It was heartening to read Kate Wyver’s report of the challenges and abundant potential of original, homegrown new musicals (Enter stage right: the new wave of musicals taking on the West End adaptations, 29 March). Despite musical theatre being responsible for more than half of theatre ticket sales in available UK theatre industry data, the development pipeline for homegrown musicals has long been under-resourced.
Wyver’s article notes the trickle of new musicals that find their way to London’s West End via subsidised theatres around the UK, a growing pathway for success, but a narrow opening if it were the only one for new work. What commentary on the West End sometimes misses is that there are hundreds of original new musicals being written in the UK every year, often staged initially at small venues and relying primarily on their writers to get them in front of audiences.
When Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments most recently travelled around the UK seeing pitches of new musicals in development, more than 650 came forward, most of them original. We’ll be sharing presentations from the most exciting 29 of these in our biennial showcase of new musicals in development – Beam2023 at the Oxford Playhouse on 25 and 26 May.
Wyver and many readers might be surprised by the degree to which these new musicals represent the diverse music tastes and cultural backgrounds of the wider UK population. Quality homegrown musicals already exist, what we need now are more staging partners and producers helping them reach audiences across the country, not just in the West End.
James Hadley
Executive director, Musical Theatre Network
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