The Beyond the Fence Musical and Computer Says Show Documentary

TL;DR

This paper documents the creation of the world's first computer-conceived and substantially computer-crafted musical, highlighting the integration of computational creativity in a major theatrical production and its impact.

Contribution

It presents a detailed case study of using multiple computational systems to co-create a musical theatre production, demonstrating practical application of computational creativity.

Findings

Computational systems contributed significantly to the musical's creation.

The project demonstrated the feasibility of computer-assisted musical theatre production.

The documentary films showcased the creative process and system contributions.

Abstract

During 2015 and early 2016, the cultural application of Computational Creativity research and practice took a big leap forward, with a project where multiple computational systems were used to provide advice and material for a new musical theatre production. Billed as the world's first 'computer musical... conceived by computer and substantially crafted by computer', Beyond The Fence was staged in the Arts Theatre in London's West End during February and March of 2016. Various computational approaches to analytical and generative sub-projects were used to bring about the musical, and these efforts were recorded in two 1-hour documentary films made by Wingspan Productions, which were aired on SkyArts under the title Computer Says Show. We provide details here of the project conception and execution, including details of the systems which took on some of the creative responsibility in writing the musical, and the contributions they made. We also provide details of the impact of the project, including a perspective from the two (human) writers with overall control of the creative aspects the musical.