Scott Brown identifies a few particular problems, but ultimately says: “Musicals today – mindful of long odds, high costs, and the general precariousness of the form – are, I think, resisting their inner madness, and that’s a little like hating one’s own flesh. What basis besides madness can there possibly be for a form that’s as shapeless, idiosyncratic, and painstakingly artisanal as the novel yet as vastly collaborative and consensus-dependent as a Hollywood film?”