I live nowhere near New York, thank God. And while I still remember a time when Broadway shows were an important factor in the kind of entertainment people could see out in Real America, that time is long past.

In fact, most of the shows filling Broadway over the last twenty years have been imitations of the leading media in America, movies and television. I ended my season subscription to the "Broadway series" in my town when they drudged up a stage version of Singin' in the Rain, which did nothing but imitate the movie as much as possible. The big scene was, of course, a copy of Gene Kelly's dance number, with real rain falling on stage - sponsored by 7-Up, yet! If I wanted to see tech substitute for story and heart, I could always go to see a Jerry Bruckheimer film.

Practically everything I've heard about Broadway has also tried to imitate films. The soundtrack of The Producers on-stage at least showed Mel Brooks was willing to amend some of his less-PC aspects; Oola was sexual but wasn't a moron, and Roger DeBris and the other gays were eccentric but fun. But aside from that, I was better off with my old DVD of the original movie.

The only play I've had a desire to see is Sondheim's Assassins, especially since it throws pop culture (and Broadway) conventions back into the face of the audience, laced with battery acid. But it took three attempts to get a steady run of the show in New York, and the chances of it playing anywhere in Real America in a road show are nil. Audiences apparently prefer imitations of popular films on stage - with rain sponsored by 7-Up - than something challenging.

The two plays Simonson advocates seem like another recent game played on Broadway; pandering to gay audiences. Well, who else shows up to theatres these days? In the 60's they pandered to grey-haired old ladies with Mame and Hello, Dolly! And while it's probable that they'll have a successful run with audiences drawn from the Village and Tribeca, neither of those plays sound like they'll fly anywhere else, not even on film - well, maybe on Bravo.

I stopped reading. Anyone that wrong that quickly is not worth any more time.

First off, glad to see Salon covering NYC theater. How about expanding to year-round critical coverage?

Second of all, while I agree with the author that Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens are probably the most important musicals of the season, and groundbreaking for the reasons he describes, I think it's a bit too early to say for sure that they signal some sort of massive shift in the taste of audiences or critics.

Case in point: Curtains and Legally Blonde were critically dismissed (although dismissed is perhaps the wrong word...they received decidedly mixed reviews) because they simply weren't great examples of the genre. With the case of Curtains, it doesn't come close to Kander & Ebb at their finest (Chicago, Cabaret) and it's near impossible to critique it out of that context--especially with songs like "I Miss the Music," which is really a tribute to the late Ebb from his longtime writing partner.

As for Legally Blonde, yes it was received as fluff, and dismissed as fluff...but you can't ignore that it was compared unfavorably to better written, better directed, and better performed fluff: Hairspray.

It's not that critics and audiences are no longer in the mood for light entertainment, it's that they're discerning enough to select well made material, regardless of tone.

I also have to agree with the above poster...describing Sondheim as atonal is just silly. Lesser composers trying to emulate his style often end up writing less "melodic" material, but the composer of "Send in the Clowns," "Being Alive," etc. is not atonal. When somebody puts together a Webern jukebox musical, then we'll have atonality on Broadway.

So do you really think that people will flock to dark vague miserable works with a relentless political and social message, in song? At a $100 a seat? Or is the Salon staff just throwing a wrench into East Coast Theater because they're jealous?

With a dated, derivative score that produced not one memorable song and its best moments culled directly from the documentary (which truly was groundbreaking), Grey Gardens was a huge missed opportunity. Ebersole is amazing, but there's nothing innovative about the show itself.

My friends and colleagues - all of us composers and musicians - love to regale one another with stories of the dumb comments and writings we come across from various folks we regularly deal with -- undergrads we teach, film/tv producers who want to, ummm, edify and illuminate their musical ideas, etc. For example, the producer who could not make heads or tails of our discussion of the lyrical nature of a particular instrumental music ("what lyrics?") or the one last week who kept pointing to passages in the score and referring to the "harmonics" (no, not the partials or overtones, but to the *harmony* in the accompaniment).

But calling Sondheim (and his ilk) atonal? Jeebus, Simonson, take a basic music appreciation course at the local community college. And get the NYT, the New York Sun, Time Out New York, and Playbill.com to pay for it!

I read the last sentence of your fifth paragraph with interest ("...gay men, who see the Beales as staunch iconoclasts...")

Not to be more than usually bossy,but I think you'd do better (for at least one obvious reason) to write "many gay men".

thanks as ever,

David "Inverted, but not Insatiable" Terry

Perhaps I shouldn't it have made it to Spring Awakening the evening I caught a Company matinee (which was definitely not atonal, but I digress.) There were so many glaring weaknesses in Spring Awakening I fail to see how anyone could heartily recommend it. The second act was a ridiculous mess with every character making decisions so misguided that it strained credibility. And the "book" was so weak, one could easily imagine the creators saying "Hey, how quickly can we move onto the next song." With that said, though, the first act was so good I could see how someone could be tricked into thinking the musical as a whole was something to behold.

The target market for Spring Awakening is definitely not middle America, if anything it's targeted at those who want to take swipes at middle America's allegedly repressed sexual mores. Perhaps if the show would have been updated to take place in present-day Nebraska rather than 1890's Germany, it could have some sort of relevance (as it stands now, the show wants to have it's political cake and eat it too.) As it stands now, oblivious people can convince themselves that such atrocities are a thing of the past and could never occur to day.

But when I went it was filled with college students on Spring Break. And if anything is going to keep keeping the seats full it will be high school and college students who yearn to see something that they've been led to believe is simultaneously entertaining and profound. Oh how I wish they would choose Company instead.