And... clear! Why is Broadway reviving shows that still seem warm?
Mamma Mia!, Beetlejuice, and Phantom never really flatlined
They welcomed the world. Now let’s explore their story. On 9/11, 38 planes were grounded in a small Canadian town—and what happened next became one of Broadway’s most uplifting musicals. In this FREE, one-hour Zoom class, Broadway Maven David Benkof unpacks the extraordinary true stories, emotional depth, and musical brilliance of Come From Away. The class meets twice: on Monday, July 7 at Noon and 7 pm ET.
Shalom, Broadway lovers!
In today’s issue of MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast: A) an essay exploring the recent phenomenon of Broadway shows being revived soon after they close; B) a Broadway Blast about grammar in Fiddler on the Roof and Guys and Dolls; C) a Broadway Maven YouTube Gem about memories of the original production of Hairspray; D) a review of Come From Away at The Muny in St. Louis; E) a joke about Les Misérables; and F) a Last Blast about Merrily We Roll Along.
ESSAY: Yes, we knew Beetlejuice was undead, but three Broadway productions in six years? Joined by the upcoming revival of Mamma Mia! and the immersive return of Phantom of the Opera (dubbed "Masquerade"), Broadway is bringing back its biggest hits far quicker than ever before.
First up is "Masquerade," whose immersive experience is unlikely to be a gimmick, given that it's directed by Broadway royalty Diane Paulus. The event (it's more than a show) aims to sweep audiences into the world of the Phantom and his opera house. The extravaganza will be presented in a multi-floor space on 57th in midtown Manhattan. Demand has been through the roof: tickets for the six-week preview period starting July 31 sold out within three hours.
The original Phantom closed in April 2023 after nearly 14,000 performances (the longest run in Broadway history).
Next up is (here we go again...) Mamma Mia!, which returns to the Winter Garden Theater (its original Broadway home) on August 2 for a six-month engagement. The show will have the same creative team, but with a fresh cast, of course. It's become the template of the modern jukebox musical (and yeah, I consider that a compliment) and despite its sappiness it contains meaningful themes and messages that go way beyond "Lay All Your Love on Me." (See my essay here.)
Finally, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Returning to Broadway October 8th for a limited 13-week engagement, the musical and its creepy crooner will haunt the Great White Way for a third time, after successful Broadway runs in 2019-20 and 2022-23.
In the case of both Mamma Mia! and Beetlejuice, the Broadway "revivals" are more like final stops of successful national tours than shows built specifically to recreate or (God forbid) reinvent an older property.
Though most Broadway musicals have long breaks before being revived (for The Sound of Music it was 35 years), Broadway also has a surprisingly long history of quick revivals. University of Washington Prof. David Armstrong, a Broadway Maven faculty member, told me that in the early days of Broadway, shows would often be revived very quickly because touring was the main business, so shows would play a few months on Broadway, go out on tour, and then come back to New York. Examples he cited include Show Boat (closed in 1929 and revived in 1932), Oklahoma! (closed in 1948 and revived in 1951), and South Pacific (closed in 1954 and was revived in 1955).
And of course, these properties didn’t just vanish after closing. In the gap between its original run and this year's versions, Mamma Mia! spawned a movie sequel (Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again), and Beetlejuice had a non-musical movie sequel (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) earlier this year. Even Phantom found a second life: the immersive experience echoes the Phantom-themed roller coaster in Germany, a thrill ride that, like the show itself, is all about theatrical atmosphere and sensory overload.
So why is this happening now — and why should we care?
In part, it's economics. Broadway has always been risky, but in the wake of COVID shutdowns and shifting audience habits, it’s riskier than ever. Revivals of beloved hits offer a safer bet for producers and investors, especially when the titles still have cultural heat. A short-term Mamma Mia! or Beetlejuice run isn’t just about nostalgia; it’s about certainty. You don’t have to educate the audience or build buzz from scratch. They’re already singing the songs. But there’s more to it than that. These revivals aren’t just tapping into general warm feelings. They’re tapping into active fandom. Social media has compressed the nostalgia cycle. Fans aren’t waiting 25 years for a show to feel “classic." Instead, they’re demanding its return while the cast album is still in heavy rotation. (Beetlejuice, in particular, owes its second and third lives to its online following.)
And then there’s Broadway itself, which is increasingly functioning like a brand management platform for theatrical intellectual property. These revivals aren’t necessarily creative re-imaginings; they’re extensions of a larger franchise footprint. Want a new Phantom experience? There’s an immersive version. Want to see Mamma Mia! one last time before the tour ends? Here’s a six-month stop on Broadway.
Is it a trend to bewail? I don't think so. If other voices were crowded out by these revivals, that would be a problem, but the last few seasons show there's plenty of room on Broadway for highly creative, meaningful work to succeed. There's room for all kinds of voices, even those we were listening to so recently that the echoes are still ringing in our ears.
BROADWAY BLAST: Tevye famously sings “If I Were a Rich Man” in Fiddler on the Roof, yet in Guys and Dolls Miss Sarah Brown sings “If I Was a Bell." So… whose grammar is right? Actually, both of them. (This is about to get complicated, but bear with me.) The characters are using different grammatical moods to express very different emotional states. Tevye uses the subjunctive mood—“were” instead of “was”—which signals a hypothetical. He’s not rich; he’s imagining a life he’ll probably never have. The subjunctive suits his mixture of reverence and longing: he’s humble before God, but still dreaming of more. Sarah, on the other hand, uses the indicative mood—“was”—because she’s not dreaming. She’s feeling. Her line isn’t a hypothetical wish—it’s a declaration of giddy, physical reality: this is what I feel like right now. That tiny switch from “were” to “was” changes the energy completely—from a distant fantasy to an embodied, emotional present. In just one verb, each character reveals who they are and where they are emotionally. In the world of show tunes, grammar isn’t always just correct or incorrect—it’s revealing.
BROADWAY MAVEN YouTube GEM: University of Washington Professor (and Broadway Maven faculty member) David Armstrong was deeply involved in the creation of the Broadway smash Hairspray. As Producing Artistic Director of the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle, he guided the show's development and had a close view of the birth of one of most thematically rich musical comedies in Broadway history. Here, he recalls the risks and surprises of launching a show based on a then barely known, highly quirky film, and reveals why one of its most heartfelt songs almost didn’t make the cut.
REVIEW: Before attending last night's performance of Come from Away at St. Louis's Muny, I was skeptical. Could such a quiet, introspective show fill that massive outdoor stage? Yes, it could. With a sweeping turntable and about a dozen school chairs anchoring the set, the production managed to feel both vast and intimate, kind of like Canada itself, where the story is set.
Come from Away tells the story of a rare, beautiful moment in North American history when the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland, hosted thousands of airline passengers stranded after 9/11, essentially doubling the town's population overnight. (I reviewed a charming performance in Gander itself last summer, which you can read here.)
For me, the emotional highlight of the show is always "Me and the Sky," in which a pilot narrates her love of her profession and her devastation at learning about the attack on the World Trade Center and how "the one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb." Heidi Blickenstaff's performance was a thrill to watch, and the audience was still applauding strongly when the next number got underway. The other standout in the cast was John Bolton as a quirky Brit named Nick for whom the Gander experience was less tragedy than transformation.
There's so much more to say, but I'll save it for class. I'm teaching a class about Come from Away on Monday, July 7 at Noon and 7 p.m (FREE). Join me then for a deeper dive into this remarkable show.
JOKE: Cosette went to the bishop with her fiancé and said, "Marry us." (Say it out loud.)
PITCH DAYS: Our list of celebrity panelists for “Pitch Days” continues to grow. Every Sunday in September, several brave and ambitious pre-screened MARQUEE subscribers who have a Broadway project they’re working on will have a chance to summarize plot, play a song, perhaps share a lyric, and hear what true pros have to say.
The newest panelists:
• Ted Chapin, world’s foremost expert at Rodgers & Hammerstein
• Wendy Federman, producer with more than a dozen Tonys (The Band’s Visit, Dear Evan Hansen, and many more)
They join previously announced Tony winner Robert L. Freedman, author of the Best Musical winner A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and hopefully several others of comparable talent and judgment.
If you’d like to be included, please contact David at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.
(Oh, and we also have room for more celebrity panelists! You know who you are.)
Great news! First-time Members who join The Broadway Maven can get 30 days FREE at the link below. Normally $18, a one-month Membership comes with invitations to 5-15 classes and other expert-led Broadway experiences. In the case of the next 30 days, that means SIX with YouTube sensation Howard Ho; Sweeney Todd with Juilliard Prof. Edward Barnes; a class on American Sign Language and Braodway, a watch party for Ain’t Misbehavin’ with one of its Tony-winning creators; a lecture on Broadway poster art, and Avenue Q. Cancel at any time, or continue exploring Broadway with this vibrant educational community. It’s your home for Broadway appreciation.
Note: A full calendar of upcoming classes is always available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Monday, July 7 Noon and 7 pm ET Come From Away (FREE, Register HERE)
• Tuesday, July 15 Noon ET SIX with YouTuber extraordinaire Howard Ho (Members only)
• Monday, July 21 Noon ET Sweeney Todd with Juilliard Prof. Edward Barnes (Members only)
• Tuesday, July 22 Noon ET ASL and Broadway (Members only)
• Sunday, July 27 Noon ET Watch Party, Ain’t Misbehavin’ with Murray Horwitz, Tony-winning co-creator (Members only)
• Monday, July 28 Noon ET Broadway Poster Art lecture with Nick van Hogstraten (Members only)
• Tuesday, July 29 Noon and 7 pm ET Avenue Q (Members only)
LAST BLAST: In the song "That Frank" from Merrily We Roll Along, Franklin Shepard is described as "the kind of man who could be president." It's easy to miss, but in 1934 when the original play premiered, the U.S. actually had a president named Franklin—FDR. Both Franklins are polished, powerful, and charismatic. But there's something more: FDR famously hid his physical disability from polio, while Franklin Shepard conceals emotional and moral fractures. Both are masterful at performance—not just on stage or in politics, but in life. The lyric works as a time-stamped cultural reference and a veiled character study.
The Broadway Maven is a vibrant educational community that helps its members think more deeply about musical theater. Every month, members may attend 5-15 expert-led classes and innovative Broadway experiences, all for just $18. We also foster enthusiasm for Broadway through the FREE weekly Substack newsletter MARQUEE and host an expansive YouTube channel. It's your home for Broadway appreciation. Contact The Broadway Maven at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.
Great piece about revivals and if there is demand then those shows must still be talking to an audience in some way.