The rest of the upcoming musicals, while less exciting, may be even more familiar.(I’ve already seen two of them in previous productions.) Drawn “KPOP” is another off-Broadway hit of 2017. Both are set to get major tweaks for larger theaters and audiences.
Then there’s “& Juliet,” which has been in London since 2019 (due to the pandemic). From a distance, it looks like a mashup of several Broadway elements: modern Shakespeare, romantic fantasy and hit parade. The song by Max Martin is best known for recordings by Britney Spears, Katy Perry and the Backstreet Boys.
But this fall’s seven solid musicals are just the tip of my Excel iceberg. A little below the waterline, a revival of Bob Fosse’s “Dancing”, a stage version of “The Devil Wears Prada”, and the London hit “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” are all but imminent. We have a definite show.
Dive a little deeper and you’ll reach a larger school of aspirants. Many look attractive. Various prototypes of Lempicka, which depicts a hedonistic Polish painter, have been well received.
Some seem to be stuck in development hell. Barry Manilow’s show “Harmony” about a Nazi German singing group had its world premiere in 1997. It took him 25 years to reach the tip of Manhattan. During his final performance there, Manilow’s collaborator Bruce Sussman told the audience:Think of today as the end of the beginning!“
Everyone, even bottom feeders, is doing mystical creatures that someone once thought was a good idea. “Magic Mike”? “Honeymooners”? Will Baby Jessica Fall In The Well Musical? An adaptation of ‘Paradise Lost’? (Only one of them is configured.)
But for list obsessives like me, my spreadsheet contains nearly 100 titles from “A Little Princess” to “Zanna.” Product quality is seldom an issue. What I want to ponder is huge arrays. Sometimes we imagine titles like ‘Bhangin’ It,’ ‘Trading Places,’ ‘Black Orpheus,’ ‘Beaches,’ and even ‘Untitled Roy Rogers Musical,’ as a fleet of planes gliding through airports across the country. It hasn’t taken off yet, some are out of fuel, but they’re on the runway, eagerly pointing their noses at you.