Welcome to the Musicals Thread, the Avocado’s space for anything and everything related to musical theatre! Every month I’ll post a discussion prompt, but please feel free to comment on other topics, from new discoveries to old favorites. If you have ideas for future prompts or would like to write a feature for the thread, let me know!
One of my favorite episodes of Bob’s Burgers is “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl”. Wagstaff School looks to the student body for new material for their fall musical (because, in Ms. LaBonz’s words, “We’re not doing Grease again. I can’t. I’m not doing it.”). Gene submits his idea for Die Hard: The Musical but, to his chagrin, Courtney’s Working Girl: The Musical is chosen instead. He ends up running Die Hard in the school basement on the night of Working Girl’s premiere, drawing more and more of the audience away until the unauthorized performance is busted. Gene and Courtney reconcile, deciding to combine their shows into the titular musical spectacular:
Maybe a similar solution could have been found for the contentious Best Musical Tony race of 2017: Evan Hansen & the Great Comet of 1812. I’m picturing something like a full-length musical episode of Wishbone: As the plot of Dear Evan Hansen plays out, Evan’s reading War and Peace for school, finding himself in and taking inspiration from the characters of Pierre, Natasha, and Anatole. He is isolated from his peers, longing for some sort of meaning or connection. In his loneliness he takes the opportunity to forge a new relationship, at the cost of his own integrity. He dreams of a romance cancelling out all of the surrounding problems (compare even the song titles – “No One Else” and “Only Us”). There is great significance in letters. Eventually his secret is revealed and he’s confronted over his insensitive treatment of others, though the truth is kept from the greater public to prevent a disastrous scandal. Despondent, he is reassured that this incident does not define him and will not ruin the rest of his life, and that he is deeply loved no matter what. The show ends with everyone looking to the sky with hope.
Which musicals would you be interested to see combined, either to surprisingly appropriate or just plain funny effect?