Please Tell Me That Not All Younger Musical Theatre Fans...

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:08pm

only care about musicals written after they were born? I see threads on here about Golden Age theatre or even pre-Rent musicals die quickly too often. Are they just louder online or does the newest generation of musical theatre fans really not care about musical theatre history? Threads abot minute details about utter crap get hundreds of responses while only a handful of posters comment on threads featuring older shows. Am I just making a generilzation based on this board and other discouraging comments I've read online from the youngsters?

Updated On: 7/26/10 at 05:08 PM

[Boq101]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:10pm

I'm 18 and most of my favorite shows are Sondheim shows, mostly the shows which opened and closed long before I was born. I also love me some R&H and Gershwin.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:12pm

I'm certainly interested in older musicals, but I'm often not familiar enough with them to engage in a meaningful conversation. I've been following the thread about wanting Encores to do Seesaw, but can't really participate in the discussion because it's not a show I'm familiar with. (that's actually why I love Encores shows, because it's been a way to learn about older shows that might never be produced again)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:13pm

They can only talk about the shows they know...if they've never seen Brigadoon, for example, what could they possibly add to the discussion?

AND...since it seems like a large portion of these boards is under 25...and getting younger all the time...what can we expect?

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:13pm

I am 14 and absolutely lover the classics and the golden age of broadway. I just posted a thread about Sondheim. I think the problem is while musicals like Rent and Wicked are great at introducing teens and kids to the theatre it takes forever for them to realize that musical theatre is so rich and they never get the chance to discover the gems of the theatre.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:14pm

I will be 20 in october and most of my favorite shows are all from the Golden Age...My favorite composer is still Cole Porter. Just something about his music....it is just magical!!!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:15pm

Theater is a living, breathing, changing thing. It makes sense that there will be more talk about something current rather than shows that happened decades ago.

And yes, I think you're making a generalization. I wouldn't take this board as representative of young theater buffs at all, though there are many here who are thoughtful and well-versed on their theater history.

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:15pm

I'm 15 and my favorite composer is Sondheim.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:17pm

No, I love some of the older musicals I have seen. I wish I could see more, but a lot are not produced very often.

[broadwayboy987]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:19pm

Carousel is one of my faves... i am 13. I also love South Pacific, and the Sound of Music. I like alot that is before my time.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:19pm

I wonder if it's always been that way. I remember being the only undergrad in my class of 20 (in 1981) who knew who Elaine Stritch was. Everyone else was interested only in the contemporary, or the really, really famous classics (like Marlon Brando). I remember that was one of the great things about moving to New York -finding so many people who knew so much about the past as well as the present.

It seems that there's always going to be a skew like that - more people (particularly young people) are interested strictly in the Now than those who are also fascinated also by the Then. Don't you think?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:21pm

A lot of my favorite musicals were written before I was born and I was only nine months old when my favorite musical opened on Broadway.

[wicked1492]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:22pm

I'm 18 and my favorite shows are GYPSY, A CHORUS LINE and SPRING AWAKENING. One of which was written after I was born. I hate when people make assumptions about younger generations.

[JOak]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:25pm

I'm 17 and I collect old flops cast recordings, my favorite composers are Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim. I have no interest whatsoever in Rent, Wicked, etc.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:29pm

The show that got me into musicals was Les Misérables, and apart from that my favourite shows are Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, Anything Goes and West Side Story.

[dave1606]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:34pm

I'm 21 and love everything from American Idiot to Gypsy to Company to Sunday in the park with George.

I think a good revival can make anyone love a show. Everyone may have seen South Pacific done and done again in schools, but I don't see how anyone who goes to see the current revival couldn't be swept away completely. I may not have had a chance to have seen every show that is deemed a must see, but I certainly don't discriminate just because it isn't a new show like "Wicked" or "Spring Awakening".

I have seen A Little Night Music three times (Twice with the original cast and once with the new one), and while I am not the biggest fan of the production, I am really starting to love the actual show itself more and more.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:39pm

To add a little more: when there isn't a current production to BE discussed, it makes it that much harder to have a cohesive discussion.

Wicked: Generalizations are made about all sorts of people, young, old, spanish -- you name it, then a generalization exists. (and no one likes it when they are in one of those groups.)

[mariusmyhomeboy]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:46pm

I'm definitely interested in the Golden Age. Unfortunately, it's hard to find theatre fans my age who share my appreciation! They have no problem listening to In the Heights (which I also love!), but sometimes I just want to listen to Kiss Me Kate.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:47pm

The main reason young people tend to know more about musicals written after they were born is because they have had the opportunity to see the shows. Of the older shows, those that younger fans tend to know are shows that have had recent revivals. 14-year-olds talk about Wicked more often than, say, Anything Goes, it's because they have seen Wicked, but haven't seen Anything Goes. That will probably change when the Sutton Foster revival opens this spring, and we will hear more from young fans about how great Anything Goes is, like what happened with Hair. Its popularity with young people expanded so much. I think the reason that so many teenage theater fans love Sondheim is because there have been so many revivals of his shows recently: Night Music, West Side Story, Sunday, Gypsy, Company, Sweeney (which drew more popularity from the movie), etc.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:51pm

^ ^ ^

Case in point of one of our younger theater buffs who know their history.

[MeggilyWeggily08]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:53pm

I'm a teenager and although my favorite show is RENT (I was born on opening night), and my next few favorites are more modern and recent, I LOVE revivals. I constantly see local and regional productions of more classic shows, and have a huge collection of cast recordings from shows of The Golden Age. I do appreciate the older stuff, because my first few shows were classics and they're what made me fall in love with theatre in the first place.

[Spotlightjb]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:55pm

The main reason why SOME younger fans are only interested in newer shows, is because that's all they've been exposed too. They're younger, obviously, so they've just had less time to be introduced to a wide variety of shows. Plus you have to have to take into account that not all of them live in New York. If you're only exposure to live musical theatre is constant community productions of Rent, Beauty and the Beast, and Thoroughly Modern Mille (and maybe the occasional tour of Wicked or Legally Blonde), then that's what you're going to like. But for the record, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with liking those shows.

I myself am a young theatre fan (17, for those keeping score.) I've been always mildly interested in musical theatre, but the one show that really grabbed me and got me interested in the medium, was Rent. It was my gateway show, and it led me to so many brilliant pieces of theatre from the past and present. Which is something that I think happens with a lot, if not most, young fans of newer shows. It just takes time.

But, on the other hand, I do think that older shows get discussed on this board more than you seem to think. A Little Night Music, for example, gets a lot of buzz around here as does Funny Girl and, to some extent, My Fair Lady and West Side Story. Granted, the reason these shows get talked about tends to be because of newer incarnations, but it's unfair to state that they don't get discussed at all.


Updated On: 7/26/10 at 05:55 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 5:57pm

AwesomeDanny, I might add that some of his musicals are also available on DVD which also makes them more accessible.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 6:09pm

"I see threads on here about Golden Age theatre or even pre-Rent musicals die quickly too often."

Maybe people don't have anything to say about them at that time? I tend to think of this board as a series of different conversations, sometimes revisiting old topics and sometimes brand new ones.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 6:10pm

I'm 20, and I love musicals from the Golden Age and the 70s and 80s (Sondheim and Megamusicals). I'm more inclined to enjoy the older shows, actually.