Reinventing Classics in a Post-Disney World

It’s fashionable to be a purist, a pedant, a traditionalist. To insist that kids learn the exact same stories the previous generation learned, spout authoritatively about how everything following Classic Film X was derivative and subpar. In musical theatre, “revival” does not always mean reinvention; books are stuck to, and orchestrations faithfully copied in most cases unless there is something frankly racist or…