Guest Blog: Hair Today, Jukebox Musical Tomorrow

When the Broadway smash hit and Tony Award-winning revival of Hair
announced it was coming to the West End, I could not have been more
excited. A brilliant production on Broadway with a pitch perfect cast
and a vibe that breathed so much life back into an art form –
musical theatre – that tends to be on life support at the moment.

My
excitement was doubled when they made the historic move of bringing the
entire Broadway company over (the cast are jaw-dropping) and I breathed
a sigh of relief when the UK critics gave the show great reviews
(except Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail whose reviews for Hair and Legally Blonde were the only negatives out of the bunch); yes Hair looked set to be a hit.

Flash
forward a few months and this Broadway transfer has announced it will
close in London in September, playing for just under six months. Whilst Hair
may not be to everyone’s taste it’s a show that pulsates with energy,
passion, a great score and plays now as a perfect retro piece; so why
did audiences stay away?

Some will argue that the high ticket prices are to blame but I think that’s silly. Whilst Hair’s
ticket prices were a whopping £60 for top price seats, you could find
tickets far cheaper available everywhere – also, the high ticket prices
are the same as some other major musicals in London. No, the truth is
that, as I reported in one of my first articles for Whatsonstage.com, the
West End is in trouble when it comes to its musicals.

I’ve
always defended the West End since I was 17 and working in West End
musicals but now at 31 I feel ashamed at the dreadful amount of shows
which clog up the West End and the great shows we get bowing out after
only a few months. The simple fact is that Broadway stands head and
shoulders above us in terms of creative output for musicals and
audiences being open to trying new things.

Can you imagine if Next to Normal
first opened here in the UK?  The show would have opened and closed in
the blink of an eye because it would appear the West End has now become
a home for hen parties and non theatregoers who want to watch a
familiar name. You would expect that Broadway would be plagued with the
same problem, after all New York is far more of a tourist city than
London is so surely the tourists would be seeking out the Phantoms and Mamma Mias
to spend their holiday money on (and they do). The difference is however
that New York theatre fans, especially young theatre fans, will give
everything a go that opens, in fact most of the young theatre fans seem
to embrace the new and interesting, you only have to look at Broadway
theatre message boards and West End theatre message boards to see that.

Next to Normal, Fela!, American Idiot and Memphis
are all doing very well from this season and last, though none are shows that
you would expect to be doing well as the commercial appeal for each is
limited; but theatregoers gave them a try, spread the word and turned
shows about mental health etc. into hits. When our new shows open like
Dreamboats and Petticoats, All the Fun of the Fair, Grease etc. these are the shows that our audiences go and watch, but why?

It’s quite simple. Audiences here for musical theatre seem to want to be able to watch something with:

(a) A star name (All the Fun of the Fair, all the reality shows casting musical etc.)
(b) Something with a familiar score of pop hits that they can sing along to (Dreamboats and Petticoats, Priscilla) or
(c) A recognisable name/brand (Sister Act, Grease, Flashdance).  

That’s the West End, folks!

You
only have to look at what’s playing in London and what’s playing on
Broadway – it’s a poor state of affairs when home-grown musicals Blood Brothers and the newly opened and critically panned Paradise Found
(kind of) are the only shows that are playing that have an original
score, and are not based on a movie or an album or artist. Is that
really what West End theatre has become?

Hair, even though it’s a revival, has an original book and score and follows the likes of The Drowsy Chaperone and Spring Awakening –
all three Tony winners, all three did great runs in New York, all three died a
quick death here.  It’s sad because Americans have seen this pattern
now and comment on it on message boards, they say we have no taste,
that US shows should not go to the West End and tarnish their
reputations, and now I’m starting to agree.

The sad thing is that we ship so many of our revivals of Broadway musicals back to the US and they embrace them (La Cage and A Little Night Music have racked up around 15 Tony Award nominations between them) but when they give us some great shows we reject them. Yes, Legally Blonde has done well (it’s based on a film) as has Wicked
(a teen dream) and Jersey Boys (jukebox musical), but whenever it seems
to come to something original we just turn our backs on it; it’s not
familiar enough.

It’s bad enough that the UK seems incapable of writing a decent musical at the moment (Imagine This anyone?) we can say we are in a slump, but when we outright reject original musicals which are being sent to us it’s just sad.

Box
office receipts for the West End may show that it’s more than healthy
at the moment, but healthy is not a word I would choose. I’m sure the
creators of Thriller Live, Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You
are happy that their artistically bankrupt shows are selling well, but
the real creative people with a vision and talent are left on the
sidelines scratching their heads asking why their shows can win so many
awards but not find an audience here.

The real theatregoers, who
have a passion for theatre, need to start demanding more from the West
End. Shun the shows which clog up the theatres to purely make money and
seek out original pieces or wonderful revivals. Give the shows you may
not know anything about a chance – it’s the best way to be surprised. Instead of watching a show four or five times save some of that money and
seek out something new, you will be glad you did.

As for
Broadway, producers and writers I say to you, don’t allow your shows to
come here if they’re original and unique pieces. Save yourself the
embarrassment and just enjoy the success they deserve in the US. It’s
far too heartbreaking as a theatre fan to keep seeing these shows die a
death here (I also pray the team at the National don’t send Fela to an early grave by transferring it to the West End).

And to the cast and crew of Hair
I say, you gave it your best shot, your passion and energy which lit up
the theatre was astounding and your production beautiful. I wish all
the cast well back in the States and just know that the failure of Hair in London has nothing to do with you, it has to do with us, and for those two hours a night you did indeed let the sun shine in.

A
shift needs to happen in London’s West End where we can embrace the
interesting, the new and the exciting musicals – we need to start to
match the standard set by our brilliant plays. Until that day comes
(which seems a long way away) I fear that musical theatre in London is
more for the casual audience and than a theatre audience.

I for one have washed my hands of the West End musical scene for now, I find more interesting stuff going on regionally.

– Craig Hepworth

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This article originally appeared on whatsonstage.com/northwest