Recently Broadway.com had a poll asking their readers to decide which boy band should get their own jukebox musical? Number One: N’Sync, Number Two: Backstreet Boys. Since I am more likely to listen to the Backstreet Boys over N’Sync this post is going to be about BSB… well that and the fact that it was recently announced that Kevin Richardson will be rejoining the group for their upcoming studio album. Thank goodness for that, because Kevin was the bass in the group and I personally felt that when he chose to leave the group, it just didn’t feel just right.

In any case… so a jukebox musical featuring the music of the Backstreet Boys? I don’t know… looking at some of the songs that they have over the years, they all have a similar theme… some kind of love song about heartbreak, loneliness, deception, etc. There isn’t much variety beyond that.

Some of the more known jukebox musicals that have graced the Great White Way over the years include:
– Mamma Mia!
– The Boy From Oz
– Jersey Boys
– Million Dollar Quartet
– American Idiot
– Rock of Ages

Thinking about this further, some of their music videos did have somewhat simplistic storylines within them, some of my personal favorites include (in my opinion):

– Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely

– The Call

– Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)

Now my unimaginative mind is telling me that a jukebox musical could be about five old college buddies that get together for their annual weekend getaway and talk about what has happened to them in the past year. Show opens with the five buddies just having fun with a bunch of laughs at a bar, playing pool… and the weekend is just ending so they are looking into what is going to happen when they head back to their respective realities:
– One guy could be in a long term relationship and needed a moment away only to find that when he came back his girlfriend left him.
– Another could be in a marriage that is becoming stagnant.
– A third would be trying for years to be in a relationship but to no avail and instead becomes a serial dated.
– The fourth would be blissfully happy on the outside that everyone else is envious of, but in reality the marriage is disintegrating and divorce papers are on their way.
– While the last is a serial bachelor a la Barney from How I Met Your Mother.

After the opening sequence of songs, they give each other advice and eventually go back to their lives and try to figure out what to do from there. The remainder of the musical would be how their lives intersect and how they untangle or continue tangling through their respective situations and whatever their result the show ends similarly to how it begins with the guys getting together for their annual soiree.

Granted if I want to create a realistic case for a jukebox musical based off the music of the Backstreet Boys, I may have to actually listen to their entire music library… but even I’m a wee lazy for that right now.

As excited as I am to see Kevin back with the Backstreet Boys and to hear their upcoming album, I still have to say “no” to a musical with songs based from the Backstreet Boys, or any boy band for that matter. Please to The Powers That Be, come up with something more original! I’ll love you for it!