The musical episode is a time-honored tradition. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did one, as have Scrubs, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and Daria. It’s a shame HBO rarely joins in on fun, though. Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti never talked things out through song; at no point did Al Swearengen break into a lewd ballad that would make even Eminem blush. The closest HBO has come to going full Even Stevens is Funny or Die’s “The Wire: The Musical”, the one-off “The Joke: The Musical” from Mr. Show, and Flight of the Conchords.
Add “all shirtless singing, all pantsless dancing True Blood” to the list.
The New York Post reports that HBO is “quietly developing” a Great White Way production based on HBO’s sexy vampire series, which aired from 2008-2014 (and stopped being fun around 2011). A Pam MacKinnon-directed workshop was recently staged, with a cast including Night Court‘s Ellen Foley and Avenue Q‘s Ann Harada, music from Nathan Barr (the HBO show’s composer), and book and lyrics from Living Dead Girl author Elizabeth Scott. Creator Alan Ball “is keeping an eye on the stage version,” according to the Post.
Like the TV show, True Blood: The Musical is set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where vampires live among humans… If a full production ever materializes, there will be plenty of special effects.
My spies liked the music and thought the book [was] fun.
There are about a million Disney productions on Broadway — HBO should do the same thing. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve heard Bruce Greenwood sing “Surfer’s Soliloquy” from John From Cincinnati to Broadway.
(Via the New York Post)
