In case you wondered …

… Why Musicals Succeed | commentary. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

A Hammerstein-style show need not look or sound like The King and I to be a hit: Hammerstein’s rules pertain to structure, not content. No matter how up-to-date the score and subject matter of a musical are, its chances of success on Broadway will be higher if its dramatic architecture is traditional. By the same token, loosely plotted postmodern rock musicals like Passing Strange (2008) and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (2010), whatever their other virtues, are rarely attractive to those who go to Broadway in search of uncomplicated pleasure.