I seriously doubt anyone would make an upbeat musical about a disaster that killed thousands of New Yorkers and destroyed half the city, less than ten years after the event. That would be like making a 9/11 musical.
I know it was presented as farcical and was likely a dig at "Hamilton" and all those other Broadway spectaculars, but seriously, nobody would ever have given such a show the green light.
I have no real expertise on musicals, but your comparison is missing one major point. The New York City attack would have been, by and large, considered a victory. Where 9/11 had no such outcome.
You might still be right on your assertion, as a musical number about it would seem horribly off tone with the reality. but I'm not sure it would have been AS unlikely as the 9/11 event.
Hey, the actually put a Spiderman musical on Broadway!
It was called "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark", and was one of the biggest flops in the history of Broadway.
I think this is probably what they were going for here. The expressions on Barton's face, alone, showed how cheesy and 'bad' the musical was.
I find more offense at the fact that this was a big Broadway musical and that's what the costumes looked like. On a small community theater production; sure...Broadway? no way, lol just look at Spiderman for the comparison of what the budget would be.
But yes, in this age and time, that musical would absolutely happen. They just did a musical about princess Diana. Jerry Springer has an opera. This is the marketed, tacky, cheesy end of theater.