Twenty-First Century Musicals stakes a place for the musical in today’s cinematic landscape, taking a look at leading contemporary shows from their stage origins to their big-screen adaptations. Each chapter offers a new perspective on a single musical, challenging populist narratives and exploring underlying narratives and sub-texts in depth. Themes of national identity; race, class and gender; the ‘voice’ and ‘singing live’ on film; authenticity; camp sensibilities; and the celebration of failure are addressed in a series of questions including: How does the film adaptation provide a different viewing experience from the stage version? What themes are highlighted in the film adaptation? What does the new casting bring to the work? Do camera angles dictate a different reading from the stage version? What is lost/gained in the process of adaptation to film? Re-interpreting the contemporary film musical as a compelling art form, Twenty-First Century Musicals is a must-read for any student or scholar keen to broaden their understanding of musical performance.

Flop Musicals of the Twenty-First Century offers a provocative and revealing historical narrative of a group of musicals that cost millions and had spectacular potential ... but bombed anyway. Stephen Purdy examines at length the production histories, which are all bound together by a common thread. The book focuses the lens on several seemingly infallible theatre creatives who weren’t destined to repeat their successes with the shows discussed in this volume. As such, Purdy grounds the discussion by examining what the legendary creators of Les Misérables, pop superstar Elton John, wunderkind Julie Taymor, and many others have in common besides being inspired storytellers of iconic Broadway musicals. The answer is that they also all created shows that, for one reason or a dozen, didn’t find an audience. Flop Musicals of the Twenty-First Century shares the story of what can happen when formidable creative teams of sell-out musicals attempt to re-create their success but miss the mark. This is an engaging book for students, practitioners, and fans of musical theatre that contains thoughtful observations about luck and creative differences, botched adaptations, and alienated audiences, all of which can determine the fate of a musical.

Flop Musicals of the Twenty-First Century offers a provocative and revealing historical narrative of a group of musicals that cost millions and that had spectacular potential...but bombed anyway. Unlike similar books on the topic which have taken a more truncated approach to telling the fascinating stories of these shows, Stephen Purdy chooses instead to examine at length the production histories of these shows which are all bound together by a common thread. In this volume Purdy focuses the lens on several seemingly infallible theatre creatives that weren't destined to repeat their successes with the shows discussed in this volume. As such, Purdy grounds the discussion by examining what the legendary creators of Les Miserables, pop superstar Elton John, wunderkind Julie Taymor and many others have in common besides being inspired storytellers of iconic Broadway musicals. The answer is that that also all created shows that, for one reason or a dozen, didn't find an audience. This particular volume shares the story of what can happen when formidable creative teams of sell-out musicals attempt to re-create their success but miss the mark. This is an engaging book for students, practitioners and fans of musical theatre that contains thoughtful observations about luck and creative differences, botched adaptations and alienated audiences, all of which can determine the fate of a musical.

An expanded and updated edition of this acclaimed, wide-ranging survey of musical theatre in New York, London, and elsewhere.

This book argues that the digital revolution has fundamentally altered the way musicals are produced, followed, admired, marketed, reviewed, researched, taught, and even cast. In the first hundred years of its existence, commercial musical theatre functioned on one basic model. However, with the advent of digital and network technologies, every musical theatre artist and professional has had to adjust to swift and unanticipated change. Due to the historically commercial nature of the musical theatre form, it offers a more potent test case to reveal the implications of this digital shift than other theatrical art forms. Rather than merely reflecting technological change, musical theatre scholarship and practice is at the forefront of the conversation about art in the digital age. This book is essential reading for musical theatre fans and scholars alike.

Since the turn of the millennium, films such as Chicago (2002) and Phantom of the Opera (2004) have reinvigorated the popularity of the screen musical. This edited collection, bringing together a number of international scholars, looks closely at the range and scope of contemporary film musicals, from stage adaptations like Mamma Mia! (2008) and Les Miserables (2012), to less conventional works that elide the genre, like Team America: World Police (2004) and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003/04). Looking at the varying aesthetic function of soundtrack and lyric in films like Disney's wildly popular Frozen (2013) and the Fast and the Furious franchise, or the self-reflexive commentary of the 'post-millennial rock musical', this wide-ranging collection breaks new ground in its study of this multifaceted genre.

This volume contains detailed information about every musical that opened on Broadway from 2010 through the end of 2019. This book discusses the decade’s major successes, notorious failures, and musicals that closed during their pre-Broadway tryouts. In addition to including every hit and flop that debuted during the decade, this book highlights revivals and personal-appearance revues.