The Golden Age of Musical Theatre

Theatrical agent Les Solomon pines for large scale commercial revivals of musicals from the 1940s to the 1980s.

I enjoyed seeing a rather magical production of La Cage Aux Folles, the wonderfully rich gay themed Jerry Herman musical that won the Tony Award back in 1984, which is returning this week at the State Theatre in Sydney.

Strangely, the musical version of the story has never been made into a movie. It was made as a French film, then the musical, then adapted as a non-musical with the name The Birdcage, but never a musical movie, which it cries out to become.

The production was the first professional outing in Sydney of the show since the reproduction of the original Broadway production back in 1985 starring Keith Michell, Jon Ewing and Gerry Sont.

Even against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis in the mid-eighties, it was a huge commercial hit. The show was revived briefly in Melbourne by the Production Company, starring Simon Burke and Todd McKenney, about ten years ago.

The lovely little production I saw in Sydney at the Concourse Theatre in Chatswood ran for only six performances.

The fact it was produced at all says much about the good faith of producer David Hawkins. It did, however, get me thinking of all the Broadway musicals we don’t see revived in a large commercial way in Australia.

La Cage was at the tail end of what could be called the Golden Age of the Broadway Musical, which started around the time Oklahoma! opened in 1943 and ended in the late 80s, when a new breed of more pop musicals and (God help us) the often-dreaded jukebox musicals seemed to take the stage - some good, many awful.

It also got me thinking as to why we don’t see so many musicals from that great era revived. Once we go past Grease, Annie and The Sound of Music, we see very little of the great shows.

Jerry Herman’s shows have been particularly neglected – Hello, Dolly! and Mame would be great for some of our major female music theatre stars and even some of his lesser-known shows such as The Grand Tour and Dear World would work well in small productions.

When musicals of this ilk do arrive, it is usually as a result of a hit revival in London or New York, or both. So, these come with a team of the creatives of that particular production. As a result, what we get is a carbon copy of that revival. It seems it is only when an older musical becomes a hit overseas that local producers feel they have the faith to restage it here.

This is a shame, as we have some incredible creative talents in this country, many of whom take older musicals and give them remarkable new productions in very small theatres. The Hayes has become renowned for these rebirthed musicals - shows like Gypsy, Sweet Charity, Jekyll and Hyde and Merrily We Roll Along, all of which have a highly stylised and smartly revisionist rebirth, bringing older shows up to date in style and content.

Yet rarely, if ever, do we see a new production of a Golden Age musical get a full-scale commercial rendering in any of our big theatres. If we do get old shows in this forum, they look much as they have always looked. The thinking behind them is that they are safe and give a particular type of audience the safety of a tried-and-true product.

Images of La cge aux Folles (above) by John McRae.

How wonderful it would be to see Opera Australia bring in a smart new Australian team and revive Carousel, with some new thinking to bring the show into our world of today.

Sometimes these shows can be dated (Carousel features one line which upsets people, which can easily be dropped). When we had South Pacific a few years ago it was a blow-by-blow reproduction of the recent Broadway revival of the time.

I can think of a whole basket of great musicals that could do with a fresh coat of all Australian creative “paint” - such as the Jerry Herman shows mentioned, also Gypsy, Oklahoma, The Most Happy Fella (great for OA audiences with an opera star in the lead), Guys and Dolls, Follies, and Sunday in the Park with George.

It must be noted here how great it is to see Belvoir and the Hayes revive a new (not the recent Broadway revival copy) of Into the Woods—but only at Belvoir St, again a small audience and only for Sydney - at least for the moment.

Of course there are some musicals that are really almost unrevivable - The King and I (inherent racism), Kiss Me, Kate (sexism), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (a leering dated sexuality), but for each of these there are many more including La Cage. This new production proved the show is as fresh as a daisy, its politics is warm, loving and inclusive, and Michael Cormack and Paul Caspis are two leads who could easily put bums on seats, without needing gimmick casting in supporting roles.

As La Cage says - “The Best of Times is Now” - and of course, there are also some new fresh musicals which have a certain solid style that is in keeping with the Golden Age - Some Like it Hot, the new version now on Broadway, and New York, New York (if it’s as good as the current trailer for it) - are new shows but with more than a nod to the golden days. Who knows, we may see these here in the not-too-distant future.

But it’s giving local creatives a chance to direct a classic in a grand scale I would like to see – we wait and we wait!

Speaking of the Golden Age of musical theatre, I was very sad to see the passing (just short of 99 years) of Carole Cook. I wonder how many people remember she was the original Australian Dolly in Hello, Dolly! In the fifties and sixties, Australia had all sorts of second-rate ensemble people who were dragged out here as Broadway "stars" to play leads in Australian versions of Broadway hits, but Carole was the real deal when she played Dolly.

As a stagestruck teenager, I took my mother and we ended up going back several times because she wanted to take cookies to Carole. Carole went on to an illustrious career including a lead in the original Broadway company of 42nd Street. I have seen many "Dollies", including an ageing Carol Channing, and a somewhat miscast Bette Midler, but Carole was the one who really "got" Dolly right.

One of the musical highlights for me in 2023 was on a screen.

I was thrilled to finally see the movie version of Matilda. After sitting and watching it again, I am convinced it’s the best movie musical in years. Ignored by the film crits awards so far, in much the same way as The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life were ignored when first released, it’s way ahead of its time in its psychotic, psychedelic style.

I hope Netflix has the foresight to release it on DVD to help preserve it for generations to come. Pleased its only playing in cinemas in the UK till mid-year, it really is too good to be rushed onto streaming. It makes more sense of the original story than the stage show ever could; it is really a 'movie', not a film of a stage show. A masterwork for the ages. It’s a shame so many of the movie awards are dictated by how much publicity is thrown at the product beforehand. Netflix failed in that regard. I think Netflix was too busy promoting the less interesting Glass Onion. Matilda is my favourite movie of the year so far by a mile.