Writing A New Musical and the South Asian Perspective: A Non-Comprehensive How-To Guide

The American musical theatre business as we know it now began in the 1980s with British producers such as Cameron Mackintosh who saw what Broadway could become. Up till then, no one dared venture into Midtown when the sun went down. As the natural light dimmed and the artificial ones began to glimmer, Times Square became the porn capital of the world with pimps and prostitutes on every corner and store fronts advertising peep shows and adult film where you will now see New York souvenir shops and the M&M store. After the Golden Age of Broadway which lasted into the 1960s, Broadway experienced a crash. The 60s was a tumultuous time for America with the shine of the American dream wearing off as Civil Rights came to a head, President Kennedy was assassinated, and every day brought more fatalities from the Vietnam War. The last thing on peoples’ minds was going to the theatre and it fell off the commercial bandwagon. That all changed with the introduction of a little team comprised of producer Cameron Mackintosh and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and a little show called Cats.