Broadway breaking boundaries whilst we stagnate

It is more than a little worrying i must say. Nothing new for ages and a lot of time spent on old classics (very hit or miss productions) and Shakespeare. It doesn't look like it will change in the near future either.

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The big issue is that London just doesn't have the infrastructure for developing new musicals that New York does. Things are starting to (slowly) change, but there's nothing here that guarantees a steady stream of material from new composers and writers.

Now cross your fingers and hope that the NYMF transfer I'm trying to land the rights to comes through...

See, this is why I've been so jazzed for 'Gone With The Wind'. On paper, it sounded like a horrendous idea. But it's a new musical, premiering in the West End, with music that's not just been ripped from some recording artist's back catalogue. When we get shows like this (I'm including 'Lord Of The Rings', 'Take Flight', 'Marguerite', anything else you can think of), we need to go see 'em. Even if the show itself may not be our cup of tea, we need to put our money where our faith is and say "I'm buying a ticket for your new musical! I approve of your new musical! Keep doing it!".

Sadly, most West End punters would rather go see 'We Will Rock You' or 'Mamma Mia!'. And we wonder why we're so inundated with jukebox musicals... ¬_¬

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"The west end is in trouble, it seems like new creations are few and far between"

There are plenty of new creations - just no commitment by producers to bring them to the stage. Unfortunately the bottom line is that theatre is a business and producers are intersted primarily in making a "quick buck".

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Coming from someone who lives near Broadway, I consider myself luck with all the new artistic options I am able to see on Broadway.


That being sad, can't London producers do what Broadway producers are doing. And, that is finding the fair balance of a new artistic show and something that can work financially.

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This has ALWAYS been a recurring theme in the 4 decades that I have been theatregoing both in the UK and the US and it swings from season to season. Each time, there are about as many US friends of mine (in the business and/or avid theatregoers) who feel that Broadway is a pale comparison to the West End as feel the reverse. The grass is always greener and all that.

There is still snobbery with musicals and the occasional inability for people to cope with others having a different taste to them (some jukebox shows are ok to like, others are not; yes to a revival of a classic, no to a revivial....)

At the end of the day taste. We got Caroline or Change, for instance, and a fine production it was too but the audiences stayed away. Now Bad Girls was fun if pointless and unoriginal (and originality is something that many often complain about a lack of) but it didn't appeal to audiences either. There is nothing wrong with sheer entertainment though and that is what it delivered. In much the same way that even the tackiest shows (Fame and that ilk) and the naffest jukebox type shows do for some. Those jukebox shows some of us loathe, many clearly adore. And vice-versa. It's all very well approving of them if we particularly rate them (Our House, Mamma Mia..) but heaven forbid if the paying public go in their droves to see something we think is crap!!!

Also some of the very same people on the message boards and in theatre "circles" who moan about a lack of arty or just new shows and then go to see a new show that does get produced and they then bitch to high heaven about how crap such and such a new show actually is.

The blame can in no way be laid at the feet of those who potentially buy (or don't buy) the tickets to shows. Nor is there much point in expecting people to see new things just because they are new. Nor is that even practical for enough to make a difference: not many are in the lucky position that some of us are where they can see many things - if a show does not appeal to someone, then it doesnt appeal to them and no amount of bemoaning that fact will change that!

Updated On: 4/9/08 at 06:26 AM

If you feel so strongly then do something about it. Don't go to see imported shows out of principle, for instance. ie) Wicked, Hairspray and ONLY allow yourself to see what you feel is original/new to the West End!!!!

Updated On: 4/9/08 at 07:22 AM

well that's a start!!!

i love bruce

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WEEZ i agree entirely! We all need to be seeing new work no matter what we have heard about it. Otherwise new work will stop. I think its a real shame that Take Flight didnt do aswell as they ahd hoped as the Chocolate Factory will now carry on with revivals or american transfers.

Here is a snapshot- the number of straight plays to musicals playing today in S.W.E.T. venues

Musicals
Avenue Q
Billy Elliot
Blood Brothers
Buddy
Cabaret
Chicago
Dirty Dancing
Grease
Hairspray
Into the Hoods
Jersey Boys
Lion King
Lord of the Rings
Magic Flute (sort of)
Mamma Mia
Les Mis
Peter Pan
Phantom
Sound of Music
Spamalot
We Will Rock You
Wicked
Total 22 (inc Magic Flute)

Plays
Brief Encounter
Gods of Carnage
History Boys
The Hour We Knew...
The Importance of Being Ernest
Legal Fictions
The Lover/ Collection
Major Barbara
Miracle/ DNA
Mousetrap
Never So Good
The Sea
Snowbound
Speed the Plow
Thirty-Nine Steps
Visiting Mr Green
The Vortex
Woman in Black
Total 18 (inc 4 subsidised)

Not a bad ratio. Here is Broadway:

Musicals
A Chorus Line
Avenue Q
Chicago
Curtains
Grease
Gypsy
Hairspray
In the Heights
Jersey Boys
Legally Blonde
Mamma Mia
Mary Poppins
Passing Strange
Rent
South Pacific
Spamalot
Spring Awakening
Sunday in the Park
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Phantom
Wicked
Xanadu
Total 23

Plays
August....
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Come... Sheba
The Homecoming
Is He Dead?
November
Rock n Roll (from London)
The Seafarer (from London)
Thirty-Nine Steps(from London)
Total 9

Now I don't know enough about subscrptions etc to compare with UK subsidised theatre, but on the face of it the West End is in a much healthier position in terms of straight plays. Not to say that further diversity wouldn't be nice, but I am more concerned about the lack of non-mainstream musicals than about the lack of plays.

I agree with the earlier poster that BALANCE between the commercial and "worthy" doesn't exist at the moment. I can think of at least 2 mega-producers with deep enough pockets to fund more new work, if they truly felt inclined.

Updated On: 4/12/08 at 09:30 AM

That's a really interesting comparison - thanks Dev.

I generally think that the scope of West End theatre is greater than Broadway but when it comes to musicals it's nowhere near as deep.

Updated On: 4/12/08 at 11:32 AM