New musicals ready to shake up the UK theatre landscape

Speaking at the UK Musical Theatre Conference recently, producer and venue owner Nica Burns stated that British musical theatre is “in the best place it’s ever been”.

Success stories certainly back up that claim – five-star homegrown hits like Operation Mincemeat and Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) prove there’s exciting work being presented to the public in the West End and beyond. What’s notable in these two cases is that they were not overnight sensations – both shows had creatives and producers willing to patiently fine-tune and re-tool the material until it is ready.

These two are only the beginning – coming up over the next few months in London are the likes of Martha Geelan and Jack Godfrey’s Babies, which plays at the Other Palace, and West End transfers for Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, both at the intimate Ambassadors Theatre – all also developed gradually and amassing a devoted online following. The minds behind Six will also be reuniting for their second offering, Why Am I So Single?, while sell-out hit Cable Street will be returning for a second run after wowing Southwark Playhouse audiences earlier this year. These will all be sitting side by side with big imports from abroad – including Mean Girls, The Devil Wears Prada, Dolly Parton hit Here You Come Again, and Fangirls. 

But new musical theatre shouldn’t be reserved for the capital. It’s exciting to see the chatter coming from Godfrey’s 42 Balloons, which is currently in previews at the Lowry in Salford, while Manchester and Glasgow will be treated to the world premiere of Burlesque the Musical this summer. Equally intriguing is Pippa Evans (award-winning comedian and core member of the Showstoppers) tackling the “NOW” album collection with new show NOW That’s What I Call A Musical on tour, while Birmingham will have the songs of Steps to enjoy with Here and Now this autumn. The Edinburgh Fringe already feels like it’ll have a wealth of new musicals on offer this summer – with some corkers being revealed very soon.

If you wanted to get a taste of what rising star composers are piecing together, Shift+Alt+Right creator Hilmi Jaidin’s new album of musical theatre numbers is well worth a listen. Jaidin is the lyricist on the Gurinder Chadha new musical movie Christmas Karma, a Bollywood film set in London and based on Dickens’ ghostly classic. The rise of EPs has been notable of late – 42 Balloons, Babies, Kathy and Stella and Two Strangers have all pre-released numbers in order to drum up hype. Speaking of hype – we’ve genuinely no idea about what to expect from Fun at the Beach Romp-Bomp-a-Lomp!!. 

None of these shows or creatives would be where they are without institutional support from venues like the Lowry (which first commissioned SpitLip to write material for Operation Mincemeat). In a time of financial precarity for major theatres and organisations (especially with cuts to local funding), it’s heartening to see the likes of Birmingham Hippodrome creating dedicated departments to help provide space and time for new writers to workshop and present shows in development. The Royal Court has also recently committed to staging new musicals in the future.  Bear in mind the venue was where The Rocky Horror Show first started – now where did that one end up?