Musical comedy, pastiche and the challenge of ‘rewriting’

Abstract

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and The Producers (2001) are highly self-reflective and intertextually composed musical comedies – the former for film, the latter for stage – in terms of content, musical dramaturgy, performance, concept and musical style. As with many musical comedies, these works refer to the genre’s history and style in obvious, elaborate and sometimes alienating ways, including reworkings of former hit songs (‘Make ’Em Laugh’ in Singin’ in the Rain) or complex pastiches (The Producers). This chapter challenges the emphatic concept of a musical theatre ‘work’ and its claims of originality, authenticity and aesthetics of organic creation while demonstrating the possibilities (and limits) of intertextual aesthetics in the study of musical theatre, especially musical comedy, but also in musicals, including concept musicals, that evoke images of the past such as Cabaret, Follies, and Chicago.