A final draft!

Below is the final draft of my paper for SYP!   Non-linear Story-telling in Musical Theater
Matthew Shifrin
May 9, 2016
CAPS Research
Have you ever gone to a musical and been utterly confused; you try to piece the story together, but the events just don't line up? Most musicals that play on Broadway run on a simple formula which helps them tell a story. The stories of most musicals usually go in chronological order from beginning to end, thus making them easy to follow. But what if a musical has no story to speak of, or goes in reverse chronological order from end to beginning? To what extent is linear story-telling a factor in the success or failure of a musical? In this case, by success, I mean the simplicity with which a musical can be followed, and how well the various elements of story-telling (plot/story, music, and lyrics) connect to form a cohesive narrative. In terms of linearity, a linear musical can exhibit non-linear story-telling techniques such as flashbacks, to move the story along (see Sweeney Todd for clarification).
     There are certain anomalous musicals, which, despite their non-linearity, have garnered great success on Broadway. One example is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, a plotless musical based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Though the musical is plotless, the costumes, dancing and sets kept it afloat, as did some of its songs, such as "Memories", which has become a staple of musical theater repertoire. Another anomalous work is Stephen Sondheim's Follies, which is structured around flashbacks. The work takes place at a reunion of actors who played in the Zigfeld Follies, a series of theater productions in New York in the early 1900s. The work is non-linear in the sense that its primary focus is on characters flashing back to younger versions of themselves at various points to help fill gaps in the story.
     Though these works are excellent examples of non-linear/conceptual musicals, I will use Stephen Sondheim's Company, Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along as examples to discuss non-linear story-telling in the following pages.   I will focus on the works of Sondheim because he pioneered the non-linear musical with Company in 1970, and ended the official "era" of non-linear musicals with Merrily we Roll Along in 1981. He is the rise and fall of non-linear story-telling in musical theater.  These musicals are also the best examples of non-linear story-telling that he has to offer, and provide the widest array of techniques to keep the audience engaged while telling a story.  Before I discuss these works, however, I'd like to offer three elements that make a musical successful in terms of cohesive story-telling:  engaging music, engaging lyrics, and a relatable story which is simple to follow. Without one of these elements, the musical flops.
     Stephen Sondheim's Company is one of the first non-linear musicals. Written in 1970 with playwright George Furth, the work was based on a series of Furth's vignettes. Sondheim and Furth had trouble unifying these vignettes into a cohesive story. In his book, Finishing the Hat, Sondheim states, "Most of the plays concerned two people in a relationship (marriage, lovers, close friends) joined by an outsider (best friend, ex-lover, mere acquaintance) who serves as catalyst for the action. To George and me, the problem of merging unrelated scenes into a unified evening seemed an impossible one to solve (making the project irresistible) until we came up with the now obvious solution-to turn the different outsiders into a single person" (165). This single person is Bobby, a 35-year-old bachelor trying to find a partner. To better understand his married friends, he goes to each of their houses to see what their lives are like. Each house, in this case, is one of Furth's vignettes. Bobby's married friends act as a sort of ephemeral Greek Chorus, appearing at the beginning of the show and singing a number, then each appearing in their separate vignette and returning in the end for a final song. Each character is so insubstantial that one is easily replaced with another. Whenever a large group of them sings together (in the show's opening number, for example), none of them notice that the others are there - each simply sings his own line, and that is that. This is one aspect that makes Company non-linear. Bobby, going to the houses of his friends, is the glue that binds the whole production. What makes this musical an artistic success  (it won Tony Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics, both of which Sondheim wrote) are its songs. These songs are packed with wit and raw emotion. An excellent example of wit can be found in the following couplet, which Kathy, one of Bobby's ex-girlfriends, sings to him: "When a person's personality is personable, /He shouldn't oughta sit like a lump. /It's harder than a matador coercin' a bull /To try to get you off of your rump" (177). It is evident from these lyrics that Sondheim enjoys lyric writing immensely and is able to have fun with it. He is able to craft his characters so that they sing their best when at their most vulnerable. An excellent example of this is "Marry Me A Little", which Bobby sings at the end of the first act, when at his lowest. The beauty of this song is in its simplicity. Bobby sings: "Marry me a little, /Love me just enough.  /Cry, but not too often, /Play, but not too rough.  /Keep a tender distance, / So we'll both be free.  /That's the way it ought to be.  /I'm ready! /Marry me a little, /Do it with a will. /Make a few demands /I'm able to fulfill. //Want me more than others, Not exclusively. /That's the way it ought to be" (185). These lyrics may seem a bit simple for a musical, but when the music is added, culminating in a giant fanfare with Bobby singing, "I'm ready," we know that he has reached an emotional crossroads, and his vulnerability turns into willingness, into action. This is what makes Sondheim's songwriting great. His emotions ring true, because we've all felt something similar at some point.
     Company is a hallmark of conceptual or non-linear musicals in its ending; in the beginning of the musical Bobby's friends were celebrating his birthday party. The musical ends with the same birthday party; however, Bobby doesn't come. Neither his friends nor we, as the audience, know where he went. It doesn't matter. That's the beauty of ambiguity in musical theater. Ambiguity, in this case, re-enforces Company's non-linear structure, since after we've left, we not only have songs stuck in our heads, but situations to think on. An ending like Company's leaves us room to end it how we see fit. With its plotless, yet relatable story, witty music and lyrics, and ambiguous ending, Company defined non-linear musical theater, and also became an artistic success, since it contained all three components of a successful musical.
     Sweeney Todd, unlike Company, isn't a non-linear musical in terms of storytelling, since it goes from beginning to end.   However, it uses flashbacks to tell Sweeney what happened while he was away. You might wonder how this show is different from Follies, which also uses flashbacks. The flashbacks in Follies are experienced as reminiscences by its main characters, while Sweeney's flashbacks focus on secondary characters. Sweeney's flashbacks also differ from the ones in Follies in that they not only let the audience know what happened, but also let  Sweeney in on what he missed. The musical was written in 1979. It was based on a Victorian-era Penny Dreadful (a type of serialized story each part of which could be purchased for a penny) called The String Of Pearls, which was published monthly from 1846-1847. Sweeney Todd won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. It follows Sweeney Todd, a wrongly-convicted prisoner who returns to London from his imprisonment in Australia,  and seeks revenge on his accuser. However, his revenge spirals into serial killings. Furthermore, his victims are then baked into pies and sold to the general public. Hence he turns from a man seeking revenge into a serial killer who spreads cannibalism. The audience, who at first rooted for Sweeney to get his revenge, now feels disgusted, and wants nothing to do with the title character. So our attention turns to his daughter, Johanna; the audience hopes that she will be able to escape unscathed from her murderous father. This musical is non-linear in its use of flashbacks. In the reprise of "The Barber And His Wife", Mrs. Lovett, Todd's friend, tells him what happened to his wife while he was imprisoned in Australia. Downstage from Mrs. Lovett, actors act out the events as she describes them:  "The Judge, he tells her, is all contrite, /He blames himself for her dreadful plight, /She must come straight to his house tonight! ... /Of course, when she goes there, ... /They're havin' this ball all in masks. There's no one she knows there... /She wanders tormented and drinks, Poor thing. /The Judge has repented, she thinks,... /"Oh, where is Judge Turpin?" she asks... /He was there, all right-/ Only not so contrite!" (340). At the end of the preceding quotation, Sondheim gives a stage direction to the actors downstage, telling them to depict the rape of Lucy, Todd's wife, by the judge.  Hence, we're not only brought up to speed on the events from Ms. Lovett's point of view, but are also given visual accompaniment as clarification.  What's important about this sequence is that Mrs. Lovett is not only bringing Todd up to speed as to what happened with his wife while he was gone, but also is telling and showing the audience. This is an interesting and unique type of flashback, which is the non-linear element to this musical.
       In terms of lyric writing, the musical contains Sondheim's signature fondness for rhymes, though in this case, the rhymes are served with a dollop of dark humor. In the following couplet, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, the baker of the pies, are imagining the possible pies their business could create: "Todd: (As she proffers another pie) What is that? Mrs. Lovett: It's fop. /Finest in the shop. / And we have some shepherd's pie /Peppered with actual shepherd /On top" (360). 
The musical ends with some ambiguity, in terms of Johanna; there is no sense of closure - we don't know what happens to her afterwards, and we don't need to. This musical shows that a bit of ambiguity can not only help non-linear works such as Company, but also linear ones, such as Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd is one of the rare musicals that uses flashbacks to bring both the characters and the audience up to speed in a succinct and efficient way. The work is an artistic success, since it contains Sondheim's brilliant music, witty lyrics, and a simple-to-follow story (which, though linear, surprises the audience with an ambiguous ending and flashbacks which are used for both the character's and the audience's benefit).
     Merrily We Roll Along is the last in the line of Sondheim's non-linear musicals. Sadly, it didn't get the attention it deserved, due to a story that was too difficult for the average audience member to follow. Written in 1981, the musical is based on George S. Kaufman's play of the same name. Uniquely, it chronicles the life of Franklin Shepherd, a Broadway composer turned TV executive, in reverse chronological order, from his middle-age, in approximately 1979, till he was fresh out of the army in 1957. The music in this work is memorable, as are the lyrics. Here, we see Sondheim's love of historical events, which is mainly seen in the transitions between scenes. The following transition was used in the original Broadway production of 1981, but was changed for subsequent productions: "Western Berliners Rise from their dinners, /Go for a stroll /And-whoops, there's a wall! /Meanwhile, the Bay of Pigs has a squall. /Let's join the Peace Corps and go to Nepal..." (401). From lyrics like these, we can clearly see that Sondheim loved his history and loved to stick references into his work for the attentive listener to find.
     Unfortunately, wit in lyrics and music alone does not garner artistic success for a musical. Merrily lacked a cohesive story and this, sadly, is one of the reasons it failed, running for only 16 performances on Broadway. The musical's reverse chronology turned out to be problematic, since the beginning of the musical (the ending of Franklin's story) lacks closure. If the story were to be played in chronological order, starting with an optimistic composer fresh out of the army, watching Sputnik over New York and feeling that anything is possible in 1957, devolving into a greedy studio executive who doesn't care about his friends and only worries about his finances, the ending of the story, which is the beginning of the musical, might have satisfied audiences.  As it is, the audience has no sense of closure. Most musicals climax and then offer an ending, be it comic or tragic, which elicits emotion. In Merrily's case, the ending of the story (the beginning of the musical) just stops, making us feel as if the musical were somehow unfinished. Thus, it's confusing and more than a little frustrating, since we don't really know where to go from there (greedy studio executive, so what? what then? Does he redeem himself?). Since we see it in reverse chronological order, the audience has to perform the extra step of straightening the story out to understand what's going on. This mental process is very hard to do while the play is in progress; as a result, the audience is taxed with too much extra work.  Critics disapproved of the convoluted story (see the New York Times article below), the audience was confused, and Merrily We Roll Along flopped. It did so because it only had two of the three components of an artistically successful musical. The music is fantastic, and the lyrics are witty and deliciously sharp, but the story lacks a simple coherence.  One redeeming aspect of this work, however, is that the musical exemplifies Sondheim's compositional process. This can be seen in act 2, where we see Frank and Charley as composer and librettist. Though this may not speak to everyone, it speaks to me, since I'm a composer.  I assume that it also speaks to other creatively-minded people, since the creative process is, at some level, universal. However, critics of the created product were not happy.  Frank Rich of the New York Times stated that Merrily was "miscast, sloppily written and hideously designed." He stated that the musical contained an "ugly set, confused narrative transitions, and summer-stock choreography" ("A Musical Theater Breakthrough", October 21, 1984.)  In Finishing the Hat, Sondheim admits to Merrily's failing on Broadway, when discussing the frantic re-writes that he and George Furth (the librettist) were doing before the show opened: "We fell victim to the age-old illusion that blinds all rewriters: by the time opening night arrived, we thought we'd fixed the show.  What we had done was bettered it, not fixed it, and the critics and theatrical 'community' (a myth if ever there was one) were merciless" (382).
     I asked Essie Martsinkovsky, a playwright and graduate of NYU's Tisch School of The Arts in playwriting, as to why, in her opinion, Merrily failed. She stated that “… the songs of musicals are usually not used to advance the plot, and are mainly used to burrow into the emotions of the characters. Thus, when a non-linear story is used, the audience's mental energy is already so invested in the emotions of the songs that it's harder for the audience to connect with the plot/storyline, since they only have a certain amount of emotional energy that they can use. When they go to the theater to see a musical, people want to be mentally involved, but do not want to become overly analytical”. (Personal Interview)
     Since Merrily required its audience to over-analyze in order to understand the story, it asked too much of them, and subsequently failed on Broadway.  Unlike Cats, Merrily was a piece designed to make people think, and try to see whether there wasn't a Franklin Shepherd inside each one of us. As a provocative musical, Merrily needed all three of elements of non-linear storytelling to survive. The music, lyrics, and story would be the only thing holding it together.  And, unlike Cats, Merrily was not designed as a cash cow. In Broadway, the American Musical, a friend of Andrew Lloyd Webber's discussed how absurd the idea of dancing cats seemed. He thought that Webber was crazy - until the musical struck it rich (Broadway, The American musical). Cats was so successful because it was more spectacle than musical. With no story to worry about, the audience could focus on the emotions rather than unscrambling the story. Unlike Merrily, there was no rumination required.
Despite its failure on Broadway, Merrily was recognized for its fantastic lyrics and music, receiving the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics in 1981-82 and receiving a Laurence Olivier Award for its revival in 2001. Since Merrily We Roll Along, no one, to my knowledge, has tried a completely reverse-chronological musical. A similar concept can be found in the semi-reverse-chronological musical The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown, in which a man's perspective of a romance is told in chronological order, while the woman's perspective is told in reverse. I asked Nir Cohen, a conductor, musicologist, and doctoral student at NYU's Tisch School for the Arts, whether he thought that the genre of non-linear musicals, such as Company or Merrily, could ever have a comeback on Broadway. "No," he said, "since non-linear musicals weren't a popular thing in the first place; they were always a cult phenomenon" (Personal Interview).  Nir also noted that “…works such as Merrily are extremely hard to pull off, in terms of audience engagement and structural integrity. Hence, no one writes them, since non-linear methods of story-telling, such as reverse chronology, are more prone to failure than linear story-telling devices, as we see with Merrily.  We could argue that Sondheim failed with Merrily, to some extent, so composers, who look up to him, say "If he failed, what's the likelihood that we would succeed?”
     In conclusion, non-linear narration does not necessarily mean artistic failure for a musical, as demonstrated by Company's and Sweeney Todd's success. But non-linear musicals can only succeed artistically if they are bound together by quality music, lyrics, and a story that is not convoluted. Company is a great example of a successful non-linear musical. Sweeney Todd was non-linear in terms of its use of multi-purpose flashbacks, and with its solid story, thrilling music and dark-humored lyrics, it was an instant hit. Merrily We Roll Along could have succeeded if the storyline had been easier to follow, giving the audience less of a need to think hard and analyze intensively, to understand what was going on. The next time you go to see a show, try and figure out whether it's linear or not, and what techniques it uses. And if you're the one writing it, be it linear or non-linear, be sure that your show contains  the three elements that make  a musical artistically successful: engaging lyrics, engaging music and a storyline which is simple to follow.

     Works Cited
     Cohen, Nir.  Personal Interview.  April 24, 2016.
Kantor, Michael.  Broadway, the American Musical.  October 21, 2004.  PBS.
Martsinkovsky, Essie.  Personal Interview.  April 28, 2016.
Rich, Frank.  "A Musical Theater Breakthrough".  The New York Times.  October 24, 1984. 
Sondheim, Stephen. Finishing the Hat, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010) page 165.
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