Word: newley
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...ANTHONY NEWLEY and Leslie Bricusse must have thought themselves quite ambitious. They wanted to create a clever, innovative show that would transcend the limitations of conventional musical comedy--a show that would say something. Instead, they made The Roar of the Greasepaint--The Smell of the Crowd in which the British class struggle is simplified, set to music, and peppered with punny lines and broad gags. A silly little show, it's like dramatizing a dissertation on social democracy by Mickey Mouse...
...Newley and Bricusse's songs, though lively, rarely advance the plot or reveal anything about the characters. In the first act, there's song every four or five munutes, and with lyrics like "It's not in Timbuktu or Timbukthree" their frequency becomes irritating and exhausting. Newley and Bricusse are at their painful worst when they depart from typical song-and-dance numbers like "A Wonderful Day Like Today" or "Where Would You be Without Me?" and attempt flashy theatricality. "The Joker" and "Who Can I Turn To?" seem to have been written more for Newley's nightclub act than...
...sweat. Observe the seven squealing, prancing Urchins. They'll smile til their faces ache, they'll dance til they collapse, they'll be so sweet you'll contract diabetes. They just want the audience to like them and to have a good time; to remember that for all of Newley and Bricusse's delusions of grandeur, The Roar of the Greasepaint can still be simply enjoyed as an amusing musical comedy...
Book, Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley...
...sympathetic theme for a musical, right? Not exactly. For Newley and Bricusse imposed an incredibly cynical view of human nature upon this cycle. They managed to write so much bigotry, sexism, coarseness and ruthlessness into the Littlechap character that many of their '60s' audiences walked away disgusted...