There’s an article in last Friday’s Times on the continuing rise of “jukebox musicals,” which repackage old tunes for the theater, and the general state of the Broadway musical (“The Broadway Musical Is Changing Its Key“). Worth a skim.
Even though it’s an oft-repeated truism that revivals dominate Broadway, it isn’t currently true. Of the 22 musicals open now, 16 are original productions.
There is something misleading about this spin, however, because you can’t actually argue that this has been a good season for Broadway music. The three other new shows–Taboo, The Boy From Oz, and Never Gonna Dance–all feature scores written long ago. Who are the Tony-nominated composers going to be? Boy George, Peter Allen and Jerome Kern?