Is the “jukebox” musical dead?

The global success of Mamma Mia! has spawned many imitators, not least over here We Will Rock You which did for Queen’s back catalogue what Mamma Mia! did for Abba and is now in its 4th year at the Dominion Theatre. Interestingly, however, it hasn’t braved the harsher critical climates of Broadway, and has by-passed it entirely to do a sit-down in Las Vegas instead.

But other attractions, like Our House (which, despite its Olivier Award win, still didn’t take the town) and Tonight’s the Night that respectively drew on the catalogues of Madness and Rod Stewart, suggested there were limits to their audience appeal. Meanwhile, on Broadway, Good Vibrations (the Beach Boys) reached an early end earlier this year, and now this weekend sees two more expire: Lennon (the title is self-explanatory) closes on Saturday; and All Shook Up (based on the Elvis Presley catalogue) follows it on Sunday.

But the genre is not quite dead yet: next month brings another entry to the Broadway boards when Jersey Boys – a musical constructed out of the songs of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons – opens at the Virginia Theatre.