Revivals – Better the Second Time Around

Producing a Broadway musical is risky business. Producers have spent and lost millions of dollars trying to create the next big sensation. Mounting a full-stage musical is no easy task and trying to guess what audiences will want is daunting at best. Shows like DIRTY DANCING, XANADU and LEGALLY BLONDE succeed by tapping into an existing audience—fans of the film version—without jeopardizing the creative spirit necessary to pull together a brand new musical. Standing alongside the next new sensation on Broadway is the revival. Surprisingly, a well thought-out revival, re staged for a new generation of theatergoers, can on occasion eclipse the success of the original and out-live and out-gross many brand new musicals.

The musical CHICAGO, based on the 1926 play by Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, opened on Broadway June 3, 1975, and ran for a total of 936 performances before closing in August of 1977. Conceived by the legendary Bob Fosse, the show played to mixed reviews. Fosse reinvented the contemporary Broadway musical, adding vaudevillian flair. This interpretation pulled down the “fourth wall” between performers and the audience. This made audiences accustomed to more typical staging’s uncomfortable. Fosse was impeded further by the sudden illness of his star, Gwen Verdon, and by a new musical--A CHORUS LINE--which opened the same year.

In 1996, a stripped-down version of CHICAGO opened on Broadway to critical acclaim. Audiences were no longer shocked by the theme of criminal as celebrity and were more accustomed to the concert style of the show. In 1996, CHICAGO The Musical won 6 Tony Awards®, more than any revival in the history of Broadway at the time. It is the eighth-longest running musical of all time and is the longest running revival ever mounted. Since its opening in 1996, the show has had more than 5000 performances and is considered the most successful revival in Broadway history.

Some musicals see new life in revival in very unique ways; one such show is JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. Created by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber as a double album, the show was first staged in 1971 at Southold High School in New York. At the same time “unauthorized” versions of the show were being produced, prompting Rice and Webber to work through the courts to shut down nearly 100 different productions before the show premiered on Broadway later that same year.

SUPERSTAR ran on Broadway until June of 1973, a total of 711 performances, and received five Tony Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Featured Actor. It was revived in 1977 and again in 2000 with an updated look targeted toward a new generation. Neither revival achieved the same level of success as the original production. A National tour in 1972 featured Ted Neely in the role of Jesus. Neely went on to recreate the role in a 1973 film version and has since become synonymous with not only the show, but the role of Jesus. A total of five National tours have been hugely successful. SUPERSTAR enjoys a following many producers dream of and its story continues to be as relevant and thought-provoking now as it was nearly four decades ago.
A show that seems to be more successful with each revival is SWEENEY TODD. The story of SWEENEY TODD began as a Victorian melodrama entitled String of Pearls, but the modern take on the story is based on the 1973 play by British Playwright Christopher Bond. The well-known musical adaptation of the original play was created by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. It opened on Broadway in March of 1979 starring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou in the title roles of Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd. This incarnation of the story ran for a total of 557 performances winning nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score.

A National tour in 1980 introduced the show to a larger audience, as did a filmed broadcast for PBS in 1982. SWEENEY TODD was revived on Broadway in 1989 and then again in 2005 starring Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris in the lead roles. Re staged by director John Doyle, the 2005 version was notable in that the actors were also the orchestra, playing their own instruments on stage. Doyle’s 2005 revival won six Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Direction and Best Orchestration.

The golden age of Broadway saw shows produced by Rogers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Lerner and Lowe and Irving Berlin. In recent history, blockbusters like LES MISERABLES, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE LION KING and THE COLOR PURPLE have ushered in a new age of creativity and imagery, but the revival is still king. Currently revivals of GYPSY, GREASE, GUYS AND DOLLS and SOUTH PACIFIC treat audiences to a taste of what made Broadway great and play to sold out houses. Many look at the Broadway revival as a visit from an old trusted friend and sometimes, what was old can be new again.