Big Producer Bucks are Gone with The Wind
I have nothing against musicals, I’m actually a big fan of several of them. I don’t know enough about the stage to pick a sure fire hit but sure fire misses seem easily identifiable.
A Gone with The Wind musical looks like a guaranteed candidate for the Hall of Bad Ideas. Since the musical has opened in London, critics largely agree. The Evening Standard’s Nicholas de Jongh advised that “connoisseurs of big, bad musicals must rush to catch ‘Gone With the Wind’ in case it’s quickly blown away on gales of ridicule.”
Of course many critics played on various facets of Rhett Butler’s infamous “Don’t Give a Damn” line. Compounding the general bad idea vibe here, the task of writing this play fell to Margaret Martin, who hasn’t ever had a play produced professionally. She may not have another if these reviews take hold. She had an impossibly hard task though. Margaret Mitchell’s book was a 1,000 page monstrosity. Martin’s job? Pare that down to three-and-a half hours and add music in the process.
I would love to hear a musical rendition of “I Don’t Know Nothing ‘Bout Birthin’ No Babies” though.
Image by Moncrief Speaks licensed under Creative Commons.
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