I’ve always loved a great live musical: a lovely story (no violence, no deluge of I love you’s) and great music – music which you can remember and break into a tune as you drive back home from work. Such Broadway musicals were to be found every day… some 10-15 years ago. Right now, Hollywood seems to have invaded Broadway and turned all the musicals into a copycat of B-listed movies.

Well, some of my hopes promise to be restored with the next season. Hudson Theatre (the place where Elvis raised crowds in the golden age of rock’n roll) will host the premiere of Emily’s Song on January 24 – a brand new musical which (from the script) sounds like a breath of fresh air from the general trend.

The musical Emily’s Song deals with parental love – how a father and daughter fight all the improbable barriers to find each other. At the core of the story in Emily’s Song is, indeed, a song. The song Emily’s father wrote for her on her birthday. Not too impressive? Then perhaps you’ve seen too many B-listed movies. This new Broadway musical is not about pinning you to the chair – it is about the traditional entertainment for the whole family, which we seemed to forget all about.

Emily’s Song is a story where anyone can find a meaning, a lesson, or maybe a lovely song. This live musical wants to promote the true values of family, of love and of hope. The drama, the complications, they are all extremely realistic and finely tuned, without overtones of unnecessary drama or exaggerations. It is a musical for young people and for old people, for the pragmatic and for the romantic, for those who want to see a story and for those who want to hear great songs. It, is all in all, what a good musical should be.

I am not overly enthusiastic about it – I am really glad to see the Broadway musical return to its classic beginnings and its first purpose among the genres for the stage: to mix story, dance, music and give people a few hours of pure enjoyment. Emily’s Song promises to offer all these – and, maybe, much more.

Music Songs 368000 || Musical Theater 165000