aren't the words 'loathed' and 'hated' a little strong when describing one's feelings about jukebox musicals?
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@TimesReader - live theater is so often about heightened emotions shared with lots of other people focused on it in the same room. I guess people's feelings about live theater reflect what attracts us to it? :)
To those who hate or loathe jukebox shows - Certainly by right now, it seems rather clear that more new American musicals with new scores are being created, and more fully produced, than in the 1980s and 1990s. But with limited Broadway houses, you may have to go to New Jersey, such as Paper Mill in Millburn, to see some of them; and there's even one long-awaited one in the next week or so ("Pamela's First Musical," finally!) at Two River in Red Bank, NJ. But new American musicals are being written and produced. The new American musical is not dying because of jukebox shows.
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Stevie Wonder. Explorations of his "life" could become bathetic, but I'm certain that Wonder himself wouldn't stand for that, and would quickly nix any book that dwelt on suffering. He'd insist that the show be a celebration.
And what a staggering catalog to draw inspiration from! Can you imagine, for instance, what a great choreographer could do with "Boogie on Reggae Woman"?
Somebody call Savion Glover now! We have only to look at Glover's fabulous direction and choreography of the recent Encores revival of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope", which I thought tantalizingly intimated how a full-scale Broadway revival of that show could soar. The singing and dancing were thrilling.
Wonder and Glover would be a mighty match.
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@creepingdoubt, Billy Porter directed "Signed Sealed Delivered" at the Venetian in Vegas, spring 2002. It was wonderful, and Chaka Khan was in it at her extraordinary peak vocally the night we went, but confoundingly, the house only a little over half full. I wonder if it could work without a name star, and if maybe Billy Porter put it aside because he enjoyed performing more.
Interesting that CNN just announced Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan about to perform at the celebration of Aretha Franklin's life in Detroit.
I happen to also be YouTube-ready for Stevie Wonder jukebox premium seating for some reason. Maybe this idea was floated in the geist before?
"Sur-Charge - We'll Have Seating All Over"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCl_-xMJE6w
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@Freddie, thanks so much for letting not just me but all of us know of these "hints" of a possible full recognition of Wonder's achievements. This is heartening news. My hopes have increased that a show on the scale I imagine could come to pass. Let's keep the faith. I believe that Wonder's genius compressed into two carefully crafted hours could make theatrical history.
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Joni Mitchell's story is so much more than her trail of lovers, but it is typical to reduce the female artist to her men.
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A bit of perspective: I'm a lifelong New Yorker. The first show I saw on Broadway was Fiddler with Zero Mostel and the last was Escape from Margaritaville with every imaginable musical, drama and revue in between. For me, Buffet's "Escape" was fun corny escapism with recognizable songs you could tap your foot to and a cast who had fun as did the audience I saw it with. I did not go the theater expecting Dear Evan Hansen or Lerner and Loewe not did I confuse it with them. Criticism is one thing. That said, I have always been amazed by the pretentiousness and "we will tell you what to like" attitude of Broadway theater reviewers. Way too often their haughtiness and dismissive attitudes drive shows unnecessarily into the scrap heap. Here's a simple directive. Review the show for what it is, not the type of show you prefer or want it to be. Inform do not impose. New Yorkers and out of towners alike will more often than not know full well what type of show they are going to see. I can do without someone pontificating about a genre they frown upon or don't like in such condescending terms that it becomes clear code that "no one should spend their time and money on it either". Simply put, too many reviewers write articles which satisfy their ego versus letting the audience know the quality of the work and the folks who put it on.
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@Rich, you said: "Here's a simple directive. Review the show for what it is, not the type of show you prefer or want it to be. Inform do not impose."
I guess the example that so often gets brought up is in movies, given that the same director gave the world "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story" a year apart, probably working on both at the same time. Taken for what they are, and assessed at that level, "Porky's" would likely objectively be more effective for just about everyone at what it set out to be. Should ambition be counted for nothing; should reviews be aim low, score high? (As it turned out, Bob Clark ended up aiming more for "Porky's"-type hits for the rest of his career rather than the more nuanced work it seemed to so many that he could do.)
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@Rich
I could not agree more. Well said.
Rodgers and Hammerstein gave us the framework that still succeeds in endless variations: Characters at the beginning of a song must be changed by the end of the song. That's how songs move the plot in a musical.
It's also the challenge to creators of jukebox musicals: how to tell a tale with lyrics that don't form a narrative. "Mamma Mia" succeeded, especially in the first act, because it set up a narrative that was supported by its song lyrics; the characters actually evolved during those songs. Few jukebox musicals achieve that success because the plot comes to a halt so that the audience can relish a familiar tune.
My challenge to creators of jukebox musicals: those songs are not sacred! Break them up. We don't need precise recreations direct from the jukebox. Consider the structure of (not a jukebox musical) "Come From Away." A clever director parsed those tunes into leitmotifs to be repeated as needed by the story or a recurring character. Far more powerful than keeping those songs intact as three-minute showtunes. Until a director and/or playwright has the vision to tear those jukebox songs apart to make them serve the evolving characters onstage (not the catalog-owner collecting royalties), jukebox musicals will be hobbled by books that go nowhere. We don't need to applaud after every three-minute tune. Let them run together to tell a tale with depth. Story comes first!
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I am of Jesse Green's mind, and every time I see him speak--on "Theater Talk"--or read his writing, I find myself nodding vigorously. Yes, it's possible that a wonderful jukebox musical could rise from the pack, but the form, by definition, repurposes non-theatrical songs that weren't meant to be part of the storytelling project of an actual musical. And they're often cynical and lazy money-grabs.
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@Opinionated Pedant, this can be really addictive. Watching all the critics interact on the videos makes it seem like everyone really likes everyone. Maybe a jukebox musical of reviewers talking about jukebox musicals would work. (I saw there was also a TimesTalk with Suzan Lori Parks, Jesse Green, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Ben Brantley not that long ago. Hope this is online somewhere, or will be some day.)
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@Opinionated Pedant, thanks for making me look on YouTube at some of the "Theater Talk" episodes I'd missed. These are great fun, and I'm surprised by how many I'd missed after it started being on at weird hours. Did they start having a Happy Hour before some of those later episodes were done? "That show was a supernova of overrated people." "Hooters? I assume you're talking about the Hooters at BAM, the one run by Ivo van Hove?" Seriously, this felt like where the spirit of the Algonquin Round Table went. On one episode, Mr. Green sits there popping out the one-liners like Buddy Sorel (Morey Amsterdam) on the Dick van Dyke Show. I kept trying to tell if he had them prepared, like Cynthia Nixon's "ad libs" in the Governor debate, or if they were just coming to him.
How nice that they're all on YouTube. And Susan Haskins may have been less flashy than Michael Riedel (which is not a knock in any way; even Stew seems introverted next to Michael Riedel) - but she certainly knows her stuff, like how many composers created their best music with a cocktail always in reach near the keyboard. (Sipping only, not wine for guzzling.) This info could be more valuable to the arts than it might seem at first.
This conversation is one I've been having alone with myself all summer. Where "Jagged Little Pill" worked for me, and as others have mentioned Lauren Patten was utterly amazing and received a standing ovation mid show that rivaled curtain call, it stretched and shifted the lyrics to suit the story in a way that both honored the original song material while creating something new that (mostly) worked. I left wanting to see it again and again.
What DID NOT work for me was Moulin Rouge, by far the worst thing I've seen on stage in years. Admittedly a big fan of the movie, which to me does exactly what "Jagged Little Pill" executed extraordinarily well, it brought familiarity (and a much more "stood the test of time" level of pop song) and molded it to the story and scene at hand. The stage show had a stunning set, and the can-can dancers were sexy and fabulous as they should be, but the minimal story was muffled and the Top 40 mashups weren't even up to Glee quality. It may also be because my particular crowd was far from sober, and the theater allowed full bottles of champagne at your seat, but I definitely think it needs a two drink minimum. Second rate cabaret and only if drunk.
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@Alison, I hope you don't mind, my mind processed this from your description about ”Moulin Rouge” from the way I saw the show: Stunning set! Sexy and fabulous! Full bottles of champagne at your seat! (The incredibly glamorous couple to my left actually were drinking from a full champagne bottle. I was dressed for the bus, so no big deal if they'd spilled anything, but they didn't! They passed it between themselves smoothly to both applaud.)
Spreading the word online is the way to go. Maybe as important as the reaction in the theater, and someone on YouTube actually posted this crowd reaction from the night I saw it. As I rewatch it, relive it, I’m still picking the confetti hearts out of everything, two weeks later. No rush to get rid of the evidence. I keep discovering more confetti anyway in everything I had with me.
Moulin Rouge Boston curtain call Sunday August 19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1TeNJiIeM0
I think I see my hands clapping in the air towards the right every now and then. I thought I was giving more excitement and energy than that, actually felt more excitement and energy than that; but then, I was at least 20 years older than anyone in my row, and we’d been standing a long time, recovering from the end wallop through the “healing” Megamix.
P.S. Karen Olivo somehow looks sadder on video than she seemed live onstage, where from yards away, she just seemed slightly wistful towards her co-stars about waiting a while to do the show again.
Regarding Jesse Green's remark of interest in a musical built on the music of The Roches: from your lips to God's ears. And to the ears of Maggie (in whatever blessed dimension she now exists), Terre, and Suzzy. Not only are those songs halfway to stories, many are halfway to show tunes.
"My Sick Mind, (the Roches musical)." I'm waiting.
@D. Arthur, the first time I was aware of hearing their songs was in "Crossing Delancey." It looks like they had four songs in the film, and at one point a character appeared on screen and some people in the packed theater applauded. (Turned out the actress was Suzzy.)
I actually saw Universal's "The Land Before Time II" on video when it came out, and was just reminded at this link that they had a few songs in it. (Who ever knows what can wind up onstage? Or even in a ride or half-hour stage show at Universal Florida?)
http://www.roches.com/televideo.html
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I saw Jagged Little Pill at ART this summer without deep knowledge of Alanis Morrisette's music and enjoyed it. Lauren Patten's solo alone was worth the ticket price; I hope she gets to sing it on Broadway. The plot and characters are no thinner than most theater of entertainment and I think it will make a good evening of musical theater.
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How about a comment on 1994's De-Lovely movie, which recast Cole Porter's theatrical songs into a wide-ranging biographical story? Did it work as drama? Would it work on Broadway, and would it be considered Jukebox or Bio or What...?
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I suppose we could invent a way to cobble together the public’s favorite Mozart symphonies into a piecemeal “Marriage of Figaro.”
But why?
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Nothing wrong with Broadway entertainment that plays into our need for escape and nostalgia. When they work, they're a lot of fun for the audience.
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While I’m not a fan of the jukebox musical, hey if others are, great.
What I don’t understand, though, is someone seeing, say, “Jersey Boys,” really enjoying the music and going out the next day to buy the soundtrack.
@Alan Chaprack, What's to understand? I saw both Jersey Boys and Beautiful and walked right to the Schubert bookstore and bought the song book for each. I loved the songs and loved the shows.
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@Alan Chaprack Why wouldn't they buy it if they want to hear it repeatedly?
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What about "Tommy"? Is the Broadway version of the original "rock opera" a jukebox musical?
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Nope
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All I know about "Tommy" is that it seemed as though I lost about 65% of my hearing after seeing that show.
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I wonder when we will get jukeboxes of the most obvious artists? Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston, Joni Mitchell plus a few bands like Duran Duran or Chicago.
@MShawn - The Michael Jackson musical is being written by Lynn Nottage.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/theater/michael-jackson-broadway-musi...
I’m sure I won’t be able to afford to see it with its first Broadway cast, but I am looking forward to seeing Lynn Nottage get really rich! That alone will make the whole jukebox genre worthwhile.
“The Bodyguard” (London, US tour) added other Whitney Houston songs, and is in effect that jukebox show. Heather Headley has reportedly said she wants to reprise her London role, if Broadway becomes part of its US plans, but couldn’t do the US tour due to family commitments .
The Bodyguard parody - “I Wanna Dance With Some Hottie” - on deck in case it ever makes it to Broadway and Gerard Alessandrini is too busy to spoof it that year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf5nhM026tc
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I always feel that in a good musical, the songs extend and heighten the story. While musicals with pop hits are more focused on getting people hyped that one of their favorite songs is being performed. Like the show Glee.
American Idiot was written as a concept album that Green Day referred to as a punk pop "opera" so I think it lends itself to a musical format. I guess because there is an actual story or progression of an idea in the album. That said, I did not enjoy the musical very much.
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Green is unfair in referring to "Kismet" as a "jukebox musical." While adapting Bododin's music, the writers supplied their own lyrics, which fit well into a fanciful story of romance in a mythical Baghdad. It is not biographical, it does not pour sanctimony and Brylcream over the top. by adding story- and character-appropriate words it does not apply an invented story to an existing song catalog -- categories that Green, earlier in the article, uses to define the jukebox musical.
Songs are combinations of music and lyrics: change one, and you have a different song. You can reasonably assert that "Stranger in Paradise" is the same song as the Borodin melody om which its tune is based unless you are prepared to assert, for example, that "What Child is This?" is the same song as "Greensleeves" or that Tom Lerher's "The Elements" is the same song as "The Modern Major General."
By the way, an interesting example of the same sort of adaptation of earlier material for Broadway that characterized "Kismet" was the 1960s Yip Harburg show "The Happiest Girl in the World." It took Offenbach operetta tunes and added lyrics pertinent to a liberal adaptation of the plot of Lysistrata. The show was not a success -- serious book problems -- but some of the adaptations were delightful, such as "The Greek Marine" (using the same Offenbach tune that was the basis for the Marines' Hymn as an anti-military satire) and a Cyril Richard patter song, "Never Trust a Virgin."
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The repetition of the chorus is rare in theatrical songs? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you "(I Like To Be in) America." "With a Little Bit of Luck," "Do You Hear the People Sing," "The Room Where it Happens"...
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I guess it's a revue, but I loved "Ain't Misbehavin" -- I wonder what our experts here think about it after all these years?
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@Deb Musselman
I was thinking the same thing and we might as well throw "Bubbling Brown Sugar" and "Eubie" and "Black and Blue" into the mix as well. I think the real issue isn't what you call it, but whether or not the jukebox or revue or whatever has been turned into a coherent work of theater.
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The best one still hasn't been written. It would be based on the songs of Laura Nyro, songs that sound like they were written for the stage.
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@Jack, this was the NY Times review for the 2001 show with Laura Nyro songs at the Vineyard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/10/theater/theater-review-a-mournful-bal...
Interesting relating to this discussion. I wonder if Ms. Paulus still has the rights; she hadn't had her Broadway successes yet then.
"Unfortunately, it isn't a concert. In form the show falls between a straight revue like 'Smokey Joe's Cafe' and an artificial musical like 'Putting It Together,' for which a new book was written to link an omnibus of Stephen Sondheim songs."
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@Jack - It was actually done at the Vineyard, ELI'S COMIN' - where the writers were Bruce Buschel and Diane Paulus, directed by Ms. Paulus, long before her HAIR revival, but she was already on the map with THE DONKEY SHOW. It opened May 2001.
http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/58
Looking at the awards there at the bottom, it looks like the Oprah show: Everybody got an Obie! Judy Kuhn, Mandy Gonzalez, Anika Noni Rose, Ronnell Bey. And Wilson Jermaine Heredia was also mysterious and IMHO wonderful. IIRC, even the “Three Tall Women”- style different ages of a woman of "Summer" and "Cher" were there. I’m not sure if they were the same person. I’m sure I understood it then, but I hadn’t realized it was a precursor of a genre revving up in NYC that fall with MAMMA MIA. (I was younger then, and really, I saw everything. No premium airline pricing in place yet, really, except for the Miss Saigon helicopter seats.)
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