New Musical to Offer Intimate Look at Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller's Marriage

The musical's title references the film Miller wrote for Monroe, released shortly after their divorce in 1961. Originally conceived as a show about 1950s America, it shifted focus after the songwriters shared their songs with playwright Charlotte Bogard Macleod, who had long been fascinated by the couple's publicly captivating relationship. Macleod said she had always wanted to explore Miller's integrity, noting his refusal to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee and the huge personal cost of his stand. During research, she was struck by Monroe's centrality: she supported Miller and ran her own production company, a side of her that Macleod said had rarely been discussed or celebrated. Each empowered the other, she added, in fighting figures like Senator Joe McCarthy or challenging misogyny.

Smith said the musical addresses how Monroe was pigeonholed. He described her as a working-class woman who grew up in foster care, created the persona of Marilyn Monroe, and became one of the most successful and known people in the world, yet was constantly questioned, denigrated, and patronised at the height of her fame. Pelleymounter added that despite her many achievements, Monroe had been "reduced and reduced and reduced" to a bombshell image, and the musical would examine how her fame eclipsed Miller's.

Presented with Tila Arts, the production is directed by Curve's artistic director, Nikolai Foster, who said the company had been watching Monroe's films for research. He praised her "innate understanding of the art of film-making" and "the craft of acting." Foster said the musical shows the couple's lives in such close-up that at times during workshops, it was easy to forget the main characters were two of the 20th century's most famous cultural figures.

Pelleymounter said he kept returning to the phrase "history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes." Seventy years after the Red Scare, he said, othering was still being used to create "fear and anger in order to maintain the status quo" in the United States. One song in the musical expresses Miller and director Elia Kazan's frustration at "seeing politicians say things on the news that are so blatantly not true, that are manipulative and scaremongering."

Other well-known characters in the show include Laurence Olivier, Monroe's co-star in The Prince and the Showgirl. Macleod said Olivier's constant note to Monroe was "be sexy," and he grew frustrated with her wanting many takes, while she was simply trying to get it right. The film ultimately shows Monroe as the one who shines, Macleod noted.

Smith and Pelleymounter wrote more than three dozen songs and have been trimming them to fewer than half. Both said they have always loved writing narrative songs, using songwriting to explore character, story, history, and culture. One song takes inspiration from Eminem's "Stan" in telling an "incredibly complex story via their correspondence," and famous photographs of the couple, including bicycle rides, also influenced the score.

Pelleymounter and Smith follow in the footsteps of fellow indie musician Passenger, who recently achieved success with the Olivier-nominated musical The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Smith is also writing music and lyrics for Young Romantics, a musical in development whose characters include Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.