For Rudeboyelvis- Crowe & Jackman

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i loathe musicals, so i'll never see it. love the book tho!

I love musicals, even though I very seldom choose to see new ones, because most of them are crap. But it's really a very great art form, and one that I think is so extraordinarily American, because we (well, Rodgers and Hammerstein) were the ones who finally figured out the songs needed to advance the action of the story (musical theater can be divided into "Before 'Oklahoma!'" and "After 'Oklahoma!'" That show was really an incredible milestone in American theater). Though, before that, oodles and oodles of popular songs came from musicals- "The Lady Is a Tramp," "My Funny Valentine," "I Got Rhythm," etc. Jazz standards and musical theater standards are inextricably linked.

Ironically, as the structure of musical theater improved (linking the songs to the action), the influence of musical theater on popular music declined. Other than "Hair" there really hasn't been a successful rock musical on Broadway (I loved, loved, loved, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" but it only ran Off-Broadway and it was over ten years ago. Jesus Christ, I'm old.).

What bothers me about musicals now is that a lot of the songs seem to be about vocal pyrotechnics and not story.