"Are musicals from the 20th century fit for the 21st?"
Apr 23, 2024 9:30:44 GMT
amybenson and BVM like this
Post by distantcousin on Apr 23, 2024 9:30:44 GMT
"We must address the truth that some of our beloved musicals, monumental as they are, leave legacies totally outdated to our current ideologies."
This was the viewpoint of producer James Steel, when addressing the question: are classic musicals from the 20th century fit for purpose in the 21st?
It was raised at a panel at the UK Musical Theatre Conference 2024, held at the Royal Court in London on April 12.
Alongside Steel, the panel comprised producer Joanne Benjamin, writer, actor and songwriter Anoushka Lucas and critic Andrzej Lukowski.
Steel, who thinks musicals from the 20th century are not fit for purpose today, told delegates that classic musicals were a "product of their time, clashing with today’s values and sensibilities".
He said many older musicals were "tainted by racism and misogynistic" terms.
He admitted that, even the show he is currently producing – Ushers the Front of House Musical – had become "outdated" in the 10 years since it was first staged, and changes had been required for its latest run.
He said he was more interested in "new stories about today’s society" than reviving old shows.
"Plays and musicals speaking to modern concerns not only ensure the continued relevance of theatre, but foster ongoing dialogue and growth in our industries," he insisted.
He also said older musicals should be filmed and stored in archives, to allow people to use them as a source to "look back on", rather than being restaged.
Meanwhile, Benjamin, a producer at Trafalgar Entertainment, said she believed "new musicals and revivals can work in the same environment". Trafalgar Entertainment was behind the successful revival of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre, in 2021 and 2022.
"Many older musicals were revolutionary in their time and still hold relevance today, and many new musicals are written in a style that hark back to the past," she said.
She argued that audiences still want to see shows from the 20th century, and that they can be introduced to other, newer musicals through these musicals.
She also highlighted how recent revivals, including Oklahoma! and Cabaret, had been made "accessible to our modern audiences" by directors who have made alterations to the scripts.
Benjamin said writers creating musicals today should be able to look at the structure of older musicals and learn from them.
"If you are a musical theatre writer you can look at the work of Berlin, Novello, Sondheim and Porter, for [examples of a] great, structured art form. Looking at the past helps you structure your own musicals," she said.
The debate also heard from critic Lukowski, who began by referring to Stephen Daldry’s production of the JB Priestley play An Inspector Calls, first staged in 1992 and still being produced today.
"Nobody is allowed to do a new production – it killed or froze An Inspector Calls as a living work of art," he said, adding: "Is it reasonable a whole generation of directorial talent won’t get a crack of it?"
He added: "My point is, what is extraordinary for a play is alarmingly normal for a musical."
He said the current musical theatre landscape was "rooted" in a handful of long-running shows "barely changed since they were first staged decades ago", such as Les Misérables and Mamma Mia!.
"It is not a question of whether they are good, but a question of what the artistic implications are for some of our most successful works of theatre remaining all but unchanged for decades on end," he said.
He said musicals from the ‘Golden Era’ were often rolled out "nostalgically" but pointed to productions such as a revival of Carousel at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2021, which he said was "not nostalgic, new and vital" because of how it was reinterpreted.
"Shakespeare plays move with the times, they are not put on because we are in a constant grip of Elizabethan nostalgia," he added.
"Having a classic production 50 years ago or 30 years ago does not make a musical classic now, but I think the industry often acts like it does. In the right hands and right team, most decent musicals can be fit for purpose. It is the 20th century we need to move on from," he said.
Lucas, who starred in Daniel Fish’s update of the musical Oklahoma!, which originally opened at the Young Vic before moving to the West End, described humans as "complicated creatures", in an address in favour of restaging musicals from the 20th century today.
"We can like and dislike commenting at the same time and that makes them interesting and useful, not bad," she said, highlighting how she had enjoyed Anything Goes with Sutton Foster, even though it was "racially confused".
She said Oklahoma! director Fish had spoken about the need to make audiences sit for "long periods of time in discomfort".
"There are respectful ways and disrespectful ways to do this, but we must allow new directors and creators to re-interrogate these texts. There is so much good in them for artists and audiences to learn about structure, music and dance and storytelling. The entire point of art is to make us deal with how imperfect and confused we are and find beauty in it," she said.
Lucas also said audiences should be trusted to be able to see shows and "sift through" what was and what was not acceptable.
"Should we stage racist, misogynistic, queer-phobic shows with no interrogation? No. But are people born in 2002 capable of sitting in an audience and dismantling misogyny from fantastically structured songs? Yes. I think we discredit audiences when we say they can’t hold the political complexities of old work," she said.
MY TAKE:
It is an interesting debate - initially it got my hackles up, mainly just because I think 20th century musicals are FAR better than anything that's been written in the 21st. But as I read on, I did think some good points were made on reinterpretations of theatrical works, by new generations. And I've never believed musicals should become museum pieces.
BUT I don't believe in b*stardising them to such a point, they disrespect the writers (even if they are dead) because they are so ludicrously removed from the original intent of the piece.
This was the viewpoint of producer James Steel, when addressing the question: are classic musicals from the 20th century fit for purpose in the 21st?
It was raised at a panel at the UK Musical Theatre Conference 2024, held at the Royal Court in London on April 12.
Alongside Steel, the panel comprised producer Joanne Benjamin, writer, actor and songwriter Anoushka Lucas and critic Andrzej Lukowski.
Steel, who thinks musicals from the 20th century are not fit for purpose today, told delegates that classic musicals were a "product of their time, clashing with today’s values and sensibilities".
He said many older musicals were "tainted by racism and misogynistic" terms.
He admitted that, even the show he is currently producing – Ushers the Front of House Musical – had become "outdated" in the 10 years since it was first staged, and changes had been required for its latest run.
He said he was more interested in "new stories about today’s society" than reviving old shows.
"Plays and musicals speaking to modern concerns not only ensure the continued relevance of theatre, but foster ongoing dialogue and growth in our industries," he insisted.
He also said older musicals should be filmed and stored in archives, to allow people to use them as a source to "look back on", rather than being restaged.
Meanwhile, Benjamin, a producer at Trafalgar Entertainment, said she believed "new musicals and revivals can work in the same environment". Trafalgar Entertainment was behind the successful revival of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre, in 2021 and 2022.
"Many older musicals were revolutionary in their time and still hold relevance today, and many new musicals are written in a style that hark back to the past," she said.
She argued that audiences still want to see shows from the 20th century, and that they can be introduced to other, newer musicals through these musicals.
She also highlighted how recent revivals, including Oklahoma! and Cabaret, had been made "accessible to our modern audiences" by directors who have made alterations to the scripts.
Benjamin said writers creating musicals today should be able to look at the structure of older musicals and learn from them.
"If you are a musical theatre writer you can look at the work of Berlin, Novello, Sondheim and Porter, for [examples of a] great, structured art form. Looking at the past helps you structure your own musicals," she said.
The debate also heard from critic Lukowski, who began by referring to Stephen Daldry’s production of the JB Priestley play An Inspector Calls, first staged in 1992 and still being produced today.
"Nobody is allowed to do a new production – it killed or froze An Inspector Calls as a living work of art," he said, adding: "Is it reasonable a whole generation of directorial talent won’t get a crack of it?"
He added: "My point is, what is extraordinary for a play is alarmingly normal for a musical."
He said the current musical theatre landscape was "rooted" in a handful of long-running shows "barely changed since they were first staged decades ago", such as Les Misérables and Mamma Mia!.
"It is not a question of whether they are good, but a question of what the artistic implications are for some of our most successful works of theatre remaining all but unchanged for decades on end," he said.
He said musicals from the ‘Golden Era’ were often rolled out "nostalgically" but pointed to productions such as a revival of Carousel at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2021, which he said was "not nostalgic, new and vital" because of how it was reinterpreted.
"Shakespeare plays move with the times, they are not put on because we are in a constant grip of Elizabethan nostalgia," he added.
"Having a classic production 50 years ago or 30 years ago does not make a musical classic now, but I think the industry often acts like it does. In the right hands and right team, most decent musicals can be fit for purpose. It is the 20th century we need to move on from," he said.
Lucas, who starred in Daniel Fish’s update of the musical Oklahoma!, which originally opened at the Young Vic before moving to the West End, described humans as "complicated creatures", in an address in favour of restaging musicals from the 20th century today.
"We can like and dislike commenting at the same time and that makes them interesting and useful, not bad," she said, highlighting how she had enjoyed Anything Goes with Sutton Foster, even though it was "racially confused".
She said Oklahoma! director Fish had spoken about the need to make audiences sit for "long periods of time in discomfort".
"There are respectful ways and disrespectful ways to do this, but we must allow new directors and creators to re-interrogate these texts. There is so much good in them for artists and audiences to learn about structure, music and dance and storytelling. The entire point of art is to make us deal with how imperfect and confused we are and find beauty in it," she said.
Lucas also said audiences should be trusted to be able to see shows and "sift through" what was and what was not acceptable.
"Should we stage racist, misogynistic, queer-phobic shows with no interrogation? No. But are people born in 2002 capable of sitting in an audience and dismantling misogyny from fantastically structured songs? Yes. I think we discredit audiences when we say they can’t hold the political complexities of old work," she said.
MY TAKE:
It is an interesting debate - initially it got my hackles up, mainly just because I think 20th century musicals are FAR better than anything that's been written in the 21st. But as I read on, I did think some good points were made on reinterpretations of theatrical works, by new generations. And I've never believed musicals should become museum pieces.
BUT I don't believe in b*stardising them to such a point, they disrespect the writers (even if they are dead) because they are so ludicrously removed from the original intent of the piece.