Anticipation and the Struggles of Keeping Up

The turnover rate on Broadway is such an odd thing to witness. On one hand you want to watch a show if you get there by some turn of events. But you appreciate the opportunity for new works to get their moment in the sun, or under the lights, as it was. Then there is the joy of watching a show be open long enough to recoup, then to get some sort of long running title (I’m waiting for you, Chicago).

Every year we see these shows flicker out and go dark, to see new ones take their place. I have heard gossip of new shows ranging from Mean Girls the Musical, and Clueless the Musical, 

and the rumor I think that is most passed around, bringing the NBC show Smash's fictional show Bombshell to the stage.

Speaking of rumors, chatter of a musical adaptation of Gloria Estefan’s life, came about and will now be opening on Broadway later this year. 

The (arguably too soon) revival of Spring Awakening is much anticipated and lauded due to the critically acclaimed deaf theatre west production and will be opening on Broadway soon. 

Most of the shows that are being chatted about are all revivals: Fiddler on the Roof, Dames At Sea, And the Color Purple. 

Yes, that's Jessie Mueller

Not to be out done, are the “new works” that are based on something… School Of Rock, Waitress The Musical, And Tuck Everlasting.

For me, personally, I’m so happy that Allegiance is finally opening. It's been too long, George Takei

Looking back on the previous couple of seasons, it's odd to remember how worked up we all were about Rocky The Musical (Aherns & Flaherty do no wrong), Bridges Of Madison County (JRB does no wrong), Bullets Over Broadway (..is that Zach Braff??)

Last year was really interesting to see an American in Paris, and On the Town open, and be hits! Something Rotten was such an original thing, and that made me swoon, but honestly the fact that Fun Home got the recognition it deserved made me proud to be a musical theatre nerd.

The titles, and stars, and composers names that fly around the theatre world can be dizzying.

Did I read there is a musical based on Tupac’s music?

Kelsey Grammer is playing a pirate in something?

Jason Robert Brown has another show opening on Broadway?

Could it be that Sara Bareilles wrote the score for a show? Is it good?

It’s hard to keep up, and I love that I have a hobby like this. 

It's like collecting baseball cards, but the revisions are every other week

(I don't actually know how baseball card collecting works).

It’s hard to tell if the anticipation actually works in ticket sales. Most of the shows I mentioned in the post did not do well. Some of them will most likely be hits (fingers crossed, Spring Awakening) and a lot of them will not get the audiences they deserve.

Did shows like The Music Man, and The Wiz and Sweeney Todd face these kinds of rumors and apprehension? Before the time of the internet, what was the rumor mill like? It’s fun to think of those things…

Have you ever been burned by a show you were expecting big things from, even just the cast album? What’s the show you have most been looking forward to? Why?