Broadway Is Having A Country Music Moment

The Upper West Side of New York City isn’t exactly a bastion of country music. Yet a Little Nashville has sprung up here.

An off-Broadway theater has mounted a new musical with a twangy score. “Music City” is about an aspiring country star, T.J., who falls in love with a songwriter who’s just moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The entire West End Theatre has been transformed to resemble a rustic Nashville bar that hosts open mic nights.

For the most part, show tunes on Broadway still sound more influenced by Andrew Lloyd Webber than by, say, Morgan Wallen. But country music is making inroads – particularly in recent successes such as “Shucked” and “The Outsiders.” These musicals aren’t just responding to the genre’s growing cultural reach. They’re also telling stories from beyond Manhattan. The productions are broadening the outlook of musical theater to reflect different aspects of America.

“It’s fun that country music is having its moment,” says “Music City” audience member Jasmine Jourdain. “It didn’t many, many years ago when I was a kid. And it’s fun to see it kind of revitalize here in New York City.”

The Upper West Side of New York City isn’t exactly a bastion of country music. Yet a Little Nashville has sprung up here. On West 86th Avenue, where every apartment building has a uniformed doorman, an off-Broadway theater has mounted a new musical with a twangy score. “Music City” is about an aspiring country star, T.J., who falls in love with a songwriter who’s just moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The show kicks off with T.J. and his brother singing a song called “Y’allsome.”

“Y’all some freakin’ good lookin’ country music lovers,” the actors sing to the audience. In truth, the theatergoers don’t look like regulars at a honky-tonk hootenanny. But the setting is convincing. The entire West End Theatre has been transformed to resemble a rustic Nashville bar that hosts open mic nights. Its walls are papered with Kenny Rogers album covers, posters of Johnny Cash, and flyers for Lainey Wilson. The audience, seated at circular bar tables, claps along to the tunes. There’s even an occasional whoop.

“It’s fun that country music is having its moment,” says audience member Jasmine Jourdain. “It didn’t many, many years ago when I was a kid. And it’s fun to see it kind of revitalize here in New York City.”

For the most part, show tunes on Broadway still sound more influenced by Andrew Lloyd Webber than by, say, Morgan Wallen. But country music is making inroads. The comedic “Shucked,” set in a Midwestern corn-farming town, features songs by Shane McAnally and country star Brandy Clark. Its accolades include a Tony Award for best featured actor as well as a Drama Desk Award for outstanding music. An adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders,” set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, incorporates country into its songs. It won this year’s Tony for best musical. Elton John’s score for the newly opened “Tammy Faye: The Musical” boasts a country twang.

These musicals aren’t just responding to country music’s growing cultural reach. They’re also telling stories from beyond Manhattan. The productions are broadening the outlook of musical theater to reflect different aspects of America.

“Post 2016, there was a shock wave for liberal America,” says Joanna Dee Das, an associate professor in the performing arts department at Washington University in St. Louis. “There was a huge increase in awareness and thinking about giant segments of the American population that places like New York hadn’t really considered, or thought about, or taken seriously. And there was a sense that people who identified in theater circles in New York, or liberals in general, needed to really understand [those places].”