in a musical theatre, how does musical suit up to the needs of a modern day audience?

Answer 1

It's nostalgia for some and novel for those who have never seen an existing play.

The Music Man, for example, still plays well. So does My Fair Lady. I think something like Pajama Game could make a comeback.

Depends on how good the original story and music was.

Answer 2

Interesting question. I actually find that anything written in the last 20 years with very few exceptions (i.e. Assassins) will not be viable 20 years from now. If you take a look at the amount of revivals of older musicals and how often these things come around I would say that musical theatre is looking for a 'quality control' marker (really for lack of a better phrase). Sweeney Todd being a recent resurrection. If you look at Sweeney Todd there are many shared emotions, experiences and the drama is extreme but not impossible to imagine or put yourself in his place. It's intriguing because we could look at it as simple nostalgia but it's more complicated than that. If you look at the average age of people seeing these revivals, they weren't even born at the time. I think for many of us, it takes us to a more heightened level of our own existence and I believe this applies to all mediums of entertainment.

Answer 3

Ask Disney, they came out with "High School Musical" and it was a big hit. I think the only way to produce a musical today is that you must make it current to our world today. Or if you choose to produce a musical about something in the past it must contain an upbeat story and music.