We go together: considering collaboration in musical theatre research

Musical theatre is undoubtedly a collaborative art form. From composers and lyricists to lighting designers and producers, plus copious individuals in between, musicals are formed by a ‘village’ of individuals whom share one artistic vision. That said, most academic analysis of musical theatre tends to be sole authored, whether published as a monograph, journal article or book chapter, and little collaboration occurs within this field beyond editorial input or cover design. Quite obviously then, there is a clear disconnect between the collaborative, communal creation of a stage production and the singular appraisal it receives in paperback. This presentation considers this imbalance and questions why such a divide may have arisen, despite theatremaking and, of course, theatregoing remaining a group activity which entertains millions nightly. Whilst many academic fields do not mirror the style of their subject of study (critiques of poetry are not written as a poem, for instance), this presentation proposes that such a disconnect stems from our cultural reliance on theatre critics and their subjective judgement of quality. Questioning notions of authorship, interdisciplinarity and impact, this presentation considers why the analysis of such productions is rarely formed beyond one scholar's laptop if 'all the world's a stage'.