Today on Morning Joe the guest was Alicia Keys promoting her new Broadway show Hell's Kitchen, which has been nominated for 13 Tony Awards. This surprised me since one of the show's featured songs is "This Girl is on Fire", one of the most irritating screams I have ever heard. While they praised her talent, they deigned to show us another song from the show. The singer of this tuneless offering was a very talented young girl, but the song lacked lyrics and melody which were not compensated by the supporting cast of talented but frantic dancers. Frankly I could not understand the raves for this garden-variety musical, and looked up its reviews on the Internet. While there were some praises, most of them were negative with many reviewers commenting that they were bored of walked out. So what's going on? Does that mean this jukebox show is mostly hype, and that Tony-award voters are less than demanding? I feel that Broadway has been going downhill for years. Singing has been replaced by screaming. Dancing has been replaced by hysterical and predictable gyrations. And librettos are lifted from once-popular movies, rock star bios, and themes designed for teens who can't afford the astronomical price for tickets. I'll be curious to see whether Hell's Kitchen is a long-running hit of just another flash in the pan.
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