And so, the 1980s/ nostalgia bandwagon trundles wheezily onwards into oblivion. We’ve had Heathers, Annie, Hairspray, now it’s the musical that absolutely nobody asked for, The Karate Kid. Bizarrely, Phoenix Nights predicted this would happen years ago, with their own amateur version.
Original film posters.
Join Daniel and Mr Miyagi as he battles to tackle the bullies, gain self respect and… Actually, don’t bother. It’s bad enough that there was a sequel and a recent remake of the original- now, we’ve got this too. Why? Any dip into childhood favourites are easily accessed. This is getting beyond a joke, a seemingly interminable churn of forty year old storylines.
Where do new musicals leave original creatives? There’s a reason new ideas from new writers are failing to be greenlit, and it’s partly because of retro shit like this. I’ve already seen the songs, the cast were on the morning news today, and predictably, they’re utterly appalling: as generic and clichéd as you would expect.
Musicals are simply plays for people who can’t keep up with the pace of narrative arcs and need everything explained to them IN SONG… But we know how this pans out, we’ve waxed on and waxed off with Daniel and caught flies in chopsticks. We don’t need the musical equivalent. Besides, the best song about Daniel Russo has already been released.
Hit The North 