Why Altar Boyz Is A Great Musical

Last week I had the pleasure of revisiting one of my favorite musicals of the past decade at the Bristol Riverside Theatre: Altar Boyz. This production is special, in that the original choreographer, Christopher Gattelli, and one of the composers, Gary Adler, were the Director/Choreographer and Musical Director respectively. Both natives of Bristol, PA, it is such a pleasure to see two very successful professionals go back to their roots and give their community a fantastic evening of musical theatre.

Altar Boyz has played to packed houses at New World Stages for over four years. A product of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the musical has also been seen in various productions from Chicago to Korea to Australia. Why has this musical been so successful? Here are some of my reasons:

1. The piece is performed in a non-musical theatre context. The authors frame the evening as a concert, with the Altar Boyz attempting to cleanse the audience’s souls over the next 90 minutes. The concert frame gives the audience a different expectation than coming to your standard book musical. In this day and age, people like a more intimate and personal theatrical experience. Altar Boyz’s success is with how the creators blur the line between musical and concert.

2. The content of the musical celebrates a trend (boy bands) that is far away enough from the public eye that people can enjoy the story and music they are telling in a more personal way. Boy bands combined with Christianity brings a large and different demographic to the musical.

3. Although songs are the featured moments in the show, the authors understand that the book of the musical is the key to bringing the piece together. Each book scene does a great job at giving us vital information or sets us up for the next musical moment.

4. The musical has an intimate and inherently theatrical feel. The piece’s success hinges on its relationship to the audience. It’s a piece that would not be the same on film. It needs that performer to audience relationship, thus making attending the show in a theater a necessity.

I look forward to seeing how future audiences respond to Altar Boyz. Do I think Altar Boyz is the next Fantasticks? Probably not. Either way, Altar Boyz is bringing people Off-Broadway and giving them a reason to see what else is playing besides the fare on the Great White Way. Congrats on four years and I hope to be writing about the show for years to come!