Musicals have become a part of our rich cultural fabric with their melodies and words being adopted into our everyday life and speech: whether it’s the perennial popularity of songs like ‘Summertime’ (Porgy & Bess) or ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ (Wizard of Oz) at weddings or how instinctively people quote ‘A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down’ (Mary Poppins) or even the title song of another musical, ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’
Yet it is so difficult to create a new musical from scratch, from idea generation right through to getting it in front of people, it makes you wonder how on earth you achieve success.
There’s such amazing talent in this country; we are so lucky and it is exciting to see, but we have an infrastructure problem preventing new work from growing.
Musical theatre requires investment, guidance and much support. But above all of this it needs people to take a risk on the new and the untested.
Musicals engage more theatre attendees than any other artform, and so it is our responsibility to encourage new work.
We already have a reputation for taking a risk on the new and being the place to see the next big thing.
The beloved and award-winning musical SIX had its world premiere at Playhouse before eventually making its way to the West End and Broadway.
My Son’s a Queer (but What Can You Do?) wow-ed audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and transferred to the Garrick Theatre but not before audiences at the Playhouse got to see it first.
Cake: The Marie Antoinette PLAYlist visited us last year to sell out audiences and recently had a run in the West End.
Now we are teaming up with the Lowry in Manchester, Birmingham Hippodrome, and MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton for Rewrites. This platform puts shows on their feet and in front of an audience for the first time, offering audiences a chance to be part of the journey from the very start.
Even if you haven’t heard of the programme, you will have probably heard of some of the musicals that started on it. The hit West End musical Operation Mincemeat started at a scratch event at The Lowry.
As a consortium, we work together to select a musical in development and tour it across all our venues. This not only allows work to be tested differently but also gives artists a chance for wider support. It gives artists an opportunity to play with the genre, pushing the boundaries of what musical theatre can be.
Nel’s Place is heading to Norwich Theatre Stage Two from 22 – 23 March, a wild and wonderful fantasy brought to life by musical theatre company, Sheep Soup.
It examines what material things really mean to us and how easily we can become buried by the past.
Trapped in a hoard of memories and music, Nel yearns to make space for granddaughter Molly’s 16th birthday celebrations.
Objects sing for their survival, and old demons are unleashed as musical memories spring from the eclectic depths of the hoard.
Smaller venues like Stage Two are so important in the new musical process, and as the saying goes, good things come in small packages. It can act as a springboard for new shows and gives the creative team confidence to keep going.
Those of us who care about musicals know the importance of having spaces, resources and a willing audience to test new work. But what delighted me is when I speak to people who saw SIX when it premiered with us back in 2018 and they say with glee, “I saw that before it got big!”
Supporting new work can be an exciting new journey for those of us in the industry and audiences alike and I love seeing this in our city.
Nel’s Place is at Norwich Theatre Stage Two between 22 – 23 March. For more information or to book, visit norwichtheatre.co.uk or call the Box Office on 01603 630 000.
Stephen Crocker is Chief Executive and Creative Director of Norwich Theatre.
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