Genres in Theatre
Concept musicals are quite different to other musicals. Unlike traditional musicals, such as book musicals, they don’t have any real plot or story line. This tends to make them quite a hit or miss genre of musical when it comes to popularity.
The first evidence of a concept musical dates back to the late 1940s. This is in Allegro by Rogers and Hammerstein (1947). This was before the phrase ‘concept musical’ had even been invented so the style of musical was new to audiences that were used to the normal musical theatre shows. Allegro was a critical failure, which some blame on the inexperienced director/choreographer Agnes de Mille, but its success may have also been affected by its rebellious ideas that went against virtually all theater conventions. However, despite its failure it opened up many new ways for writers to create musicals. The appearance of concept musicals rose significantly in the 60s with shows like Cabaret and Hair, and helped reboot musical theater which was starting to become very formulaic. Man of La Mancha which premiered at the Godspeed Opera House in 1965, and eventually moved to Broadway, was described as ‘the antithesis of what people expected musical theatre to be’ but was still extremely popular and started the popularity of shows that defied traditional theatre.
The true arrival of the concept musical was with Sondheim's Company. Upon its arrival in 1970 it had very mixed reviews, some claiming it was innovative and brilliant, while others saying “as it stands now it's for ladies’ matinees, homos and misogynists” (love the 70s). For example, in this review from 1970 by Clive Barnes he talks about his dislike of the structure of Company: "The second fault is a structural one. Here is a series of linked scenes, all basically similar to one another, and it is left to the director to find a variety of pace and character, and to impose a satisfactory unity on the show. This Mr. Price has not done. It may not be his fault. The odds were against him.” which shows peoples reservations to this new idea. However, in the final line of his review he says “But I stress that I really believe a lot of people are going to love it. Don't let me put you off. Between ourselves, I had reservations about "West Side Story." “ .
Despite its range of opinions Company ran on Broadway for 705 performances, had a US national tour and transferred to the West End all in the next 2 years.
Concept musicals are almost the exact opposite to the more popular genre of book musicals. While a traditional book musical had a detailed and thought out plot, concept musicals tend to either have a very loose plot or no plot at all, them more about the overall message and experience rather than being a developing story. Concept musicals may also not even be in chronological order, which opens up a lot of ways to experiment with the directions of musicals. For example, in The Lat Five Years, which tells the story of a couple, Cathy and Jamie,
Jamie's side of the story is told in chronological order, but Cathy’s story is told backwards and they meet in the middle at one moment in the show.
As far as features of concept musicals go, Company ticks most of the boxes. It has no real plot, as the entire show is made up of small vignettes. Each scene is Robert, the main character who you follow throughout the show, visiting a pair of his friends and his view on their relationships. You get to see a small snapshot of their lives and for the most part it seems sweet, then it will take the slightest turn and Robert will explain why that makes him resent having a relationship. The whole message of the show is although relationships have bad parts, these are just as important as the good parts and help shape you as people. Robert obsesses over the negatives in his friends' relationships and uses it to scare himself out of commitment. During the show his friends send contradicting messages about finding a girl, but also wanting him to remain ‘free’, and in the end makes Robert come to terms with the fact that he craves all parts of a committed relationship, be it good or bad, and he no longer wants to be alone. Each of the scenes are in no particular order, but the show does keep referring back to Roberts 35th birthday party which brings all his friends together and it is the only part that links each character, thus the show having no real coherent plot.
Jukebox musicals first arrived in 1970 with shows like Elvis and Beatlemania, which is described as a ‘rockumentary’. It wasn’t so much a musical with a plot, more recreation of the one The Beatles performances. It did extremely well and made $40 million. Another notable Jukebox musical from a few years later in Buddy-The Buddy Holiday Musical (1989) that’s credited as “the world's most successful rock and roll musical” and won a Tony award. 10 years later Mumma Mia arrived and made the popularity of jukebox musicals rise significantly. It was a huge success and ran for 5758 shows being the 9th longest running show of all time. All the music in the show is from ABBA, and that brings a real sense of nostalgia for many ABBA fans. In the early 2000s the number of jukebox musicals grew. From 2000-2009 41 jukebox musicals premiered which is very different to the 9 that came out in between 1990-1999. In 2002 We Will Rock You and Our House came out, both being pretty
successful, then The Boy from Oz starring Hugh Jackman who was awarded a Tony for his performance. Then between 2005-2006 there was Back to the 80s. Good Vibrations, Jersey Boys, and Thriller. A key problem that often occurs in Jukebox musicals is fitting a plot around pre-written songs. The storyline tends to be quite questionable and may not fully make sense. Sometimes though, jukebox musicals manage to create a story successfully, like for example Mumma Mia!
In the past 10 years many Jukebox musicals have come out both on Westend and Broadway and have managed to be pretty successful, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2013) has had amazing reviews, Motown (2013) recently transferred to Westend. Then in 2017 Bat Out of Hell the Musical written by Jim Steinman opened. He wrote all of the songs in the musical, but most
are from the Bat Out of Hell trilogy of albums by Meat Loaf. Bat out of Hell is described in a Hollywood reporter review as having “an incoherent plot and cardboard characters.” but it still been a success since it premiered in Manchester, London and Toronto. It’s not the most emotionally gripping show, but it definitely has the nostalgia that you expect from a jukebox musical and that’s what audiences find enjoyable. Considering the amount of jukebox musicals that have come out in recent years its impressive that Bat Out of Hell has managed to rise to the top and get its time in the spotlight with its current west end production at the Dominion Theatre and its upcoming US tour. The show stays true to Meatloaf's rock genre throughout the show with huge towering, edgy sets and tight leather costumes and over creates an impressive performance.
The genre ‘Jukebox Musical’ has sort of subcategories. These are Bio-Musicals (the biography of a musician or group, including their hits, in musical form), Tribute Musicals (like a tribute concert of a musician/group) and lastly The Original (fusing a story with an artist's previous hits). Bat Out of Hell fits in the ‘original’ category, as the show has nothing to do with Jim Steinman or Meatloaf and has created an entirely new story. I'm not sure how well the story fits around each song but it is quite a hard task to create a narrative with pre-written songs. One thing that Bat out of hell did well was they picked a theme and stuck with it, and did every single thing they possible could to get that theme shown, whether it be a yelled monologue or an exploding motor bike.
Concept musicals and Jukebox musicals are very different genres, and Company and Bat Out of Hell are even more different. A key difference between the two genres and shows is the use of songs. In Bat out of hell the songs are extremely crucial as they bring the entire nostalgia aspect to the show and they’re what the show is based on, whereas in Company while the songs are somewhat important, they’re not as important as the overall theme or metaphor that the show is trying to display, the songs are just a device to carry that metaphor through. Another difference is the use in set. In jukebox musicals you can get away with creating huge elaborate sets as the stories are quite simple and it may even be crucial to help explain what's going on. But in concept musicals, lots of different thing are happening in many different places, so a minimal set can be extremely affective as it lets the audience's imagination decide what each scene looks and feels like. There are small similarities between the two genres. Both grew in popularity in the 60/70s, and both are quite hit or miss when it comes to overall success, but when done well can be huge hits, but apart from that they’re mostly different.
The production of Company that I saw was the 2011 New York Philharmonic concert with Neil Patrick Harris starring as Robert. I thought that this was an amazing show and an extremely good example of a concept musical. The set that they used was just a few moving blocks that
were used as sofas, beds, park benches, tables and anything that was needed. There also weren’t many props apart from a few glasses for drinks and each character had a sign with a Roberts name/ nicknames on for the opening number, but only small things that helped the scenes come to life. I think this very minimal approach to staging worked perfectly as the simplicity didn’t take away or distract from the slightly complex scenes that you often have to read between the lines in. The cast were incredible all with amazing voices, but I think my favorite performance came from Anika Noni Rose as Marta, one of Roberts girlfriends. I think her portrayal of the was great and she has a lot of energy, and her solo song ‘Another Hundred People’ which is usually belted all the way through, she made her own by creating a buildup and only belting the last few notes which I think was really impressive as it let her show how versatile her voice is. I also think that the balance of comedy and more emotional moments was done very well by the cast and seemed very natural. Over I think it was an amazing show and definitely up there as one of my favorites.
The production of Bat Out of Hell that I saw was the current West End production. I thought that the show overall was very impressive, but the plot was a bit lackluster. The first thing I noticed was how incredible and detailed the set was and how it immediately impressed me before the show even started. The costumes were also very well designed and detailed and helped create the atmosphere. The storyline, however, was a bit hard to follow. At times I was starting to get confused at what different characters intentions were and I found it hard to relate or feel for any of the characters based on their story. It was evident that fitting a plot around Meat Loafs songs had been a hard task that I don’t think they succeeded in. The cast however made up for the lacking plot as they still performed like it was the best show in the world. The vocals throughout the show were very impressive and I think that helped carry the show. Part of the show that was different was the use of cameras. They decided to use cameras in some of the more intimate scenes and it would be shown on a screen on the left of the stage. While I think this is a good idea, I don’t believe they did it very well. I think seeing theatre acting (which is meant to be seen from a far) up close wasn't really necessary, and made you doubts the actor's ability overall. I personally am not familiar with Meat Loaf or Jim Steinman's work, but I did end up talking to an Australian couple next to me who found the songs very nostalgic and liked the use of them, which I think helps explains the show's popularity and success. I didn’t leave with any new feelings or feeling like I learnt anything, I did however have a good time.