Fair enough. I'll write about operetta at some later point, but for now I'd like to hear what pre-Miserable musicals would fit the definition of Eurotrash, reprinted below:
Eurotrash, n.
A large musical usually by at least one European writer, from the last 20 years with some or all of the following characteristics:
1. Little or no dialogue
2. Plot concerns something unusally tragic or sad
3. Anachronistic music, that rocks on with little or no feeling for time and place
4. Cliche lyrics, usually with dull rhyme schemes and false rhymes
5. Self-pity
6. Bad taste
7. Little or no humor or wit
8. Absence of subtext. Characters tell you exactly how they feel (often self-pity) leaving the audience nothing to do or discover
Well, let's start by trashing that garbage about "the last 20 years or so." Example numero uno:
Tommy, by Pete Townsend and the other members of The Who. Originally released as a concept album in 1969, done in concert versions then as a film, and finally produced on stage in 1992. Took a while, but it set the precedent. Perhaps not a true "operetta" in it's structure, but billed as a "rock opera," and the first in the new line.
Numero deus:
Jesus Christ, Superstar. Andrew and Tim. Again, originally a concept album, this time with parts assigned to players. (If you've ever heard Tim Rice sing, you'd understand why.) This time, a true "rock opera", and thus even more in line with the operetta. Quite controversial back when I was in high school. (Graduated in '71, that should give you an idea of the time frame.) Produced for the stage in 1971 in London.
Numero tres:
Evita, again with Andy and Timmy. Again, originally produced as a concept album, with parts. (I know what happened to Colm Wilkenson, but whatever happened to Julie Covington?) The new Operetta gets legitimized when brought to the stage with Hal Prince directing.
Numero quatro (and this is what blows the entire Eurotrash label to smithereens):
Sweeney Todd. Sondheim, 1979. American composer and lyricist. American director. The closest it comes to having a European as a creator is Angela Lansbury, the original performing Mrs. Lovett.
The stage was then set for
Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Chess, and the stuff Linda Eder's estranged hubby has given us, among others. All operetta. All concept musicals. All part of the same generation as
Company and
A Chorus Line.
