Twang

Late in his career, Lionel Bart wrote several infamous flops.  Probably the most notable was Twang, about Robin Hood, intended apparently as a spoof of the legend and of a lot of other things.  It was the "most" notable because Bart ended up putting his own money in it, when the show got into serious trouble, and he pretty much lost all his fortune that he'd made from Oliver!  ​
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The history of the show is pretty convoluted.  One preview run in Birmingham was cancelled, though it did have a preview in Manchester.  It was apparently a horrible mess, the original director Joan Littlewood (best known for Oh, What a Lovely War) quit, and Bart was in his LSD phase, so a lot of the needed work didn't seem to get done especially well.  Burt Shevelove -- previously the partner of Larry Gelbart, most notably on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum -- was brought in to work on the book and direct, but things remained off-kilter. And the show itself was all very expensive.  The show did open on the West End and played for 43 performances.  The reviews were beyond dismal, reaching derisive, and audiences stayed away in droves.  
(For one actor, the failure worked out to his benefit.  Being free, Ronnie Corbett -- who played 'Will Scarlet' -- was hired to be in the TV show, The Frost Report, with David Frost, and this ultimately lead to him later co-starring in his own series, which even made it to the U.S., The Two Ronnies.)

Photo credit Getty Images

By the way, a lot of articles on the show list the title as Twang!!, with two exclamation marks.  And I've been told by reader Walt Patterson that publicity material at the time did have the two exclamations.  But as you can see from the theatre marquee above, and the big sign to the left, as well as the cast album cover, there isn't an exclamation mark in sight.  I think additional confusion also comes from that the title song is listed as being "Twang!!"  But that's the song, separate from the title of the show.  Perhaps the title began with the two exclamation marks and then dropped them.  Or not.  So -- it's one or the other...

​The cast album was recorded, and a CD is even available on Amazon -- though it's clearly rare and is listed for $71.  (But it's a more reasonable $34 on Amazon's U.K. website. And on iTunes you can get the songs for just $8.99)  I've been able to find a couple of the songs online, though. This one here, 'May a Man Be Merry?", is from what appears to be a very odd album that Lionel Bart himself recorded and is described on YouTube as his "late '60s acid breakdown LP,"  titled Isn't This Where I Came In?  So, I'm not sure if this was the arrangement of the song that was used in the show.  There's a short video elsewhere of a fellow doing an instrumental cover of the song with just an acoustic guitar, which is a significantly "gentler" rendition.  I don't particularly care much for the song, though that might be because of Bart's recording.  But it certainly is...well, intriguing.  It also apparently got cut from the show not long before the opening.  Or not.  It isn't listed on the album, though is listed here in the Twang page of the Guide to Musical Theatre.