Re: rock opera

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@akrobiz.com>]

> If TOMMY is the sui generis rock opera, then what's the next stepping stone 
> to where we are now?  I suspect that all of them are obscure until HAIR and 
> JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.  It still seems uncommon for something to be billed 
> as a "rock opera."  Does that now mean that it's "harder" rock than the 
> usual LION KING fare?  And should LION KING be called "pop opera" instead?


Yes, LION KING & the like shouldn't have the word "rock" in any description, that's
for sure.  I was going to argue that a "rock opera" has to begin with a "rock album"
but wouldn't that exclude HAIR & JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR?  Those began
life as musical/plays, correct?

So what is a "rock opera?"  Is it any piece of music, play soundtrack or otherwise,
that has a storyline & common themes?  And speaking of HAIR & JCS, which ver-
sion is the "rock opera?" - the plays themselves, or the musical releases that accomp-
any them?


- SCHRADE in Akron