Speaking of Musicals 101: If memory serves, Tom Jones (of Schmidt & Jones fame), in "The Show Goes On," had a wonderful monologue about one of the backers of "I Do, I Do!" insisting that shows had to have a title song "So people will remember the name of the show - you know, like 'Oh, Dolly!' "

There are, of course, shows which have "I want" songs
as their opening number: ("I Wish," "Belle"), but that's another story nevermind...
While there *is* something of "follow the template" in many contemporary shows, I think the real problem is the timeframe: shows get reworked and reworked for so long that (a) the life gets completely written out of them (see
Jeckyll & Hyde), and (b) promising raw talent never gets to work out its kinks by writing more than one show a decade (see Adam Guettel, Lin-Manuel Miranda).
TOD:
Ye Olde iPod: Journeys Greatest Hits Live (look, I didn't sleep well last night: I needed
something to keep me awake!)
DVD drive:
Psych season 4 disc 3