According to playbill.com, many upcoming musicals are ‘in the works’. While some of these are arguably understandable, Disney’s hit “Coco”, for instance, others are borderline ridiculous. These include the sitcom “The Nanny”, the classic “The Karate Kid”, and the cult classic “The Lost Boys.”
And I thought a Mean Girls musical was migraine-inducing.
Redoing something that already worked once is a complete Disney move on Broadway’s part, or at least that’s what I’d call it. Looking at the past and present, both companies are following a similar pattern.
An original Disney movie is successful. Disney’s response? “Go live action!”
A film or sitcom is successful. Broadway’s response? “Add music!”
Something the entertainment industry doesn’t like to hear is that remakes, reboots, or adaptions aren’t usually well received. According to wadworthbruin.com, Mean Girls the Musical got mixed reviews, far from the spectacular show Broadway advertisement always promises.
Many of the films and shows Broadway is converting didn’t need music to be a success in the first place. Imagine the cast of “Karate Kid” singing, it wouldn’t add anything to the main plot of a karate student and his mentor. Rather, it would take away as critical scenes would be removed to add a made-for-Broadway song.
The same can be said for “The Nanny”, “The Lost Boys”, and many others. They weren’t originally musicals because they wouldn’t have worked as musicals. Trying to force a musical format on something that wasn’t meant for it can only hurt the industry. If it doesn’t work the new show, like Mean Girls the Musical, can and will get mixed reviews.
Whenever a source of entertainment, TV show or movie, is redone or rebooted, some changes will always be made. Often, this is done to show a glimmer of originality or cut down the runtime. In Broadway’s case, however, it’s adding music where music shouldn’t be added. Honestly, stick to the original Broadway shows if you’re looking for some fun in NYC, what they’re creating now needs to be forgotten as quickly as it’s being done.
