Musicals, musicals, musicals

The production of new musical theatre has been shifting of late. The West End, with its lofty venues and even loftier seating capacity was once the goal of every aspiring producer or composer. It is true that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh have left a legacy of grants and funding to encourage new musical writing but the West End is not the place to catch these new works.  

More and more often regional theatre and the London fringe are the platforms used to see this new work. They are invariably smaller venues with established audiences where musicals can be workshopped, gain audience reaction without risking vast amounts of money. In the last couple of years we have seen several major new West End musicals open and close and happily I have managed to catch them. Betty Blue Eyes, Stephen Ward, From Here To Eternity all closed before schedule and now I Can't Sing joins their ranks.

To quote Mark Shenton (and I don't do that too often), critics don't close shows - producers do. Musicals have always been a business risk and the canny businessman knows when to invest and when to pull the plug. I feel so badly for the cast and crew of I Can't Sing, as two weeks notices seems extremely harsh, but I am confident that such a talented team will not be unemployed for long.

Despite all my X-Factor prejudices going into the theatre to see I Can't Sing, I ended up recommending it to anybody who asked me what to see in London at the moment. I hope to God that an original cast recording has been made as I found the score particularly well crafted and, of course, Cynthia Erivo's vocals utterly amazing.

Moving on, this week saw the opening of Best Of Friends at the Landor Theatre in North Clapham. A show with an intriguing history, Best Of Friends should have opened at the Arts last year with the title The Golden Voice and starring Darren Day. The Golden Voice failed to materialise and The Stage gave full coverage to the producers failure to secure investment and eventual arrest on suspicion of fraud.

It all looked a pretty shabby affair and I couldn't help feeling sorry for all the cast, crew and creatives embroiled in that debacle too. Having seen Best Of Friends at its press night over the weekend one thing is certain - it was in no way, shape or form ready for a West End production. In fact, I felt that even this version at the Landor gave it stronger production values than it was ready for.

The book is seriously flawed and while a few of the songs aren’t bad, this is a musical that is in dire need of rewriting. To make matters worse, Fogarty has decided to take one of the lead roles himself and he - seriously - is no actor. If it was an issue of money then his attempt at playing the role was a false economy indeed.

I am a big supporter of new musical writing but I find it more and more difficult to lavish compliments on pieces simply because they are a) British and b) New - especially vanity projects such as this. The best thing I can genuinely find to say to Nick Fogarty about his musical is find a collaborator to re-write your book. Then come back for more rehearsed readings until it's in a decent shape.