This week we’re considering rationales and strategies for reinvention. Today: staleness.
Staleness happens when the concept, strategy, or repertoire no longer connects with the audience or students. It’s nothing to do with your own opinions on it.
I have had repertoire I love that I have had to retire, and I have kept songs in the repertoire that I’m tired of, because my students love singing it.
Choosing reinvention for staleness requires careful consideration, because it must be about the needs of the audience, not about you. Are you retiring Grease as a possibility for the musical because it’s grown stale for you personally, or because it doesn’t connect with your students or audience? (It can be both, of course.)