The Might of Musicals
‘The Suicide Musicals’: Combating the Stigma of Mental Illness
In a country where suicide is the tenth leading cause of death overall, where a suicide attempt is made approximately every 28 seconds, and where only 10 states mandate that healthcare professionals complete suicide prevention training, mental illness is a pressing concern. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most stigmatized. Though research on the topic is sparse, a 2007 survey demonstrates the pervasiveness of suicide’s stigma, expressions of which range from avoidance and unhelpful advice to the active blaming of victims or their families.
Professionally recommended methods of combating the stigma include talking openly about mental health and humanizing those afflicted by mental illnesses. Music has long been a favored medium for encouraging the abandonment of prejudices. So it is no surprise that artists have turned to musical theater as a forum for shedding light on these topics.
Oversimplified Bigotry in ‘Kinky Boots’ Musical
The Tony-winning musical “Kinky Boots,” currently running on Broadway, has received both critical and popular acclaim as a progressive show that promotes the acceptance of gender-nonconforming characters. However, the musical only engages with bigotry on a superficial level and fails to address the main character’s ingrained prejudices in a meaningful way.
The story centers around a cisgender man, Charlie Price, who forms a business partnership with Lola the drag queen in a last-ditch attempt to save his family’s shoe factory. Together, Charlie and Lola manufacture a line of boots which combines the flashy designs typically marketed to cisgender women with heels strong enough to support the build of transgender women.
Lack of Female Agency in the “Mean Girls” Musical
I wanted to love Broadway’s “Mean Girls.” As a fan of the 2004 movie, I could see how it could translate perfectly to the stage. I was ready to put the soundtrack on loop and bask in the glow of a well-written celebration of women.
Instead, the musical not only contains major structural issues but delivers a core message that is uncomfortably muddled by a seemingly minor change: the cause of Cady’s moral epiphany. Despite its enjoyable music and quippy lyrics, the “Mean Girls” musical ultimately fails to deliver a strong message of female empowerment.
A Refreshing Lack of Romance
I was just as shocked as the next person to learn that “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” exists — not as a college student-written, “A Very Potter Musical”-esque parody, but as a genuine professional, off-Broadway show, set for national tour in 2019. But I was even more surprised when I discovered that the musical is actually good. Really good.
It is not just the energetic score, clever lyrics, and talented cast that makes this show so enjoyable. It is the all-too-rare lack of a romance at its core. Based on the first book in Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, which follows the paths of modern Greek demigods, the musical is remarkably faithful to the novel. In the book, the main characters are 12 years old, and unlike the writers of the widely panned Percy Jackson movies, the creators of the musical didn’t choose the pandering, lazy tactic of making the leads five years older and including a romance. Instead, the serious abandonment issues of the characters — most of whom have never met their godly parent, let alone been raised by them — are given the spotlight, alongside themes of forgiveness, morality, and what it means to be a family.