New York's Broadway (obviously the most famous)
London, England (Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals all premiered in London before ever making their way to Broadway)
Toronto, Canada (Canada's own little "Broadway")
The musical was originally an art form all its own in the days of such classics as:
The King and I
South Pacific
The Sound of Music
Oklahoma
Fiddler on the Roof
and many others.
These days, fine shows from the classic bunch still make up many of musical theatre's fabulous revivals; however, new trends are developing.
Disney has had success with both "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King," and continues to plan future family musicals based on many of their famous movies and/or characters.
In the works are:
Mary Poppins (set to open in 2004 in England)
Also, Disney is working on developing stage versions of many of its popular movies including, "Cinderella," "Jungle Book," "Mulan," "Newsies" and many more. The difference with these scripts is that they will be written in shorter versions of 30 to 60 minutes and made performable for children. Eventually, Disney's hope is to have the scripts available to schools and musical theatre/drama studios for class performances.
Currently running, another Disney favorite is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." But, Disney movies aren't the only influence on the newest crop of musicals.
Wicked (a musical about two of the witches from "The Wizard of Oz" - based on the novel by Gregory Maguire that follows Glinda and Elphaba long before Dorothy's house drops in on the inhabitants of Oz) revives our love of the movie that made Judy Garland a star.
The music world is also influencing what audiences may see in the near future. "The Boy from Oz," is a new musical starring Hugh Jackman as Australian singer/songwriter, Peter Allen.
"We will Rock You," the production featuring the music of pop group Queen, is set for a 2004 opening in London. This musical, like "Mama Mia," follows the tradition of using existing popular songs and building a musical around them.
AC/DC bandmember Brian Johnson has plans to bring his own musical, "Helen of Troy," to the musical theatre stage.
Movies like "The Color Purple" and the T.V. and big screen comedy of "Monty Python" are also jumping on the bandwagon with plans to develop musicals as well. Both musicals are aiming for Broadway premieres in 2005. The Python musical is toying with the title "Spamelot." There's also an online buzz stating that Blake Edwards is trying to put together a "Pink Panther" musical based on his infamous bumbling detective Inspector Clouseau.
Go To Page: 1 2
