The Children of Broadway

As little as fifteen years ago, Times Square and Broadway was entrenched in filth and corruption that only New York City could produce.

Today, these areas serve as a commercialized beacon of prosperity for all who come to visit.

Nothing demonstrates this shift from shady to squeaky clean than the rencent shift in content of shows on Broadway.

The Great White Way has always been the most commercialized form of theatre that money can but, but these days, it seems as if Broadway shows have begun to stoop lower and lower to attract the largest audience base with the least amount of thought.

While the controversial and explicit theatrical experience is by no means obsolete, the theatre industry seems to have discovered where the money is: suburban moms and their frolicking children.

Perhaps beginning with "The Lion King" and other Disney musicals, such as "Beauty and the Beast," the Disney-fication of began.

"Wicked" shortly followed after, as well as Mary Poppins, followed by "The Little Mermaid."

The most recent examples of blatant adaptation for mass participation are "Spiderman: The Musical" and "Shrek: The Musical."

Broadway's recent trend toward "kid-friendlyness" is not what upsets me. It is the lack of creativity with which producers are developing shows.

If Broadway wants to get out of the rather circuitous slump of lame adaptations, she need to start putting out fresh material that resonates with the times.