Musical Mastery
Sunday, March 30th by scott malia
A recent sports item calls the 1950s musical Damn Yankees the most stirring drama since Shakespeare. I believe the statement was made with tongue in check, but still my initial response was, “Really?” Don’t misunderstand me; I have nothing against the show—a little Satan, a little baseball…lots of fun. Still, I am not sure it is the best thing since Shakespeare. In fact, I’m not sure what is. Despite this, I was intrigued that the writer selected a musical for this honor. After all, this is a form that is too frequently written off as lightweight family entertainment (as though it takes no artistry to create that kind of thing, anyway).
Focusing on the musical genre, how could we find a work that compares to Shakespeare? While The Bard’s plays have certainly served as the inspiration for musicals (The Boys from Syracuse, West Side Story), is there one that could equal the measure of his plays. Perhaps the best way to approach this question is to name something that has the potential to last as long as his works have. Some musicals, like Hair and Rent, become sensations because they so accurately capture the zeitgeist; yet that very timeliness often means they won’t age terribly well, except as period pieces. For me, the musical answer to Shakespeare would have to fall somewhere between the culty critical popularity of Stephen Sondheim and the mass appeal of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sweeney Todd by way of Cats may sound like a curious mix, but melding styles was one of Shakespeare’s defining talents.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
If we stay in the realm of classical works, I’d say that Mozart is the Shakespeare of music.
But when one compares something with Shakespeare, specificity is necessary. Would one compare the poetry, the characters, the story, the ideas, the humor, wit, appeal to certain audiences, theatricality, etc. It would be very hard indeed to find a work after Shakespeare that is comparable on all those levels. Picking and choosing is essential and then specifying which aspect is being compared.
As a modern musical theatre artist comparable to some of the merits of Shakespeare I would have to agree with you about Stephen Sondheim. His works have many of the qualities in Shakespeare I mentioned earlier. I often describe Sweeney Todd as “the Hamlet of musical theatre.” But it’s so subjective. Many deify Shakespeare and can’t imagine ANYTHING even coming close to the mastery of Shakespeare. But if you compare an ASPECT of Shakespeare’s works to something else, you’re more likely to get away with it.
-G
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