Editors’ Notes The Great White Way has come a long way since the days of Rodgers and Hammerstein, with mold-breaking musicals transforming Broadway into a hotbed for innovation both onstage and in the orchestra pit. Shows like the feline fantasia Cats and the drama-heavy Phantom of the Opera take their cues from stage music’s most hallowed traditions, adding of-the-moment flourishes to their soaring arias and high-stakes drama. Other productions use the musical’s framework to enter new frontiers of storytelling: A Chorus Line pulls the curtain to reveal future stars’ deepest desires, Avenue Q gives voice to real-talking puppets, Wicked shines a new light on the story of Oz, The Book of Mormon pairs holy ideas with side-splitting raunch, and the history-making Hamilton, which introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda to the world, marries hip-hop with Broadway’s bright tradition.
