On the whole (with a few wondrous exceptions) modern American musical theatre does nothing for me. Most contemporary composers will: a) go for a "retro" feel (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers) that do nothing but play off of our love of older, far superior shows, or b) ludicrously attempt edginess that just comes off as toilet humor (Avenue Q, The Producers), or, worse yet c) regurgitate pop cliches and pass it off as "contemporary" to theatre goers (Hairspray, Wicked [to a lesser degree], Rent [which when seen live is actually very affecting, and very fun, though listening to the soundtrack is neither])

Unless your name is Sondheim, LaChuisa, Ahrens/Flaherty, maybe even Finn, you probably haven't written a good musical in twenty-five years or so. Sorry to break it to you.

But creativity is rarely a factor in gauging the success of a show (I'm looking at you Tony Academy). The Producers, admittedly alot of fun, is pure unadulterated fluff, with swearing. Wicked is more saccharine than anything ("Dancing Through Life" is barf-inducing to me). Both however are guaranteed to run for a long time, and have recieved accolades from every corner of the theatre community. Urinetown gave me hope, but without blockbuster ticket sales, losing "best musical" to Millie was its death knell, and closed relatively shortly.

One day, this musical that is lost in my head somewhere will be realized, and it will be in such demand that it will run in New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, San Francisco, and New Orleans simultaneously. The soundtrack will garner four grammies, and a dozen cast members will be catapulted to superstardom. I will quietly set to work on my next masterpiece.

-Max