# What musicals based on albums/CDs, or a band's repertoire, should Broadway do next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547 "2010-02-03T17:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547/21 "2010-02-05T13:55:45Z")
They should do one based on Rio, by Duran Duran. Unless, of course, it was already done once, in 1960, for twenty minutes. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547/22 "2010-02-05T15:03:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I wonder if there could be a musical featuring the music of the Kinks. _Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround_ even has a plot behind it, and _Preservation, Act I_ might also be a possibility. A lot of Kinks stuff could work, actually. The album “Arthur” was supposed to be the soundtrack for a BBC TV movie that never got made. If the old teleplay could be made to work on stage, “Arthur” could still be a very good musical. And “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” could go to Broadway as is. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547/23 "2010-02-05T15:06:30Z")
An important thing to remember is, a lot of very good pop/rock composers wrote songs that just don’t work in a theater piece. I love Paul Simon’s work, for example, but his lyrics are always far too contemplative and reflective and stream of consciousness to work in a Broadway musical, where a song is supposed to either tell a story, move the plot along, or tell us something important about the character(s) singing it. I don’t much care for Springsteen, but a lot of his songs are story-oriented and character-oriented. It wouldn’t be hard to piece together a bunch of his songs that would make sense in a story about a struggling blue-collar family. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547/24 "2010-02-05T16:26:45Z")
My Chemical Romance’s album [The Black Parade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Parade) is perfectly suited for Broadway. From the linked article, it’s “a rock opera centering on a man with cancer known as ‘The Patient’. The album tells the story of his apparent death, experiences in the afterlife, and subsequent reflection on his life.” Like a rock version of “All That Jazz.” ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547/25 "2010-02-05T17:10:30Z")
There was talk a couple years ago about turning the Flaming Lips album _Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots_ into a musical. I think it’s be fantastic, but it seems to have fallen off the radar. [Here’s an article](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20015535,00.html) about it from 2007 that explains a bit of the projected plot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicals-based-on-albums-cds-or-a-bands-repertoire-should-broadway-do-next/527547.md?page=1)