Musicals

Almost 12 million people saw Broadway shows in the United States in 2005 which doesn’t take into account the touring musicals. Favorite musicals transcend time and some of the first modern day musicals ever made remain favorites today. For an extra special occasion, some people choose to see musicals over other forms of entertainment.

Of course, part of the appeal of seeing a musical on the stage is the exciting night out going to dinner and a show. The same person who wouldn’t stay home to watch a forty year old movie would jump at the chance to see the same story come alive on the stage. When it comes to musicals, many people prefer to see live, real actors on the stage over television broadcasts.

Musicals have been made from films and vice versa. Sometimes the film comes first and the musical follows. Even animated films such as Disney’s The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast have been smash hits on the modern stage. In fact, animal costumes have won many awards for the musical and the costume designers.

We’ve gotten songs from musicals that will endear us forever. Hello Dolly’s title song was the biggest hit of a recording artist’s life, Louis Armstrong and at age 63, his record hit number one on the pop charts. Further, many of the popular tunes from the musical Annie are still the favorite tunes of many children.

Musicals have set and broken records for years. The latest and one of the most exciting records broken in the theatre was in 2006 when Phantom of the Opera outran Cats as the longest running musical. It was Andrew Lloyd Webber beating himself while his number 1 and number 2 musicals changed places on the longest running list.

Worldwide, Phantom of the Opera has had a box office take of well over 3 billion dollars which is another record. Fortunes are made and lost in the theatre, and while one artist’s version of a musical “makes it” while another’s doesn’t is anybody’s guess.

In the meantime, we are entertained, sometimes educated and forever grateful to the art form that is the musical, to see an artist’s vision come alive on the stage and in the end to relive those memories in our living rooms. Musicals combine music and drama, thereby combining two fantastic forms of entertainment into one genre: this could be why musicals remain such a popular form of entertainment today.

A Disney animated movie, The Lion King made its Broadway debut on November 13, 1997. There have been several international productions of The Lion King in places such as the U.K., China, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries.

We first fell in love with Annie April 21, 1977 and loved her through all of her 2,377 performances. So much so that we brought her back 20 years later. The revival of Annie made its Broadway debut on March 26, 1997 and lasted another 239 performances. From a comic strip to a book to a Broadway musical and then a film, Annie has millions of admirers regardless of the platform. Further, one may find that Annie is a musical that is commonly reproduced in many high schools and college settings.

Oklahoma is one of the most famous musicals of all time and it premiered on Broadway on March 31, 1943 and played for 2,212 performances. Oklahoma is based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs and came to be a Rodgers and Hammerstein production.

Rent made its Broadway debut on April 29, 1996 and quickly won over a generation of what has come to be known as “rentheads.” Adding to the romanticism of the musical is the sad fact that the composer and author of the book, Jonathon Larsen died unexpectedly from an aortic aneurysm the night before the show’s first off-Broadway performance and 10 days before his 36th birthday. Now in its 11th year of production, and one of the longest running Broadway shows, Rent is still drawing crowds.

Mention the Von Trapp family and whoever is listening immediately knows you’re talking about The Sound of Music. This musical that transcends all generations started as a memoir by Maria Von Trapp and has been put into various forms of music and drama all over the world. To this day, the Von Trapp descendents carry on Maria’s legacy.

Grease as the musical film version may have been more famous than Grease the stage musical but that’s where it started and it went on for a whopping 3,388 performances in 8 years. Musicals like Grease often result in popular songs and there is even a sequel to the first film.

One of the most successful and longest running musicals in history, Les Miserables came to Broadway in 1987 and ran until 2003 with 6,680 performances making it the 3rd longest running musical ever in the United States after The Phantom of the Opera and Cats. It is the longest running musical in London. A newer version opened on Broadway in November of 2006 and is expected to run 6 months. Les Miserables has also been staged in China, Japan, Argentina and Brazil and other countries as well. Based on the 1862 Victor Hugo book, it has been staged in schools and theaters all over the world.

West Side Story made its Broadway debut in 1957 and performed 732 shows which were for its time, considered a successful run. If that was successful then the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady must have been considered ultra successful with a run of 2,717 shows. Actually, it was even more than that as it was a Broadway record.

Fiddler on the Roof debuted on Broadway in 1964 and was made into a film in 1971. Regarded as one of the most famous Broadway musicals, it was brought to Broadway for the fourth time in 2004 and ended that run in 2006.

The Lion King had some elaborate costumes such as mechanical headpieces and actors portraying giraffes by walking on stilts. In fact, the musical won a Tony award for Best Costume Design.

William Ivey Long has designed costumes for at least 50 Broadway musicals and many other stage productions. The Inspector General was the first Broadway production Long designed costumes for and A Streetcar Named Desire was the 50th. In all, Long was nominated for ten Tony awards and won four. These were for the musicals Nine, Crazy for You, The Producers and Hairspray, which is still enjoying a successful run on Broadway in 2006 after opening in 2002.

Ann Hould-Ward was responsible for the only Tony the musical Beauty and the Beast won which was for Best Costume Design. Although nominated for 2 other Tonys for musicals Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George, Beauty would be her only win.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats won its share of Tonys and not surprisingly one of those was for Best Costume Design. The stunning detail put into the Cats costumes by award winning costume designer John Napier has made life-long fans out of cat lovers and costume lovers the world over.

Costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge has designed costumes for numerous Broadway musicals and has been nominated for at least 14 Tony awards, winning 3 of them, one of which was for the musical La Cage Aux Folles.

Les Miserables won 8 Tony awards including Best Musical and was nominated for 12. The Lion King won 6 Tonys that also included one for Best Musical. Rent won a Pulitzer for drama and several Tonys including one for best musical. The Sound of Music, Roger and Hammerstein’s last production, won 5 Tonys, including the shared Best Musical award with Fiorello! The film version of The Sound of Music won several Oscars and Golden Globes as well as other awards.

Although Grease was nominated for seven Tony awards, it didn’t win any of them though Adrienne Barbeau, who was nominated for a Best Featured Actress Tony for her role as Rizzo went on to win the 1972 Theater World Award for the role.

West Side Story was nominated for Best Musical in 1957 and although it didn’t win the Tony, in 1961 the movie version won the Academy award for Best Picture.

Fiddler on the Roof won 9 Tony awards including one for best musical and the film version won 3 Academy awards.

In 2003, Hairspray was nominated for 13 Tony awards and won 8. It is due to be adapted as a musical film in 2007.

Nothing about musical awards can be written without including the record-setting musical Hello Dolly! that not only won 10 Tony awards but held that record for 37 years! The widely successful musical opened in 1964 and ran for an impressive 2,844 performances.

Although Disney’s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for 9 Tony awards, it only won one and that was for Best Costume Design.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats was nominated for 11 Tony awards and won 7 including Best Musical and Best Costume Design.

The Lion King was adapted for Broadway from Disney’s animated film of the same name. Although many musicals were adapted from film, most of the time it works the other way around. Annie was made for film after it was first a musical. The film Annie, adapted from the Broadway musical Annie debuted in 1982 whereas the musical hit Broadway in 1977.

Interestingly enough, the theater musical Hairspray is being adapted for film while it is still enjoying a successful Broadway run. Look for the film in 2007.

Footloose made its Broadway debut on October 22, 1998 however it was based on the 1984 movie by the same name. It has been suggested that the music was much better than the musical.

Remember Whoopi Goldberg in the 1992 film Sister Act? The theater musical opened in the latter part of 2006 with Dawnn Lewis playing the title role.

The musical Fame followed a television show and film by the same name and based on the same premise.

The Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof debuted in 1955 and although it had 3 Broadway revivals, the last of which was in 2001, it was also made into a film on the big screen as well as a television film. Barbara Bel Geddes played the lead in the original Broadway production while Elizabeth Taylor was the star in the screen version that was released in 1958 by MGM.

Everyone remembers John Travolta in the 1978 film version of Grease but the Broadway musical went through a few memorable versions of Danny Zuko. The role originated in the 1972 production of Grease with Barry Bostwick but we were also honored with the performances of Patrick Swayze, Richard Gere, Adrian Zmed and Jeff Conaway to name just a few.

Jeff Conaway also played the role of the Teen Angel in the theater musical which was originated by Alan Paul. Also playing the role of teen angel was Donny Most whom we remember from the television show Happy Days and Chubby Checker even took a turn playing teen angel.

No one could forget Olivia Newton-John’s most famous role in the film version of Grease however Carole Demas was the original Sandy in the musical which also featured Debbie Gibson and Susan Wood in the role.

Julie Andrews, whom it’s impossible to even mention a theater musical or play without thinking of, made her Broadway debut in 1954 with the musical The Boy Friend. Her next musical in 1958 would make her a star. My Fair Lady broke every attendance record and ran longer than any Broadway musical had up to that time.

1960’s Camelot gave us not only Julie Andrews but Richard Burton, Robert Goulet and Roddy McDowall.

Although Carol Channing is best identified as playing the title role in Hello Dolly! other huge stars followed in her footsteps. Some of these leading ladies include Ginger Rogers, Dorothy Lamour and interestingly enough, Phyllis Diller!

Elton John gave us several memorable songs in Disney’s The Lion King, among them Can you feel the Love Tonight and Circle of Life.

The song, I Feel Pretty, originally from the musical West Side Story came back in a hilarious version sang by Adam Sandler and Jack Nickolson in the film Anger Management.

Barbra Streisand regaled us with Somewhere and Something’s Coming from West Side Story on her Broadway album as did Johnny Mathis on two separate albums.

Sometimes the songs come before the musicals or plays which was the case with Buddy the Musical which kicked off its 2006 UK tour in February. More than twenty of Buddy Holly’s hits are featured in this musical portrayal of 3 years of his life culminating in his tragic death.

Julie Andrews first made famous the song I Could have Danced all Night from the Broadway musical My Fair Lady. Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra would go on to record hit versions of the song as well.

Fiddler on the Roof gave us Sunrise, Sunset which although traditionally a Jewish wedding song, has been played at many non-Jewish weddings as well.

Hello Dolly! the musical set records on fire in many different ways. The title song, Hello Dolly! was the biggest selling record of Louis Armstrong’s career and hit number one on the pop charts. It has remained a famous tribute to a famous musical.

We love Jersey Boys for keeping songs like Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry and Rag Doll alive for us in the musical about the original Jersey Boy, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. No one group has been as successful at taking us back to the time we played these songs on our 45s as the Jersey Boys.

The Phantom of the Opera which just became the longest running musical ever in 2006 has had a worldwide box office take of more than $3.2 billion. By Contrast, Titanic, which is the world’s highest earning movie, has earned $1.2 billion. Interestingly enough, Phantom overtook the number one spot by surpassing another musical by the same composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Phantom’s 7,468th show surpassed the more than impressive run of Webber’s Cat’s.

Even more amazing than Webber beating himself out of the number one spot is the many versions of Phantom of the Opera in different venues that didn’t touch Webber’s success.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has reportedly earned more than $1.2 billion with The Lion King right behind it with $1 billion and Aida a respectable $270 million.

Wicked made its Broadway debut in 2003 and has broken box office records rising to a success few musicals see. As late as January 2006, Wicked had the biggest weekly box office gross of any musical in history. Raking in over $1.6 million, it broke the record previously held by The Producers which now runs a very close second.

Of course, we that attend the musicals and the shows and plays don’t care how much money goes through the box office except to the extent that it be enough to keep our favorites performing week after week. Even when we won’t see the same musicals on stage again, we like to know that they’re still there just in case. Ultimately, seeing musicals is not about how much money is spent or how long the musical runs, but it is about enjoying an incredible and unforgettable form of live entertainment.

Our role is simply to be entertained or taken away from our mundane or troublesome lives for just a little while. Musicals allow us to become engrossed in the drama and hypnoticized by the musical selections. Even when they make us cry we’re grateful for musicals because they allow us to escape our own self-made tears for a couple of hours. We laugh, we cry and then we go home and sometimes, just a little piece of “them” go with us. Musicals, like books, movies, and other forms of entertainment, allow viewers to see the world in a different way, through the lives and songs of the characters.