Captain America musical

[MWGallaher]

~groan~
That Captain America ad has to be the most embarassing picture of any Marvel character ever. It's so bad in every way--awkward drawing, cringe-worthy situation, terrible cliche of Broadway musicals (I'm no Broadway fan, but tap-dancing with top-hats and canes? Didn't that go out with Jolsen?), and worst of all, the ad itself really declares this is a disastrous idea, if it ever should happen--Cap has a little girl as his "special friend"?!--and I was pretty sure even then that it wasn't going to. Oh, and I was also pretty sure that no unknown little girl was going to become the next "Annie" by responding to this ad. Like a lot of those were reading these Marvel comics in the mid-70's, anyway. Nope, this ad just made the teens that ate up Marvel comics in the 70's embarrassed for the heroes they wanted to take seriously.
Very bad mistake.
Still, I'd be interested to learn how far this fiasco made it before it was shelved, and what the ideas for a Captain America musical were, and who the heck was behind it all! Was this, by any chance, 1976, when Bicentennial hype made something like this sound remotely feasible?

[gentlesatirist]

...in the Cap musical. It looks like further proof that Stan Lee, for all his editorial genius, had no idea how to market these characters to a larger audience. None.

He was great at building a community among comic readers - who at the time were mostly males aged 10-20 - but as far as the outside world, zip.


- FE
Wickliffe OH

[Jolly Mon]

~groan~
That Captain America ad has to be the most embarassing picture of any Marvel character ever. It's so bad in every way--awkward drawing, cringe-worthy situation, terrible cliche of Broadway musicals (I'm no Broadway fan, but tap-dancing with top-hats and canes? Didn't that go out with Jolsen?), and worst of all, the ad itself really declares this is a disastrous idea, if it ever should happen--Cap has a little girl as his "special friend"?!--and I was pretty sure even then that it wasn't going to. Oh, and I was also pretty sure that no unknown little girl was going to become the next "Annie" by responding to this ad. Like a lot of those were reading these Marvel comics in the mid-70's, anyway. Nope, this ad just made the teens that ate up Marvel comics in the 70's embarrassed for the heroes they wanted to take seriously.
Very bad mistake.
Still, I'd be interested to learn how far this fiasco made it before it was shelved, and what the ideas for a Captain America musical were, and who the heck was behind it all! Was this, by any chance, 1976, when Bicentennial hype made something like this sound remotely feasible?

By far I found the 10-14 year-old girl to be his "very special friend" to be the most disturbing part.

And while I don't remember what year this came from, I *think* it was later than '76. But being a comics reader in '76 I can tell you, this would have stunk of disaster even then. :eek:

[Jolly Mon]

Being morbidly curious I did a Google search for Captain America Broadway Musical (and various permutations) and this was all I could find (other than people talking about the ad):

ShaRell Productions


Shari Upbin

As a producer Shari is well known as one of the original producers of the hit show One Mo' Time along with Jerry Wexler, head of Atlantic Records and Art D'Lugoff, at the Village Gate in New York. One Mo' Time ran four years at the Gate, was nominated for a Grammy, toured nationally and internationally and recently was on Broadway. Other productions include Bojangles music by Charles Strouse and Sammy Cahn, Captain America with Marvel Comics, How Can Cupid Be So Stupid, adapted from Little Ham by Langston Hughes, music by the legendary Jabbo Smith and Ghost Cafe with Andre DeShields at the Queens Theater in the Park. Recently Shari produced (with Sandi Durell) a major conference at John Jay College, "Vintage the Perception of Ageism in the Arts and Media", with Jane Powell, Valerie Harper, Lainie Kazan, Leslie Gore, Phyllis Newman and a host of well known celebrities exploring this topic in the arts and media.

It kinda scares me that someone claims this on their resume. :confused:

[MDG]

Being morbidly curious I did a Google search for Captain America Broadway Musical (and various permutations) and this was all I could find

I did the same--the only other thing I found was this mention in The Comic Journal's Review of Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book:

By 1982 Lee, firmly rooted in Los Angeles, could boast of dozens of Marvel-related projects in the works -- Broadway shows featuring Captain America and Thor, live-action TV pilots based on Daredevil and the Black Widow, and motion-picture vehicles for characters including Ghost Rider, the Dazzler, Howard the Duck, and the Sub-Mariner.

MDG

[Mike Kuypers]

It's hard to imagine which would be funnier; a stage musical starring Captain America or one starring Thor.

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky... Stormy weatherrrrrr..."

[gentlesatirist]

...successful? Howard the Duck?

Hardly.


- FE

[MWGallaher]

...in the Cap musical. It looks like further proof that Stan Lee, for all his editorial genius, had no idea how to market these characters to a larger audience. None.

He was great at building a community among comic readers - who at the time were mostly males aged 10-20 - but as far as the outside world, zip.


Seems to me that might be a little harsh. The more I think of it, the more it seems like an ingenious idea...not the musical, but the selling of it. Hey, Annie was a huge success, and it was based on "comics", and producer types don't know much, they're just looking for "another Annie", so Marvel comes along, says "How about Captain America? Sure, we can add a little girl to the concept!" Take the licensing money, let the out-of-touch money men try to ride the vestiges of patriotic fervor and produce a play (before they realize Captain America is not equivalent to Little Orphan Annie)...what have they got to lose? It's not like Marvel was likely going to be optioning lots of its other characters for the stage, and I'm sure the deal allowed them to retain the right to option movies and tv shows (as they in fact did with Captain America--and even saw them through to final production!). If they could sucker a clueless producer into ponying up money for a hopeless property (at least hopeless for that genre), why not?

The big mistake was including that blasted house ad, though. That's the only aspect that makes me think some people at Marvel were actually suckered into thinking that this trainwreck might actually lead to something, rather than being free money.

I'd love to hear what John Romita thought upon being asked to draw that thing, though.

[Sir Tim Drake]

I split off these posts so that this discussion wouldn't be abruptly terminated by the progression of the Name That Ad Game. I hope no one minds.

[Mike Kuypers]

I don't mind, but I sure was perplexed when all those posts disappeared. I subscribe to the Name That Ad thread, and that's where I expected to find MWG's lengthy post after clicking on the link. :confused:

[MWGallaher]

So, this ad appeared in 1986?! Hm...seems a little late to be jumping on the Annie bandwagon (on stage in the mid-70's, on film in 82), but then, it's pretty obvious that they were, from this ad. So someone must have thought it was the right time for "another Annie."

The Thor musical actually sounds feasible to me, as I've seen it briefly described: "Godspell" with Stan Lee's versions of the Norse gods. And I could swear that I read somewhere that a version of this, called "Ragnarok", was publicly performed, but not on Broadway.

And anybody else remember a few years back when Jim Steinman was supposedly writing music for a Broadway "Batman"?

[Mike Kuypers]

And anybody else remember a few years back when Jim Steinman was supposedly writing music for a Broadway "Batman"?

I certainly do. That bit of news alone inspired me to write some filk songs at the time for an imaginary musical I would call My Fair Batty. It included Comm. Gordon singing "I've Grown Accustomed to His Cape" and Batman singing (from his wheelchair) "The Pain From Bane is Mainly in My Brain."

[Red Oak Kid]

I split off these posts so that this discussion wouldn't be abruptly terminated by the progression of the Name That Ad Game. I hope no one minds.

It certainly deserves it's own thread. Just wish we could learn what the real story behind this was.

My guess is it never got beyond the talking stage.

Hey I just made a pun. :o

[Metamorpho]

I'd pay big bucks to see a Capt America musical as long as he performed "Hello My Baby" ala Michigan J. Frog. :D

[Mike Kuypers]

I'd pay big bucks to see a Capt America musical as long as he performed "Hello My Baby" ala Michigan J. Frog. :D

Would it end with Cap being put back in the iceberg? :)

[Red Oak Kid]

I bet Mark Evanier would know about the Cap musical.

[VictorVonDoom]

Sorry to resurrect a dead and buried thread, but my interest has been sparked. Where can I find an image of this ad?