Should any subjects not be made into a musical?
The musical version of Trainspotting in the West End has been given a drubbing by critics. Now over here critics don’t have anywhere near the same influence as on Broadway so we can take their opinion with a grain of salt. The fact is people who hear about it say it is not a good idea for a musical. Given some of the shows with dark themes have been great, and Show Boat, the show we regard as the first modern musical had themes of racism, alcoholism and broken families, are they any subjects not suitable to be made into a musical?
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Under the heading of awful, the topics that come to mind (and now I wish you had not given me cause to think of these on a Monday morning) are:
- genocide
- child death
- human trafficking
- cannibalism
Under the banner of the mundane:
- the life of an estate agent
- maintenance of a golf course
- clearing guttering
- algae
I would add that I'm generally not a fan of musicals, as there are only about half a dozen I would say I like. So my perspective is biased towards the 'no' end of making musicals about anything.
It was seen by some as being deeply offensive due to the subject matter and yet it was a subject very close to the heart of Benigni and Rubino Romeo Salmonì who wrote a book about his experiences which the film was based upon.
Which is to say, I think, that context matters.
But that isn’t the case. Les Miserable has been extraordinarily successful as has West Side Story and they both contain very serious themes. The Sound of Music moved from light to serious. Lionel Bart’s Blitz contained ordinary life and humour in the midst of a terrible wartime period.
And then there’s Miss Saigon.
I’m not sure there’s an easy line to draw. I’m pretty hard pushed to see how a musical could be based on a central theme of cannibalism but you never know. Flanders and Swann wrote a very funny song entitled “The Reluctant Cannibal”.
And Tom Lehrer wrote a very funny song about a nuclear holocaust! “You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars”.
It’s amazing what creative people can come up with.
Any Human story is a legitimate, it all depends how it's done. And then interpretated by future artists.
Is Wagner's Ring cycle right wing or left wing? It all depends. And of course perceptions change. I love 'Showboat', but ......
Personally, I can't bear 'JS Supertsar', or 'Ms Saigon'.
Miss Saigon. The helicopter scene is memorable!
- An estate agent who has dedicated his/her/their life to finding the perfect buyer for each house on the agency's books. Obviously sets up a big finale where all the estate agent's satisfied clients express their gratitude.
- A golf course maintenance person who finds True Love with one of the golfers.
- A gutter repair/ maintenance person who is either a Master Criminal (using their day job to case the joint before coming back and looting it) or an amazing amateur detective (using their day job to solve murders).
- A gripping tale of one man's quest to clear the Reflecting Pool (or his garden pond) of tiny green invaders.
Anything can be extraordinary if you set it to music.
It's quite reasonable to say that any work is poor, weakly constructed, doesn't do justice to its subject matter trivialises or whatever without concluding that means the entire genre is an unsuitable vehicle for such material.
And on whether one could have a musical about accountancy, an estate agent, maintaining a golf course, clearing guttering or algae, I can remember my parents going to one in the 1950s about women working in a pyjama factory. They even bought the record.
Honestly, anything overly bureaucratic or heavy on paperwork sounds impossible to adapt—imagine a high-energy dance number about tax audits or supply chain logistics. Though, knowing modern theater, someone would probably still try to win a Tony for it!
Well, that's a musical that only exists within a larger work of fiction, in which we only see a few minutes of it, and the whole point is it was staged by the characters of the movie because they assumed everyone would hate it.
Musicals have more dance routines, unless they're Sweeney Todd.
If you're in the UK or the US and they're singing it in Italian or German it's an opera.
But are Gilbert and Sullivan operas or musicals?
Meanwhile, there are operas that have spoken dialogue, or did as originally written. The Magic Flute, and Carmen would be two examples. (The spoken dialogue in Carmen was changed to recitative after Bizet’s death.)
The best distinction I’ve heard between an opera and a musical is that the conductor is the most importantly person in an opera, while the director is the most important person in a musical. That is to say, in a musical, the story is the most important thing, and the music is there to serve the story. In an opera, the music is the most important thing; the story provides the reason for the music.
I gather that in modern operatic staging often the set designer seems the most important person.
BTW Fidelio also has spoken dialogue (not that I've seen it).
Heading back up the thread, and partly in response to @Jane R - I think there is a distinction between the subject of a musical (what I interpreted the opening post to be about) and the setting of the musical.
Though with either, I think the one that will never be made would be Sirah: The Musical - The Life of Muhammad in E flat major
I saw a production of it on the telly. Or at least part of it.
I didn't 'get' it at all.
I've only seen two operas live, both by Opera North - Mozart's The Magic Flute and Bizet's The Pearl Fishers best known for the famous duet.
I enjoyed both.
I've seen productions on telly which I've enjoyed but I'm not really an opera buff. I like Handel operas on CD. I'm Welsh so like some operatic arias from Puccini and so on.
I'm not big on musicals either although my parents, aunts and uncles - both actual relatives and honorary ones* - loved them.
* In South Wales friends of the family were inevitably 'aunt' or 'uncle' even though they weren't relatives.
I think I overheard something on Radio 3 about a Poulenc opera I think it was which has a rather Epiphanies-ish plot but can't quite recollect which one.
I’m going to guess La voix humaine (The Human Voice), though Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogues of the Carmelites) might also fit that description. The ending of the latter is incredibly powerful.
I love musicals/musical theater, and I love opera. I have performed in both musicals and operas (in the chorus in operas), and I couldn’t count how many of each I’ve seen in person.
As to the OP, I don’t think any subject is off limits in unworkable per se. Whether it works or not depends on the creativity of those who write and stage the musical or opera.
It's all tax deductible
We're mostly incorruptable
We're sailing on the wide accountancy!
I know it's a minority view bur I loved the Crimson Permanent Insurance short.
Tom Lehrer wrote a song for Oedipus Rex. I'd be so sad if they didn't include it.
One thing on which you can depend is
He sure knew who a boy's best friend is
For shame!
Strictly speaking 'The Producers' is about accoutancy
I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus.
Though, like @KarlLB, I also enjoyrd the Crimson Permanent Assurance Company.
Your loss. I thought it was brilliant.
Absolutely agree it's an astonishing piece, which really needs to be seen, rather than just heard.
I'm a former opera singer, and it's troubling to look at the plots of operas and see what is considered acceptable, a sort of snobbery really that allows Mozart, Verdi and Wagner get away with stuff we might not tolerate in others
There is an entire version of it by PDQ Bach called Oedipus Tex:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m8jsJylFeTRGlnOWnrVoxq9EjBPPcPRUU&si=wJeh9fqgVU28X60c
“Well, howdy there, I’m Oedipus Tex
You may have heard of my brother Rex
Yeah, I’m Oedipus Tex, that’s what I said
But my friends just call me Oed…”
No sense in warning him of T R A G E DY…”
Then there is Dear Evan Hansen, which deals with suicide, social anxiety and the problems of social media.
Or Next to Normal, which revolves around bipolar disorder, grief and related issues.
Likewise.
I disagree
Yes, but the producers were trying deliberately to be grossly offensive in the hope that the show would flop but the plan backfired.
They put some musical numbers into it which worked well.
I'm not a huge musical fan but I think yours is an excellent suggestion, @Hugal. Genius even.
Find a librettist. You could be the choreographer.
I'd go and see it.
https://youtu.be/ESQ8c49HBPQ?is=CfS118mOSGR-oYdC
Silence! The Silence of the Lambs Musical…
https://youtu.be/iPnQ77a1UVk?is=jIgufUNTlY-b5AN9
Reefer Madness, the Musical…
https://youtu.be/KqYdI9sXOjE?is=DAolCYeX8raqtv-I
Repo! The Genetic Opera, about a dystopian future in which if you miss a payment on your organ transplant, you’re hunted down by assassins to get them back…
https://youtu.be/bj1-ZcKqH34?is=kmZTaBYlRUAoDkRX
Speaking of assassins, there’s, well, Assassins…
https://youtu.be/UP4VwmwkI1c?is=ZlzuSlWx0Vo5R41C
Urinetown…
https://youtu.be/BkFLuTQD4Sg?is=7x55Mhhid4rr0zow
Jerry Springer the Opera…
https://youtu.be/ikd8pdmaRSo?is=lnFlctw6cyjitlHL
And so many more…
“Weirdest musicals”:
https://youtu.be/dkGfmlfY98o?is=yqCETtb1IqAZNPA9