At the Drury Lane they presented largely standard stagings of traditional musicals like "West Side Story" and "City of Angels."

Goodspeed was founded almost 40 years ago when traditional musicals were already waning.

Now that the supply of new traditional nontechnological musicals is at an all-time low, the Kander-Ebb oeuvre may be imperiled by retrospective overpraise.

Intended as a "burst into song" throwback to traditional musicals like "West Side Story," the original emphasized a simple theme: Follow your inner voice, no matter what your peers may say.

The American musical is at risk because critics and academics relegate the so-called "traditional" musical to the archives.

But the traditional musical has an unusual populist accessibility.

And he's free of the kind of moist corniness that lies at the heart of all traditional musicals - a quality the Coens embrace and comment on in "Brother."

Review - Continuing the string of traditional musicals, Oklahoma brought bright colors, cowboy hats and a southern drawl to the stage at Medway.

And like traditional musicals, it is about love - even though the subject is the Bush administration, the war on terror and the sexuality of Tom Cruise.