Interview: Freddie Tapner Talks London Musical Theatre Orchestra's 2018 Season

Freddie Tapner is the founder and Principal Conductor of London Musical Theatre Orchestra (LMTO). LMTO recently announced its 2018 season of concerts.

As well as conducting LMTO at their professional engagements, Freddie performs in and around London and sits on the Developmental Board for the National Youth Music Theatre.

In a nutshell, what is LMTO?

The London Musical Theatre Orchestra is the world's only professional orchestra dedicated to performing musical theatre repertoire. The orchestra is packed with musicians who love musicals and who want to celebrate them on a grand scale.

LMTO is about to celebrate its third birthday. How did it come about?

LMTO was genuinely an accident. I posted the idea on Facebook, and 24 hours later we had 250 people interested in playing! From there it snowballed into what it has become today.

Have there been any highlights so far in the life of LMTO?

Highlights are always difficult to choose, but Alan Menken coming to see our concert of A Christmas Carol last year was really special. A sold-out Lyceum Theatre, multiple standing ovations, and the actual composer in the room is pretty tough to beat!

You've just announced a pretty diverse season: King tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott; Girlfriends is about female RAF pilots in WWII and Camelot, Lerner and Loewe's follow-up to My Fair Lady, about King Arthur. What made you choose these works?

We're really excited about 2018, because it shows LMTO's commitment to presenting a diverse range of high-quality works for our audiences.

King came about after a discussion with Hackney Empire, and I was instantly taken by the idea of telling the story of Martin Luther King Jr with music. It's such a powerful story, and when I heard bits of the score I just knew our audiences would love it.

Lerner and Loewe's Camelot has always been a favourite of mine, and when we realised we could take it to the Palladium, that was an instant "Let's do it".

I actually made my musical directing debut with Aria Entertainment's production of Girlfriends nearly four years ago. I've wanted to revisit it ever since and showcase its thrilling score on a larger scale.

What unites these works is the consistently high quality of the music. Each score is packed with gems which I know our audiences will love.

King has only had one performance, 30 years ago. Are you excited to be reviving it?

I cannot wait. The story is powerful, the music is astonishing and it's a real thrill to be partnering with Hackney Empire. We've also commissioned brand new orchestrations from Simon Nathan, so we'll get to hear the score on a grand scale.

The story of King Arthur has had multiple musical theatre treatments (Camelot, Merlin, Spamelot etc.). What stands out about Lerner and Loewe's take on it?

The music the music the MUUUUSIC. It's Lerner and Loewe's best score, with songs like "If Ever I Would Leave You", "How To Handle A Woman", "The Lusty Month of May", "Camelot" - and so many more. Every song is a winner.

Are you excited about bringing back A Christmas Carol? It's becoming quite the new festive tradition

We're thrilled to be returning to the Lyceum Theatre with A Christmas Carol. This will be our third year in a row performing Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent's spectacular take on the Dickens novel - and I think three in a row counts as a tradition, right?

Alan Menken is one of quite an impressive list of LMTO patrons. You presented Honeymoon in Vegas conducted by Jason Robert Brown last year, and are now collaborating with Howard Goodall on Girlfriends. What's it like working with so many musical theatre legends?

Ha - it's honestly still weird and still exciting to be working with so many of my heroes. I'm enormously grateful to all of our patrons for their support, and particularly to Howard, Alan and Jason for trusting us with their work.

LMTO is hardly a small ensemble. It certainly bucks the trend of the decreasing size of the pit orchestra in musicals, particularly touring productions. Care to comment?

LMTO performs to remind people why 'musical' starts with the word 'music'. We strongly believe that the music of musicals should be celebrated on an orchestral scale, and we are saddened at the continual shrinking of pits across the industry.

The most common comment to me after an LMTO concert is how thrilling it was to hear a score with a full orchestra. This music deserves that treatment, and audiences deserve to hear it performed that way.

Why should people come to LMTO concerts?

When designing a concert, I sit down with my team to discuss how we should approach it. By the end of the discussion we always arrive at one word: 'fun'. We want each of our events to be something people remember for the rest of their lives, a real "I was there" evening, and the way to do that is to make it fun.

Yes, we perform the music to a very high standard, and yes, we have world-class stars sing with us, but what is all of that without the evening being fun?

London Musical Theatre Orchestra present King in Concert - The Musical at Hackney Empire on 30 June and 1 July

Photo credit: Nick Rutter