March 1, 1998 |
"Noise/Funk" was, along with "Rent," an epoch-defining event on Broadway. The two musicals opened in 1996, a time when American musical theater seemed moribund and bloated British imports ruled the roost. Together they re-energized the landscape, melding popular and traditional genres in a way that hadn't been achieved since "Hair" almost three decades ago, and giving an aging art form a badly needed dose of cyclical renewal. Their bare-bones sets and emphasis on story, character and high-octane onstage talent seemed exactly the prescription Broadway needed. |