Damn. I knew, and then temporarily forgot, that "The Nervous Set" was a beatnik / Beat Generation era (inspired) musical, but I failed to pick up on "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" being a direct lift from F. Scott Fitzgerald - who, while not a Beat author, can definitely be considered to be a Beat precursor. Heck, the whole Lost Generation was a direct influence, once you see it.

I love finding these interlocking webs betwixt different eras and movements. (And feel a little silly for not catching it sooner.)

Young stars ready to shine in production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Lichfield Garrick

https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2026/03/29/young-stars-ready-to-shine-in-production-of-chitty-chitty-bang-bang-at-the-lichfield-garrick/

I went to see Guys & Dolls at the theatre yesterday.

I had forgotten what an absolutely brilliant show it is. I haven't felt so thoroughly entertained for a very long time.

Highly recommended if it ever appears at a theatre near you.

#Musicals #MusicalTheatre

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You had no idea you needed this did you?

Trainspotting The Musical
https://trainspottingthemusical.co.uk/

#Trainspotting #IrvineWelsh #Musical #MusicalTheatre #ChooseLife

James Caig on the Threepenny Opera

'on the very night the new song was first performed, in 1928, this most mechanical of instruments broke down. In place of the thin, dark, eerie sound that should have emitted from the contraption of crank, pipes and bellows on the stage, the theatre orchestra stepped in to improvise from the pit. And in those days, in that licentious, decadent Weimar moment, ‘orchestra’ meant jazz band...What should have been murder ballad street-scene to introduce a dark and murderous character called Mackie Messer, was instead backed by the sound of modernism, the mania and rhythmic dazzle of jazz'

#jazz #weimar #berlin #mackieMesser #BertoldBrecht #musicalTheatre #history

https://jamescaig.substack.com/p/the-ballad-of-mackie-messer?r=gvfm&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

I was thinking about the musical Oklahoma!, and wondering whether it was created before or after the dust bowl and subsequent migration described in The Grapes of Wrath.

I looked it up and Steinbeck published GoW in 1939. Oklahoma! hit broadway in 1943, though it takes place in 1906.

That gives the lyrics about starting a new life as a farmer much more resonance to me! Like maybe it’s really all about humanizing the optimistic generation that got hit by the dust bowl!

#musicalTheatre