When you think of musicals, you can’t help but think of Andrew Lloyd Webber. He has achieved the greatest success in musical theater and runs one of the largest theater companies in London. He can be credited with creating the longest-running and highest-grossing musical production in history. The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on February 11, 2012, which is the first musical to do so and is still going strong today. His talents in producing musicals are legendary and will continue for a long time.
Les Miserables is another musical that has been running for over 20 years. More than 60 million people worldwide have seen the music stage in more than 40 countries. He recently hit the big screen in the lead roles of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. If you want a good cry, go to your movie theater and watch it. It’s easy to see why it won a Golden Globe for Best Picture and why it garnered 8 Oscar nominations and 9 Bafta nominations.
The history of musicals goes back a long time. I once visited the amphitheater near Taormina in Sicily and you can bet it saw its fair share of musicals in its time. The Romans are believed to have copied Greek theaters and performed in enclosed wooden structures. They placed metal chips in the shows to improve the sound of the dance. I guess these would be classified as early tap shoes.
There’s something great about musicals when they’re done right. When I was a kid, the most recorded and watched movies on TV for me were all the musicals. “The Wizard of Oz”, “Mary Poppins” and “Greece” were my favorites; even today I could sing all the songs and fully follow the spoken dialogue. I even remember spending hours perfecting Dorothy’s exact jump down the yellow brick road! Then there was “Annie,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Fame,” and “Flashdance,” and the list goes on. The more I think about it, the more I realize I was raised on musicals.
But what is it about musicals that makes them so popular even today? I think it’s just because they use song and dance to enhance a story. But I think it takes a special type of director and choreographer to do a musical job. Having seen many productions of the same musical, it seems that the success really comes down to how well it is produced. A couple of years ago I took my mom to see “We Will Rock You” and it was amazing. It really gives you the feel good factor.
I can’t wait for the next great musical to hit the stage. I’ve always wanted to burst into song and dance doing my weekly shopping at Tesco’s! Maybe I need to fix this, get a group of friends, prepare a dance and have music ready. I bet it would make all the buyers stop and look and give them the feel-good factor that the best musicals give you.