Ecological Apocalyptism and Rock 'n' Roll

Over at Broadway World they're reporting that The Who's Pete Townsend is working on a new musical called Floss. The story is about a married couple who go through difficulties when the husband, a songwriter, scores a big hit and retires early. But here's where things get really interesting:

"When he tries to return to music after a fifteen year hiatus, he finds that what he hears and what he composes evoke the ecologically rooted, apocalyptic mindset of his generation."

Ecological apocalyptism? In musical terms I guess that translates to a sort of folksy eco-Wagner, then. Pete Townsend explains:

"I now want to take on ageing and mortality, using the powerfully angry context of rock 'n' roll."

My mistake, it's a rock musical. Like Tommy. And Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar and Rent and...er, that's it. There aren't many examples of successful rock musicals. Rock 'n' roll has just not proved to be that great a musical idiom for the theatre. The reason for this is, in part, that "powerfully angry context". That's fine for powerful and angry characters (like Judas Iscariot, say) but what about the rest? What about the sweet-natured ones? Or the old, doddery ones? Or even just the mildly comical ones?

Like rap and hippity-hop music, rock 'n' roll has certain qualities: heavy backbeat, shouty vocals and plenty of "attitude". That may make it dramatic, in the sense of attention-seeking, but it also limits its dramatic possibilites. The first rock musical, Hair, literally lost the plot. After Jesus Christ Superstar, Lord Andy's scores had to get a lot less "rocky" in their sound. Pete Townsend pulled off the trick with Tommy but only by turning the whole thing into a strange allegorical comment on religion. It'll be interesting to see whether he can do it again.