“The Tony nominating committee had to go scrounging under the couch cushions to fill out the important category of original score this year, resorting to the rare tactic of including music from two straight plays among the four entries. ”

– Christopher Isherwood, “The Musical Has Lost Its Voice,” NYT. Via AJ.

His take comes in contrast to David Kamp, also in the NYT this week, who is more sanguine about the “Glee Generation,” the new audience for musicals, and the new writers and lyricists of musicals:

“The Broadway babies are not the passive, bused-in tourist young people of yore who went to see “The Phantom of the Opera” or “A Chorus Line” simply because it was what one did when visiting New York. They’re true believers for whom love of musicals brings happiness, transcendence, and, strangely enough, social acceptance. “