Remembered 300 years from now?

[IssaMe]

In an interview today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "The Light in the Piazza" director Bartlett Sher comments with pride about being part of something "people will still be going to see in 300 years."

I agree that people will be going to see this show in 300 years (if we ever make it to 300 years from now).

What other shows would fall into this category? Ones that for whatever reason will last through the centuries like Shakespeare or the great operas.

Not necessarily musicals YOU like - but ones which will endure.

Off hand, I would guess "Carousel", "Porgy & Bess", and a Sondheim or two (probably "Sweeney Todd" or "A Little Night Music").

And "Brigadoon" will come back for one performance every hundred years.

Wonder if the long runners like POTO, Cats, ACL, Les Miz, etc. will make it.

300 years is a LONG time. You gotta be REAL good!

[neddyfrank2]

I doubt that The Light In The Piazza will be around in three hundred years from now.

[Julian2]

I think most Sondheim will be around for the simple reason its Sondheim, and as an aknowledged master of the form, even his lesser works will be remembered in some way as a part of his canon. Same with R&H and other writers.

[D2]

POTO, MAMMA MIA and WICKED will all be STILL running in 300 years.

[bundy5000]

dare I say..."will broadway survive in 300 years from now? "

[hannahshule]

300 years? That's a bit long for anything. 100 years, maybe, but anything more than that I think might be a gross overexaggeration.

[D2]

Well, the plays of Wm. Shakespeare and his contemporaries are still being performed over 400 years later, the works of Euripedes and Aeschylus as well, thousands of years later and still remarkably prescient. So 300 years isn't that long a period for a work of theater art to survive.

(Obviously I was kidding about POTO et al still running in 300 years. I hope.)

[TechEverlasting]

"POTO, MAMMA MIA and WICKED will all be STILL running in 300 years."

Yeah, but Wicked will be on TKTS all the time by then!

[CastAlbumFan]

The ones that will still be around are those that get constant exposure through stock, amateur and high school productions. I'm sure in the year 2307 people will still see shows like PETER PAN, MY FAIR LADY, GUYS AND DOLLS, WEST SIDE STORY, BABES IN ARMS among many of the classics.

[gymdudeva]

I always think in terms of 100 years...I think in 300 genres change so much, and so much new stuff will have come along, that very very little musical theatre will still be considered memorable.

I actually think that straight plays fare musch better over time...someone above mentioned Shakespeare...because they enter the literary canon. And though not as old, Shaw, Wilde, Ibsen, etc. are timeless. What muscials from 100 years ago, even, are memorable today?

IN that vain, I have always thought that Angels in America will hold up for ages, because it is good literature.

[IssaMe]

Two productions of "The Pirates of Penzance" are currently running in NYC. There's one that's well over 100 years old.
And all those operas.

[lesmisforever]

I agree, I don't think Broadway will survive that long...

[CastAlbumFan]

I've often wondered for how many years have people predicted the death of Broadway...

[iluvtheatertrash]

"Broadway" has been around for... what... 100 years? It has faltered and suffered blows but still kept going. I'm sure SOME form of it will be around (if there is still a world in 300 years).

[Pippin]

I think any musical with universal themes that a vast majority of the viewing public identifies with will be around.

This includes, IMO:

West Side story
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Ragtime
My Fair Lady
Carousel
The sound of Music
Avenue Q
Chicago
Porgy and Bess
Candide
South Pacific
Jesus Christ Superstar
Rent
Sweeney Todd
Into the Woods
Sunday in the park with George
Company

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

300 years is interesting. Looking back 300 years suggests that the average audience will have difficulties understanding the theatrical conventions of our time. As a result they'll be less inclined to become lost in the experience of the works.

That being said, the clever Mr. Sondheim and his collaborators have consciously adhered to writing specifically for character concept and purpose. So I bet that audiences in 3 centuries will still be able to parse out and enjoy many of their shows without digging through too much mildew.

The equivalent of G&S aficionados and opera fans today will probably be in love with any number of musical comedies of the past decades. But it will depend upon their understanding of our culture and history, and why the material was significant at the time it was written.

Colloquial culturalism will create lots of obstacles for future audiences. It’s not an oversight that most works written in 1777 are rarely performed today. While the baroque period has a great group of admirers, it probably represents the least performed group of standard repertoire in opera. Among playwrights, Shakespeare is the obvious anomaly, and it’s fun to think of the 20th century writers who will still speak to people in 2307. Eugene O’Neil? Tennessee Williams? David Mamet?

But among the writers of musicals, I would bet on Sondheim, Gershwin and one of the new guys about to take us to the next generation...

"I've often wondered for how many years have people predicted the death of Broadway... "

Not just Broadway, but the theatre. Oscar Hammerstein took note of it in a lyrics of "Intermission Talk" in the 1953 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ME AND JULIET.

Hammerstein was not the first. It's been going on a long, long time.

[dramaqueen2]

"I doubt that The Light In The Piazza will be around in three hundred years from now. "

why not, neddy frank?

i do actually think this one would last.
it is timeless and the music never gets old.
i agree with the original poster. =)

i also second many of the ones said so far.
definitely, west side story, les miserables, the sound of music etc etc.

this is an interesting concept. i guess we'll never know.. no one will be around that long!

[Mr Roxy]

Lestat will never die