Current Productions
“Good morning, world! And all who inhabit it!”
-Ethan Slater, “Bikini Bottom Day” from Spongebob Squarepants: the Broadway Musical
A production photo from The Book of Mormon. Photo courtesy of Julieta Cervantes via Arts Institute at Columbia University.
Broadway is always
moving.
The theaters of New York City are just like the city itself — they never sleep. Productions of plays and musicals similarly never cease, especially so when they’re highly successful. Here are a few musicals that are on the Great White Way right now that fit that niche.
Lindiwe Mkhize as Rafiki. Photo courtesy of Brinkoff and Mogenburg via The Guardian.
The Lion King
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi
Based on the 1994 Disney movie of the same name, The Lion King has been playing on Broadway for almost 30 years, making it one of the longest running shows on Broadway, only eclipsed by two shows I’ll dive into in other sections. Songs from the original movie were featured in the stage musical, but Elton John was not alone this time around, as new songs such as “Grasslands Chant”, “One by One”, and “Shadowlands” were written by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Tsidii Le Loka, and Hans Zimmer.
Since its debut on the 13th of November, 1997, The Lion King has had 11,058 performances and has grossed well over $2 billion, making it the highest grossing Broadway show.
Before Broadway, however, The Lion King found its opening in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Julie Taymor, director and designer of the show, alongside her cast and crew put the entire show together in ten weeks, and on opening night, the audience was “on their feet screaming,” she told the Guardian, “You couldn’t hear the song!” In November of 2022, The Lion King celebrated its 25th anniversary
The Lion King still has shows weekly. Since 2006, it has been performing at the Minskoff Theatre.
The cast of The Lion King performing “The Circle of Life” during the 2018 Dutch Musical Awards Gala.
The Book of Mormon
Music, Lyrics, and Book by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the co-creators of the animated TV show South Park had drinks with Robert Lopez, the composer behind the musical Avenue Q, after a performance in the summer of 2003. It was soon revealed that all three of the men wanted to write something pertaining to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One thing led to another, and now, The Book of Mormon is one of the largest musicals on Broadway today with $865.8 million in gross revenue and over five thousand performances since 24 March, 2011.
From left to right: Casey Nicholaw, choreographer and co-director; Matt Stone; Trey Parker; Robert Lopez. Photo courtesy of Danielle Levitt via The Hollywood Reporter.
“I Believe” from The Book of Mormon, as performed by Andrew Rannells during the 65th Tony Awards.
It wasn’t the first time Parker and Stone had thought about a fantastical version of Joseph Smith and Mormonism. They had worked on a series for Fox TV, now since aborted and left on the cutting room floor, on historical figures. Growing up in the foothills of Colorado, both also had their fair share of personal experiences with Mormonism. But writing a story focused on Joseph Smith wasn’t sitting well with any of them. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “‘Within a few days, we were like, “Nah!”’ Parker says. ‘We pretty quickly got to a modern story.’”
The writing process was not without its struggles, however, as all three men were busy with their own endeavors. In 2006, while Lopez was working on the West End production of Avenue Q in London, Parker and Stone flew out to work on ideas. This hopping back and forth to work on little snippets continued until workshopping began. The result was worth it, as Book of Mormon is one of the most successful shows on Broadway today, continuing to perform at the Eugene O’Neill Theater.
Lillias White and the cast of Hadestown performing “Way Down Hadestown” via Playbill.
The show opens with a solo trombone motif which becomes easily recognizable, even if you’ve only listened to the song once. Noodling away in a very blues-y B-flat minor pentatonic scale, it sets itself up as the glue that sticks together the juxtaposition between the bright and jaunty melody with Hermes’s lyrics, some of which are as follows:
See, someone’s gotta tell the tale
Whether or not it turns out well
Maybe it’ll turn out this time
On the road to Hell
On the railroad line
It’s a sad song (It’s a sad song!)
The idea for Hadestown did not start with “Road to Hell” though. In an interview with Hanover Theatre & Conservatory, Anaïs Mitchell said that in the beginning of her singer-songwriter career, the melody for “Wait for Me” — Orpheus’s promise to Eurydice that he will save her from the Underworld — quote, “dropped out of the sky.” Alongside it were lyrics that “seemed to describe the Orpheus & Eurydice myth, which had been a favorite of mine as a kid.” The show, which is running at the Walter Kerr Theater, has had over two thousand performances and won eight out of fourteen nominations at the 73rd Tony Awards.
Hadestown
Music, Lyrics, and Book by Anaïs Mitchell
So the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice goes that in order for Orpheus to bring back Eurydice to Earth, he must take the long way home, with Eurydice behind him, cursed to not look back to make sure she’s still with him lest he lose her forever. This is the Greek mythos that builds the foundation of Hadestown, written and composed entirely by Anaïs Mitchell. It’s the newest musical on these lists, only making its debut in April of 2019, and yet it has grossed almost a quarter of a billion dollars so far.
Above: The “Road to Hell” motif, as played by the solo trombonist. Below: Eurydice surrounded by the Fates, Hermes in the background. Photo courtesy of hadestown.com/photos.
