Though there is a little over a month of actual calendar summer left, we all know that the department stores are packed with school supplies, school clothes, and the “Back-to-School Sale” banners fill their windows. For all intents and purposes, we have a few fleeting weeks left to enjoy the sunshine and the leisure that summer affords. In an effort to make the most of these few weeks, I have assembled a playlist of Broadway songs that celebrate summer.
Of all of the musicals that I saw in the first decade of the 21st Century, the one that brought the most smiles to my face was the 2004 David Yazbek (music and lyrics) and Jeffrey Lane (book) comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Based on the popular film of the same name starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, seldom does a musical achieve such daffy joy while simultaneously being cunningly witty. The story of two con-men who scheme to steal an heiress’s fortune when she visits a resort town in the French Riviera has wicked humor, surprising plot twists, and a heaping helping of political incorrectness that make the show ribald and salacious fun.
In celebration of Disney’s Aladdin celebrating it’s 1,001st performance on Broadway, I thought it might be fun to speculate what other films in the Disney canon might be worth looking at for the stage musical treatment. Here are some ideas I have, admittedly some are longshots or require some major rethinking. Would you want to see any of these reach the stage, or do you have some ideas of your own?
It’s been a big year for the composing team of Bock and Harnick, with Broadway revivals of their two beloved pieces Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me. The success of both of these revivals speaks to the durability of their work and to their place in the pantheon of musical theatre greats. At one point in time, there was a third Bock and Harnick musical that was as revered as the aforementioned titles, but that has faded somewhat into obscurity today. Fiorello!, which opened on Broadway in 1959, was a big hit, financially and critically. The story of the former NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia played to an audience who had memories of the reform politician who took on Tammany Hall in the early part of the 20th Century.
