Rodgers and Hammerstein are considered major groundbreakers in the world of musical theatre, having established the formula by which musicals are created and judged. The scores of their musicals have become major contributions to the American Songbook, and even a second-rate Rodgers and Hammerstein song can outshine many a first-rate song in another musical.
All tagged The Sound of Music
What If? The Great Tony Award Rewind – Part One
With the Tony Award nominations announced and the race setting in to be a pretty uneventful one since Hamilton appears to be poised to win most of the prizes, I started thinking about what these awards would look like if Hamilton were not in the equation. For the Best Musical prize, I think it is fair to say that the race would come down to a dead heat between Waitress and Bright Star, with Bright Star edging out the win on Tony night. This got me thinking about other years where juggernauts like Hamilton were a foregone conclusion, and what might have happened if those titles had never been in play. Read along and debate with me.
100 FAVORITE SHOWTUNES: PART IV - THE 100th BLOG!!!!
This entry marks my 100th blog and the conclusion of my four-part series “100 Favorite Showtunes”. It was an interesting and daunting exercise to write down my 100 favorite songs from musical theatre and to hold myself to the challenge of explaining why I loved them so much. I revealed a lot to myself as to what I am attracted to in musicals. It was eye-opening to realize that there are whole scores of musicals that I would rank in my Top Ten that didn’t have a song show up in my Top 100.
Let's Not Whiz on The Wiz!
The renaissance of the television musical is a wonderful idea that has been executed poorly with the "live" concoctions as of later. Both The Sound of Music and Peter Pan were highly anticipated and resulted in stellar ratings, but artistically lacked any spark of inspiration. The interest is fortunate because this is a terrific opportunity to introduce the uninitiated to the world of musical theatre. The lack of quality is a different matter as the producers of these "events" should strive to not only capture this new audience, but deliver them top drawer experiences. Help them see WHY theatre is magical and life-changing when all of the elements come together into one cohesive, sparkling creation.