There's a huge difference between being a contributing writer and an originating writer, but they are all writers, and they all have a form of authorship on the musical.
And while you're heaping scorn on Mendes et al here, you're forgetting that the changes made to "Cabaret" led to a revival that injected new life and popularity into the musical, running twice as long as the original on Broadway, and substantially longer than the 1987 revival. That script, which has become the default for new productions, has a lot of smart changes - and a few clumsy ones - that attune the material to a contemporary audience (and at this point, we'd do well to have another round of edits to fully bring Cliff out of the closet).
This kind of work isn't just for the ego of a director, it's for the benefit of the musical itself. |
