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| Subject: The popsical goes platinum | |
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Author: JFIllow |
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Date Posted: Sunday, January 09, 10:22:26am Author Host/IP: 66.245.25.123 The popsical goes platinum By PETER D. KRAMER THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: January 9, 2005) With this month's opening of the new Beach Boys musical, "Good Vibrations," add Brian Wilson to the list of pop composers whose work has graced the Broadway stage. Wilson joins songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA and Billy Joel — and is just two months ahead of Elvis — in having songs he made popular on the radio become the centerpiece of a Broadway musical. Let's call them popsicals. ABBA's is, of course, "Mamma Mia!" while Joel's is the Twyla Tharp dance piece "Movin' Out." Broadway insiders call them "catalogue musicals," taking nostalgic pop songs and crafting a story to put them to best use. Popsicals are critic-proof and play directly to out-of-town tourists who want to tell their friends back home that they saw a Broadway show and want to be able to rattle off some of the songs they heard. Years after its opening night, "Mamma Mia!" is still playing to overflowing houses despite reviews that were tepid at best. There's no arguing with the financial formula. "Mamma Mia!" has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide with performances in seven languages. Next month, a Swedish translation opens in Stockholm, ABBA's homeland. Last week, the Broadway production grossed $1.1 million, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers. "Movin' Out," grosses for the week of Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 were just over $1 million. In previews, "Good Vibrations" took in $515,545. For Broadway songwriters, the test has always been whether audiences would leave the theater humming their songs. ABBA fans know all the songs going in to "Mamma Mia!"; what newcomers don't know is how they'll be fitted into the story. This is the suspense in a popsical. These are not musical revues — songs strung together; there is a story here, however slight. In "Mamma Mia!" it's a girl who wants her dad to give her away at her wedding and her mother who isn't exactly sure which of three possible boyfriends the father might be. Catherine Johnson's book is fitted between — and rarely gets in the way of — 22 ABBA songs, including "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." In "Movin' Out," which is all Billy Joel song and Twyla Tharp dance woven together, it's a circle of friends weathering the '60s and '70s in Long Island, Vietnam and its aftermath. Joel's fans enter the Richard Rodgers Theatre knowing "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and hoping it will be included. They are not disappointed: It's "Movin' Out" 's overture. They're likewise rewarded with other favorites, including "Just the Way You Are" and "The Stranger." In "Good Vibrations," the Beach Boys popsical in previews at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, the story involves New England teens who head West for some California sun, fast cars and surfing. The show's 30 songs include "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Don't Worry, Baby" and, of course, the title track. "Good Vibrations" playwright Richard Dresser told The Associated Press he wanted to try to capture the "sensibility of the songs" — working with Beach Boys recurring themes: coming of age and California dreaming. "There were a lot of challenges — what songs to use and how to structure them into a coherent story," he said. "There was a lot of trial and error involved." There's more where that came from: • In March, Elvis enters the fray (if not the building) in "All Shook Up," a musical about a guitar-playing stranger who captivates a small Tennessee town. The score includes the title song, "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Love Me Tender" and dozens of others. Producers are betting that Elvis fans can't help falling in love with the book by Joe DiPietro since they'll already know every note and word of every song. • In July comes "Lennon," a popsical with the music of the late great Beatle that has the blessing of Yoko Ono and is billed as "more than a biography." Its producers say it is "the story of how one man's life defined the times and the socio-political struggle that overtook our world." The songs you'll doubtless know. The story is by Don Scardino. • In 2006, the Man in Black takes his place on the Great White Way as "Ring of Fire" weaves 49 of Johnny Cash's songs — from "A Boy Named Sue" to "Folsom Prison Blues" — into a popsical based on Cash's life and times with a book by Richard Maltby Jr. ("Song and Dance," "Fosse"). [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |