All in Theatre Time Machine
A musical that we do not see many productions of these days, but one that is thoroughly delightful in both its satire and its memorable score, is the 1956 also-ran L’il Abner. At one point, L’il Abner was an extremely popular musical in high schools and community theatres. It was based on the popular Al Capp comic strip of the same name about a town full of colorful hillbillies, poking fun at the government, current events, and Hollywood news items. With a score by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Gene de Paul (music), and a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, the musical riotously captured the cartoonish tone of Capp’s strip
When I first started my weekly column "Broadway Musical Time Machine", I decided I would hold-off on writing about my favorite show of all-time until I found that the time was right. However, The Irish Repertory Theatre is preparing a revival of that very musical in the near future, so I can no longer keep my deep and undying love for Finian's Rainbow a secret. In fact, no other show delights me as much lyrically, melodically, thematically and cleverly.
Falsettos debuted on Broadway in 1992 when the world was a very different place in how it received gay relationships, recognized marriage, and reacted to the disease AIDS. We jump ahead 24 years and find a revival of Falsettos once again playing on Broadway but in a very changed world. Set in the early 1980s, will a story of a Jewish family and the challenges it faced hold-up with a contemporary audience? The United States, for sure, has evolved stretched and changes, as has the definition of family, so is Falsettos just going to seem antiquated after almost two-and-a-half decades? Hardly.
Coming off their Pulitzer Prize-winning artistic success of Sunday in the Park with George, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer/director James Lapine would turn their eyes to the world of fairy tales for their next Broadway musical. This would not be the Disney world of fairy tales with altruistic magic and happy-ever-afters giving us warm fuzzies. No, this musical would delve into the deep and dark psychologies of fairy tales, exploring the grimmest of Grimm fairy tales, violence in tact, but moral ambiguity in question. The result would be the now-classic Into the Woods.
