One of the many questions presented in Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 song, “The Dangling Conversation,” was: “Is the theater really dead?” And at that time of cultural upheaval, watching a stodgy play or dated musical didn’t exactly define hipness. But following that era of change came musicals like Hair and Oh, Calcutta that reached out to non-traditional audiences. The Who defined “rock opera” with 1969’s Tommy, and the 1970’s launched blockbusters like Grease and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Latter years brought in the “big” musicals, such as Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables, culminating in Miss Saigon, where the onstage helicopter probably sold more tickets than the cast or script. With Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the 1990’s also ushered in the concept of the Disney musical — a mega-successful franchise that appealed to a younger theater demographic and continues to this day. Now, seven years after it opened, who would have thought a musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton would still be hosting SRO performances?
The bottom line is that we’ve come a long way since the shuttered venues of a year ago, and theater, in all forms — from Broadway and the West End to regional shows and tours — is doing just fine, thank you. Facilities worldwide are upgrading sound systems to meet modern expectations of fidelity, clarity and immersive production — we look at three such examples on page 28. Meanwhile, new shows like MJ, the Musical and the updated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company (profiled on page 29) enjoy sold-out runs and are have multiple Tony nominations, with the results to be unveiled at the awards ceremony on June 12. These are good times and theater is alive and doing well.
And speaking of shows, we’ll see you at this month’s InfoComm Expo in Las Vegas. Don’t miss it!
Got a comment? Send George an email to george@fohonline.com
