Breaking Down Broadway

As of November 5th, there are 22 musicals on Broadway.

Of those 22, 4 are Jukebox (&Juliet, A Beautiful Noise, MJ and Moulin Rouge!), 2 are Disney (Aladdin, Lion King), 6 are from “The Canon,” which I define as anything running 5+ years or a revival (Book of Mormon, Chicago, Hamilton, Merrily, Sweeney, Wicked), and 5 have music by established pop writers (Back to the Future, Harmony, Here Lies Love, Melissa Etheridge, Shucked). That leaves 5 new shows with music by a musical theatre composer (Hadestown, Gutenberg, Kimberly Akimbo, SIX, Some Like It Hot) — and Anaïs Mitchell was arguably an established pop artist, and SIX, has pop-style music. Which leaves 3 — Gutenberg, Kimberly Akimbo, and Some Like It Hot — as the only three with music by MT composers.

 Of those 3, Kimberly Akimbo is a play adaptation, and Some Like It Hot is a movie adaptation. That only wholly original musical with music by a musical theatre composer who was not already an established pop musician — is Gutenberg. And, no offense to anyone involved with Gutenberg, that’s kind of sad. At least if you aspire to be a composer of original musicals.