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.

It's About A Gerbil Called Gaylord.......

Farce is a notoriously difficult theatrical device to pull off. Aside from exceptional/visionary writing it requires a gifted director to choreograph the business and equally talented actors who understand the concept and can meet its physical demands. As it turns out, this week I have been to see two farces, each very different in nature and with varying degrees of success.

For the second year in a row, the From Page To Stage season has popped up at the Landor Theatre in North Clapham, to showcase a selection of new musical theatre writing. Produced by both the Landor and Katy Lipson’s Aria Entertainment, From Page To Stage is an excellent platform for new writers, allowing their work to take a step forward in the development process. 

From more than 120 submitted applications, Lipson and her team have chosen a broad mix of musicals, at varying stages in their development and a host of talented performers to perform them in either rehearsed readings or full production. So on Wednesday evening, I witnessed the premiere of Before The Night Is Through Olivia Thompson and Chris Whitehead.

Set in 1935, Honey Quenelle is England’s most glamourous movie star. Already an heiress of considerable wealth, she is hampered by idle relations, un-cooperative producers, jealous co-stars and unreliable catering. Thankfully she can always rely on her trusty butler Hugo to pour oil onto troubled waters but even he is stretched to the limit when news arrives of an escape from the local lunatic asylum.

Olivia Thompson is to be congratulated for developing a uniquely bizarre original story on which to hang her musical. There are some nice touches and thoughtful character development and the narrative itself divides neatly into a two-act musical format. The world Thompson creates for us is that of a heightened reality, with instantly recognisable comic characters, each with a viable - if slightly absurd - back story. The skill of the writer, especially when writing in this style, is to try to avoid huge swathes of exposition. Exposition may establish a backstory but without care and attention, it can sound desperate, clunky and should be avoided as much as possible. 

Before The Night Is Through, delivers a huge amount of exposition before a note is even sung and doesn’t really let up until the denoument. There are some fun, catchy musical numbers along the way but ultimately the balance of book against music is too one-sided and could bear some serious editing. I would recommend as an exercise, to either blue pencil any irrelevances to the central plot to see how far down the script can be paired and still make sense OR to remove all exposition and see what happens then.  

These are simply writing exercises designed to streamline an idea rather than alter the style or pace. Keep you farce as gloriously absurd as it is, just sharpen the writing to create a better balance with the score - this is musical theatre remember.

On a much lesser note, consider the title of this show. One of the worst things I have ever seen on stage was called What Happened Last Night, which only fed the plays many critics with fuel for amusing headlines the next morning. This musical is no-where near as flawed as that play but you really don’t need to give possible detractors a helping hand.

I shan’t comment on the performances, as this is essentially a showcase for the writers but needless to say, the talented company showed a great deal of dedication to the work and an evident affection for Thompson’s quirky comic style.