I'm working on a theory -- the last twenty years have seen no major innovations in the arts. Artists (including musicians, visual artists, writers, filmmakers, and us theatre folks) are just playing out the work of our predecessors from 1945 to 1980. I'm not sure this is true, but its something I'm thinking about.

For example, in pop music, the last new ideas (whether good or bad) were disco, rap and punk. The movies made all their innovations between 1967 (the repeal of the Hays code) and 1977 (Star Wars). Theatre hasn't done anything new since the 1960's, except for the mega-musicals, which aren't really anything new. The visual arts are just spinning wheels, repeating the trends of the 50s and 60s.

Again, I could be totally wrong. But I'd like to get your input.