backstage.com: “Chaplin” (opening Sept. 10) and “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson” (opening Nov. 15) are just two in a long line of Broadway musical biographies about real people with a brand-new score (sorry “Jersey Boys”!).
2 comments:
It seems that the success of “Bio-Musicals” rests on the shoulders of the star playing the historical role. If the actor playing Charlie Chaplin in the musical Chaplin or Evita Peron in the musical Evita is not perfect for the role, the show is likely to be a flop regardless of the quality of other production factors. I suppose this is why the “5 Famous Broadway Bio-Musicals” cited in this article are Chaplin, Coco, The First, Evita, Grey Gardens, and Bernadette Peters (the latter being not a Bio-Musical, but a lynch-pin in the success of the genre).
Success also depends on the writers’ ability to both accurately depict real events, and present said events in an interesting engaging way. I recently got the chance to see the musical Jersey Boys which does a very good job of engaging the audience in the real history of the Four Seasons. The format of the show being told in four parts from the perspective of each of the Four Seasons, and the overall build in energy present in the music definitely adds quite a bit to the overall performance. Of course it didn’t hurt that the actors playing Tommy, Nick, Bobby, and Frankie did a great job.
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