The Sad State of the Modern “Musical” Movie And Live Stage Production

I am a massive fan of classic musicals such as Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, South Pacific, Cinderella, and any of the numerous remarkable iconic productions that have been brought to the stage and screen through the decades.

I am not, however, a fan of the new musicals I’ve seen in recent years, which shall remain nameless (to spare the dynamic creatives involved).

The new musicals receive and deserve applause, if only for their noble attempts to mix music with words and story. There is a great deal of talent involved in most of the “new” movies or stage musicals I’ve seen.

But there’s also a severe lack of guidance and direction with regard to how to properly present a story in musical form. Somewhere along the way, the new musical got lost.

Musical productions that were once gracefully filtered with elegant compositions and lyrics are now infused with banal dialogue; and dialogue that is sung, intended as songs.

Whereas there is the relatively contemporary opera of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s magnificent Jesus Christ Superstar, and to a lesser extent, Phantom, we now have silly songs (with no real lyrics), simple characterizations, and bad dialogue, all showcased within trite stories.