These days if a musical is not based on a movie more likely than not it is of the jukebox variety and this can be a bit of a mixed blessing. This was always the case with shows like Aint Misbehavin’ being critical and commercial big hits back in the 70s. However, the genre got a big bolt of energy in 1999 with a little hit called Mamma Mia and then in 2005 with the Tony Award winning hit Jersey Boys. Since then countless shows have been trying to imitate both of these shows to varying degrees of success. 

Of course both Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia represent the two paths a production can take in using a performers songs. They can do the biographical approach like Jersey Boys or they can craft a story around the songs like in Mamma Mia. I’m inclined to think I prefer the latter approach because it leads to more originality but they can both be done for good or ill. 

I was thinking about this because I recently saw 2 jukebox musicals that try both approaches to varying successes: American Idiot and MJ: The Musical. While I thought both shows were passably entertaining they also presented the problems the genre can have. 

American Idiot takes the songs of Green Day’s American Idiot album and tries to weave a story through the songs. It purports to be about 3 disaffected young men in the early 2000s but I found the narrative to be confusing and I had little idea what was happening between the various songs. Granted I saw it in a tiny black box so that may have factored into it but the attempt to string together the songs into a plot was not very successful. 

Then we have MJ: The Musical and this takes the more traditional biographical approach telling the story of Michael Jackson’s career through his big Dangerous World Tour and looking back at his childhood. Honestly given Michael’s controversial life-story this is about the safest, most crowd-pleasing way they could have gone for this musical. I might have considered the narrative approach for Michael Jackson’s songs since a surface level look at his music feels inconsequential but they are also trying to sell tickets so it can only be so dark. 

The most impressive part of MJ: The Musical is how many songs they pack into the book with 3 different actors playing Michael at different ages. If you are a fan of Michael’s songs you’ll have a blast hearing his songs performed and seeing the amazing dancing. However, this approach lacks creativity and anything fresh or exciting and at 2 and ½ hours it starts to feel more than a little tedious. 

What I wish is that more productions would take the approach of Million Dollar Quartet in crafting their jukebox musical. This show recreates the impromptu jam session between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in 1956. What makes this show fresh and exciting is you get music from not just one artists catalog but 4 and you get to imagine what it would be like for all 4 to interact together. It makes it feel like more than just a karaoke session and since it’s about just one night it avoids most of the cliches of the ‘rise to fame’ musical biography. 

Another underrated take on the narrative jukebox musical is All Shook Up. Which takes the songs of Elvis and applies them to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This gives the musical a narrative structure which something like American Idiot is missing while still giving us the songs we know and love. It ends up being a lot of fun. I know it got poor reviews from critics but I also enjoyed Head Over Heels. It took the music of The-Go-Gos and moves it to the 16th century and the plot of The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia. This was something new and inventive I’d never seen before. 

I do think if I was forced to pick between the two styles of jukebox musicals I would lean to the storytelling variety over the biographical version. At least this style of musicals allows for fresh and new storytelling where the tough life of musicians and bands tend to follow the same basic patterns. If you’ve ever seen the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story they poke fun at these tropes in the stories of bands and musicians. It’s the same in the stage versions. That’s why something like Million Dollar Quartet at least subverts the formula a little bit. Or perhaps like Walk Hard a musical could tell a musician’s story but also poke fun at the familiar tropes? That could be delightful. 

I suppose we all have our favorite jukebox musicals but hopefully as they continue to get made we can get some variety in their production and better quality in how they bring our favorite songs to the stage. 

What do you think of jukebox musicals? What are some of your favorites and do you prefer the biopic variety or the story types?

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