A Master of a Curious Midcentury Art Form, the Industrial Musical

If you’re interested in the strange world of industrial musicals, I highly recommend the documentary Bathtubs over Broadway. They touch on the work of Michael Brown as well as other composers. [0]

The associated book is great too, and the author, Steve Young[1], is very responsive to questions by email.

One sad thing I have learned is that there was a lot of cynicism about industrial shows back in the day. The makers of those shows were often looked down upon and ostracised by composers and artists working on Broadway musicals, even though the level of craft and talent involved was often incredibly high, and there was a lot of overlap in the talent pool.

[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtubs_Over_Broadway

[1]: https://www.steveyoungworld.com/industrial-musicals/

If I were free to do what I’d like to do And had ambition and a lot of vim I’d go so far away that someday they’d say “I wonder what happened to him?” -Michael Brown