Paul Simon’s doo-wop Latin musical that lasted just 68 performances on Broadway
Paul Simon, a man who can do most things. Write chart-topping songs, pen albums for the ages, and cut through countries and cultures purely through the power of his music. It’s a shame that magic doesn’t extend as far as the Broadway stage.
Whether through ego or a simple case of being rather unused to failure, the prospect of one of Simon’s projects not succeeding was a rather foreign thing, especially in the context of a career that had spent so long riding high. After decades of being in the studio, however, the bright lights of New York eventually came calling, as they had done for so many others.
In a lot of respects, Simon could have watched the various theatrical efforts from the likes of Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, and a myriad of others all take flight, and just blindly believe that his own turn would inevitably sell out night after night. As such, he created the music for The Capeman with all the best intentions – only to see it tumble to the ground very soon after.
With Simon’s typical aplomb for breaking down cultural walls, the production centred on the real-life story of Salvador Agron, who brutally murdered two teenagers in a Hell’s Kitchen park in 1959, and gained the Capeman moniker from the black cape with red lining he wore while committing the act.
Yet when translating such heinous scenes to the stage, it seems that certain wires may have become crossed. A major part of the problem was that Simon spent five years writing the score and wanted to retain complete artistic control over the whole project, which is certainly not the done thing in the vast Broadway landscape.
It also probably didn’t help matters that, while still being a tricky customer, he was also waxing lyrical about his issues with the art form. Simon hoped he could reinvent the wheel of Broadway music as, according to him, it had “ended up in a weird cul-de-sac – probably because it was never energised by rock and roll.” It was fair to say those comments went down as a bit of a lead balloon.
For his own theatrical revolution, as he liked to see it, Simon’s score for The Capeman was an eclectic blend of doo-wop, gospel, and Latin styles, with a bit of Broadway vibrato thrown in for better or worse. In fairness, when the show opened in 1998, it wasn’t the music that was criticised – it even scooped Simon a Tony Award nomination for ‘Best Original Score’. It was everything else that was the issue.
However, it seemed that the musician’s disparaging view of the Broadway leagues was enough to put a sour taste in the mouths of many, and along with weak characterisations and thematic concerns that perhaps didn’t land as strongly with the hedonistic New York audiences as they should have, The Capeman was almost destined to fail as soon as the curtain lifted.
And so, after only 68 performances, the lights dimmed on The Capeman for the final time, and it was rarely ever seen again. Of course, not every project can automatically succeed just because of the name attached – but admittedly, it would help if that name didn’t go about slagging off the very stages they were meant to put the show on.
