What’s On Broadway: Long-Running Musicals

A Broadway season focuses regular theatergoers on what’s new, but the most reliable ticket sales are for the dozen shows from previous seasons listed below. Whatever their original reviews, they have become long-running favorites.

Now it is unclear to me whether these critic-proof shows are all great crowd-pleasers, or if some benefit more than they should from brand recognition and momentum. The most successful of them have become something like international franchises, with productions running in cities around the world. Whether the Broadway production has gotten tired, whether the (replacement) casts are as good as they could be — whether at the performance you happen to attend you’ll see an inexperienced understudy in the lead role — is not something that critics monitor nor visiting theatergoers are likely to be able to find out in advance.

Here are the dozen long-running Broadway hits — I picked the shows that have been running at least three seasons — listed alphabetically, with links to my reviews or other articles I’ve written about them (if any), the show’s Twitter feed (where you can learn of cast changes and sometimes get bargains), etc.

Update: In The Heights, Next to Normal, and West Side Story are now all scheduled to close in January, 2011.

Billy Elliot The Musical
Imperial Theater (249 West 45th Street)
Opened: November 13, 2008
Twitter: @BillyElliot
This musical adds the music of Elton John and the dazzling choreography of Peter Darling to tell the same story as the modest, amusing and stirring 2000 British movie “Billy Elliot,” about a 12-year-old motherless boy in coal-mining country, whose family is struggling to make ends meet during a difficult strike. His father sends him for boxing lessons but Billy wanders into the ballet class that shares the old gym, and it soon becomes clear what he wants to do with his life – become a ballet dancer.
Well-reviewed when it opened, the musical has some over-the-top numbers that, in my humble opinion, violate the simple spirit of the original. But it is hard to deny the show’s entertainment value.
Update: The original Dad, Gregory Jbara, has returned. The original Billy Elliots have all been replaced. At any given performance, Billy Elliot will now be played by one of four performers: Jacob Clemente,Alex Ko, Peter Mazurowski, Dayton Tavares. It seems clear they were chosen primarily for their dancing rather than their acting.
BUY TICKETS TO BILLY ELLIOT

Chicago
Ambassador Theater (219 West 49th Street)
Opened: November 14, 1996
Twitter: @ChicagoMusical
A chorus girl in 1920′s Chicago murders her lover and becomes a star. This cynical, tuneful 1975 musical adaptation by John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Cabaret” team) of a 1926 play was revived to great acclaim by director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Ann Reinking in homage to original choreographer Bob Fosse. But it has gone through many, many cast changes since then. Some say this is the production that invented the modern Broadway practice of “stunt casting.”
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In The Heights
Richard Rodgers Theater (226 West 46th Street)
Opened: March 9, 2008
Update: In The Heights scheduled to close on Broadway January 9, 2011
Twitter: @ninarosario
The struggles on a block in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights focusing on Usnavi (his parents called him that because they saw “U.S. Navy” on the side of a ship), which was originally performed by the musical’s creator, composer, and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda.
What I wrote: “We are in a Broadway of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban residents who are struggling with rising rents and paltry paychecks and a blacked-out, broken down city, but also a neighborhood of exuberant aspiration, the neighbors’ stories told in a score infused with rap, salsa and meringue, ‘sounds that are an ear-tickling novelty on Broadway,’ wrote the New York Times reviewer.”
Broadway is….Thoughts on Seeing In The Heights
Updates: American Idol winner Jordin Sparks has taken over the role of Nina, the bright young woman from the neighborhood who flunked out of college.
BUY TICKETS TO IN THE HEIGHTS

Jersey Boys

August Wilson Theater (245 West 52nd Street)
Opened: November 6, 2006
Twitter: @JerseyBoysInfo
The story of the 1950′s-60′s singing group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, whose hits include “December 1963 [Oh, What A Night]” (my favorite) as well as “Sherry,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” etc.
Here is what I wrote about the show this year, in an article entitled Jersey Boys vs. Jersey Shore: Although the music is better known than the musicians, and yes there are almost three dozen songs in the show, the story of the group is better than most of those ‘Behind The Music’ documentaries.
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The Lion King
Minskoff Theater (200 West 45th Street)
Opened: November 13, 1997
Twitter: @TheLionKing
Based on the 1994 Disney animated film about the coming-of-age of a young lion in the African jungle, this musical offers African-inflected music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice and the visual magic of Julie Taymor. Taymor is the director, a composer and lyricist for some of the songs. But above all, she is the designer of the costumes, masks, and puppets — and it is these visuals that make this show a good first theatrical experience.
BUY TICKETS TO THE LION KING

Mamma Mia!
Winter Garden (1634 Broadway)
Opened: October 18, 2001
Twitter: @MammaMiaMusical
It’s hard even for hard-core Mamma Mia fans to argue that the story pieced together using some two dozen hits from the 1970′s pop group ABBA makes very much sense: A young woman getting married on the Greek island where she has grown up invites the three men who may be her father to the wedding, without telling her mother: She had summer-quickie affairs with all three. The lyrics of some of the songs don’t always actually fit with what’s supposed to be happening at any moment.
But fans don’t care. The infectious music, most memorably “Dancing Queen,” and the whimsical disco-era dance numbers are enough for them. And whatever else you may think about the musical, it is true what the fans say: It is not quite as cheesy at the Meryl Streep movie.
BUY TICKETS TO MAMMA MIA

Mary Poppins
New Amsterdam Theater (214 West 42nd Street)
Opened: November 16, 2006
Twitter: @PoppinsMusical
The musical is based on the 1964 movie musical starring Julie Andrews with some added songs, and added plot from the original P.A. Travers stories that tells of unruly children tamed by a magical, flying nanny. There is more of a focus on the overworked parents, and their strained relationship. I did not see this Broadway musical until recently. I am told the London version was darker and more sophisticated, and that its transfer to Broadway was sweeter but still suited for adults. What I saw, though, were sets that stood out — they seemed expensive and with sufficient mechanical innovations (such as Mary Poppins flying over the audience) to distract theatergoers with Attention Deficit Disorder. But otherwise I found this version longer and more lumbering that I was expecting.
BUY TICKETS TO MARY POPPINS

Next to Normal
Booth Theater (222 West 45th Street)
Opened: April 15, 2009
Twitter: @n2nbroadway
Update: Next to Normal is set to close on Broadway on January 16, 2011
A musical about a family struggling to deal with the mother’s mental illness is the least likely of hits, and among the most innovative.
Here is the beginning of what I wrote about the show, What Is Normal For Human Beings/Musicals?
I brought a friend who has spent time in a psychiatric hospital to see “Next To Normal,” and was startled at intermission when he reacted exactly the way that Allen Ginsberg had when I brought the poet to see “Rent.” Full article
BUY TICKETS TO NEXT TO NORMAL

The Phantom of the Opera
Majestic Theater (247 West 44th Street)
Opened: January 26, 1988
Twitter: @TheOperaGhosts
The Phantom of the Opera, based on a 1911 French novel by Gaston Leroux, is about a disfigured genius named Erik who lives in the catacombs of the Paris Opera House and falls in love with Christine, an aspiring singer whom he helps…until an old flame of Christine’s named Raoul steps back into the picture.
However, the story in the musical, written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber — with more than its share of 1980′s heavy power ballads — is starting to take second place to the story of the musical, which is the longest-running Broadway musical of all time, and probably the most profitable.
Webber has written a “sequel,” entitled “Love Never Dies,” which was set for Broadway in the 2010-2011 season, but, after scathing reviews in London, will now be delayed.
BUY TICKETS TO PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Rock of Ages
Brooks Atkinson Theater (256 West 47th Street)
Opened: April 7, 2009
Twitter: @RockOfAges
It is 1987 in an L.A. club, and a girl meets a boy — she is new to town, he is shy but has the voice of an aircraft carrier and dreams of being a rock star. Both are smitten by the 1980′s rock songs of big-hair bands like Journey, Bon Jovi, and Poison….which you must be too, in order to appreciate this generally well-reviewed juke-box musical.
BUY TICKETS TO ROCK OF AGES

West Side Story
Palace Theater New York (1564 Broadway)
Opened: March 19, 2009
Twitter: @WestSideStry
This 1957 musical is based on the story of Romeo and Juliet re-told as a love story amid rival youth gangs in the streets of 1950′s New York. The revival is directed by Arthur Laurents, now 92 years old, the original writer of the book, and features songs by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) that are just about the loveliest ever written for the stage. Joel McKneely has re-created the exciting original choreography by Jerome Robbins.
Update: The producers have announced that West Side Story will play its last performances on Sunday, January 2, 2011.
Tony is now played by Matthew Hydzik, newcomer Sarah Amengual will join the cast as Maria as of September 21, 2010 replacing original cast member Josefina Scaglione, who will play her final performance in the role on Sunday, September 19.
BUY TICKETS TO WEST SIDE STORY

Wicked
Gershwin Theater (222 West 51st Street)
Opened: October 30, 2003
Twitter: @WICKED_Musical
The musical tells the story of “The Wizard of Oz” from the witches’ perspective, more specifically from the Wicked Witch of the West, who was not, as a child, wicked at all, but just green-tinted, taunted, and misunderstood. There is so much to like about this musical, the clever twists on the familiar tale, the spectacular set, and music that is a lot more appealing in context (such as the song “Defying Gravity”) that I will forgive the contortions necessary to tack on a happy ending.
Update: The new Elphaba (wicked witch), Mandy Gonzalez (who was the original Nina in “In The Heights”), is splendid.
BUY TICKETS TO WICKED

See also Broadway Season Survivors, the eight Broadway musicals opened during the 2009-2010 Broadway season that survived into the new season. Some may join the list of long-running musicals.

Broadway Fall Preview 2010,a season with stars (Al Pacino), Superheroes (Spider-man) and a theme:Broadway Rehab (eg Pee-Wee Herman)

To follow what’s happening up-to-minute in New York theater, you can join me on Twitter at New York Theater . For (at least) weekly updates, “friend” me on my Facebook page, New York Theater.

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