http://www.lamc.org/concerts/040615.htmlHeard from Jason Robert Brown today that Disney Hall is doing a concert called The New Broadway with him, Sondheim, Michael John LaChiusa, Ricky Ian Gordon and Adam Guettel - in other words, the Usual Suspects.
I do not begrudge Mr. Brown his success, and, if I'm in L.A. at the time, I'll attend the concert at Disney Hall. I've posted the link so you left coasters can attend.
But why why why why why (that's five whys) is the focus, once again, on The Usual Supsects? Somebody (whom I feel is lacking in taste) annointed these four wunderkinds "the voices of the new Broadway" and, it seems, everywhere you turn, someone else is following suit. It doesn't matter that Gordon and Guettel have never had any work on Broadway, they're "the voices of the new Broadway" or that
all of LaChiusa and Brown's work in New York has failed commercially (with the possible exception of Songs for a New World).
Yes, it's a familiar rant. I'm sorry.
Let me state this more positively:
Lynne Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
deserve to be called "the voices of the new Broadway" and two of their shows, Once on This Island and Ragtime, had substantial Broadway runs. My old pal Jeanine Tesori this month becoms the first female composer to have two shows running on Broadway at once (correct me if I'm wrong) and, when she did incidental music for a Shakespeare production, she nabbed a Tony nomination. And since this concert's in Los Angeles, I might as well support the notion that a Californian composer I despise, Frank Wildhorn, counts as one of "the voices of the new Broadway" since he's had three shows on The Street, two of which ran for many months, and his songs are frequently performed.
I know we don't want to argue about Brown. Fine. Can any Dear Reader state that he's actually enjoyed a Ricky Ian Gordon musical in the theatre? I'd even like to hear of someone liking a LaChiusa work. (He, at least, is friendly.)
End rant.
