A New P.T. Barnum Film Musical Where There Isn't A Sucker Born Every Minute

After a brief hiatus (I guess I consider almost a month brief!), I'm back and ready to write about what's next in the world of musical theatre.

Today I'd like to touch on an article I read a few weeks ago that initially made me very excited, but after some thought, troubled me a bit.

Playbill.com reported that "Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman will play P.T. Barnum in a new movie musical for Twentieth Century Fox...Jennie Bicks ("Sex and the City") will write the script for the film, which will feature a contemporary score. The studio is currently in discussions with singer-songwriter Mika to pen the score."

When I first read the title of the article, "Hugh Jackman to Star in P.T. Barnum Film Musical," I was very excited to hear that Mark Bramble, Michael Stewart and Cy Coleman's musical Barnum was being adapted for the screen. Now that I read that it's going to be a completely new piece with contemporary music, it seems this piece might be heading down a tricky rabbit hole.

There is always a fundamental question when writing a score for the musical stage: what should the aural world of this story sound like? More specifically, if the piece is grounded in a certain time period or setting, does the music need to be faithful to that?

A great example of this great debate are the two adaptations of Joseph Moncure March's poem The Wild Party. When the rights for this property were released into the public domain in the late 1990s, both Michael John LaChiusa and Andrew Lippa jumped at the chance of adapting this poem for the musical stage. LaChiusa's view of the aural world was straight out of the Prohibition era of the poem's setting, while Lippa's score had a contemporary feel, complete with electric guitars. Which one serves the source material better? That's for you to decide.

For my money, I prefer LaChiusa's adaptation. I love when a musical that is grounded in a specified time period uses the sound of that era as an advantage for clear musical storytelling.

Which brings me back to the most important question about the new P.T. Barnum musical: Is the story of a 19th Century American showman like P.T Barnum best served being told through a contemporary score? When Bramble, Stewart and Coleman asked themselves that question in the late 1970s, they decided against telling this story with a contemporary score. The production ended up being nominated for 10 Tony Awards (winning 3).

I don't want to make it sound like I don't believe this new movie musical can be successful. In fact, I'm one of the biggest advocates out there for the creation of new musical films. I just think the studio might want to reexamine the source material and make sure they have the best aural world for their story.

(As a short side note, how great would it be if after the movie premiered, some Broadway producers put together a revival of Barnum starring Hugh Jackman? Seeing him perform "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" would sell like a new High School Musical movie!)