Happy Endings

After a week hiatus (here's hoping Finals Week went well for everyone), we're back, and will be posting frequently until rehearsal starts (three weeks away!). Hopefully, the school year ended (or is ending) happily for everyone.

Let us now segue from that sentiment to a broader discussion of happy endings, at least those that have typically been found in the traditional Broadway musical.  After World War II, the defining characteristic of the musicals penned in that Golden Era was unfettered optimism. Mirroring the general mood of the populace at the time, the Broadway musical affirmed what everyone already knew to be true; specifically, that

1.  Love is the answer, and

2.  Be true to yourself, and everything will work out fine.

I think that it is strongly arguable that virtually every single Broadway musical written in the middle decades of the 20th century was based upon either one, or both, of these maxims.  Just consider the playlist of these popular Broadway show tunes:

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!, Oklahoma, 1943

Happy Talk, South Pacific, 1949

A Cockeyed Optimist, South Pacific, 1949

I Whistle a Happy Tune, The King & I, 1956

Everything's Comin' Up Roses, Gypsy, 1957

Put On a Happy Face, Bye Bye Birdie, 1960

Of course, in reality, the two happy maxims noted above are frequently found to be wanting. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce, so love is apparently not always the answer, and being true to yourself often gets you in a lot of hot water (think Edward Snowden).  Starting in the mid- to late-sixties, the general mood of the country turned sour, and Broadway started to embrace some darker themes, especially through the 1970s.

The crown prince of the depressing Broadway musical is surely Stephen Sondheim, whose amazing ability to craft complex and intricate lyrics and musical compositions will have to be discussed another time. Here, we'll focus on Sondheim's willingness to buck the trend, and deny the audience the happy ending they are hoping for:

Company, 1970:  You may never find a soulmate or experience true love.

Follies, 1971:  You may die old and alone, after living a lifetime of regret.

Sweeney Todd, 1979:  Everyone you love may be taken from you, and made into meat pies.

Sondheim went on to fashion what many people think is one of his defining works, Into the Woods, 1987, a musical which expressly sets out to dispel the myth of the fairly tale ending. Into the Woods features our favorite fairly tale characters being taught a series of true life lessons through songs titled, Agony, I Guess This is Goodbye, Witch's Lament, Your Fault, and No More.  This last song shows us a humble baker whose hopes and dreams have all been crushed by the reality of the world.  He begs the universe to free him of its endless torments, his own version of "crossing the river":

No more riddles, please.
No more jests.
No more curses you can't undo,
Left by fathers you never knew.
No more quests -

No more feeling -
Time to shut the door.
Just....no more.

Urinetown is almost the defining example of the post-modern Broadway musical.  Not only is Urinetown post-Vietnam, post-Watergate, and post-Gulf War, it also is quite literally the first musical to open on Broadway post-9/11.  It echos the social despair of the Sondheim musical, but without any of the thoughtful retrospection; instead, Urinetown beats us over the head and makes fun of us for being stupid enough to believe in true love in the first place.

We don't even make it to Intermission before one of our lovers kidnaps the other one for political leverage.  Our hero dies a brutal death alone, and without any sort of self-sacrifice that provides any benefit for those he leaves behind.  His former love interest takes up the mantle of bloody vengeance, with the intent of murdering her own father, and the entire cast suffers a crippling and fatal drought at the end of the show.  It almost makes Curly's admiration of corn as high as an elephant's eye seem trite by comparison.