NEW YORK | so, one day I was walking down a street in the Theater District and on a building saw a series of posters advertising a musical that doesn’t yet exist — “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.”
We’re long past the point where any piece of intellectual property — movie, play, novel, comic book — might be considered unsuitable or unfeasible for the Broadway stage. but the authorship of this show that may one day be seen is worth noting: Bono and the Edge of the rock band U2.
And that, of course, leads to a mean-spirited joke about where aging or just plain old rockers go — not to die, necessarily, but to settle for a sort of remunerative twilight purgatory: on Broadway.
Look around. There’s “Billy Elliot,” the hit show based on the hit movie with music by Elton John.
And then there’s “Rock of Ages,” an “arena-rock love story” with hits by Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Whitesnake and other relics of the ’80s. and there’s the Tony-nominated “Memphis,” an evocation of early rock ‘n’ roll with songs by David Bryan of Bon Jovi.
Two other current Broadway musicals — “American Idiot” and “Fela!” — provide a kind of study in contrasts in how contemporary sounds are being deployed, for better or worse, to lure wider audiences to the theater scene.
“American Idiot” is based on the concept album by Green Day, the punky trio from Berkeley, Calif. As if to prove the point that alienated youth never loses its commercial potential, the show (like the album) purports to document 20-something angst in the George W. Bush years.
and the show (like the album) has been credited with profundity that just isn’t there.
The reality is this: To anyone who has cracked open a history book to read about real disaffection and real conflict from any era — the 1960s, for example — Green Day’s vague complaints about American society seem tepid and unoriginal.
Green Day isn’t so far along in years as to be accused of coasting, but you have to wonder: if there really is a punk-rock ethic, isn’t selling out to Broadway the ultimate artistic betrayal? at the very least, you have to question the absurd contrast inherent in rich rock stars contributing to a Broadway hit by writing about young people turned off by materialism and media culture.
But leaving questions of artistic bankruptcy aside, this undertaking illustrates the difficulty of transposing pre-existing material to the stage in an effort to create a satisfying musical. the creators of “Mamma Mia!” stitched together a bunch of ABBA songs and created what is basically an enjoyable, mindless romp.
But “American Idiot” is so insistently “meaningful” that its creators set the bar much higher. Director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening,” another rock-driven musical) and his creative team give it their best shot. An on-stage band, augmented by three string players, performs the music, and the sound is appropriately big, jangly and occasionally deafening.
The scenic design creates a playing area of newspaper-covered walls dotted with video screens, a few pieces of real furniture and a tall platform ladder on wheels that can be repositioned as needed. the loose-jointed choreography is designed to not look too slick.
The central character is Johnny, one of a trio of friends who are pulled apart by the times. Johnny decides to flee the suburbs, but will has to stay behind after he gets his girlfriend pregnant. and although Tunny sticks with Johnny for a while, he eventually joins the Army and fights in Iraq.
In the city, Johnny becomes a junkie with the assistance of the malevolent St. Jimmy, an emaciated goth, but manages to kick the habit because he loves a dark beauty known only as Whatsername. Eventually, the friends are reunited, divisions healed and the show ends on a triumphant note.
No, it’s not the most complicated narrative, but the fast-moving 90-minute performance doesn’t allow you much time to think. that comes later, when you can reflect on the shallowness of the enterprise.
Here’s what can be said: Green Day knows how to write good rock tunes. this is one cast recording I wouldn’t mind having, although it might take awhile to get this show’s unrelenting air of self-importance out of my head.
Director/choreographer bill T. Jones has better luck in adapting the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the Nigerian inventor of Afrobeat, to the Broadway stage.
If 25 years ago, when I was listening to Fela’s elongated, funky, jam-based protest tunes on LPs, someone had told me that one day he would be the subject of a Broadway musical, my response would have been unprintable, followed by the suggestion that the speaker needed to consult a therapist.
Fela was a defiant music star who repeatedly challenged the repressive Nigerian government in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. “Fela!” is an attempt by Jones and his collaborators to make the musician understandable and palatable to American audiences.
That’s something of a tall order, which explains why Act 1 plays a bit like a catalog of his travels and musical influences (” … and then I … “). Act 2 acquires a more somber tone as we learn about the government’s raid on his commune, the death of his mother after soldiers threw her from a second-story window and their torture and humiliation of his wives.
Just the bare-bones narrative of Fela’s life makes clear that he had something real to rebel against. He didn’t back down. He continued recording, using his music as a weapon against corrupt authorities and getting it to an international audience.
A live band on stage performs uncanny replications of Fela’s mesmerizing, groove-based sound, mixing repetitive guitar-and-bass riffs with pulsating percussion and raw solos on the electric piano and horns. When actor Sahr Ngaujah, a riveting presence on stage, sings Fela’s words, you could close your eyes and believe you were hearing the real thing.
Jones, an award-winning choreographer, has also filled the stage with the sexiest collection of male and female dancers I’ve ever seen in one place. Fela wouldn’t pass an American feminist litmus test by a long shot — at one time, he had 27 wives — but the show also suggests that he revered women and respected their power. “Fela!” also depicts him as worshipping his mother, a political activist in her own right, as a near-deity.
But the women in this dance troupe bring a collective aura to the stage unlike anything I’ve seen. Jones and his designers have tried to convert the entire theater into a performance space, immersing the audience in sound and color through the use of video projections and extraordinary costuming. Dancers often perform on elevated platforms and frequently descend to the aisles.
Ultimately, this version of Fela’s story is vaguely unsatisfying. He was a complicated man and not easy to understand, and this show barely scratches the surface. but it introduces his music in all its elemental power to a massive new audience and does so without cheapening it.
That’s a rare accomplishment in the theater.
ON THE WEB Read Robert Trussell’s reviews of these and other current Broadway shows at KansasCity.com/entertainment.
To reach Robert Trussell, call 816-234-4765 or send e-mail to rtrussell @kcstar.com.