best rock musicals written for the stage?

[piperlacyboo]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 1:23pm

hi guys,

i was reading on here about the hedwig revival and have fallen in love with the music. obviously, i'm a huge fan of spring awakening, so i was hoping you could suggest some other rock musicals to check out. especially lesser known or even off-broadway stuff. other than duncan sheik and stephen trask, who else is writing good stuff? i mean actually writing for the stage and not what green day did with their show.

prob a random question, but you people seem to be able to answer anything.

thanks.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 1:26pm

Rooms
Bright Lights, Big City

Those two come to mind, both by Paul Scott Goodman

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 2:13pm

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is great. I second Bright Lights as well.

[Marquise]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 4:18pm

AMERiCAN iDiOT.... HANDS DOWN: THE BEST

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 5:52pm

"Rock" can be a relative term depending when the musical was described as "rock". Some rock musicals of the 60s and 70s would not really be considered as such today, but some of these were generally considered "rock" when they opened:

Expresso Bongo
Bye Bye Birdie
Hair
Godspell
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Dude
Jesus Christ Superstar
Rocky Horror Show
Grease
I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road
The Wiz
Tommy
Rent
Bare
Zombie Prom
Rooms

Updated On: 4/22/10 at 05:52 PM

[rmusic11322]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 5:54pm

The only rock-ish show I recall seeing is The Toxic Avenger.

[piperlacyboo]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 7:06pm

thanks guys.

i listened to bright lights. it sounds more like theater pop to me than real rock. like i think of next to normal or jason robert brown as theater pop music and not really rock. rooms definitely sounded more rockish. i'll check out bare and zombie prom too, mister matt. thanks for that.

i do think american idiot sounds great, but i love how much more the songs in something like hedwig integrate with the story since they were written to go with the story from the beginning.

[FrontRow]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 4:28pm

There are very few good rock musicals. (ever heard the saying "could count on one hand" - you may even have fingers to spare)

You have to understand the lyrics in musicals. This sometimes is impossible - at least on first listen - in rock music.

Most of the musicals categorized as rock that are good were written by musical theater composers. Which means musical theater influenced them as much or more than rock. Which is why they're good.