BEHIND THE SCENES: All The News From SNAPPY TITLE

Luisa Ramirez

Sunday evening saw the launch of new networking site www.newmusicals.org.uk. The website is the brainchild of father-daughter team Peter and Katy Auker. It was set up to encourage and celebrate new musical writing, to promote new pieces to a wider audience, and to work as an online meeting place for anyone with an interest in new musical theatre, as well as facilitating contact between writers and performers.

The passion of the performers and composers alike was clear to see: the incredibly talented cohort had much to say about the importance of getting new work staged.

There seems to be a general consensus that West End audiences are more often than not looking for a show they know, or at least to see a "name" they recognise and are relying on the comfort of knowing it has a previous track record. It is thought that perhaps due to the current economic climate audiences often feel that they are taking a ‘safe' option by choosing to see a commercial favourite. The debate as to whether this is compromising the quality of the theatre available at the moment rages on; however, Peter and Katy are aiming to not only promote new theatre through their website, but to find ways in which to make it feel more familiar and less scary to prospective audiences. In Richard Dempsey's words, "new writing is the best thing for anyone who loves musicals"; a sentiment clearly mirrored by everyone in attendance.

Snappy Title was proof that this stagnation in the West End isn't for lack of new writers out there: we were spoilt with a wonderful range of songs, from the emotional ballads from Matt Brind and Steve Coleman's Only the Brave to Alexander Bermange's weird and wonderful A Trainspotter's Tale, sung by Jeremy Legat. The best-received performance of the evening was Verity Quade with the brilliantly witty Wake Up TV from Hot Flush 2 by Olly Ashmore, following the success of Hot Flush which has been touring for four years. Joe Robinson, who is only 17, had a song of his, If I Stay Here performed by the equally youthful Lucy May Barker, who was part of the original London cast of Spring Awakening earlier in the year.

Working hard to get opportunities for young writers is something composing duo George Stiles and Anthony Drewe have been doing for a long time. They are both board-members of Mercury Musicals Development, one of the beneficiaries from the evening. The charity sets up workshops and readings of all shapes and sizes to help with the development of new projects. The Stephen Sondheim Society Prize and Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize are also sources of great motivation: the former for performers, and the latter for writers. As writers themselves, they cite the importance of "hearing your songs performed by someone other than yourself. Inevitably, you learn something new about it, particularly when the song is taken out of context."

Equally, from an actor's perspective, Jon Boydon describes the creative processes in the period from auditions, through rehearsals, to press night as "the most important, exciting and exhausting" part of any production, particularly an unknown piece.

In addition to Mercury Musicals Development, the organisers chose to donate any profits to The Actor's Benevolent Fund which works with actors and stage managers at the other end of their career, supporting those who can no longer work due to poor health, an accident or frailty. All the performers and collaborators kindly donated their time and efforts to culminate in a wonderful evening for all.

As well as changing the attitude of the general public in their theatregoing habits, there is a real need to get producers to take a risk and put money into promising new projects. Evidently this is something people are willing to do, as we have seen with the infamous, and some would say, self-indulgent, production of Too Close to the Sun which was funded by its writers.

It would be wrong to ignore the huge contrast between London and New York in terms of the feelings towards new writing. "I think there's more of that culture in the US where musical theatre is considered an art form in its own right, whereas here there is a real snobbery that still is attached to it," commented Verity Quade.

It does seem that here, for the majority of the population, musical theatre just isn't part of day-to-day life as it is for the average American. For example, take website-founder Katy Auker's example of the Tony Awards. Here, the various awards don't command anywhere near the same level of respect and prestige as on Broadway. This is reflected throughout popular culture and whether it is a good thing or not, musical theatre actors are inarguably celebrities in their own right much more so there than here. The prospect of flicking through a magazine and finding a West End star staring up from the pages is almost unheard of here, yet in America their triple-threats are consistently and proudly displayed in the press, almost exclusively because of their theatrical achievements.

That said, Peter Auker is confident that this can change. "I think there's a perceived idea that audiences on Broadway are different to ones over here, and there are differences. Audiences there are much louder and up on their feet a lot more, they're not as reserved as British audiences- but I'm not convinced our tastes are different."

What remains to be seen is how the theatre community can change this public perception of musicals as a genre, and encourage audiences into smaller, fringe venues (It was suggested by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe that perhaps a small part of the problem with bringing audiences to these venues was accessibility. "On Broadway they have an entire theatre district; everything is located within a few blocks walking distance from each other. We don't have that here; you have to jump on a bus or catch a tube to find these smaller theatres.") I certainly hope that the New Musicals Network succeeds in their ambition to do so.

In the meantime, here are some recommendations from the evening's stars:

The New Musicals Network will be working closely with the Broadway transfer of Legally Blonde when it opens at the Savoy Theatre towards the end of this year.

Across the pond, two new Stiles and Drewe shows will be premièred in the near future: Soapdish and A Private Function.

They also recommended Loserville, which was performed by Youth Music Theatre UK this summer; and in the more immediate future Broadway to West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 4th October.

Look out for a transfer of Austentatious, which received brilliant reviews at the Landor earlier in the year.

Have a listen to the songs on My Land's Shore's website, suggested by Helen Power.

If you're lucky enough to be making a trip to the Big Apple, Richard Dempsey and Verity Quade suggest In the Heights and Next to Normal respectively.

In addition, I would add all of the composers whose work was featured on Sunday to this list; inevitably some will be more successful than others, but I predict a very exciting future for West End musical theatre.

 

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