The best songs from the worst musicals ever written is an unusual premise for a show. ‘This is a love letter to musicals,’ says creator/performer Arthur Hull. ‘I’ve spent my life watching those “hits of Broadway” shows, where a performer comes out in a waistcoat and sings all the songs everyone has heard before. I thought “what about the shows that never quite achieved the same financial, critical or commercial success?”’ 

This is a fruitful jumping-off point: it takes blood, sweat and tears (and millions in cash) to bring a show as far as the West End or Broadway, with plenty of hurdles to clear along the way. It follows that even the biggest flop must have at least one bop; the big number that got investors and creatives buying into the vision in the first place. Take the famous stinker Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, says Hull. Bono and The Edge wrote the music, Julie ‘Lion King’ Taymor directed, and who doesn’t love Spider-Man? Yet it closed after a record-breaking 182 previews, losing $60m. ‘But there is this one song called “If The World Should End” that is so hauntingly beautiful. I think of it as everyone working on the show begging their audience: don’t judge us by this collective flop. Applaud our vision and talent.’ 

The Spotify-playlist musical that theatre geeks didn’t know they needed, Flop is a formidable solo debut for triple-threat Hull, who narrates, sings and accompanies himself (‘I couldn’t afford a band!’). Fresh from an award-winning run at Adelaide Fringe, this is a peek behind the curtain at an industry that can be both brutal and beautiful, often within the same two-hour matinee. After all, for every Dear Evan Hansen, there’s a Diana: The Musical. If Arthur Hull has his way, they’ll both find a place in your heart.

Arthur Hull’s Flop: The Best Songs From The Worst Musicals Ever Written, Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower, Wednesday 30 July– Sunday 24 August, 8.45pm; picture: Jasper Wood.