Student Blog: Bringing Broadway to the Small Screen: Can Musical Television Work?

It seems only fitting that after my last article explored movie musicals, that this time around I explore the vast world of musicals on television. While it seems impossible to bring the theatrics of musical theatre to TV screens on a weekly basis, when you get down to it, television provides an insanely wide array of opportunities. However, just like movie musicals, its history is filled with ups and downs, and even nowadays networks struggle to find that balance.

Before we begin, this article is here to explore the three types of musicals you will find on television: Musical Episodes, Musical Series, and Live Musicals.

MUSICAL EPISODES:

Arguably the most common way to find musical theatre on your television is when your favorite series suddenly breaks out into song and dance for a whole episode. Now when discussing musical episodes, there's always the argument of what qualifies as a "musical episode". I think a good way of knowing the difference is with "Phineas and Ferb". Hear me out, if you ever watched the show, there's always at least one song per episode. However, in Season 2, they had the episode "Rollercoaster: The Musical". This episode contained 12 songs, and specifically advertised itself as a musical. So the qualifications for an episode to be a musical episode, is multiple songs, and the episode revolving around those songs. So "How I Met Your Mother" doesn't have a musical episode, but has a fantastic musical sequence ("Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit").

When it comes to musical episodes, you have to pay respect to the one that basically made the whole idea of a musical episode a piece of modern pop culture. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was an insanely popular horror fantasy series that was always willing to get a little silly. However, nobody would've expected that in the sixth season, all of our favorite monster hunters would break out into elaborate musical sequences. The reason however that this episode ("Once More With Feeling") works so well is not only because the songs help convey the character's emotions, but that the idea of the musical makes sense in the context of the show. In the episode, a demon comes to town and puts a spell over all its inhabitants, causing them to only be able to sing. That's where you'll find the best musical episodes, the ones that don't just have our characters singing for no reason, it's the ones where it works naturally into the story.

Good examples of this include:

"My Musical"--"Scrubs":

"Mayhem of the Music Meister"-- "Batman the Brave and the Bold":

"Duet"-- "The Flash":

Now not every musical episode is a winner like the ones above, in fact the ones that fail, basically do the opposite of what makes the previous examples work. For the sake of time, I'll use one major example: The "Riverdale" musical episodes (yes, all three). While I enjoy "Riverdale" for the shows' so-bad-it's-good quality, the musical episodes genuinely hurt me to my core. Not only do they mess with the best songs 98% of the time ("Heathers" being the greatest casualty) but they never fit the songs into the story in a natural way. Even though the school is putting on a musical, which would be a great way to have our characters singing, that makes sense, but then characters just break out into songs outside the musical, for no reason.

MUSCIAL SERIES:

Now here's where television studios begin to struggle, as making one musical episode is hard enough as is, now imagine doing that for 20+ episodes each running around 40 minutes each. Now I should mention that there is some contention on what qualifies a musical series, mainly cause of the number of shows that involve bands and the music industry ("Nashville", "Julie and the Phantoms", "Empire"). So like individual episodes, I qualify a musical series as one where the music and singing is outside the reality of the show.

Of course, when discussing a musical series, you have to talk about the most popular one of them all, "Glee". While I personally don't enjoy the series, I completely see why it do so well. It was a mix of musicals and high school drama. But it wasn't newly written songs, it was a full on jukebox musical, one that could basically do any song imaginable. While the show was often ridiculous, and the song choices seemed very bizarre (we're looking at you "Gangnam Style") it kept people coming back for more, lasting 6 seasons. However, when looking back on the attempts to replicate the success of "Glee", it more noticeable that that success is like lightning in a bottle. Sure, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" lasted 4 seasons, but the ratings were nothing to ride home about. "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" was one that had so much potential, and one that the network advertised the hell out of, but didn't capture the attention it needed and was recently given the boot.

Then there's "Galavant". A show I genuinely enjoy, but one that was destined to fail. First off the previous shows above were definitely a mix of show tunes and more contemporary music. "Galavant" is strictly a musical, with original songs by Alan Menken (the man responsible for the most iconic songs of the Disney Renaissance). The show was also a fantasy series, a genre of television that is almost as hard to sell as a musical. The musical element is great, but the fantasy element feels incredibly lackluster. If the show can't succeed in both elements, it can't succeed at all, and succeed it did not.

LIVE MUSICALS:

Now here's arguably the most divisive section of them all. Since "The Sound of Music Live" in 2013, networks have tried at least once a year to bring a beloved stage musical to prime-time and do it all live. Needless to say, the results vary in quality, and I still don't believe that they've truly mastered how to make these work. The success stories include "Grease Live!", "The Wiz Live!", "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert" and "Hairspray Live!". These four work as they make the musical spectacle leap off the screen, and makes sure to fill their cast with big names, but ones that are right for the part. Aaron Tveit, Vanessa Hudgens, Jennifer Hudson, Harvey Fierstein, John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Kristen Chenoweth, Mary J. Blige, Shanice Williams and Queen Latifah, these are actors who know how to work a live audience, as well as working behind a screen.

Then you have the duds, and sad to say that these are the main reason the whole idea of live television musicals leave a bad taste in many people's mouths. "The Grinch Live!" was awkward, "RENT Live!" wasn't actually live, "A Christmas Story Live!" was overly long and poorly directed. Then there's "Peter Pan Live!", one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever witnessed on television. Not only was the staging very mediocre, but Christopher Walken brought down the whole thing by being half asleep. I love the man, and think even his worst work is hilarious, but he led to some excruciatingly uncomfortable moments.

In the end, what does it come to? How do we make musicals on television work? Put it simply, it's a tightrope act. Television audiences are some of the hardest people to please, and with so many different taste, it's difficult to engage them. However, it's not impossible, when done right, musical episodes can be the best episodes of an entire series. The musical series can introduce new viewers to musical theatre and the great music that comes with it. And sometimes, the live musicals could be the definitive versions of the show. There's no chemical formula or recipe to make them work, all it takes is talented artists with a clear and creative vision. Ones that go far beyond the constraints of your living room television screen.

 

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