Theatre | The Guardian: The West End musical Frozen, the story of an ice queen and her fearless sister that captivated a generation, has dominated the only major theatre awards decided by public vote.
But the lavish production lost out in the category of best new musical to Back to the Future: The Musical, an adaptation of the hit 1985 film about a young man forced to set up his parents after being accidentally sent 30 years back in time.
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Reading this article just made me tired. I wish that the theater world cared more for new works than it does for these revivals and adaptations of nostalgia machines. I am not against them completely, I think the nostalgia musicals are fun and very cool pieces of art in themselves, but the creation of a completely new musical is a mammoth task that is slowly going out of style. It is an art that is still being perfected, everytime an original musical makes to a widely known stage like Broadway it becomes a smash hit, but the rest of the field is so cluttered with pieces that are easier and more financially viable to produce that the original musical format is beginning to disappear. Its saddening because we are on the journey towards a new age of musical writing with entries like Hamilton and Hadestown, and I want this new trend in theater to be a new golden age, but I fear there will be no room for these new and experimental shows.
When I think of theater, I envision bold new art. And unfortunately that worldview gets shattered every day that I get more well versed in this industry. We are driven by the need for consumerism, so works that appeal to the large amount of audiences are invested in, and that makes sense. But what it turns into is that no one takes new risks, or rather every once in a while a well established artist takes the risk and then by some stroke of luck (or genius) they are successful. People adore their work and those investors and people who have a stake in the production are able to capitalize off of this. But then, as human nature dictates, people follow by example, and that often means retelling those stories. As boring and mundane as that is, people continue to buy tickets and merchandise so it works. To me, it feels like art is dying, and the love of art with it.
screams. cries. dies. I understand that to some extent, theatre is just entertainment, but I believe that mainstream entertainment cannot just become reboots of already existing pieces of media. It is frustrating to see how much powerful theatre producers prioritize and support theatre pieces that are based on movies or tv shows because there are so many other important news stories that we as people have not already learned that need to be told. In the past Broadway season, I believe, and I could be wrong, there was only one original piece of work. Again, I could be wrong, but even if I am, the 2021 Broadway season has been incredibly dominated by unoriginal works. For some reason, Broadway producers have convinced themselves that this will make more money. Maybe because the audience is more familiar with the work they will be more inclined to see it? Obviously, that isn't completely true, as two big musicals, Frozen and Mean Girls, just closed. And both of these productions are based on movies! I think it is time Broadway starts including new original work, as I, and soon the world too, am tired of seeing stories we have already heard. Especially when those stories silence ones we haven't seen yet.
I have a thought… What if we stop making musicals out of every movie ever made? Instead, we could try coming up with new, original ideas. I don’t know, just a thought because hearing about both Frozen and Back to the Future dominating WhatsOnStage awards sucks. And do not get me wrong, the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Frozen played on loop for a couple of months a few years ago. I do not think it’s necessarily bad, I am simply vouching for awards to recognize the genius of new works rather than musical revamps. I do see an argument being made, however, for this to be impossible in a world in which only musical revamps are being created. Thus, I think my frustration (though coming out towards the awards) should be focused on producers funding these productions. I have had this conversation with numerous people at the school before, but it's definitely worth a more in-depth conversation.
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