Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals

Sing-Along Mamma Mia Hits Theaters Next Week

The producers of the "Mamma Mia" movie have announced that they will be releasing a "sing-along" edition of the film into select theaters nationally on August 29th. The new version will feature the lyrics to each of the songs on the screen, encouraging audience members to join in singing their favorite ABBA ditties.

It's really a brilliant marketing idea, designed no doubt to enhance revenue by getting people to see the movie a second time. Because the primary attraction of the movie, as well as the hit stage version, has always been the insidiously tuneful and catchy ABBA songs.

I almost titled this post "Follow the Bouncing Bomb," but apparently the movie is anything but a bomb. So far, "Mamma Mia" has grossed about $116 million in the U.S., and about $321 million worldwide. (That's still a far cry from the stage version's $2-billion worldwide gross, but just wait for the DVD release.) The film cost a reported $56 million to make, so depending on the notoriously funky Hollywood accounting, this certainly could qualify as a hit.

But that doesn't mean that the movie is any good. I got flamed a bit when I posted my extremely negative review of the movie. People said I should lighten up, that it's just meant to be fluffy fun. I would remind these people that there's a difference between intent and execution. Sure, the movie is meant to be light and humorous, but even fluff needs to be well crafted, which "Mamma Mia" isn't. In their zest for the ABBA songs and the admittedly stellar cast, people seem to be ignoring whether the movie is well made, whether the story makes any sense, or whether the performances are any good. Because, IMHO, it isn't, it doesn't, and they aren't. 

So I shan't be seeing the sing-along "Mamma Mia," but I may decide to take in the Broadway version of Mamma Mia on one of my upcoming NYC jaunts. In fact, I may see it the same weekend I'm seeing Shrek. The reason: the Broadway Theater and the Winter Garden are the only remaining Broadway houses that I've never been in, and seeing both Shrek and Mamma Mia on the same weekend would make it a sort of milestone for me. (I saw Mamma Mia on tour in Boston.) Or I could just wait until Mamma Mia closes, but who knows what horror might take its place. Yeah, I'm probably better off just biting the bullet and getting a discount ticket to Mamma Mia. Somehow this crap seems to work better on stage than on screen.

Evil Dead: The Marketing Campaign

To advertise the Toronto run of Evil Dead: The Musical, the marketing staff have come up with a pretty clever poster campaign. You might have seen these before, but I finally found some decent scans and decided to post them. If only the musical itself were even half as clever or as funny as the posters, they might have a winner on their hands. Unfortunately, the musical is a stinker. (Read my review of the Off-Broadway production.)

Rowan Atkinson to Star in London's Oliver

I love London, and have been waiting for a theatrical justification to return to that wondrous city. But much of the stuff that's been opening recently in the West End, at least in terms of musicals, has been utter crap. (e.g. Dirty Dancing, Desperately Seeking Susan, Lord of the Rings. Yeesh.) Well, now I'm thinking that I may want to plan a trip across the pond sometime early next year.

I had heard that Andrew Lloyd Webber was doing the reality-TV thing again to choose a Nancy for yet another London revival of Lionel Bart's Oliver!. The show is titled "I'd Do Anything," and follows on the heels of a number of successful ALW-sponsored reality-casting efforts, including "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria," in which audience members chose a Maria for the current London revival of The Sound of Music, as well as "Any Dream Will Do," which focused on choosing the title character for a revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'm sort of struck by the show name "I'd Do Anything." It really seems to sum up reality TV in a nutshell, don't it? "Any Dream Will Do" doesn't have the same sense of desperation.

Despite my historical associations with the show Oliver!, news of the revival didn't pique my interest at first. I mean, it's not a very good show, although it has many terrific songs. But then I heard that British comedian Rowan Atkinson is scheduled to play Fagin.

I'm in.

I'm a huge fan of British comedy: Monty Python, Beyond the Fringe, Flanders and Swann, "Absolutely Fabulous," "Little Britain," "The League of Gentlemen," etc. And I'm a particular fan of the old "Blackadder" shows from the 80s. Rowan Atkinson is a masterful comic, and across the four seasons of the show he portrays a delightful series of conniving historical footnotes, from a toadying member of the court of Elizabeth I, to a Machiavellian butler for George IV when he was Prince Regent. As for Atkinson's Mr. Bean, well, not so much. But the combination of Oliver! and one of my favorite performers has me planning frequent flier miles and thinking of floors and couches I can crash on in the general London area.

The TV show is also of interest because of the presence of host Graham Norton and celebrity judge John Barrowman. Both are openly gay, and each is adorable in his own particular way. Norton also hosts "The Graham Norton Show" on BBC America, and is easily the funniest man currently on television. Barrowman has appeared in such West End shows as Anything Goes and Sunset Boulevard, and currently stars in "Doctor Who" spin-off "Torchwood," also on BBC America. And he's yummy.

Oliver! opens at the Theater Royal, Drury Lane in January 2009.

Logos for Cry-Baby and A Catered Affair

I recently came across the new official logos for the new Broadway musicals Cry-Baby and A Catered Affair. I must say that the contrast between the two offers graphic illustration of what makes for a successful visual identity for a Broadway musical. And what doesn't.

I like the Cry-Baby logo a lot. It has a cool, retro kind of look to it, in keeping with the show's 1950's setting. It sort of looks like the cover of one of those trashy 50s novels, or the poster from a James Dean movie. Click on the link above or the image above for a closer look. The colors are warm and inviting, and yet there's an appropriate sense of menace. The between-the-legs perspective seems borrowed from the poster to "For Your Eyes Only," the James Bond movie, but on the whole the image really makes me want to see the show.

And then there's the logo for A Catered Affair. I posted previously about the early version of this show's visual identity, saying it was perhaps the most boring logo ever. Well, they've made it more lively, cluttered even, but they certainly haven't made it more esthetically appealing. On the whole, this image is washed out, awkwardly arranged, and unfocused. And the human figures have a creepy, plastic feel to them, kind of like those old Duracell battery commercials with that family of macabre automatons.

Tickets for both shows aren't on sale for the general public yet, but are available for American Express Gold Card members. The only reason I own a Gold Card is to gain access to these exclusive events. I'll be seeing both of these shows next month, but I'm particularly excited about seeing Cry-Baby with three of my fellow theater bloggers, Steve from Steve on Broadway, Alicia from Things You'll Learn to Love About Me, and Esther from Gratuitous Violins. We correspond electronically all the time, and regularly comment on each other's blogs, but this will be the first time I'll meet these folks face-to-face.

Steve, Alicia, and Esther: I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in person.

Legally Blonde Reality Show on MTV

The Hollywood writers' strike seems to be affecting Broadway in some indirect ways. Faced with a lack of scribes for its scripted shows, MTV has announced a reality show  to help the producers of the Broadway musical Legally Blonde choose a successor for Laura Bell Bundy in the lead role of Elle Woods. (Reality shows employ "content producers," who are cheaper and don't belong to the writers' union.) The network recently announced national auditions in anticipation of taping the show in February and March.

It's a questionable tactic, at least from a ratings perspective. By all accounts, the reality show "Grease: You're the One That I Want" wasn't much of a Nielsen bonanza, although the Grease revival that it helped to cast seems to be holding its own at the box office. On the other hand, ticket sales for Legally Blonde got a shot in the arm from its recent airings on MTV, despite predictions from many people that running the show on TV would prove disastrous.

Many people will also likely decry this reality-show move as a publicity stunt. Well, I say, what's wrong with a publicity stunt, if it keeps a decent show running? I've long defended stunt-casting as an effective way to keep good shows up and good people employed. And Legally Blonde, while certainly not a masterpiece, is a fun bit of fluff, if a bit on the shrill side. (See my review here.) The show is an intentionally populist Broadway offering, and thus is in no danger of compromising its "artistic integrity" by relegating its central casting to a populist voting process. Plus, the show will bring increased visibility to Broadway in general beyond Broadway's typical demographic (i.e. from old, rich, white people to young, rich, white people).

Let's just hope the whole reality-show thing doesn't go too far. I mean, we certainly wouldn't want this casting-by- popular-vote thing to become a habit or anything. In a larger sense, art is not a democratic process, nor should it be.

Rapp and Pascal Return to Rent

Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp have returned to the roles that they originated in Rent for six weeks this summer. Eleven years on, are these guys looking a bit long in the tooth for the roles? Here are some recent photos of Rapp and Pascal. You be the judge. I'll just say this: pay particular attention to the photos in which they pose with the other current cast members. "Grandpa, what was it like when you were on Broadway?"

Do you call it stunt casting when you're bringing back the original stars? Well, if you define stunt casting as an attempt to increase box office by bringing in a name, then I guess you do. The question is, how well will it work? This reminds me of when Barry and Fran Weissler brought back Bebe Neuwirth to Chicago, but this time as Roxie Hart rather than Velma Kelly, which I think was moderately effective, although certainly not the box-office boon that was the Broadway debut of hip-hop star Usher.

Isn't it insane how long Rent has lasted? I mean, it's a good show, don't get me wrong. A very good show. But it's racked up more than 4,600 performances, making it the seventh-longest-running show in Broadway history. And it's brought in more than $250 million in gross sales. That's a quarter of a billion dollars, folks. Sure, it's been playing to half-empty houses quite a bit over them past few months, but it does manage a week here or there when it takes in more than $400,000, which is still pretty frickin' good.

I saw Rent the night before it opened on Broadway, and it was one of the most electrifying nights I've ever had in the theater. Part of the power of the show for me was that my boyfriend at the time was HIV-positive, and by the time Collins sang the powerfully dramatic reprise of "I'll Cover You," I was a great big wet sloppy mess. Over the years I've come to recognize the flaws in the show, but overall it's great theater, an important theatrical milestone, and a terrific roller-coaster ride of emotion.

So I hope the show keeps on running, exposing a new generation of theater goers to the sadly lost genius that was Jonathan Larson.

Spamalot World Record

There's nothing like a good publicity stunt.

Last March, the producers of the hit Broadway version of Spamalot gathered 1,789 Monty Python fans together in New York's Shubert Alley to create what was then the biggest-ever, and presumably the first-ever, all-coconut orchestra.

Participants banged together empty halves of coconut shells, an homage to the preferred mode of transportation in the classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," to the tune of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." (Which is actually from "Life of Brian," but I digress.)

In a case of friendly oneupmanship, members of the London production amassed 5,567 coconut-wielding enthusiasts in London's Trafalgar Square, handily breaking the world record. Original Python members Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam were on hand to conduct the proceedings.

The event got tons of press. At this writing, Google lists about 339,000 Internet references to the event. Even NPR included a blurb on the event on Monday's "All Things Considered."

As I've posted before, I'm a huge Monty Python fan, so I was ecstatic when I heard about Spamalot. But I was a bit disappointed in the actual show. It's a tremendous amount of fun, but it's not great musical theater. The book and the staging are hysterical, but the score is just awful: puerile melodies, bad scansion, too much assonance. It works in the theater, but it doesn't hold up on repeated listenings.

But I'm glad that the show has become and international hit. Currently there are productions on in New York, London, Las Vegas, as well as a U.S. touring production. Blockbusters tend raise the profile of musical theater in the eyes of potential ticket buyers, and a rising tide, to a certain extent, lifts all boats.