I was thinking about Mamma Mia this morning and wondered what that genre of musical is called. Turns out, of course, it has a name - Jukebox Musical. It is a movie or play based on the works of a single or few related artists. The most famous one most people know is Mamma Mia from the music of ABBA, which kicked off the current wave of Broadway shows for artists from Green Day to the Go-Gos.
The Wiki link has a list all the ones that they recognize (although I think some are a stretch, a biopic is not a Jukebox) but I wonder who do you think would be ripe for the treatment?
I think that an amazing musical could be crafted from the Rolling Stones catalog, but perhaps that’s just low hanging fruit since they have so many albums to draw on. I think Little Feat, Chicago, or the Doobie Brothers have a catalog that could support an interesting story line and that I’d want to listen to and sing along.
First of all, instead of the horrible We Will Rock You, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is strong enough to have a jukebox musical on its own. The plot is a young man who commits suicide and goes to hell.
Tom Paxton’s songs could be turned into a great jukebox musical about a returning Vietnam vet, and the horrible way he is treated.
I bet you could make an entertaining musical from The Runaways and/or some of the early female punk bands. And God only knows what kind of plot you could string together for a Ramones musical.
Late Wife wanted to make one set during the Vietnam war about a soldier on leave meeting and falling in love with with a woman and their weekend romance. Featuring the music of Spanky and Her Gang and the Rascals. I even had the writer of some of the songs on board but nothing came of it.
My own is about a party bus for a bachelorette party featuring songs from the youth of brides ten or fifteen years ago, assuming they now have money to see a show and are getting nostalgic. It could be a karaoke musical.
You could make several different musical universes out of Bob Dylan’s work and life, like it was hinted at in cinematic form in I’m Not There, so many opportunities here.
You could probably put together a pretty good, if depressing, plot around the dead-enders who inhabit the Springsteen discography. Set it in a bar over the course of a night. One of the barflies listens to all the stories: the guy who can’t let go of his high school glory days; the vet who can’t find a job; the guy who spends his nights at the river wishing he and his wife were still just teenage sweethearts; the 9/11 rescue worker hanging on to sanity by his fingernails; etc. At the end, the quiet barfly calls his girl to tell her to meet him in Atlantic City.
A musical based on Waylon Jennings songs would actually have a story arc. He was a leader of the outlaw movement in country music, but then turned against it at the end of his career.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash can’t get no satisfaction and is about to suffer his nineteenth nervous breakdown. Then he meets Angie, who enjoys the same music he does. It’s only rock 'n roll, but they both like it. “Let’s spend the night together,” he suggests later; and they do, but it’s not what he built it up to be, and he is shattered. Sighing that you can’t always get what you want, he leaves her for some girls, including a honky tonk woman and Ruby Tuesday. These experiences don’t go very well, and he’s almost ready to paint it black.
Once again, he realizes that you can’t always get what you want, and when he thinks back, he realizes that Angie was hot stuff. Returning to her, and promising to never be a beast of burden, finds that he’s experienced an emotional rescue. They walk off into their future, secure in the knowledge that it’s only rock 'n roll, but they both like it.
I’m thinking road trip - a laid-back southern kid gets dumped by his girlfriend Mary Jane after one Last Dance, and heads out Into teh Great Wide Open in search of love. It’s a trough trip, with Breakdowns, times when he feels like he’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, and even like he’s a Refugee. But no matter how many people say Don’t Come Around Here No More, no matter how many times he’s Free Fallin’, he just Won’t Back Down. In the end, he finds his American Girl, and together, they set out Learning to Fly.
ELO has a collection of songs that would make for an interesting story arc. I’m not sure what the plot line would be but:
[ul]
[li]Mr. Blue Sky[/li][li]Don’t Bring Me Down[/li][li]Sweet Talkin’ Woman[/li][li]Living Thing[/li][li]Telephone Line[/li][li]Calling America[/li][li]Fire on High[/li][/ul]
Or Bob Seger, a story of growing up as a struggling musician, success, loss of innocence, reclaimed love:
[ul]
[li]Night Moves[/li][li]Against the Wind[/li][li]Ramblin’, Gamblin’ Man[/li][li]Old Time Rock & Roll[/li][li]We’ve Got Tonight[/li][li]Shakedown[/li][li]Fire Lake[/li][li]Mainstreet[/li][li]Hollywood Nights[/li][li]Still the Same[/li][li]Katmandu[/li][li]Get Out of Denver[/li]
[/ul]
Remember, to do a jukebox musical you have to obtain the rights to use the artist’s song and pay them the “grand rights,” a term for using their songs. You pay the grand rights for every performance, or the show will not go on.
Yes, Benny & Bjorn of ABBA and the guys who wrote the Four Seasons song and Billy Joel made big bucks from their jukebox musicals.
Tom Paxton’s Annie trilogy could be the basis of a great jukebox musical. Has Annie Been In Tonight, Annie’s Going To Sing Her Song, and When Annie Took Me Home are all set in a bar. Flesh it out with some of Paxton’s other songs, and there it is.
