"Everyone in the theatre wants to do a musical. There's a glamour. What could be more theatrical than a musical, and besides look at all the money I'm going to make! Except they flop like pancakes. But there is an excitement about it. Nobody stops to think two things: it's a craft, and it's very, very hard."
Which brings to mind the recent West End pancake, Too Close to the Sun, a musical about the final days of Ernest Hemingway. Now some may point to the subject matter but there have been worse ideas that have found success (Evita?). So, apart from dodgy rhymes and collapsing sets, what was fundamentally wrong with Too Close to the Sun? Nearly everyone can spot a bad musical but few can analyse what makes it so bad. Arthur Laurents may be one of the few.
Musicals are sometimes reckoned to be money-spinners and a hit show can certainly make a fortune for those involved. But only a few people seem to be able to make musicals that work. It's remarkable that, considering the scale of the success of West End megamusicals in the 80s and 90s, it only ever involved a handful of shows created by a small group of people. In fact, take just two of those people out of the equation during that period - Lord Andy and Sir Cameron - and you'd pretty much be left with Blood Brothers and The Buddy Holly Story. Nowadays the playing field has opened up a bit, but it remains the case that most musicals are flops. In that way, at least, Too Close to the Sun is not exceptional.
Why should this be the case? Musicals are mercurial things. If they were formulaic then a lot more people would be cashing in on their popular appeal. But the truth is that they are hard things to get right. With so may elements involved there are plenty of wrong turns to take. Perhaps it is the difficulty of trying to get so many different elements to cohere. Or finding a workable structure. Or knowing what is singable. All difficult issues. As Arthur says, it's a craft and it's very, very hard.
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