After it became clear that items like Urinetown, Avenue Q, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Reefer Madness: the Musical could be Broadway hits (or, in the case of the latter two, at least be made into cult films), so many musicals in that style came out … [Continue reading]
A Tale Of Two Cities
As you know, I have a certain fondness for shows in the so-called ‘pop opera’ vein, but I have my limit, and this show goes way past it. It’s a painfully blatant ripoff of Boublil and Schonberg’s Les Miserables, and was written by a less-talented … [Continue reading]
Shrek
This show isn’t great...certainly not as good as the irresistible film on which it was based…but it had quite a bit going for it. Its main problem is that it isn’t nearly as funny as the original film, mostly because the show’s book shows a … [Continue reading]
9 to 5
This show was based on a satirical movie that is reasonably funny and well-remembered, but which was already an over-the-top live-action cartoon to begin with. The musical exaggerates it even further, resulting in a gaudy, hammy caricature of a … [Continue reading]
Next to Normal
This show was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize in a very long time, and it deserved it. It features a very unconventional subject for a Broadway musical—living with mental illness. And as someone who has a certain measure of personal … [Continue reading]
The Glorious Ones
This show was in gestation in regional theaters for years, and was keenly awaited by every Flaherty-Ahrens fan, but when it finally arrived off-Broadway, it bombed, barely lasting long enough to leave behind a cast album. Why is this possibly … [Continue reading]
A Catered Affair
In a season so bad that the Young Frankenstein and Little Mermaid stage versions ran over a year, it’s worth noting that this is the one show from that year that nobody liked, and that closed instantly. It’s basically the aggressively avant-garde … [Continue reading]
In the Heights
This show is a more conventional show than the experimental Passing Strange, which it beat out for the “Best Musical” Tony that year, but I think it earned its victory fairly. The principle force behind the show was an up-and-coming talent called … [Continue reading]
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