Theatre

A touch of glamour in the West End

Now that the British public has chosen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Maria, London will soon be alive with ‘The Sound of Music’. And not just Hammerstein and Rodgers’ music either. ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ will be following the Arthurian trail at the Palace, the back story to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will be told in ‘Wicked’, and James Dreyfus will welcome audiences to the Kit Kat Club in ‘Cabaret’. Then there’s ‘Daddy Cool’ at the Shaftesbury, ‘Porgy and Bess’ at the Savoy, and ‘Dirty Dancing’ at the Aldwych. In short, an exceptional number of musicals are opening in the West End this autumn, in some cases, replacing, but also adding to the 17 already twirling and trilling around Shaftesbury Avenue.

For most people, the West End is inextricably linked with the long-running musicals, and figures supplied by the Society of London Theatres (SOLT) show that, both in 2005 and in 1995, 60 per cent of those who went to the West End chose a musical over a play. Shows like ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘The Producers’ cater for those looking for a celebration and prepared to empty their wallets secure in the knowledge that they will see how their money has been spent, whether on glittering stars, big bands or special effects. Feature continues

It’s hard for new plays to compete with this kind of event culture. Plays, especially new plays rather than revivals, can be challenging, disturbing and local. They are not necessarily what Baptist American tourists want to see or how Aunt Hilda hopes to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. Currently, there are only three new plays running in the commercial West End, one of which is an adaptation. In September 1995, there were 11 and, in 2000, six. Admittedly, one of the three playing today is Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rock’n’Roll’, which has been so popular that it remained full throughout the always-difficult summer (only ‘Billy Elliot’ matched this). But there are no new plays scheduled to open in the West End this autumn, although ‘Frost/Nixon’, the current hot ticket at the Donmar Warehouse, and the National Theatre’s ‘The History Boys’ are hovering, waiting vulture-like for something to flop and a theatre to come free.

The lack of new work is not because the producers aren’t trying. Despite the difficulties and perhaps buoyed up by ‘Rock’n’Roll’, everyone I have spoken to still believes in the future of the new play. ‘There is a future for new writing,’ says producer and theatre owner Nica Burns, ‘but you have to nurture it very carefully.’ Burns is so optimistic that she and Max Weitzenhoffer bought four playhouses – the Duchess, Garrick, Lyric and Apollo – for £11.5 million off Really Useful Theatre last year when the latter company said it was concentrating on musicals.