aaMusicals

Key to Success in Musicals Abby Amato

Success in musical theater is very fickle. The success of a play affects many the many people involved. Producers invest large sums of money and hope to see a return; actors along with those working on the technical side of the play depend upon its success for their salary and the advancement of their careers, while playwrights and dramaturges hope their concepts are respected and to receive praise for the project they have poured so much time and effort into. With this vast array of people depending upon a production for their livelihood, whether the play will be successful or not becomes a question weighted with heavy importance. Every play is unique and runs across different obstacles, but there are some common elements that appear time and time again that result in making a play successful. These elements include: the audience the play appeals to, how the play is promoted, the main theme in the play and its resonance with the audience, the timing of the play, and finally the music itself.

A play’s success is highly dependent upon its audience. Some of the plays, such as //Lion King//, can depend upon a large preexisting audience. Many plays that adapt movies or popular books, like //Wicked//, have some assurance that there is a built-in fan base that loved the original source and would most likely be interested seeing it transformed into a production in theater. Who the audience for a play is, is also very important to the success of the play. If the play only appeals to a small subset of society, while it may be fascinating and presenting an unvoiced message to society, it most likely will not have a long run on Broadway due to the small audience. A small audience means the theater will not recoup a large amount of money through ticket sale. The problem of a small audience can be seen in //Taboo//. There was a scene in the documentary in class in which the prominent theater critics was discussing the play //Taboo// and one remarked, “It’s a story everyone grew up with, growing up gay and going out in the city, well actually, at least that’s what I grew up with”. This perfectly highlights a common barrier to theater and attracting a large audience, often the people creating these musicals have far different experiences than most people from Middle America. This can result in a disconnect between the play’s intended message and what the audience actually takes away from it. If the experiences and message being relayed are too far from what and audience has experienced they make walk away feeling confused and having negative feelings towards the play.

Advertising is integral to a play’s success. The advertisement must be succinct, reach its target audience, and have something about it that attracts the audience. For advertisement to be successful the people producing the show must have a clear idea of how to relay the message of their play to their intended audience. To reach an audience of teenage girls, much like the audience of //Wicked//, would take a very different advertising strategy, possibly focusing more on social media where a vast majority of young people can be reached, compared to a play like //Cabaret//, which is aimed at an older audience who would be better reached in a printed newspaper. The tone of a play influences the strategies and methods used to promote a play. For example, //Avenue Q//, is a comedy, so its advertising consisted of bright colors and the puppets used in the play helping to highlight the levity and droll atmosphere of the play, while the play //Caroline, or Change//, is a musical drama whose advertising features a somber and powerful image of a woman looking down and smoking a cigarette providing the audience a glimpse into the powerful emotionality of this play.

The theme of a play can also affect the success of a play. Often plays with some sort of uplifting message in the end will capture the hearts of an audience. //Wicked// possesses a particularly heartwarming theme of standing up for your beliefs while also not being afraid of who you are even if it’s not initially accepted. This attracted a large audience of young adolescent girls who brought their families as they would really connect with this message. //Lion King// is in the same vein in which it promotes a message of being brave enough to overcome your past and become the leader you are meant to be. Other times a message may be somewhat bleak, but if the audience can relate to it, it may provide catharsis, such as in //Avenue Q//, where it is about a young twenty-something’s foray into the real world after being pumped full of idealism in college, a scenario known well to all recent college graduates. Another example of this is //A Chorus Line//, which shows the plight of actors auditioning in a movie, but could be extended to the plight of anyone who feels they are shuffling from one interview to the next, never knowing when they will finally find the “role” that sticks. Having a theme that has great resonance with an audience will help to ensure word of mouth praise as well as a loyal following.

Timing is everything, especially in theater. If the message in a play aligns with an important, current historical event, it can often bolster attendance rates and achieve success. This was witnessed when the attacks on September 11th occurred and everyone in the United States was looking for comfort and solace, which the play //Contact// provided with its message concerning how New Yorkers are scrambling to “live on top of each other, but rarely make contact” as Susan Stroman put it in her interview concerning the play. This play struck a chord with nation as it depicts people struggling to make connection, but in the end achieve contact, which was just what everyone was wanting in the chaotic aftermath of September 11th, connection and solidarity. //West Side Story// is also a good example of this. The United States was beginning to see a rise in gang activity as well as Latino immigration into the cities, inspiring the reimaging of //Romeo and Juliet// as set in New York City, subbing two warring families for warring gangs heated by racial tension. The timeliness (among many other things) of the subject matter generated a devoted audience and success. Nick Coster, who gave a lecture about his experience in theater, recanted a story where he was in a play making fun of patriotism in the early 60’s, but after Cuban Missile Crisis it became out of fashion and distasteful to poke fun at American patriotism, showing just how important current events are to attitudes towards theater productions. The music of a musical is at the heart of the performance and often what keeps an audience coming back for more. Many musicals capture the sound of popular music in their time period. An example of this is //Rent//, whose score is underpinned by a rock aesthetic and sensibility, capturing the music and atmosphere of the 90’s. The score of //Lion King// is majestic and expansive, with some of the songs written by the deft hand of Elton John, the musical possesses an amazing collection of songs that almost anyone who was a child growing up in the 90’s could recant.

Musicals are a risky gamble in theater. They involve the commitment and finances of so many, and yet rarely see large payoffs. Often success on a large scale is really only seen on Broadway, but this is because they have to money to invest in advertising and often do not take risks on the shows they choose to produce in order to prevent incurring a loss. Failure is often seen when a play is too myopic for the general public (//Taboo//), the music does not have a fresh infectious feel, or because of an historical event a play is rendered distasteful to society. Musicals that are successful usually have an underlying message that many people can grasp onto, involve current events either directly or symbolically, and is then enriched by the music that seeps into one’s mind forever, long after the curtains close.