I remember being in college in the early 1990s and bussing into NYC from SUNY Cortland to see Broadway shows. The early 1990s was an exciting time on Broadway. This was just around the time that Times Square started to shift from a place of dilapidated XXX movie houses interspersed with the occasional Broadway show, the classy theatre havens looking glaringly out of place amid the seediness, hustlers and hookers. It was a glorious place.
Have you ever picked up a Broadway cast recording that you’d only vaguely heard of (or had never heard of), listened to it and said “This score is so good! Why isn’t this show being performed all the time?”. Just because a Broadway show has problems, it doesn’t always mean that the score is bad. In fact, many flop or troubled musicals have superior scores that will make you keep wondering “Was that musical AWFUL or WONDERFUL?”. Here are nine cast albums that will keep you wondering why that musical wasn’t a bigger hit.
Having grown up in the 80s where kid-centric sitcoms were a regular part of the television landscape, it is probably no surprise that I continue to look for similar entertainment in my adulthood. In my youth, colorful family programming such as Silver Spoons, Punky Brewster, Small Wonder and ALF, usually with outlandishly ludicrous premises, were an escape for those kids who enjoyed a little adventure and fun. In my "maturity", I find myself nostalgic for that kind of sitcom, a brand that is no longer found on network television. This is why I will often turn on the Disney Channel or Disney XD for some lighthearted entertainment reminiscent of those 80s favorites.
You'd have to be living under a theatre rock if you haven't heard about the rigmarole surrounding former Spice Girl Mel B's indiscretion during her final performance as Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago. For those of you who do not know, the pop singer decided to interpolate some lyrics from one of her famous pop songs into the show for her final farewell. The theatre world appears to be of two minds about this move. There are those who stand by the traditions of theatre (and the rules of Actors Equity), finding her actions egregious, pandering to the lowest common denominator of theatre: inserting shtick where neither the authors or production originally intended. There are others, however, that believe that employing Mel B is an example of stunt casting and that it was a clever tip of the hat to her fans (arguably the makeup of that night's audience) to reference her music. In fact, some welcome moments of such shenanigans. Either way, there has been a lot of debate on websites and chat boards over her choice to do this. Having taken a few days to weigh the scenario in my mind and synthesize how I feel about this (not exactly life-ending) infraction, I must side on those who admonish the star for her actions.
