Culture

My “Must-Listens” on New Year’s Eve and the Rise and Fall of Musicals

My “Must-Listens” on New Year’s Eve and the Rise and Fall of Musicals

“It’s New Year’s Eve and hopes are high, dance one year in, kiss one goodbye! Another chance, another start, so many dreams, to tease the heart….” These words always resonate in my mind around this time of the year, and have been doing so for the past 30 years with no exception. They serve as perfect reminders that another year has gone and we are given another year, or another chance, to “get it right”. Simple, yet powerful. I am sure they resonate with most of us too.

 

They are the lyrics from the beautiful song “The Perfect Year” by Patti LuPone in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical “Sunset Boulevard” which made its debut in 1993 on Broadway. It’s the 3rd Webber’s musical in which I became profoundly indulged after I first came across the composer’s Phantom of the Opera in 1988 followed by Aspects of Love in 1989. I will never forget the day when I queued up outside London’s His Majesty’s Theatre for Phantom as my first musical experience. A stranger offered me a ticket he didn’t want for just £25, nothing inflated, which turned out to be the BEST seat in the house: a middle seat in the front row! To be honest I wasn’t even sure if the ticket was legitimate, but I took my chance and was handsomely rewarded!

 

In the years that followed I went on to see almost every other big show: Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, West Side Story, Starlight Express, Cats…. you name it, I saw it - many even multiple times in different cities with different casts! I can remember the lyrics without looking - and I have kept most of the Programmes until recently when I decided to downsize and declutter.

 

A musical fanatic perhaps?!

 

But in life all good things must come to an end, and my love for musical - or more precisely, the musical industry - is no exception. The first signs of decline came after Webber’s Woman in White (2004), then Love Never Dies (2010), both of which left an unimpressive, forgettable experience and didn’t last for long. A successful musical must comprise 3 key elements: great music, beautiful lyrics and exceptional theatrical staging - a solid formula most early musicals possessed. Lacking any one will render a performance low in entertaining and commercial values. One cannot help thinking that both Webber, the master of Musicals, and the industry, have passed their best days. This point is further supported by the fact that most of the above-mentioned musicals either ended years ago, or have scaled back to performing in smaller cities. That’s perhaps the reason why some of them turned out film versions (Phantom for example) in an attempt to keep them going for longer to attract a different, non-theatre going audience.

 

Another reason seems the lack of new blood. With industry masters such as Webber, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Cameron Mackintosh all in their 70s, there just aren’t any newcomers with talents that are remotely comparable. Once a critic called Webber’s work “assembly line music” which I thought was just sour grapes, now after decades I feel I have to agree to some extend. With any show, say Phantom, there seems to be a “standard tone” in their vocals so no matter the cast they all sound very close, which is OK from a “quality assurance” perspective. But when that is applied across all other shows, they start to become indistinguishable from one another, leaving the audience with a more forgettable experience and less desire to see more. That’s one reason why I listen a lot less these days.

 

Still musicals have fulfilled my life in many positive ways and the classics will always have an important place in my heart (and in my Apple Music library!). The last time I saw Phantom was in 2015 during my holidays in London, and I was encouraged to see many young generations from around the world eagerly queuing outside the same His Majesty’s Theatre as I did in 1988. In a world where people are getting increasingly superficial, that’s a really comforting sight to see.

 

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, a midnight wish, to share with you….” As we turn 2024, the show must go on. 

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