The West End Needs New Shows
Published on Monday 21st June, 9.25am, Written by Carrie Dunn
We established last week there are very few current Broadway shows that might make the move across the Atlantic this season.
And frankly, the West End needs a bit of a kick at the moment – our brilliant shows are doing fabulous business (Wicked’s just passed the £100m ticket receipts mark, for example) and as we saw at West End Live this weekend they’re all of the highest quality in terms of performance…but wouldn’t it be nice to see something new and different for a change?
Remember when people were excited about this? Oh, youthful folly.
Of course, I thought the magical production of The Fantasticks might be it – if you’ve got an imagination and aren’t dead set on seeing something deathly dull about the state of the political climate, I see no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy it – but it turns out that even the tiny Duchess Theatre is too big for it to work in.
Tap Dogs is back at the Novello, but though that has the lovely Adam Garcia in it, it’s not a musical. And the West End doesn’t have a shining track record with fully-staged brand-new musicals lately (just think, this time last year we were all excited about Too Close To The Sun). Where will our next new openings come from?
Well, we’ve got Bridget Jones’s Diary to look forward to at some distant point in the future; that’s workshopping at the moment with Legally Blonde’s Sheridan Smith, Avenue Q’s Cassidy Janson and Sweet Charity’s Tiffany Graves.
And of course there are several revivals rumoured – Craig Revel-Horwood’s Chess is supposed to be touring this autumn; and when the Olympics come round many insiders reckon some of the old West End staples such as Miss Saigon and Cats will move back in to cater for all the overseas visitors. But wouldn’t it be nice to see some new writing?
What else do we have to look forward to? Have you seen anything on the fringe recently that you think deserves a transfer forthwith? Or do you have any brilliant ideas for new musicals that need to be written? Post your comments please!
There was a workshop for ‘Way Beyond Blue’, the story of Eva Cassidy a few years ago. Nothing become of it. Would have loved that to progressed.
I desperately want to give Stiles and Drewe a kick up the arse to get Soho Cinders off the ground. What we saw of that was fantastic, even though the plot needs to be re-worked what with tech changes to phones and cameras. As it is they’re currently doing A Private Practice for… either Brum or Manc,I can’t remember. I’d be happy with that transferring.
Wolfboy’s got a short run at Trafalgar – maybe if that’s successful?
I saw The Academy of Death shortly before it left for the Fringe last year. I definitely think it should transfer! I also want Next To Normal to transfer over here too!!
I do have some brilliant ideas for musicals but I’m in the middle of writing them all…so hush hush etc.
I have seen many west end shows and feel that new talent is needed before it becomes just another re-run of this or a re-run of that. I have seen some fantastic shows locally and feel these would do well in the west end, for example Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi, a fabulous well executed musical. Come on, lets get the new stuff in there and quickly.