Disneyfication of Broadway

I realize that my rant posts are becoming fairly common, more so than normal for me so I will promise that after this quick rant, there will be at least 4 more reviews before I decide to flap my jaw in an obtruse and asymmetrical fashion. This post came about after a recent trip to my favorite of all cities, NY, where I was scheduled to see the new Broadway play The Pirate Queen with my family because my sister is obsessed with pirates.

Here's the past behind this little ditty, the people who created the score and lyrics and play, are the same crew that brought us Les Miserables, which truth be known, I am not that great a fan of the play, but the music is quite catchy and enjoyable. The Pirate Queen is based off of the Irish pirate Grace O'Malley who enjoyed creating terror during Queen Elizabeth I's reign. The show was directed by Frank Galati with a lot of Broadway unknowns ( at least they are to me, keeping up with Broadway actors is a task within itself thanks to the abundance, cost, and turnover of Broadway). In other words, no falling tv stars or artsy film people in the show. The show actually offers several great things, one of them being the fact the Riverdance people are also a part of the show (yes, dancing pirates that do jigs, talk in decent to bad Irish accents, and occassionally revert to Stomp for inspiration with oars)and that Eugene Lee did the scene design. Lee is also the same man for all of the sets on the SNL skits and for the sets for the other Broadway musical Wicked, which are jaw-droppping. In this play, though, he seems to have gone for more of an open space approach in trying to use the most minimal sets possible to change the stage, but he occassionally had to just use drops like everyone else. Although the idea to use the tons of candles really brings a great Tudor era feel to the scenes. Anyway, enough scene design chit chat. The real deal is that the show was only so-so. Not because of the writing, the plot, the music, or even the actors. It was because of Frank Galati. I once had a director tell me that musicals sucked because they were all about crowd control. In this case, that was really all this play was. Some of the dances were great, the scenery and spectacle were fantastic, I thought the songs did a great job of seeking a higher ground than being fluff and the actors were all decent and were great singers. I wish that perhaps O'Malley and the Queen had more of a deeper manly voice, but that's okay. The problem is that the staging seems so...quick look here! No over there! wait, form a circle to focus th attention! Someone died! Cliche. The blocking of the show is one in which I got the feeling that the director didn't really care and didn't trust the great side pieces that the actors could climb. I especially hated the age old idea of making fighting on stage look like a ballet...it's f***ing Riverdance people...try being more interesting by making the fights more gritty if you can. Perhaps the real clencher was when one of the guys got stabbed, crawled onto the middle platform, raised one arm, and yelled NOOOOOOO!!! With an echo affect added in as his platform slowly descended into the ground. I felt the same disappointment and shame at watching that bit as I did in Star Wars III with the ridiculously obvious Frankenstein reference. I'm not saying don't see the show, my sister loved it and it was enjoyable. Plus it does give some very interesting insight into the relationship of admiration and growing respect between two very tough women in a time when women weren't allowed to have power. Plus it does a good job of grounding itself in that time period and the whole Irish clan feuds and things, but man is it feminist. It's cool though, it has pirates! Just be aware that when you see it, that the blocking is rarely impacting if ever and feels very uninspired which is sad considering the honors that Galati apparently has heaped on his name. I think this is all just a bigger example of the Disneyfication of Broadway.

Now, here's where I get to the point. Go google Broadway shows and see how many are Disney. I know for a fact that currently Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Tarzan are all running on Broadway. I am waiting because I feel quite sure that soon Little Mermaid will join it. How? No idea, but I have a hunch. Ever since Julie Taymoor's inventive staging of The Lion King, Disney has been turning its old franchises into Broadway sensations. And not only the animated ones. Mary Poppins is on Broadway and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was on it not too long ago. Newsies probably was at some point and if not will be soon. I'm not saying Disney puts out trash, they just put out shows that offer nothing new. Stories already told in some other medium to be performed in an other medium. What started out with some great imaginings has possibly lead in my mind to a huge change in audience. What does it mean to be Disney? Well, catchy tunes, spectacle, nice sensations, feel good stories, easy to define villains and good guys, and kid friendly so that even the most conservative person can enjoy. If Disney runs the market like I think it does with as many plays as it has out right now, then there must be a lot of families that want to see these works, or a lot of nostalgic people. The problem is that by attracting such huge crowds to these shows, it confirms my worst fears. Broadway is for families and kids for the most part with shows like Avenue Q and the Drowsy Chaperone being the exception. There is very little inovation or creative drive being used on Broadway to challenge America because for the most part, it is all corporate. Thus the development of the meaning Off-Broadway and Off-off Broadway. Where the creativity flows and enjoys acclaim as opposed to Broadway. Any theater person who believes theater is much more pure than film cannot ever look to Broadway to uphold that claim. The art of Broadway has been reduced to nothing more than entertainment. I don't mean for this to sound bad, entertainment is a fine and very challenging art to get right in itself, but theater, film, and any other art should shoot for entertainment as just a basic requisite while shooting for something else. This is of course my rant to Broadway execs, which will go unheeded because they know that by stickingto entertainment they can make much more money than with something artistic. So next time you go to NY, check out what's on Off-Broadway, or if you want some good laughs and a nice time out for a lot of money, try seeing the Pirate Queen.

Wannabe