Broadway in 2004: Recent Thoughts I Would Like to Share

Broadway Musicals in 2004. As the documentary "Show Business" shows us, it was an amazing year for theatre.

The documentary covers four musicals. I would like to talk about three of them, excluding the Boy George Musical, "Taboo." The other three are...

AVENUE Q
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
WICKED

These were three very important musicals.

Wicked is the big, overblown, blockbuster musical. Not saying it's bad. Not saying it's good. It's basically a live action Disney movie, which kind of makes sense, since it has a score by Disney regular Stephen Schwartz. It has become the highest-grossing show on Broadway currently, and has unfortunately bred a new generation of little girlie theatre fans.

Avenue Q is the little show that could. Goin up against the "Wicked" Juggernaut, it managed to win Best Score and Best Musical at the Tony's. And it's a great show, with a good heart. And puppets!!! Who doesn't love puppets?

And Caroline, Or Change. For those of you who are not familiar with this show, Caroline, Or Change is the underrated, amazing musical from the minds of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori. I usually call this a "play set to music," rather than a musical, because it's not really like a "conventional" musical, because nothing really happens. But it's still amazing.

Gotta fly. Later peeps.