This idea came to me in a dream.  I woke up thinking--hey, we have a
sure-fire hit here.  Now, if only we had--

characters!
a storyline!!
and especially--
lyrics!!!

Esteemed researchers and commenters all, here's to a collaborative
byline that stretches around the block.

Archae0pteryx

Well ... I'd like to see a sub-storyline with an antagonist who
insists on 23 being the *real* answer - or rather, the point where all
questions should begin.

Scriptor

I dunno. Douglas Adams always seemed to me a sort of Monty Python
without the guys in drag. Wouldn't "42: The Musical" be so very
"Spamalot"?

Lines could be drawn directly from Adams. My favorite is:

Randomly drawn Scrabble tiles arranged spell out: "WHAT DO YOU GET IF
YOU MULTIPLY SIX BY NINE."
Arthur Dent: "Six by nine. Forty-two." 
Ford Prefect: "That's it. That's all there is."

Vogon poetry set to music! The mind boggles. The gorge rises. :-D

54

If it's going to be a musical, there are all sorts of mathematics that
can be worked into the harmonics and rhythms, just don't ask me for
details, but I know that there has been a lot of musicalogical work on
number theory.  Maybe 6 times 7 is the/a code for the harmonies of the
spheres, then 6 times 9 for Stressedmum's 54, resolving (?) to 6 times
8 for the octave.  ???

Obviously, all verse in hexameters, Alexandrine, of course, to suggest
the storyline and characters (Pinky as Roxanne), which should suggest
to Scriptor one or several protagonists, each discordant types that
have to offend with his impossible prime number 23 in their meter and
disharmony.  Arggh!
But Scriptor will find a poetic solution.