Start Spreading the New

In Mel Brooks’ 1968 film comedy “The Producers,” a couple of con men intentionally try to produce a Broadway flop.

Producer Max Bialystock, making his pitch to the world’s worst author, says, “That’s exactly why we want to produce this play, to show the world the true Hitler--the Hitler you loved, the Hitler you knew, the Hitler with a song in his heart!”

Thirty-two years later, it’s springtime for Hitler--and original book musicals. The Fuehrer is getting ready to vocalize again in Brooks’ adaptation of his satire for the Broadway musical stage. But the singing Hitler will have to share the season with a number of other characters with songs in their hearts, including Jane Eyre, Horton the Elephant, Tom Sawyer and a bevy of blue-collar male strippers. After decades of Broadway revivals, song revues and dance-oriented spectacles such as “Fosse” and “Contact,” that old dinosaur--the original book musical--is hot again.

In a remarkable development, there are no fewer than eight new book musicals announced for this season: In addition to “The Producers,” there’s “Jane Eyre,” “The Full Monty,” “The Rhythm Club,” “The Visit,” “Seussical,” “Little Women” and “Tom Sawyer.” And there are even more waiting in the wings, either running in London’s West End, like “The Witches of Eastwick”; currently touring, like “Mamma Mia!,” based on the songs of ABBA, and Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana”; or scheduled for tryout productions, like “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Hans Christian Andersen.”

Some producers note that the timing may simply be coincidental--after all, many of these shows have long been in development. And some express skepticism that all will open as planned, given the vicissitudes of financing, theater availability and other variables. But most see the trend as the result of a booming economy, the growing demand for family entertainment and a healthy sign for Broadway.

“I grew up in an era in which ‘musicalcomedy’ was one word to begin with,” says Lindsay Law, who with Tom Hall is producing “The Full Monty” for Fox Searchlight. The musical, which premiered at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, is based on the international hit movie about unemployed factory workers looking to make a buck as male strippers. “It hasn’t been that way in a long time, and we figured that by making ‘The Full Monty’ in the style of an old-fashioned musical, we could return to a form that the audience has always enjoyed.”

“I think there is still nothing more powerful or appealing than a story, told in musical terms, which moves people,” says Annette Niemtzow, lead producer of “Jane Eyre,” the musical based on the Charlotte Bronte classic that premiered in Toronto four years ago and was a sellout at the La Jolla Playhouse.

Niemtzow adds that John Caird, co-director and librettist for “Jane Eyre,” says “the only reason to write a musical is if you have characters whose emotional life is so intense that they have to sing. And that’s what people go to theater for, those intense emotions which you really can’t get in movies or television.”

Revivals can generate equally strong emotions, of course. But some producers say that the sudden proliferation of original book musicals may be an indication that revivals have run their course, at least for now. And the financial rewards are so much greater should an original musical succeed.

“Revivals are a little easier to market because you know what you have,” says Barry Weissler, who has hit pay dirt with his revivals of “Chicago” and “Annie Get Your Gun.” He is also a lead producer on “Seussical,” based on the beloved characters of Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and opening in November on Broadway after a Boston tryout. “But original shows generally have a longer and more fruitful life because all the subsidiary and ancillary rights are open.”

*

The notion that revivals are a safer bet than original musicals is a myth, says Michael David, head of Dodger Theatricals, represented on Broadway with the revival of “The Music Man” and the new musical “Hans Christian Andersen,” scheduled for a nonprofit production this fall at San Francisco’s ACT.

The proven shelf life of revivals is significantly smaller, he says. “Until ‘Grease,’ ‘Guys and Dolls’ was the longest-running revival on Broadway, and that ran 2 3/4 years. In all of Broadway history, only a dozen revivals have run more than a year. Compare that to ‘Phantom’ or ‘Cats,’ and suddenly the math is skewed.”

Indeed, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” which has generated $3 billion in grosses worldwide and is in its 13th year in New York, is the gold standard for Broadway producers. Following Cameron Mackintosh’s example as producer of “Cats,” “Phantom,” “Les Miz” and “Miss Saigon,” they are increasingly eager for a product with which they can exploit the growing global market for musicals. That probably accounts for the fact that nearly all of this season’s new musicals are based on subject matter with immediate recognition, from literary classics to children’s books to popular movies.

Even the most obscure of the batch, “The Rhythm Club,” appears to have universal appeal with its romantic triangle involving two musicians, one Jewish, one Gentile, wooing the same woman against the backdrop of underground swing clubs in 1938 Germany.

“The global issue is probably the most important change in the business in recent years,” says Elizabeth Williams, who with her business partner Anita Waxman is among the producers of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which tries out at the La Jolla Playhouse in October. (Williams and Waxman also plan to bring to Broadway “Dance of the Vampires,” the new Jim Steinman-Roman Polanski musical that is a hit in Vienna.)

“The upside is exponentially greater worldwide, and I think book musicals are what most global audiences think of when they think of Broadway. We’ve had phenomenal success with ‘Crazy for You’ [the 1992 Tony-winning musical]. The subsidiary rights just keep pouring in.”

*

Mining that gold, however, is an elusive adventure in a field in which chances of success are slim. A book musical in which character, song and dialogue combine seamlessly to create liftoff is perhaps the greatest theatrical challenge of all. Few writers, directors and composers ever get a chance to ply the craft regularly, given the exorbitant cost of musicals these days because of escalating production and promotional costs. The directory of proven talents is extremely slim, particularly for directors and book writers, forcing producers to take risks.

Following the example of Disney, whose bold decision to tap experimental director Julie Taymor for “The Lion King” turned out brilliantly, the Dodgers have turned to Martha Clarke, the avant-garde choreographer known for her dark and brooding works (“Vienna Lusthaus”) for their new musical, “Hans Christian Andersen.” It was a seat-of-the-pants decision, says David. “You sort of think of who’s right for the material, and it struck us that Martha would bring the right sensibilities.”

Book writers are even more scarce. Terrence McNally, who won Tonys for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Ragtime,” is one of the most highly sought-after. McNally is the librettist for “The Full Monty” and “The Visit,” the latter based on the Friedrich Durrenmatt classic drama about a wealthy and wronged woman bent on justice, which was made into a 1964 film starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn.

That show was to mark Angela Lansbury’s return to the Broadway stage after a nearly two-decade absence. But the heart surgery of her husband, Peter Shaw, caused the popular television star to drop out of the production. The loss caused many to wonder if the show could proceed. But producer Barry Brown said the show would open in spring. “As much as we love and respect Angela, our investors invested in the property, in Frank Galati, the director, in Terrence McNally’s book, and in the songs by John [Kander] and Fred [Ebb].”

“Seussical” has the pedigreed team behind “Ragtime,” with Galati as director and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty writing the producer of revivals such as “Chicago” and a lead producer of “Seussical” book and songs. But all of the other musicals mark the Broadway debuts of at least one or two of the collaborators. Perhaps mindful of the 1998 debacle of Paul Simon’s “The Capeman,” which was sunk in part by the inexperience of its creative team, producers have been careful to pair neophytes with seasoned talent.

Brooks is making his book and songwriting debut under the watchful eye of director-choreographer Susan Stroman, who won a Tony for “Contact” and a nomination for “The Music Man.” Novelist and journalist Dick Scanlan is writing the book for “Thoroughly Modern Millie” under the tutelage of director Michael Mayer (“Triumph of Love”).

And no fewer than three composers who have scored hits in the pop music arena are making their Broadway debuts: Paul Gordon, who wrote the Amy Grant hit “Next Time I Fall in Love,” is working on “Jane Eyre” with Caird, who adapted “Nicholas Nickleby” and co-directed “Les Miz”; David Yazbek (“Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?”) has composed the score for “The Full Monty,” directed by veteran Jack O’Brien; and Don Schlitz, who has composed many country hits, including Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” has written “Tom Sawyer” with librettist Ken Ludwig (“Crazy for You”) and director Scott Ellis (“1776”).

“From Day One, Lindsay [Law] and I looked for a new composing talent, someone with a variety of styles, to tell this quirky story,” Hall says of Fox’s decision to hire Yazbek for “The Full Monty.” “It was a risk, but one that worked well because David’s lyrics complement Terrence’s work. We felt we had a really good match.”

Schlitz’s involvement in “Tom Sawyer” came about through a Nashville seminar organized under the auspices of Musical Theatre International, the licensing agency, to recruit new talent for the stage. Included on the panel was the late director Mike Ockrent (“Crazy for You”), who put Schlitz--already intrigued in theater because his wife, Polly, is a stage actress--in touch with Ludwig.

“It was like going to graduate school,” Schlitz says of his collaboration with Ludwig on “Tom Sawyer,” which involved studying theater history and listening to hundreds of cast albums. “I realized the 25 years I’d spent writing songs in Nashville was terrific preparation because writing country, unlike pop, you have to tell a story and tell it conversationally. After years of writing personal source material--about high school, the first time I saw my wife, my kids--it was very freeing to write for other characters. It really reinvigorated my passion for songwriting.”

*

Schlitz says he’s not intimidated by the bloody reception New York critics have given to other Broadway wannabes from the pop world, such as Paul Simon--a point of view echoed by his peer Paul Gordon. The “Jane Eyre” composer adds that the risk is necessary if the Broadway audience for musical theater is ever to expand. “It’s something which Simon and Randy Newman have tried to do, and I admire it,” he says. “I don’t pretend to be the one to do that, or that it’s my intent. But I’d love to be a part of a new group of writers who could pave the way.”

Indeed, that the traditional book musical is a comparatively marginalized part of contemporary American culture these days doesn’t dampen Schlitz’s or Gordon’s passion for the genre. “I’ve always been attracted to the genre precisely because musicals are so unique and specialized,” Gordon says. “They integrate characters, songs and story like no other medium, and I think that’s why a lot of people in the pop world are genuinely excited and inspired by musicals.”

Chad Beguelin, who is writing the book and lyrics to “The Rhythm Club” with composer Matthew Sklar, says that while book musicals have been around so long that they’ve almost become cliches, he doesn’t think they are in any imminent danger of disappearing. Both Beguelin, 30, and Sklar, 26, say their generation is in the process of rediscovering musicals.

“I think they can get hooked in the way I got hooked,” says Beguelin. “It was a way for me to escape whatever I was going through at the time, and that’s what I want to create for others people. Escape and some of the profound, transcendent experiences I’ve had in the theater.”

“I sure hope there’s a future in book musicals,” Sklar says. “Because I don’t want to do anything else.”

Patrick Pacheco is a regular contributor to Calendar.