![]() ![]() Freedman and first-time Broadway composer Steven Lutvak. The musical came from first-time Broadway director Darko Tresnjak and first-time Broadway librettist Robert L. But more than being a tough ticket, or star turns, or setting records, The Book of Mormon reintroduced the style of classic musical satire that had been missing since the days of The Producers, while also propelling musicals back into the mainstream.Ģ013 A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder The little musical that could proved you could become a hit (critical, awards, and box office) without a big name and without a known property, if your social media brand is strong. The musical also marked the first time Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad originated a principal role on Broadway both actors have skyrocketed to household name status, Rannells with Girls, Black Monday, Hamilton, and his memoir, and Gad with the Frozen franchise. The musical is the third highest-grossing Broadway show of the decade. Over the years, The Book of Mormon has climbed the longest-running Broadway shows list, most recently surpassing the classic 42nd Street to earn the 14th spot. If shows had ratings, it would certainly be “R”, bringing a humor familiar to those of Lopez’s Broadway debut Avenue Q. Audiences of all demographics, especially first-time theatregoers, flocked to the production-which opened cold on Broadway. The show found huge fans in Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, who helped bring it to the masses. Brought to us by the writers of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (and Tony winner Robert Lopez), the musical ingratiated an entirely new audience to Broadway theatre. For its place in history as Kander and Ebb’s last work, its casting, its bold concept, and its reminder to Tony nominators that closed shows often deserve attention, Scottsboro earns a spot here.Ģ011 The Book of Mormon Before you couldn’t get a ticket to Hamilton, it was impossible to snag a seat to The Book of Mormon. The production also makes the list because it set the record for most Tony Award nominations for a closed production it earned 12 nods, though it had closed December 12, 2010, after 29 previews and 49 regular performances. Scottsboro also introduced us to the brilliance that is Joshua Henry, now a three-time Tony nominee. The cast included 12 black performers of its 13-a rarity to this day. Director-choreographer Susan Stroman matched content with concept, staging the musical as a minstrel show to highlight the immorality of the Jim Crow-era style alongside the immorality of the case. The Scottsboro Boys illuminated the true story of the nine young black men and boys falsely accused of raping two white women in the 1930s South. The Scottsboro Boys The musical was the last collaboration between John Kander and Fred Ebb before Ebb’s death (though The Visit bowed on Broadway in 2015, the duo had written it in 2001). ![]() For its use of contemporary music in depicting American political history, for its introduction to talent who are now Broadway names, and for its revitalization of rock music and its downtown aesthetic in an uptown venue, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson makes the list. Arguably, this set the stage for another show on this list that reaches back into early American history. The production revived the tradition of examining real-life influential political figures in musicals, as was done in Evita and Fiorello!. It also marked the Broadway songwriting debut of composer-lyricist Michael Friedman, who since passed away. The show introduced Broadway to now-prolific director Alex Timbers (who also wrote the book for Bloody Bloody), who had a habit of crafting stories about historical figures in contemporary ways. This original rock musical imagined the seventh President of the United States as an emo-punk rocker. Here are 19 shows that changed the lexicon of musical theatre-present and future-in the past 10 years.Ģ010 Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Before there was Hamilton, there was Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. This was a zeitgeist-shaping show.Īnd yet, while a Hamilton comes around once in a generation, there are other shows whose bows on Broadway has deeply affected theatre history-by influencing the business of Broadway, by launching new voices, by changing the sound of musicals, by changing the composition of audiences, by offering alternate forms of storytelling.Īs far as the New York theatre scene, Off-Broadway is known for risk-taking, but there have been plenty of daring moves made on the Main Stem, which is where we focus here. The Lin-Manuel Miranda phenom reverberated with an unprecedented global impact on pop culture, education, philanthropy, and more. The 2010s blessed theatrelovers with Hamilton-the show that made musical theatre cool again. ![]()
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