How many producers

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 6:04am

A question for those with longer memories.

Do you think there are more or fewer producers of musicals in the West End nowadays? Looking at the way Oz (and other TV linked shows) are dominating London, do fewer people hold a larger market share now.

I'm sure things came from more diverse sources in the 70s and early 80s.

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 7:29am

I'd say you have more - but they are more like "investors"

Gone are the days when you had your Merricks/Delfonts/Nederlanders putting on a show by themselves. Now it takes an army of up to over 15-20 producers or "investors" to put on a show. The only person who can go it alone still is probably Cameron Mackintosh.

Gone too are the days when producers were actively involved and knew the theatre and the industry, now its investors and financiers looking to jump into bed with a money maker rather than produce something lovingly (and of course successfully)

Id say you have less producers who know what they are know but more producers involved.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 8:42am

'Harold Fielding presents'

...says it all.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 8:51am

Seeing these names above productions in the 70s and 80s meant you would get top notch entertainment...

'Duncan C. Weldon & Loiuse I Micheals for
Triumph Theatre Presents'
-these guys brought major productions of classic plays and musicals to every theatre in the provinces and then 9 times out of 10 they would play the West End.

'Bernard Delfont and Richard M MIlls for
The Bernard Delfont Organisation Presents'
- world class variety names and musicals could be guaranteed when these two presented a show.



Not so much with this one....

'Malcolm Knight presents'
-this guy had no idea about presenting a show and spend money on it!
The cheapest of productions of the time that toured endlessly including 'Grease' 'Hair' and such wonderful classic titles as 'Who Goes Bare?' 'Confessions Of A Window Cleaner' 'Lets Get Laid'. He made a fortune!!!
Updated On: 1/27/11 at 08:51 AM

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 9:45am

That's what I was thinking.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 9:57am

I was surprised when I read the programme for Spring Awakening, Novello Theatre, they had a army of producers, which maybe a reason why the show failed, think the idea of having so many producers is to spread the risk, however the downside to this the profit returns would be very low.

As for Cameroon Mackintosh, he can go it alone, as he has made a pile from Les Miserables, Phantom and Cats, the longest running productions on both sides of the Atlantic.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 10:04am

There was a Broadway musical back in the late 80s /early 90s (I'll remember the name soon!) that had 27 producers names above the title!

[DeNada]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 11:07am

The number of producers on SPRING AWAKENING had nothing to do with its failure. There was no profit to spread around in London, after all. It was perhaps indicative that the show was a massive gamble, because it was obviously hard to raise the cash to put it on, but the number of producers isn't why it made no money at the box office.

There are so many producers on shows these days because shows are so expensive to put on and you need an army of people to raise the cash to do so unless you have an existing network of investors built up over the years (like Cameron and Lloyd Webber must have).

Now, interestingly, is a time when we have far more diversity in producers than we have for a while. Looking purely at musicals, we have at the moment or imminently:

25TH...SPELLING BEE - Donmar
BETTY BLUE EYES - Cameron
BILLY - Old Vic Productions et al
BLOOD BROTHERS - Kenwright
CHICAGO - Billy Chicago
DIRTY DANCING - Jacobsen Entertainment
DREAMBOATS - Kenwright
GHOST - Colin Ingram
GREASE - David Ian
JERSEY BOYS - is it Dodger? They're Americans, anyway
LEGALLY BLONDE - Sonia Friedman and Jamie Hendry
LION KING - Disney
LOVE NEVER DIES - RUG
LOVE STORY - all sorts, Michael Ball et al
MAMMA MIA! - Littlestar
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - Americans again, can't remember who
LES MIS - Cameron
PHANTOM - Cameron
PRISCILLA - Back Row and RUG
SHREK - Neal Street
WE WILL ROCK YOU - Robert De Niro/Queen/Phil Macintyre
WICKED - Universal et al from the States
WIZARD OF OZ - RUG

So we've got three each for Cameron and RUG (and one of RUG's is a co-production), and that's it - all the other musicals currently or imminently playing have unique producers.

Of course several of these will share general management companies, and producers like Old Vic Productions or Sonia Friedman will have play projects in town at the same time. But I don't think we're lacking in variety at the moment.

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 12:11pm

Those shows above are the "lead" producers - but they have 10's of other producers/associate producers/key investors involved that would all be involved in the financial running of the show.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 5:34pm

Isn't Phantom co-produced by RUG?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/27/11 at 7:21pm

Y

[philitalia]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:56am

WestEnd production of Jersey Boys is (co)produced by David Ian and Chicago by Stage Entertainment.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:11am

Going back to Spring Awakening, which had a Army of producers attached, I am sure if this show was done by Bill kenwright as sole producer, it could turn a profit?

[Jonwo]

Posted: 1/30/11 at 11:14am

In the last decade especially when Disney got into producing musical theatre, you have film studios investing and producing shows, Universal has Wicked and Billy Elliot and Dreamworks is producing Shrek.

Most producers have investors/angels who they rely on to raise money to put on shows. If it is a hit, they get their money back and a bit more but for most it's a tax write-off.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/30/11 at 12:56pm

Jonwo, go on please, very interesting about the tax write up, so shows that lose money on paper, actually don't as part of it can be recouped via the tax system?

[Jonwo]

Posted: 1/30/11 at 9:08pm

Here's an interesting link about theatre backers from the HMRC website:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM66601.htm

Updated On: 1/30/11 at 09:08 PM