Will 'Spam' spoil sans love?
Tuner quests for holy grail of B.O. longevity on B'way, beyond
The opening of "Monty Python's Spamalot" March 17 with its $18 million advance seemed like an echo of 2001 when "The Producers" roared into town to similarly hefty numbers. Conventional logic dictates that a monster Broadway hit translates into a robust road vehicle that will clean up not only in Gotham but across the country.
But four years down the track, "The Producers" has been dwarfed on the road by three touring companies of "Mamma Mia!," while its current New York box office looks pallid next to the $30 million advance for "Wicked."
That show this month also kicked off what looks to be a top-grossing road production with its first stop in Toronto, where "Mamma Mia!" will have made $200 million and lasted 2,044 perfs when it closes May 22. "The Producers," on the other hand, opened December 2003 in Toronto, was tepidly reviewed and never caught on.
So will "Spamalot" meet a similar fate in its quest for the holy grail of box office longevity on Broadway and beyond? The show's emphasis on the comedy rather than the romance may play a part in its eventual outcome.
For many audiences, the boy-meets-girl factor or, at the very least, some kind of infectious emotional bonding between the characters is a vital part of a musical and what makes a long-legged success.
"Mamma Mia!" tells the story of a wedding, two witches vie for the same Prince Charming in "Wicked," the chubby girl gets the gorgeous guy in "Hairspray." Even the snarky "Producers" includes something of a love story.
"Leo Bloom falling in love with Ulla gives the show an arc that wasn't there in the movie, and makes you care," says book co-writer Thomas Meehan. "Unlike a movie, you need the moment in a musical where you care about the people getting together."
While "Spamalot" doesn't stint on laughs, the show replicates the sketch-based feel of the original movie, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Blink and you'll miss Arthur proposing to Guinevere, who spends most of her stage time as the Lady of the Lake, more intent on being a diva than a queen. And earlier in the show, when the Lady and Sir Galahad warble "The Song That Goes Like This," the comic lovers make Leo and Ulla look like Tristan and Isolde. Even Arthur's knights coast through their individual spotlight turns without forging any significant friendship between them.
"The most subversive thing about the Pythons is that they laugh at feeling," offers "Spamalot" director Mike Nichols. "Think about it: They never do feeling. They never, ever say anything sentimental."
For the moment, Broadway is more than ready to embrace its first big unsentimental hit musical. But down the road, literally, how will the mocking tone and Broadway insider jokes of "Spamalot" be playing, especially in cities and towns across Middle America?
Many librettists see the construction of that romantic element as crucial when adapting another vehicle as a stage musical.To translate the movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" to the stage, book writer Jeffrey Lane created the romantic subplot of the heiress Muriel falling in love with manservant Andre. However, like the screenplay, Lane's book short-circuits the romance between the show's femme lead, soap queen Christine, and con artist Freddy.
"In the 'Scoundrels' movie, that works," says one producer not associated with the show. "But in a musical, you invest more in the characters and need to see them together at the end. Otherwise, it's a let-down."
For his part, Lane strongly rejects any thought of an alternative, romantic ending, calling it "a romance between all three" characters.
Brides x 3
While "Spamalot" and "Scoundrels" continue to duke it out for the most irreverent musical award, the unabashedly sentimental "All Shook Up" has received much less media attention. Based on the love songs of Elvis Presley, the tuner opens with the femme star, Jenn Gambatese, being thrown a bride's bouquet. Two hours later, it ends with not one but three weddings.
"I can't think of a successful musical that doesn't have a strong love story," says "Shook" director Christopher Ashley.
"You need to care about the characters, and to do that you need characters who care about each other," says book writer Joe DiPietro.
Only time will tell how "All Shook Up" compares to "Spamalot" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" in the final B.O. tally. But who ever thought the moonstruck "Mamma Mia!" and "Wicked" would be outgrossing the nose-thumbing "Producers"?
"It's so absurd to break into song. It only makes sense if you're in love," says Ashley. "Otherwise, you're singing ditties."
