NWmusicals

The musical theater has been a subset of productions that has remained tremendously popular over the years within the scope of its productions. However, just as with the rest of Broadway productions, it is very difficult to predict whether a Broadway musical will be successful with audiences. Writing and staging a successful Broadway musical is akin to a crapshoot and, for this reason, can be hugely successful, as in the case of the Lion King, or simply be pulled from production before the play even has the chance to open, like Spiderman. Essentially, the success of musicals can be determined before the plays even take the Broadway stage, since producers may refuse funding if reviews from preliminary screenings are poor. In cases where plays do reach Broadway, they either address a subject that is relevant to the audience, like Rent, or approach the theater in a way that is spectacular or memorable, such as in the case of the Lion King. The Lion King fused puppetry and acting into one fluid motion that captured the audience’s attention in a way that could not be done by either individual method. In the video, Avenue Q managed to win the Tony award because to be somewhat innovative method, using a revitalized concept of Sesame Street puppetry, to convey its message about how realizations in adulthood are completely different than the expectations that one held in childhood. In this way, it incorporated the best of both aspects that make or break Broadway musicals. However, it took months for the writers and creators of Avenue Q to brainstorm a project that would strike a chord like Avenue Q, showing how difficult it is to write for this particular genre. Other musicals, such as Taboo, might not have fared as well because their projected audience was not as large since the subject matter may have been alienating to some. Even if it did receive a Tony nomination, the lack of audience reaction to Taboo made its Broadway run relatively short.