The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) is a musical about musicals. In a comic satire of musical theatre genres, one story becomes five musicals. Each has the distinctive style of a different master of the form. The collision of the worlds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb results in an evening of original (although utterly derivative) music and lyrics talking a satirical swipe at that most beloved of all theatrical forms. June, an ingénue who can’t pay the rent, is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to her rescue? In an evening of variations on a theme, this basic plot is musicalised the way Rodgers and Hammerstein might have envisioned it, taking place in Kansas in August, complete with a Dream Ballet. The story is then re-created in the style of Stephen Sondheim, featuring the landlord as a tortured, artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge because they don’t appreciate his art. When presented in the style of Jerry Herman, the story becomes a splashy star vehicle, while the Andrew Lloyd Webber version is a rock musical, with borrowed themes from Puccini. The story is re-told one last time in the style of Kander and Ebb, set in a speakeasy in Chicago.