40 Years of Broadway: Big Trends: The Mega Musical Era

 40 Years of Broadway: Big Trends

The Mega Musical Era

I came upon the Broadway scene as the Mega Musical Era was just ramping up. While Evita was a harbinger for things to come a few years earlier, it was really Cats that got this particular ball rolling. It makes sense, really, that the 80s through mid-90s was the time for this. It was the Decade of Excess, after all. 

I'm referring to Cats (1982), Starlight Express (1987), Les Misérables (1987), The Phantom of the Opera (1988), Miss Saigon (1991), and Sunset Boulevard (1994).

Today, it seems quaint, passé and really kinda silly (depending on your feelings about these relics). I mean, singing cats? Trains that sing and dance on roller skates? But they were all the rage, trust me. Their hallmarks were mostly sung (even completely) scores with belt your face off power ballads, very presentational staging, huge sets that were characters in the show by themselves, and iconic set pieces that people left talking about (usually more than the show itself). Loud volume = brilliant music. People stopping dead in their tracks and singing in loud unison = standing ovation guarantee. Opulence = ticket price justification. As I write this, I am beginning to see some similarities between them and now...

  

  

These were the days before social media and internet searches. And yet, even people who knew nothing about theater knew these shows. I'm talking world-wide. They made their rounds on late night talk shows, and rarely on daytime TV (not like today), and, of course, they did the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. But what really got this out to the masses was their incredible word of mouth, punctuated by genius marketing and merchandising. Everyone instantly recognized their logo iconography, and I do mean everyone* knew what these symbols meant. (* = My dad, who never stepped foot in a professional theater not only knew about Phantom, he actually took us to see it as a family!) Wearing one of those show shirts around college campuses gained the wearer instant status. And it wasn't just shirts - posters, backpack buttons and coffee mugs permeated the suburbs from coast to coast. 

It also helped that, except for the train show, the national touring companies were nearly exact duplicates of Broadway, so you didn't have to live on a coast to see the real thing. 

So much of all of this continues to this day, and we have these shows to thank for it. (Again this may depend on how you feel about this kind of show today.) I still enjoy them, and have some very fond memories. And I still wrap myself up in my (now vintage) show shirts. I had them incorporated into a great quilt!

Where do you stand on the Mega Musical front? Love it? Hate it? Or does it depend on the show? More importantly, do you still have any original merch from these shows? Let us know!

Contest Question #10:

4 of the above Mega Musicals have music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Which two did not have music by him?

Best Songs From Best Scores: 1990 - 1991

Today, we begin a new series, Best Songs From Best Scores, in which we take a look at the numbers from a season's Best Original Score Tony nominees. Of course, "best" is in the eye ear of the beholder, and we are pretty sure you won't always agree with our choices. So, please feel free to let us know what you think via email, Twitter, or comment below!

To get things started, we decided to look at a season that was really an embarrassment of riches. Each score from the 1990 - 1991 season was not only worthy of a nomination, but each would have been worthy of taking home the prize. Thirty years later, each one holds up pretty well, and there are many worthy songs to consider. Here are the ones we like the best:

Best Songs From Best Scores

1990 - 1991

Nominee: Miss Saigon

Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby, Jr.

Best Song: Ballad (group): "The Movie in My Mind" - Gigi, Kim & the Girls

After showing what they do to make ends meet in "The Heat Is On in Saigon," the girls under The Engineer's thumb reveal the pain and anguish of their lives as they desperately try to stay alive, and what they do to escape, even if it is only through dreams. The metaphor may verge on the trite, but it is an apt one, given the time period and unavoidable influence of America on every aspect of their lives.

Best Song: Presentation: "The Morning of the Dragon" - The Company

Yes, the visuals are stunning - the giant Ho Chi Minh statue, the advancing gun-toting company in perfect military precision. But the vocals are just as menacing even without the visuals - the halting, chant-like precision of the company vocals sting, and the lyrics are just as powerful, with evocative imagery ("The Morning of the Dragon, truth lit up the street, The tiger we were stalking walked on paper feet, And in the clear white heat of dawn, was gone.")

Nominee: Once  On This  Island

Music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Best Song: Ballad: "Some Girls" - Daniel

Ti Moune has saved Daniel's life and nursed him back to health, and it is love at first sight for both. In this lovely, gentle song, he explains that "some girls you marry, some you love." His declaration has heartfelt honesty, and poignancy, and Ti Moune falls even deeper in love with this charming young man, but does not realize what he means. He can love her, but he can't marry her.

Best Song: Presentation: "The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes" - Armand & The Storytellers

Even just listening to this song, you can get swept up in the sheer theatricality of this number. An embedded origin story fits right in with the rest of this tropical fairy tale. And it is one catchy number!

Nominee: The Secret Garden

Music by Lucy Simon, lyrics by Marsha Norman

Best Song: Presentation: "I Heard Someone Crying" - Mary Lennox, Archibald Craven, Lily & Company

This song is two-fer, really. It is a great song for developing the wants and needs of the characters, and it is very presentational in the way it builds and adds in the company. What a way to make something specific more universal.

Best Song: Ballad (duet): "Lily's Eyes" - Archibald Craven & Dr. Neville Craven

What a stunning duet this song is! And what a character reveal! That moment when you realize that two brothers loved the same woman... one was married to her and mourns his loss, while the other mourns what he never had. Both are now dealing with the arrival of Mary, and how she reminds them both of Lily.

Winner: The Will Rogers Follies

Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green

Best Song: Opening Number: "Will-a-Mania" - Ziegfeld's Favorite & Company

This may just be my favorite show opener of all time. Seeing it was breathtaking - the lit up staircase, a loin cloth wearing Jerry Mitchell on a drum... But it is just as effective without seeing it (no small feat). This is another song that ebbs and flows in a gradual building that climbs to a goose bump finish!

Best Song: Presentation: "Our Favorite Son" - Will Rogers, The Wranglers & The New Ziegfeld Girls

This is The Follies, right? So why not a super-catchy novelty number about politics? "The elephant trunk and democrat donkey will be down the drain and sunk, the day the people's victory is won!" 

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Favorite Designs: Onstage Cars

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to a lot of really awe-inspiring set pieces. The 80s alone were a treasure trove - flying chandeliers, helicopters and a giant levitating tire, to name but three. But it always delights me when a car or truck appears onstage. I mean, my first thought is always, "How did they get that up there?" Of course, usually it is more a facsimile of a vehicle than the real thing, but pretty cool nonetheless. 

Favorite Broadway Designs:

Onstage Cars

One of my favorite cars to appear onstage makes a very dramatic entrance. The music swells, and out it rolls carrying three of the show's main characters. The car itself is dramatic - an old relic and emblem of wealth long past. I'm talking, of course, about Norma Desmond's limousine, carrying her to Paramount Studios and her glorious (and tragic) "return."

Sunset Boulevard

(Production Design by John Napier)

More well known for its other major form of onstage transport, this show does have a car in it that makes quite an impression. It is a vintage Cadillac, symbolizing the materialistic wealth associated with The American Dream. As it moves downstage toward the audience, carrying a faux Miss America, The "Engineer" begins to hump the hood, letting everyone in the room know just how he feels about America.

Miss Saigon

(1991: Scenic Design by John Napier)

Miss Saigon

(2017: Scenic Design by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley)

This next vehicle plays so much a part in this musical, that it is in the title, and is definitely a character in the show. The other characters just can't keep their hands off of it!

Hands on a Hardbody

(Scenic Design by Christine Jones)

Finally, this may be the most famous Broadway car of them all. It starts out as a hunk of junk, but over the course of the school year, the guys fix it up real nice and name it "Greased Lightning." Go, Greased Lightning!

Grease

(1972: Scenic Design by Douglas W. Schmidt)

Grease

(1994: Scenic Design by John Arnone)

Grease

(2007: Scenic Design by Derek McLane)

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Broadway Who's Who: Bob Avian

When Bob Avian passed away on January 21, a true Broadway great was lost to us. And yet, probably even to many theater fans, his name doesn't really ring a bell. In a career that spanned nearly 60 years, he did it all: he was a performer, production assistant, director and producer. But it was his work as a choreographer/musical stager that was really what made his name.

Broadway Who's Who:

Bob Avian

Bob Avian & Michael Bennett
1979 Tony Awards - Ballroom

It all started in 1959, when he was in the international company (and later on Broadway) of West Side Story, where he met the soon-to-be great Michael Bennett. Their friendship also became a professional partnership, with Bennett charging Avian with associate and co- choreographer duties. Together, they created the staging and choreography for such classic musicals as Promises, Promises, Seesaw, Coco and Company. But it was three specific collaborations that cemented their place among the greatest choreographers the stage has ever seen: Follies, Ballroom, and their greatest achievement, A Chorus Line. The latter two would earn him Tony Awards (out of his six nominations).

Following, Bennett's death, Avian continued staging such musicals as Miss Saigon (London and Broadway, and the revival), Putting It Together, and the original London and Broadway productions of Sunset Boulevard. He also directed the hit revival of A Chorus Line in 2006.

Did You Know?...

• Born: December 26, 1937
• Died: January 21, 2021
• Birthplace: New York City
• Broadway Acting Credits: West Side Story, Nowhere To Go But Up, Funny Girl, Henry, Sweet Henry, Cafe Crown, Coco
• Broadway Production Credits: Assistant Stage Manager: I Do, I Do; Production Assistant: Twigs; Producer: Ballroom, Dreamgirls; Assistant Director: God's Favorite
• Broadway Choreography Credits: Associate/Assistant: Promises, Promises, Coco, Company, Follies, Seesaw; Co-choreographer: A Chorus Line, Ballroom, Musical Staging: Miss Saigon (Broadway and revival), Sunset Boulevard, Putting It Together; Director: A Chorus Line (revival)
• London Credits: Choreographer: Follies, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard
• Awards: Tony Awards: A Chorus Line and Ballroom; Tony Nominations: Ballroom and Dreamgirls (as producer); Olivier Award: Martin Guerre

⭐- 1976 Tony Award for Best Choreography: A Chorus Line

⭐- 1979 Tony Award for Best Choreography: Ballroom

⭐- 1979 Tony Award Nominee for Best Musical: Ballroom

⭐- 1982 Tony Award Nominee for Best Musical: Dreamgirls

⭐- 1991 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography: Miss Saigon

⭐- 1995 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography: Sunset Boulevard

⭐- 1997 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography: Martin Guerre

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Ms. Broadway December 2020: Hadestown's Eva Noblezada

It seems only fitting that we end 2020 by honoring the living history of Broadway with our Mr. Broadway December 2020, Andre De Shields, and also honoring the living future of American theater with our Ms. Broadway December 2020, his Hadestown co-star, Eva Noblezada. In a very short time, she's established herself as leading musical actress on both sides of the Atlantic. Of course, she first came into the spotlight as a 2013 Jimmy Awards finalist, where she was "discovered." From there, it was London and the 25th Anniversary production of Miss Saigon, followed by a stint as Eponine in the London revival of Les Miserables. Then came her Broadway debut as Kim in the revival of Miss Saigon, which earned her a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Soon, it was back to London and the National Theatre production of Hadestown. She was again nominated for a Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her role as Eurydice in the Broadway transfer of the same. We are sre that she is just getting started!

Ms. Broadway December 2020

Hadestown's

Eva Noblezada

GETTING TO KNOW EVA NOBLEZADA

BIRTH DATE: March 18

BIRTHPLACE: San Diego, CA

AWARDS: Jimmy Awards Top 3 (2013), Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical - Miss Saigon (2017), Theatre World Award (2017), Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical - Hadestown (2019), Grammy Award - Best Cast Recording - Hadestown (2020)

THEATER CREDITS: Broadway: Miss Saigon, Hadestown; West End: Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Hadestown

     

     

     

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