The Lightning Thief

Fans of the books hated the movies. They liked the musical but it's small scale hurt it in a Broadway house. Now Disney's making a TV series which has given the fans fresh hope.

Fellow Travelers

There's a familiar tale in gay fiction. Two men find each other. One is ready to embrace his sexuality. The other burrows deeper into the closet, harming those around him. If they are lucky they both make it out alive. 

Fellow Travelers sets these tropes against the backdrop of Senator Joseph McCarthy's "Lavender Scare." McCarthy was determined to kick all homosexuals out of government jobs. Did McCarthy fear homosexuals would sell state secrets or was he just looking for a scapegoat? McCarthy makes an appearance in Fellow Travelers to defend his gay attorney Roy Cohn. The contradictions aren't deeply examined. They're simply there for the audience to interpret.

The focus of Fellow Travelers is the doomed affair between Timothy Laughlin and Hawkins Fuller. They live under the watchful eye of their co-workers in the Washington, D.C. of the 1950's. Spears's score provides distinctive arias for both men. Timothy's joyous "Last Night" is filled with the liberation of first love. Hawk's guarded "Our Very Own Home" laments the double life he's built. It's not a happy story but there are moments of humor and hope along the way. With luck Timothy's newfound pride will carry him safely to better times.

Rise

Stop me if you've heard this before. Inspirational teacher puts a hot jock and some minorities in a show where they learn to live and love and... oh you have? Well how about we give half the kids abusive families... and make the teacher a monster? No, not a funny monster. Just extremely unpleasant. Unpleasant enough to inspire hostile reviews and scare audiences away.

Ted Sutherland brings charm to his coming out storyline, though it gets about 5 minutes of screen time per episode. Stephanie Block brings gravitas to the potentially campy role of his loving conservative mother.

The choice of Spring Awakening was an interesting one. It's still considered edgy. Will age give it the same respect that West Side Story, Grease and even Rent have gained from most school boards? Skip to episode 9 and 10 if you want to see the talent young cast performing the songs. Hopefully there will be better shows in their futures.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

When Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook produced a sexy, pop-culture-y Joseph several critics were horrified. The Chicago Tribune claimed it was "shorn of all heart and emotion." 'But wait,' said I, 'isn't Joseph already a sexy, pop-culture-y show shorn of all heart and emotion?' It certainly has been in the three professional productions and Webber produced TV film I've seen.

Joseph is a weird show. A fairly grim story from the Book of Genesis retold as a sexy panto and performed by schools. As Bible musicals go it's closer in tone to the silly Godspell than Webber's angsty Jesus Christ Superstar. But who knows? Maybe some day I'll see a production that changes my mind.

St. Louis Woman

Legends say that Lena Horne declined the title role when the NAACP denounced the character's "easy virtue" as demeaning. The show went through a rocky tryout and a short Broadway run. Encores produced a concert in 1998 starring Vanessa Williams. The recording is uneven but it reminds us that the score is full of gems.

"Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home"
"I Had Myself a True Love"
"Come Rain Or Come Shine"
And Pearl Bailey's 11 o'clock number "It's A Woman's Prerogative"

Love, Simon

Love, Simon is a 2018 film based on Becky Albertalli novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Simon is a closeted gay teen juggling family, friendships, a blackmailer and an online romance. Indie cinema has explored the angst of the closet for decades but Love, Simon aims for the tone of a big studio romcom. Less Beautiful Thing, more 10 Things I Hate About You.

Director Greg Berlanti understands the loneliness, rage and narcissism that can accompany the coming out process. His film doesn’t shy from Simon’s cruel side as he desperately protects his secret and searches for his anonymous paramour. The audience plays detective alongside Simon as he grasps at any odd phrase or lingering glace from his male class mates. We're allowed to share that desperate desire to find someone… anyone… who understands what we're going through.

There are quibbles. Simon is ridiculously privileged. The female characters are treated poorly. The “comic relief” roles are cringey. Still Berlanti and his team have clearly put their hearts into this project. Love, Simon would have made my high school experience a little brighter and I’m glad the current generation of students gets to see it.

… Okay, it’s not a musical. Though there are two musical numbers. If they adapt it to the stage it will fit comfortably alongside Dear Evan Hansen and Be More Chill.

Cabin in the Sky

In 2016 Encores produced a concert of Cabin in the Sky. Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Jack Viertel tried to cut the condescending material from Root's original book. Critics remained unimpressed with the "religious fable" despite the jazzy score. The show is best remembered for the starry 1943 film. The film is enjoyable but only kept three songs from the stage show.

Clips:
Ethel Waters singing the hit song "Taking a Chance on Love."
Lena Horne singing "Ain't It The Truth" in a bath tub. The scene was cut by the censors.
Highlights from the Encores concert starring LaChanze, Chuck Cooper and Norm Lewis.

Ambassador

The works of Henry James have been successfully adapted into plays, films and operas. Ambassador is, to my knowledge, the only attempt at musical comedy. James's 1903 novel, The Ambassadors, focuses on Lambert, a middle aged American, seeking his fiancees wayward son in France. He learns that the lad is having a passionate affair with a married older woman and has no plans to return. The revelation shakes the protagonist to his core causing him to rethink his life and his identity. His struggle is interesting but internal.

The musical focused on the romance between Lambert and the married French woman. This generic treatment ignored much of what made the novel work. The show opened on Broadway, despite bad reviews in London, and closed swiftly.

A Christmas Story

In March 2017 Pasek and Paul shared an Oscar with Justin Hurwitz for best original song in La La Land. 
In June 2017 Pasek and Paul won a Tony Award for Best Score for Dear Evan Hansen. 
In December 2017 Pasek and Paul received critical pans for the television broadcast of A Christmas Story: The Musical and the film The Greatest Showman. 

What do these shows have in common? What's different?

Anti-heroes: All four feature protagonists who behave badly. I sympathized with the unstable Evan but couldn't stand the narcissistic jerks in La La Land. Ralphie's youth excuses his obsessions while Showman ignores the unsavory side of P.T. Barnum.

The score: La La and Evan use a modern pop sound in a modern setting. Christmas Story goes "classic Broadway" for the 1940's setting. The Greatest Showman put's the anachronistic modern sound in an 1880's setting... It worked for Moulin Rouge but critics didn't like it here.

The performers: La La Land's movie stars were not skilled singers or dancers. For some that was the point. Their dreams were bigger than their reality. For others it was an ugly Hollywood compromise that sunk the film. Evan, Showman and Christmas Story feature a mix of Broadway vets and new up-n'-comers. Some argued this did not fit the working class families of Christmas Story. The television special dialed up the disconnect with Jane Krakowski's sexy school teacher and Chris Diamantopoulos's smoking hot daddy.

Target Audience: La La Land features 20-somethings and Evan Hansen features teens. They have resonated with audiences inside those groups and beyond. Who is the audience for The Greatest Showman? They hedge their bets by surrounding the middle aged Jackman with younger co-stars. Will Zac Efron and Zendaya draw a family audience over the holiday weekend? Christmas Story aims for the family audience but pits itself against their feelings for the original film. Love the original? You can enjoy the musical on stage but there's no reason for a TV remake. Hate the original? Still no reason for the remake.

Be More Chill

The musical Be More Chill had a short run but the cast album has inspired a rabid fan base. I was introduced to it by the shows breakout song "Michael in the Bathroom." The premise reminds me of Little Shop of Horrors. Each features a self-loathing protagonist goaded by a malevolent force into harming others for the sake of his crush. Audrey II wants to eat the world. The Squip wants to control it. The Squip in the novel could be cruel but it has been upgraded to full super villain in the musical. Seymour wants Audrey. Jeremy wants the underwritten Christine. She takes a back seat to Michael, the leading man's mistreated best friend. They get the duet and the arc. Hence the fan base (and the fan artists) focus on the bro-mance.

There's a lot of tonal whiplash on the album. I'm curious to see how a live production balances the black comedy with the uglier themes of depression and sexual assault. Particularly after watching season 3 of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend balance these so well.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

This show isn't great but at times it's very good. If you're familiar with the novel the very idea of adapting this into a musical sounds silly. To the show's credit it dances the fine line for most of the run time.

The seduction of the straight cell mate is a touchy subject for many. In the book this is an act of vulnerable affection. ("You are the one who is kind.") In the musical it is a cynical manipulation. ("If we touch before he goes he'll make that call.")  Which is more believable? You decide.

The Spider Woman, Aurora, is Molina's muse. Her tunes provide comical commentary on a dark story in a manner similar to the Emcee in Cabaret though her films are much cheerier than the propaganda film in the novel. Two performances were recorded: Chita Rivera's and Vanessa Williams'. I've heard it said that Chita plays a gay man's fantasy and Vanessa plays a straight man's fantasy. Simplistic but funny. Chita brings out the scary gravitas of the character. She's there to kill. Vanessa brings out the sex appeal and the comedy. She's there to party.

Shockheaded Peter

Children are the future but children are naughty. How shall we teach them to behave? Perhaps tell them the stories of those who did not. Awful things happen to children who do not behave. 

Before Wonka's Chocolate Factory of Doom there was Struwwelpeter. German psychologist Heinrich Hoffman had written his son a series of "funny stories." Each followed a child who broke a rule and suffered a disproportionate fate. He published them in 1845 to bring laughter to the children of the world. 

In 1998 the Tiger Lillies, a British punk trio, premiered the stage adaptation. The children's stories were are told but the title characters story was adapted to shift blame to the narcissistic parents. Lead singer Martyn Jacques was surprised to learn the show made him popular with children. In a 2016 interview with The Australian he said: “Kids love me... They are not usually allowed to see me, but when they do they absolutely love me. They look at me and go, ‘Ooh, he’s bad’ — the rare misbehaving adult. I mean, adults tend to be a bit boring really — they behave themselves and have boring conversations. Children love it when you misbehave. And I am known to be a little naughty.”

Candide

Why doesn't Candide work on stage? Some said Lillian Hellman's grim book clashed with Bernstein's bouncy score. However the score has it's share of pathos and Wheeler's jokey new book robs the characters of depth. The 90 minute version does not earn it's meditative ending and the extended opera house version can be a chore to sit through. Perhaps it's simply that Voltaire's philosophical novella doesn't belong in a literal setting.

The Broadway premiere ran 73 performances but two revivals outran it and opera companies have made it a staple. While the title role is a cipher the supporting roles provide showcases for divas and clowns. Cundegonde's "Glitter and Be Gay" deserves all the praise it musters and the Old Lady frequently walks away with the show.

Big Fish

I wasn't the target audience for this story. I side with the practical son whereas a musical comedy has little choice but to side with the wacky father. Reviews were mixed and the run was short but the show has a passionate fan base and has done well in regional productions. Norbert Leo Butz has stolen shows before and deserves another chance at a star vehicle.

Here's Norbert Leo Butz and Kate Baldwin performing "Time Stops."

Ragtime

In March of 1540 Hans Kohlhase was executed for leading a gang of raiders through Saxony. They were seeking vengeance against a nobleman who had stolen his horses. The anti-hero would be re-imagined as Coalhouse Walker in E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime.

Ragtime weaves together the stories of three New York families battered by the tides of history in the early 1900’s. Coalhouse crosses paths with Booker T. Washington. The other families meet influential figures like Henry Ford, Harry Houdini and the activist Emma Goldman. Terrence McNally would juggle each story line in his ambitious libretto for the musical adaptation.

Coalhouse and his companions suffer tragedy in their quest for justice but Ragtime is ultimately an optimistic show. Ragtime believes that each generation can learn from the mistakes of the past and slowly build a kinder world.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & Groundhog Day

And now we have two London to Broadway transfers based on beloved stories about disproportionate retribution.  Groundhog Day's weatherman is trapped in never ending purgatory for his sins. Charlie's naughty peers are brutally killed. They may survive in the book and films but on stage those kids die. Veruca's dismemberment by squirrels is in full Struwwelpeter territory. Is there a commercial audience for that? Time will tell.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Original Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Re-purposed film songs by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Book by David Greig. 2013 London. 2017 Broadway.

Groundhog Day. Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin. Book by Danny Rubin. 2016 London. 2017 Broadway.

Matilda

"Whatever it was that hurt (Roald) Dahl so deeply, he never forgave it, and his children's stories... are driven by it." ~ Roger Ebert

Here's another tale that could have ended very differently. Matilda could have gone the way of Carrie, using her powers to destroy others and herself. Instead she makes the choice to use her powers for good.

Matilda and her mentor, Miss Honey, are both victims of abuse. They handle their situations very differently. Miss Honey has stayed with her abuser and become a self loathing neurotic. Matilda fights her fate and saves Miss Honey from hers. Deep topics for a so called "children's musical."

"Just because you find that life's not fair it

Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it

If you always take it on the chin and wear it

Nothing will change." 

~ Naughty

Tim Minchin's lyrics are dense and clever. They were also left at the mercy of child actors and theatersound systems. A common complaint, particularly on the American tour, was that audiences couldn't understand the words. I've yet to hear the score of his new show, Groundhog Day. I'll be curious to learn if he slows the rhythm of his lyrics a bit so that more can be taken in on a first listen.

Amour

Amour triumphed in Paris, flopped on Broadway, then vanished. The New York Times dismissed it as “ a wispy… twinkling trinket” but the cast album developed a passionate fan base.  In 2016 the rights to the English translation were finally secured by Tams Witmark for licensing.

There is a core of melancholy beneath the whimsy. Dusoleil has effaced himself to the point where he’s literally disappearing. His Doctor calls his wall walking power a disease. Isabelle is kept prisoner in her home. Her husband treats her like Rapunzel. When they find freedom they seek vengeance on their tormentors. The story could have easily flipped from superhero to supervillain narrative.

The townsfolk have survived WW2 and the memories haunt them. Dusoleil’s acts inspire his allies to break free from routine and pursue their dreams. The antagonists fear change and seek to control those around them. The libretto favors the former but reminds us that dreams have a cost.

Mame

Why does Patrick Dennis turn on his lovable Auntie Mame?
Why does the open minded Mame immediately reject Patrick's fiance?
If Mame and Patrick had been so close, why do they never discuss his late parents?
Why is Mame's late husband so quickly forgotten?
What happened to Patrick at boarding school that made him feel ashamed of his upbringing?

Many things are left unsaid in Mame. This was true of the original novel and play as well. The Mame/Patrick relationship takes a backseat to Mame's episodic adventures and those of her friends Vera and Gooch.

Mame was a huge success on Broadway running 1508 performances over 4 years. Sadly the movie was a miscast bore and a 1983 revival ran little over a month. Hello Dolly and La Cage Aux Folles have had successful revivals but Mame's magic seems harder to replicate. The star must be a triple threat who can balance comedy, class and pathos. She must also overcome the dated, creaky book.

Tilda Swinton has proposed a new film based on the novel. This may revive interest in the musical. Till then we'll always have the fantastic original cast recording.

Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha makes a case for optimism in tragic times. Though remembered primarily for the big song it always proves timely. Sadly a poorly sung film and a bland revival have dimmed the shows reputation.

"In its heart, Man of La Mancha is about the 1960s, and by extension, about any time of political unrest – including today – and it is about the responsibility of each of us to make the world a better place than we found it." ~ Scott Miller