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Thursday, September 16, 2004
Hulk Smash Broadway!
A new blog added, Yet Another Comics Blog. Quite good that one. Now, on with the show.
Looking through the great book Stan Lee: And the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael (now in paperback!) I was quite amused by the plans Lee had for some of his Marvel co-creations. One of them was a musical for Thor patterned after Godspell entitled Ragnarok. From the book:
”Lee tailored his Marvel visions from a previous era to the tenor of the times, even if it meant taking his characters in strange directions. This was how he described Thor in one outline: "If Arnold Schwarznegger [sic] had Robert Redford's face and Richard Burton's voice! Thor is surely the handsomest, most heroic, most powerful, most dutiful son any doting super-God ever had. The poor guy doesn't lie, doesn't cheat, doesn't do drugs, and fights his fool head off for truth, justice, and the Asgardian way of life. One thing though -- he's great in the hay." In the comic books, Thor's sexual prowess had never really come up.
Now I love that above passage because in it is so much of the Stan Lee I love. Still, I felt that perhaps Thor was not the best Marvel character to be turned into a musical. No, I knew there was a better star from The House of Ideas to bring to the stage. That’s when I came up with it; they should make a rock opera about The Incredible Hulk!
Ladies and gentleman I present to you Feelin’ Green: A Musical Trip into the Mind of a Monster. The characters are Bruce Banner, Betty Ross, Gen. Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross, Rick Jones, The Hulk (played by a different and larger actor than the one playing Banner) and probably a bunch other smaller parts. I’ll sketch some of it out for you. Keep in mind I haven’t read that Hulk origin that Stan and Jack did in a while so if some parts are a bit iffy, just chalk it up to bad memory on my part.
We can start with the opener “New Age Dawning.” We see a laboratory crowded with scientists. They’re working real hard because, as they plainly tell us through song and dance, the Atomic Age has just started. In the middle of the song Dr. Bruce Banner appears. He has his only little solo part in the number to wonder where all this so-called “progress” is taking us. When the song ends Gen. “Thunderbolt” Ross comes booming in. He wants to test out this new Gamma Bomb and he wants it tested now. Some scientists, including Banner, express that they need more time in preparing the bomb but Ross doesn’t care, he wants to see what the big boy can do now. What Thunderbolt wants Thunderbolt gets and soon enough the G-Bomb is on its way.
While the scientists are setting up the test, the attraction of Betty and Bruce as well as Gen. Ross’ disapproval of it should be established. Betty and Bruce have their ballad “Secret Love of the Ages” which should tug at the heart-strings of everyone in the house. Gen. Ross can take the bridge explaining, as he overhears his daughter and Banner, how much he hates to see his one offspring gain independence. The song and scene close with the G-bomb test just about to start.
The scene changes to the Nevada desert just outside the lab. Here we are introduced to Rick Jones. Rick and his group of no-goodniks are daring each other to step out onto the land marked “Dangerous: Do Not Enter.” Rick steps up to the challenge. When his pals try to talk him out of it Rick breaks into his song “I Ain’t Saying Ain’t” an ode to never backing down. When the song is done Rick tells his friends goodbye and steps out on to the forbidden stretch of desert.
The testing of the Gamma Bomb is about to begin, but soon Banner sees a young kid out on the field. He tries to call the test off but it’s too late. Banner, being the hero he is, runs out and throws Jones to safety. Jones is ok, but Banner gets bombarded by gamma energy. The stage should go manic with all types of lighting and sound effects here. Soon the lights go dark only to light up again. This time, though Banner is gone and what appears in his place is something new, something weird, something fierce, something…Hulk!
The rest of the players run off stage looking quite scared. Hulk goes into a short bit of his theme (one that will re-appear many times during the show) “Feelin Green’” which will make good use of rhyming the words “green” and “mean.” The choreography here will include Hulk destroy what little property there is on the stage. When the song is over and everything on the stage gets a bit of ol’ Jade Jaws’ thrashing we fade to black.
From there on out Gen. Ross’ chase of the Hulk starts. As like the comics, Hulk’s only companion is the boy whose life Banner saved, Rick Jones. Banner and Betty try to make their love work while Gen. Ross and Hulk get in the way. Some songs could be Ross and his troops’ ensemble number “Get That Hulk,” Betty’s “Could My Love be a Gamma Infested Monster” and the closing song “It’s a Big, Green World After All.” 60’s Pop Art-era Marvel angst should be employed liberally.
Just a few ideas for something that I think could be fun. Personally, I’d prefer something more “Tommy” than Andrew Lloyd Weber, but that’s just my tastes.
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