Tyler Coates

As you all know (ha ha ha), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was nominated for three Tony Awards yesterday, including one for my boo Laura Benanti, who is up against Patti LuPone for the same award (they will both lose to the gal in the Mormon musical). It’s also up for Best Original Score, which I think it absolutely deserves.

I’m definitely intrigued by musicals based on popular films. It’s quite a challenge to adapt Pedro Almodóvar’s 1988 film for the stage, but it’s not so outlandish. The biggest problem, however, is that the film’s plot (which incorporates many story lines and characters) is too much for a musical comedy that runs two and a half hours. Furthermore, the creative team expanded two of the characters including that of Lucia (played by LuPone), which only muddles the plot a little more. And the production itself was very sloppy: the staging was so weird!

But what I really love about this show is the music and lyrics by David Yazbek. There’s a trend in musical theatre right now in which shows are moving toward a pop sensibility. This is not really a new trend (you had to remember that any new show that resembles an old-fashioned score is actually resembling what was considered “pop” fifty to sixty years ago). What’s so marvelous about the music in this show is that the songs effectively work as pop music and showtunes. Yazbek has a rock-music background, having produced albums by XTC and Spacehog (making it even more surprising for him to move into musical comedy scores).

This song is one of the best examples of what he was getting at: bridging a gap between a pop song and a showtune. It starts out as a pop song played on a record player, with Patti LuPone chiming in with her drawn-out phrases and strange pronunciation. And then there’s a weird musical bridge there, a beautiful soliloquy that makes you remember that you’re listening to a piece from a musical rather than a fun, silly throwback to a ’60s love song with Latin touches. Most importantly, it tells a story, which is vital for a showtune, but it does so in a sneaky way; this song tricks you into thinking it’s a pop song.

While The Book of Mormon will certainly sweep (and deservedly so - it might be one of the best shows I’ve ever seen), I hope Women on the Verge has a chance to take home the award for its score, which may more likely have more of a legacy than Mormon’s collection of funny, parodic songs.