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EW.com: Following the success of NBC’s live adaptation of The Wiz, the network’s next live musical will be Hairspray, network boss Robert Greenblatt announced at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Wednesday.
This sounds somewhat like a poor decision? I have mixed thoughts and feelings on this choice. They definitely saw the reaction of the minority community when they chose to do a musical that embodied the spirit of the african american community, and I think they wanted to keep that in mind while picking their next show while still coming up with somewhat fresh. However, that's where I this falls kind of flat. Sure, Hairspray contains a good deal of dialogue on the integration of the black community in the early 60's, and even has nods of police brutality, which is likely to appeal to audiences today. However, Hairspray almost feels too familiar, with the success of the film that I find that most people seem to know pretty well. I hope these live performances continue to do well, and it's definitely hard to not be critical of their choices when so much is on the line in terms of the public perception of what our industry puts out.
I am super curious as to how they actually pull off musical on live TV. I remember watching Peter Pan in 33 last year and being absolutely devastated by the quality of – honestly – everything. I since have not seen a successful production of a musical not on a stage. I feel like theatrical productions are not suited for television because staged productions rely on the audience being willing to hold during changeovers and be willing to hold for the live action to be pulled off. I feel that TV audiences are of a different crowd, even though I’m sure most of these millions of viewers are theatre fans, there is still the change in atmosphere between sitting in a theatre and sitting at your TV. TV audiences tend to be more impatient and require time to be fully invested and times to be distracted, which I feel musicals don’t offer as much, especially because TV editing cannot be done in these productions.
I think the new trend of musicals live on television is pretty great. I mean, the chance to share theatre to a wider audience is always a great thing. Some people may argue that this is not the true way a live performance should be seen, and while I agree with those people, I also feel like giving more people the opportunity to see live theatre is more important. The first time I ever saw Oklahoma was a recorded stage version featuring Hugh Jackman! I would have never gotten that opportunity if someone said that the only way to see it was live. yes, it was probably much better live, but I still got an opportunity that I wouldn't have otherwise. I also feel that live TV musical productions probably provide a whole new set of challenges for our industry and provide many obstacles that we can overcome. It makes me happy that those who don't get the opportunity to see live theatre, have a chance to not only see classics like Grease and Hairspray, but they get to see a top caliber production of these Musicals.
Hairspray is, hands down, my favorite production that I have every worked on. So yes, I am rather attached to it, and have a hard time accepting it as anything other than a traditional stage production. And this is coming from someone who spent all of fifth grade in LOVE with the John Travolta movie version. And still I know that if NBC is to do this and do it well, they will have to decide: are we making the Broadway show, or are we making a movie? Sure, they might be using the music and dialogue from the Broadway production, but do they intend this to be a recreation of the movie or a stage production. What I have come to understand through working on the show is that the musical and the (ORIGINAL) movie, though different in their intention, differ most greatly in their message. And what the musical itself came to celebrate above all else is love: love of oneself, love of one's family, love of one's friends, being in love, and loving despite our differences. The 2008 movie version, in attempting to wow and grab eyes, left out crucial parts of this story and detracted from its message, and this is why it is reviled by Broadway. NBC is thus tasked with a difficult decision from a commercial standpoint. Will they whip up some lighthearted fun and make a whole bunch of cash? Or will they see Hairspray's theme of love amidst discrimination as an opportunity in light of current events, and do something to share an important message which may be hard from some viewers to hear? Whatever they choose, I hope they don't try to pass of flash-and-trash as racially aware. An attempt to marry the two styles could do more harm than good.
Honestly, I can say that I would expect a lot of things from NBC following their spectacular production of “The Wiz Live!”, however is “Hairspray” is not one that I would have guessed. I somewhat agree with Brennan with the idea of positive reaction from the minority community, but this choice initially doesn’t fee like it was driven by that, and I’m not quite sure how to explain why. After watching “The Wiz Live!”, I felt like NBC owned their last chance to redeem themselves from two lack-luster live television musicals. And I think they played it somewhat safe with this choice, however one could argue that they played it safe with “The Sound of Music” and “Peter Pan” and even Fox playing it safe with “Grease”, but that is not the point of these live television musicals in my mind. The key here is that theater, whether you want to call it that or not, is being delivered to the masses and is reintroducing or introducing for the first time what theatre is to people. That is a huge responsibility that I hope that the television networks understand. They have the opportunity to change lives, like the did with “The Wiz”. I hope they can do it again.
I really love this new trend of televised musicals, as it's a great way to increase national interest in theatre. Hairspray is a great choice for the next musical as it's a show with popular appeal that has an underlying political message. Like Ben, I've found NBC's and Fox's selections relatively safe, but I don't necessarily think that it's a bad thing. Televised theatre is still in its early days, and in order to keep people interested and get them invested the choices must be well known. Sound of Music was a solid selection in this regard, as almost everyone has seen, if not at least heard of, the movie at some point. I'm sure that after seeing this many new people were introduced to theatre. Eventually maybe we will see more controversial or unknown shows in our living rooms, but to get there we first must embrace the popular classics again.
When I read the title of this article, I said to myself; not again. I have not been impressed with any of these live adaptations on tv. I saw The Sound of Music, and the beginning of Peter Pan before I had to turn it off, and just over break watched The Wiz. I do admire the networks trying to bring theater to broader audience, but honestly they are not showing off how good live theater really is. If the only saw these live musicals and never an actual live theater performance, I don't think I would really be feeling eager to go see a live show. I think the biggest mark that they are missing is that they are trying to involve the television world too much. Such as the camera work, because although you want to get that close up of Dorothy's face as she is belting out, they also are changing the set around the camera, but scenic changes are a big part of live theater, and watching the way that magic theater happens for an audience is really important. Not to mention the part where they had edited computer visual effects. I think the live tv shows has good intentions and good potential but every time they fall short, but I hope they do Hairspray justice.
I sometimes feel like NBC bit off a little more than they can chew by being the sole member of the "bring theatre to television" movement. Of course, we can all hope that more networks jump onto the movement, but it's pretty unlikely considering how things have been going. NBC's shows will have to do extremely well and bring in a lot of money for the corporation. The special would require weeks of very time consuming and fund reducing rehearsals and techs. The shows that NBC puts on will have to be good enough to make all that money and then some, and then some MORE to be enough to convince other networks that theatre on TV is a solid plan. Now, personally, I'm not a huge fan of the whole TV thing in regards to theatre. While I know it's technically good because it gives more jobs to actors or whatever, TV ruins everything that makes theatre special. What is the point of doing a show live if the audience isn't in the room with you, feeling everything you are feeling and living that story that you are living. TV makes the show a worse version of a movie adaption.
Honestly, I'm all for this musicals on TV movement. It's one step closer in the bringing theater to the regular people that can't just bounce to New York. I'm a little disappointed in their use of Hairspray, only because it was a movie musical only a few years ago, and I think many have seen that. I think that something else perhaps less people have seen that they would still enjoy might be a better choice, something like In the Heights, because they're no longer touring, and they're fun, and have the potential to really make an impact on an audience that is less aware of theater. Right now, NBC is playing it too safe by only choosing to do musicals that have previously been made into movies, or ones that are household names. Moreover, I hope this is a bridge to the next step of bringing theater to the populous, with streaming closed broadway shows, or at least making them available.
I love the televised theatre trend. I think that it is a great way to expose those who don’t get to see Broadway or regional shows to the world of theatre. As said by previous commenters, NBC is playing it pretty safe with well known musicals that have already been successful movies. However, I think that this is a good idea for the first few years of this program, as it makes it more likely for it to survive for a longer time. I think with Hairspray, although it has recently been made into a successful movie, is starting the trend towards something hopefully including deeper and more meaningful theatre. Hairspray has modern themes of race and inequality, which is much more relevant than really anything The Sound of Music of Peter Pan brought to the screen. I hope that Hairspray will be a success as it is one of my favorites, and that they can try and get the energy of a live performance onto the tv, which has often been the main critique for these types of performances.
Beginning with SMASH, and now the live musical trend, NBC is bringing live theater to the homes of so many viewers. Finally, theater for the masses! How exciting!
After The Wiz, Live I am expecting a lot from NBC from their next production. I am excited to hear that they are producing Hairspray, another ethnically diverse cast. Now more than ever, it is imperative that large organizations and Broadway produce works that showcase more than a white lead.
In terms of the actual production, I feel my peers and I here at CMU *studying theater expect a lot more of a production than normal audiences. We hold laser focus on the accuracy and precision of all that is going on. Most watch theatrical productions solely for entertainment.
Truth be told, I love Hairspray and therefore am extremely excited for this TV event. I like most of the world enjoy commercial theatre and completely understand why NBC has chosen this script as their next big one!
11 comments:
This sounds somewhat like a poor decision? I have mixed thoughts and feelings on this choice. They definitely saw the reaction of the minority community when they chose to do a musical that embodied the spirit of the african american community, and I think they wanted to keep that in mind while picking their next show while still coming up with somewhat fresh. However, that's where I this falls kind of flat. Sure, Hairspray contains a good deal of dialogue on the integration of the black community in the early 60's, and even has nods of police brutality, which is likely to appeal to audiences today. However, Hairspray almost feels too familiar, with the success of the film that I find that most people seem to know pretty well. I hope these live performances continue to do well, and it's definitely hard to not be critical of their choices when so much is on the line in terms of the public perception of what our industry puts out.
I am super curious as to how they actually pull off musical on live TV. I remember watching Peter Pan in 33 last year and being absolutely devastated by the quality of – honestly – everything. I since have not seen a successful production of a musical not on a stage. I feel like theatrical productions are not suited for television because staged productions rely on the audience being willing to hold during changeovers and be willing to hold for the live action to be pulled off. I feel that TV audiences are of a different crowd, even though I’m sure most of these millions of viewers are theatre fans, there is still the change in atmosphere between sitting in a theatre and sitting at your TV. TV audiences tend to be more impatient and require time to be fully invested and times to be distracted, which I feel musicals don’t offer as much, especially because TV editing cannot be done in these productions.
I think the new trend of musicals live on television is pretty great. I mean, the chance to share theatre to a wider audience is always a great thing. Some people may argue that this is not the true way a live performance should be seen, and while I agree with those people, I also feel like giving more people the opportunity to see live theatre is more important. The first time I ever saw Oklahoma was a recorded stage version featuring Hugh Jackman! I would have never gotten that opportunity if someone said that the only way to see it was live. yes, it was probably much better live, but I still got an opportunity that I wouldn't have otherwise. I also feel that live TV musical productions probably provide a whole new set of challenges for our industry and provide many obstacles that we can overcome. It makes me happy that those who don't get the opportunity to see live theatre, have a chance to not only see classics like Grease and Hairspray, but they get to see a top caliber production of these Musicals.
Hairspray is, hands down, my favorite production that I have every worked on. So yes, I am rather attached to it, and have a hard time accepting it as anything other than a traditional stage production. And this is coming from someone who spent all of fifth grade in LOVE with the John Travolta movie version. And still I know that if NBC is to do this and do it well, they will have to decide: are we making the Broadway show, or are we making a movie? Sure, they might be using the music and dialogue from the Broadway production, but do they intend this to be a recreation of the movie or a stage production. What I have come to understand through working on the show is that the musical and the (ORIGINAL) movie, though different in their intention, differ most greatly in their message. And what the musical itself came to celebrate above all else is love: love of oneself, love of one's family, love of one's friends, being in love, and loving despite our differences. The 2008 movie version, in attempting to wow and grab eyes, left out crucial parts of this story and detracted from its message, and this is why it is reviled by Broadway. NBC is thus tasked with a difficult decision from a commercial standpoint. Will they whip up some lighthearted fun and make a whole bunch of cash? Or will they see Hairspray's theme of love amidst discrimination as an opportunity in light of current events, and do something to share an important message which may be hard from some viewers to hear? Whatever they choose, I hope they don't try to pass of flash-and-trash as racially aware. An attempt to marry the two styles could do more harm than good.
Honestly, I can say that I would expect a lot of things from NBC following their spectacular production of “The Wiz Live!”, however is “Hairspray” is not one that I would have guessed. I somewhat agree with Brennan with the idea of positive reaction from the minority community, but this choice initially doesn’t fee like it was driven by that, and I’m not quite sure how to explain why. After watching “The Wiz Live!”, I felt like NBC owned their last chance to redeem themselves from two lack-luster live television musicals. And I think they played it somewhat safe with this choice, however one could argue that they played it safe with “The Sound of Music” and “Peter Pan” and even Fox playing it safe with “Grease”, but that is not the point of these live television musicals in my mind. The key here is that theater, whether you want to call it that or not, is being delivered to the masses and is reintroducing or introducing for the first time what theatre is to people. That is a huge responsibility that I hope that the television networks understand. They have the opportunity to change lives, like the did with “The Wiz”. I hope they can do it again.
I really love this new trend of televised musicals, as it's a great way to increase national interest in theatre. Hairspray is a great choice for the next musical as it's a show with popular appeal that has an underlying political message. Like Ben, I've found NBC's and Fox's selections relatively safe, but I don't necessarily think that it's a bad thing. Televised theatre is still in its early days, and in order to keep people interested and get them invested the choices must be well known. Sound of Music was a solid selection in this regard, as almost everyone has seen, if not at least heard of, the movie at some point. I'm sure that after seeing this many new people were introduced to theatre. Eventually maybe we will see more controversial or unknown shows in our living rooms, but to get there we first must embrace the popular classics again.
When I read the title of this article, I said to myself; not again. I have not been impressed with any of these live adaptations on tv. I saw The Sound of Music, and the beginning of Peter Pan before I had to turn it off, and just over break watched The Wiz. I do admire the networks trying to bring theater to broader audience, but honestly they are not showing off how good live theater really is. If the only saw these live musicals and never an actual live theater performance, I don't think I would really be feeling eager to go see a live show. I think the biggest mark that they are missing is that they are trying to involve the television world too much. Such as the camera work, because although you want to get that close up of Dorothy's face as she is belting out, they also are changing the set around the camera, but scenic changes are a big part of live theater, and watching the way that magic theater happens for an audience is really important. Not to mention the part where they had edited computer visual effects. I think the live tv shows has good intentions and good potential but every time they fall short, but I hope they do Hairspray justice.
I sometimes feel like NBC bit off a little more than they can chew by being the sole member of the "bring theatre to television" movement. Of course, we can all hope that more networks jump onto the movement, but it's pretty unlikely considering how things have been going. NBC's shows will have to do extremely well and bring in a lot of money for the corporation. The special would require weeks of very time consuming and fund reducing rehearsals and techs. The shows that NBC puts on will have to be good enough to make all that money and then some, and then some MORE to be enough to convince other networks that theatre on TV is a solid plan. Now, personally, I'm not a huge fan of the whole TV thing in regards to theatre. While I know it's technically good because it gives more jobs to actors or whatever, TV ruins everything that makes theatre special. What is the point of doing a show live if the audience isn't in the room with you, feeling everything you are feeling and living that story that you are living. TV makes the show a worse version of a movie adaption.
Honestly, I'm all for this musicals on TV movement. It's one step closer in the bringing theater to the regular people that can't just bounce to New York. I'm a little disappointed in their use of Hairspray, only because it was a movie musical only a few years ago, and I think many have seen that. I think that something else perhaps less people have seen that they would still enjoy might be a better choice, something like In the Heights, because they're no longer touring, and they're fun, and have the potential to really make an impact on an audience that is less aware of theater. Right now, NBC is playing it too safe by only choosing to do musicals that have previously been made into movies, or ones that are household names.
Moreover, I hope this is a bridge to the next step of bringing theater to the populous, with streaming closed broadway shows, or at least making them available.
I love the televised theatre trend. I think that it is a great way to expose those who don’t get to see Broadway or regional shows to the world of theatre. As said by previous commenters, NBC is playing it pretty safe with well known musicals that have already been successful movies. However, I think that this is a good idea for the first few years of this program, as it makes it more likely for it to survive for a longer time. I think with Hairspray, although it has recently been made into a successful movie, is starting the trend towards something hopefully including deeper and more meaningful theatre. Hairspray has modern themes of race and inequality, which is much more relevant than really anything The Sound of Music of Peter Pan brought to the screen. I hope that Hairspray will be a success as it is one of my favorites, and that they can try and get the energy of a live performance onto the tv, which has often been the main critique for these types of performances.
Beginning with SMASH, and now the live musical trend, NBC is bringing live theater to the homes of so many viewers. Finally, theater for the masses! How exciting!
After The Wiz, Live I am expecting a lot from NBC from their next production. I am excited to hear that they are producing Hairspray, another ethnically diverse cast. Now more than ever, it is imperative that large organizations and Broadway produce works that showcase more than a white lead.
In terms of the actual production, I feel my peers and I here at CMU *studying theater expect a lot more of a production than normal audiences. We hold laser focus on the accuracy and precision of all that is going on. Most watch theatrical productions solely for entertainment.
Truth be told, I love Hairspray and therefore am extremely excited for this TV event. I like most of the world enjoy commercial theatre and completely understand why NBC has chosen this script as their next big one!
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