Ah, I would agree with that. I love musical theatre (obviously) and I love watching the shows, but I find generally find straight shows more intellectually interesting to think about and read. I've been reading a lot of Tom Stoppard along with all of the plays for my Art of the Play class lately and his plays are just fascinating. (Have I used 'play' enough in one sentence?
) The way language is used and the dynamics of action and character . . . it's really neat stuff.
That said, I do think that the lyrics often have a lot more to them than the spectacle of the show would have you believe. You're so right about spectacle, though. Like in Phantom, the thing everyone remembers is not the tragic story about someone who was cast away from the world because he looked rather bizarre, but the chandelier crashing. Not always, of course -- a lot of musicals are just for giggles, but some of them have real depth that the glitter hides all too well. The Last Five Years, for instance, is very simple, has gorgeous music (my favourite OCR ever), and has these amazing lyrics. I'm seriously biased here, as it also has two of my favourites actors currently working, but I honestly think it's an excellent show.