Welcome to today’s edition of ShentonSTAGE Daily.

A NEW (AD)VENTURE FOR NEW MUSICALS IN THE UK

In New York, many off-Broadway theatres and regional theatres are regular incubators of new musicals, often in partnership with Broadway producers who want to have first dibs on subsequent rights, in return for enhancement money. It’s the single most powerful reason why the American musical is in such a vital state.

The behemoth HAMILTON, of course, originated at the Public, off-Broadway’s most prolific development centre of new plays as well as musicals (as did A CHORUS LINE, back in the 70s, and the upcoming long-belated transfer of HERE LIES LOVE to Broadway this summer, a full decade after its Downtown premiere in 2013).

The more recent successes of KIMBERLEY AKIMBO and  HADESTOWN originated in productions at respectively the Atlantic and New York Theatre Workshop (after earlier iterations In the case of Hadestown in Vermont and Massachusetts).  

The Atlantic is also where SPRING AWAKENING originated, as well as THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES from the same composer, Duncan Sheik, that is currently being given a new production at the Almeida, which also last year spectacularly revived Spring Awakening. (My review of THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES for Plays International is here: https://playsinternational.org.uk/the-secret-life-of-bees-almeida-theatre/)

The Almeida, under Rupert Goold, has probably done more to nurture new musicals than any other theatre in Britain in recent years, including in the last decade shows like the Sheik-scored AMERICAN PSYCHO that subsequently transferred briefly to Broadway, and Elton John’s TAMMY FAYE last year (which was immediately touted for a West End run but was delayed by the pregnancy of its leading lady, as well as the always-impossible ready availability of suitable theatres).

Sheffield’s Crucible was also the launch pad for EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, and more recently the wonderful STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE (pictured above) that transferred to the National earlier this year and will move next to the West End’s Gillian Lynne in 2024.

But while companies like the RSC have famously also successfully developed (and then benefited from the commercial exploitation of) shows like LES MISERABLES and MATILDA, these invariably fall under the developmental eye of the literary department, who for instance paired Matilda’s composer Tim Minchin with playwright Dennis Kelly.

The National scored a hit with a commercial partnership with comedy promoters Avalon that produced JERRY SPRINGER — THE OPERA,  and on their own steam producing the completely original verbatim musical theatre masterpiece LONDON ROAD, but have floundered with other original musicals like the Tori Amos scored THE LIGHT PRINCESS, and more recently the misfiring PINOCCHIO (with Disney) and the  embarrassing HEX.  

What we don’t have, beyond seed-bed organisations like Mercury Musical Developments and Musical Theatre Network (who jointly co-produce the annual BEAM showcase of new musicals, this year taking place at Oxford Playhouse on May 25 and 26), is regular in-house development at theatre buildings of new musicals as part of their core missions.

That is now set to change with the announcement that Birmingham Hippodrome, one of the country’s largest regional receiving touring houses, is becoming an active producer and nurturer of new musicals, with the launch of a new musical theatre department. It has been reported by The Stage that it will be “overseen by a head of new musical theatre, currently being recruited and expected to take up the post later this year. As part of the move, the venue’s 210-seat Patrick Studio will become a year-round home for new musicals, with productions having the potential to move from there to the Hippodrome’s main stage, which has a seating capacity of 1,841, and to partner venues around the UK. In addition, a year-long Writers’ Lab initiative is being launched, led by writer and dramaturg Victoria Saxton, which will allow creatives the chance to develop ideas with others.”

The idea was prompted, says artistic director Jon Gilchrist, following conversations with a producer who asked whether the Hippodrome was too reliant on the work brought to it, such as touring productions The Lion King and Hamilton, and asked what would happen if that were to decline.

Birmingham Hippodrome’s ambitions are for the theatre to come recognised as “the UK’s national theatre for new musicals”.

It’s not the first time a British theatre has sought to position itself thus. Andrew Lloyd Webber originally had similar ideas when he acquired Victoria’s Other Palace Theatre staging the original workshop of his own CINDERELLA there, and also doing readings of revised versions of STEPHEN WARD and STARLIGHT EXPRESS there.

But the venture swallowed money, and he eventually sold the venue on to another producer Bill Kenwright, who has re-installed a musical that ran there before transferring to the West End as a permanent resident, Heathers, while Heathers co-producer and the venue’s artistic director Paul Taylor-Mills tries out new shows occasionally in the basement studio.

No one can predict where the next hit show will come from. But creators need to be given the room to experiment and grow their shows.

Two of the smallest shows born in Britain in recent years with the biggest potential for global roll-out are SIX (now a solid hit in the West End, on a UK tour and on Broadway), which began life as an undergraduate show at Cambridge University that transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe, and OPERATION MINCEMEAT (developed at the New Diorama and with subsequent runs at Southwark Playhouse and RIverside Studios before it opens at the West End’s Fortune next week, where it is currently in previews). 

SHOWS AHEAD IN LONDON, SELECTED REGIONAL THEATRES AND ON BROADWAY

My regularly updated feature on shows in London, selected regional theatres and on Broadway is here:  https://shentonstage.com/theatre-openings-from-w-c-may-1-2023/

With the Broadway season just finished last week, today the nominations for this year’s Tony Awards are being announced at 9am New York time (2pm here). And this week’s London openings include a new Jack Thorne play tonight (Tuesday May 2) at the National, THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE, directed by Sam Mendes; and the openings of this year’s seasons at the Globe (tomorrow, with a production of  A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM) and at Chichester Festival Theatre’s Minerva (on Thursday, where mother and son LIa Williams and Joshua James play mother and son in Noel Coward’s THE VORTEX). 

See you here on Friday

I will be back on Friday. If you can’t wait that long, I may also be found on Twitter (for the moment) here: https://twitter.com/ShentonStage/ (though not as regularly on weekends)