Comments | rosenhaus: Speculations on an essay in 1/3/10 NY Times

rosenhaus

Speculations on an essay in 1/3/10 NY Times

Jan 03, 2010 23:39

Charles Isherwood wrote an interesting essay published in today's New York TImes; it's called "Cue the Chorus: The Musical Endures" and I thought I would comment as I go read through it again. Please note that these are my opinions. That and a Metrocard will get you on the NYC subway system ( Read more... )

Comments 6

anonymous January 4 2010, 13:03:21 UTC

Good point about "...Carefully Taught". I remember doing the pit for that show the first time. I wasn't overly familiar with the score, other than the "big songs". I heard that one and said to myself..."Wow, very political..."

Good post, Steven.

Best,

Greg Dudzienski

anonymous January 5 2010, 17:38:28 UTC

I read the same article. Here's my .03 (not to be a cheapskate ( ... )

Oops! I forgot to log in! don3comp January 5 2010, 17:41:09 UTC

I claim authorship of/responsibility for the above comment. --Don

Free plug don3comp January 5 2010, 18:26:02 UTC

"I find myself a bit concerned when I see the style of that era revered at the cost of ignoring/rejecting the achievemnts of the following decades. Audiences have a right to want to see shows that speak to--and sound like--their time. New shows should not be judged on how well they sound and look like they could have been written in the 1950s For this reason, I found the tone of Isherwood's article (and your response) somewhat refreshing."

It is worth adding that one of the -many- great things about "Writing Musical Theater" is that you and Allen Cohen found examples of strong (and weak) writing in shows of all decades. Thus, the emphasis was more on the craft than on the era. This is a distinction that many books on musicals fail to allow the reader to make.

rosenhaus January 7 2010, 20:50:26 UTC

Thanks for comments Greg and Don. Some thoughts on your own comments, Don:

1. "Climb Every Mountain" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" are sermonizing to some extent, and by today's standards certainly cliché and perhaps even hackneyed, but they are not as political as "You've Got to be Carefully Taught." The former two songs are after all fairly generic when taken out of context. "Carefully Taught" can't be.

2. Grumpy? Me grumpy? I'm just embracing my curmudgeonliness (curmudgeonry?). Anyway, like I said, the only shows to be successful in the jukebox genre to date are: Movin' Out (which separates the songs from the story into concert and dance); Mamma Mia! (which at least had the original writers involved in the creative process; Tommy (which was conceived as a stage work from the get go); and Jersey Boys (which manages to use the songs in context--the "Four Seasons" performing--while having them take on the subtext of the circumstances). What they all have in common, to me at least, is that the songs were made to be organic in ( ... )

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