Johnny Marr has called for an end to jukebox musicals.
Johnny Marr wants to put an end to jukebox musicals
The 60-year-old singer does not care for the concept of basing a story around the back catalogue of a particular artist or band and wondered what the multi-Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep and her co-star Julie Walters were thinking when they agreed to star in the 2008 film ‘Mamma Mia!’, which was based on the 1999 stage musical featuring the songs of ABBA.
He told The Times: “I don’t tend to like s******* on people, but ‘Mamma Mia!’, for God’s sake, or ‘We Will Rock You’ or any of those sorts of musicals. How did it get to that? We’re supposed to go along with the idea that they’re good. What was Meryl Streep thinking she was doing starring in that film, and Julie Walters? What were they thinking? There are a lot of things culturally that we’ve just gone along with and they really must stop.”
In recent years, various jukebox musicals have been produced to varying degrees of success, including the likes of ‘Once Upon a One More Time’, which was based on the work of Britney Spears and closed after just three months on Broadway whilst ‘Tina’ – which follows the life and times of late rock and roll superstar Tina Turner – has been produced around the world since opening in London’s West End in 2018,
Despite not being a fan of musicals like ‘Mamma Mia!’ or ‘We Will Rock You’ – which is based on the music of rock band Queen – the former Smiths star is often cheered up by “any good pop music”, which is often tracks that are modern and in the charts.
Asked what cheers him up, he said: “Any good pop music, which by definition usually means contemporary. There are things from my past that of course make me feel good. But there’s something about hearing music that’s fresh, upbeat and represents the modern world — it makes you feel that everything is OK.
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