Let’s talk about Agatha All Along as musical shall we? From new characters being introduced to some even landing their own series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it is slowly expanding. We’ve mentioned before that Kevin Feige has been known to listen to fans and give them what they want. When we craved nostalgia, he gave us X-Men ‘97. When we demanded that the Fantastic Four be done right, he gave us Fantastic Four: First Steps set to be released next year. Perhaps the move many of us didn’t see coming was the decision to dabble in musicals.
As you may recall in the Disney+ series, Hawkeye, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) attends Rogers: The Musical, a production loosely based on the life of Steve Rogers as Captain America (unfortunately, it’s not Chris Evans that we get to see singing and dancing). This was the studio’s second stab at introducing musical numbers into their projects, as the catchy “Agatha All Along” from WandaVision was the first. Fast forward three years later, and now Kathryn Hahn has reprised her role as fan favorite Agatha in a show of the same name.
To the surprise of many, Rogers: The Musical actually became a real thing, as it had a limited run at Disneyland from June to August last year. What was even more shocking was that it was actually a great show (check out the 35-minute performance here).
Under the creative direction of Disney Live Entertainment, the show fused together a medley of different music styles such as jazz and funk, set to the sounds of a 60-piece orchestra. Writer Hunter Bell was tasked with the script while Christopher Lennertz, Jordan Peterson, Christopher Lennertz and Alex Karukas helmed the music duties.
There was so much effort to make this a real production after it was initially teased in Hawkeye that it poses an interesting question: Could this actually be turned into a feature length film? Marvel Studios definitely has the finances to test it out, but with several recent flops, they may not want to risk it falling flat. After all, it had the appeal of a joke but ended up becoming a full blown theme park performance (talk about committing to a bit).
Many are labeling Agatha All Along as a musical, with a star of the show even cosigning that idea. Broadway veteran Patti LuPone stars as Lilia. In a red carpet interview with Deadline back in May, she follows up Hahn’s comments with, “…and it’s a musical!” Is there a chance that Marvel may be adapting a new form of storytelling through music? It appears they are very much still in the phase of testing the waters. After flooding us with one series after another while former CEO Bob Chapek was in charge, the studio was criticized for their quality declining as they leaned into pumping out a higher quantity.
During the Deadpool & Wolverine press tour, Shawn Levy told Empire magazine, “You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did.” If you pay attention to recent moves, it’s clear they are scaling back from “doing too much” and going back to their roots. During the highly anticipated Hall H panel at San Diego Comic Con back in July, Feige revealed that two keys to the MCU’s success were set to return: Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo Brothers.
So let’s go back a bit and acknowledge two things can be true at the same time: people love music and comics, but they may also not care to see the worlds of thespians and nerds collide (although it can be argued that many might identify as both). Whether you despise the idea or are 100% on board, there’s a solid chance that if Marvel decided to incorporate music, they would most likely tap a talented group of writers to execute it properly. If they are working to rebuild the MCU to the record breaking entity that it was in its prime, then making drastic changes might not work in their favor.
With that being said, it seems they are slowly testing out music in their projects to see how it is received. As it stands, their two attempts have been successful, as Rogers: The Musical was a hit and Agatha All Along is currently being enjoyed. Would a full blown feature length film be a great idea to jump to at the moment? Probably not, after all, we’ve learned that Marvel has to ease into introducing new elements and test it out with audiences.
It’s probably a safe assumption that a Broadway show or musical in theaters isn’t at the forefront of Marvel plans as they prepare for the next phase of their releases, but with their current track record of being 2-2 with projects that feature song and dance, it doesn’t appear that more music is completely off the table. If you’re a theater kid that keeps their head buried in the last comic book, don’t lose hope!