What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS? — Page 2

I saw all of the nominated musicals in the 2001-02 season, and always felt that Sweet Smell of Success was underappreciated. I felt it had the strongest score and boasted several of the best individual performances of the year.

With that said, I agree that it could be a bit unfocused at times. The most egregious instance in my mind was "Rita's Song". The show was building tension nicely and had established a very dark atmosphere when all of sudden this cheery throwaway solo number by a minor character comes out of nowhere. I assume that the number was there to lighten the mood a bit, as well as to build up the audience's feelings for this character so when something nasty happened to her - they would be shocked. However, I don't think the mood needed to be lightened and she could have been established without the use of a big solo number.

I also have always felt the SSOS would have done better if it had opened in some other season. I don't know if the climate in NYC was right that soon after 9/11 for a dark drama about the seedy underbelly of New York society. At that point audiences were more interested in escapist comedies like The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, or even Urinetown.

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SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is one of the most underrated musicals in history.

The score was phenomenal. The cast was superb. The designs were wonderful. The main characters were horrid, horrid people that were difficult to like. It's hard to enjoy a musical when absolutely everyone on stage is doing everything in their power to screw over the people in their lives and to destroy their reputations. If there was a way to make us like these characters it might work better.