The Mark of a Good Musical

A lot of the following can be applied to any sort of music. I just feel that musicals get little credit as a genre, and that isn't fair. Sure, a lot of them suck, but many of them are beautifully composed and have great story lines.

Everything's a musical now. They had a Carrie musical a few years back, for God's sake. I think one big problem is that people don't want to accept that some stories just don't work in this genre. There are some stories that work well without following the "show, don't tell" rule. Then there are some that just don't. Trying to force big musical numbers into moments that are better left silent...that's a bad move.

Then we can look at the songs themselves. One of my favorite musical songs is "If I Were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls, because even without the lyrics, the tone and purpose of the song are totally clear. The melody itself speaks of silly, half-drunk, new love. Then someone I know tries to sell me on Wicked and plays "Popular." I can't speak for the rest of the musical, but when I strip away the words and think of the melody, I don't think strongly about the message of the song. It's just writing plinky music that sounds vaguely appropriate and then tossing in some lyrics.

I've fallen away from musicals partially because so many are just so cheesy. And I guess I don't always want people's feelings spelled out for me in song. But I'm grateful that I've been able to define why some appeal to me and some don't. It's truly a relief.