The Broadway musical is going nowhere

My beef on Broadway musicals lately is how many of them are revivals. I have nothing against these revivals per se, and in fact, I like the idea that one can see top-rate performances of the classics on the stages where they were born, and that they're not all relegated to the annual show at the local high schools. But after a while, one does long for something new. And more, one longs for something different. You begin to believe that Broadway musicals are in a rut, and the new ones that come along, even the really good ones, aren't much different than the ones that came before. The reason, of course, is commerce. Broadway musicals are expensive to produce, and enough of them are flops already, so if you're investing your money, you want to see some return on investment. An experimental Broadway musical is pretty much an oxymoron.

Which would be fine, if there were other venues for experimentation. But as Ryan Bogner writes in Bound By Broadway: The State of the American Musical, Broadway isn't the place for it, and there are virtually no other places:

There are artists out there who are passionate about the form with varying ideas, who want to create work that is envelope-pushing, different, and meaningful, but who need institutions that want to nurture new voices in musical theater. In order for the full potential of the American musical to be reached, we will need institutions that will give these artists the chance to grow in an environment free from the pressures of commercial Broadway entertainment and expectations of financial success.

Where are those institutions? If you love the musical, you should read this article.