Is there a stand-by in the house?

For those of you that know me well this blog is well overdue, for those of you that don't know me, please settle down as I jump off the fence, catapulting over my soapbox, straight towards the high horse I intend to ride for the next few moments.

Not since Martine McCutcheon went off in My Fair Lady have I ever known such a fuss about a leading performer going off, and an understudy or cover going on.

So unless you've lived under a rock for the last week, Glenn Close disappointed thousands of fans by being ill.  Due to star in Sunset Boulevard at the ENO, this was a rare opportunity for UK based fans to see a real live Hollywood icon on stage, in a role that she had already won a Tony for some 12 or so years ago.

The ENO did that notorious thing of putting the name of the star above the title of the show, which for those in the know means that if the star isn't performing you should be able to get your money back.  They have effectively rated the star better value than the show.

Since the era of franchised musicals in the 80's we've lost the stars of musical theatre in this country. Who's playing the Phantom right now? Who's Fantine? Who are the performers singing ABBA songs every night? The shows got bigger than the stars...and as a result the stars got smaller.  MT fans might know, but Joe Public don't have a clue and even more importantly don't care. They've bought into the 'product' not the performers.  In the world of theatre we have huge stars...yet outside of our world nobody knows who they are.  They're not even big enough to hook a show onto.  Why do you think that established performers are resorting to shows like The Voice or X Factor? The legend that is Imelda Staunton who actually has some Joe Public value had to bide her time to play Rose, as she wasn't considered box office worthy enough to open the show any earlier.

Sheridan Smith, Michael Crawford, Michael Ball....they could all open a show and the PR world would be taking it a little bit easier as these legitimate theatre stars have the potential to sell out a limited run of a musical, in an average size house(then you'd better pray for someone else to turn up at the end of their contract).

The Elphabas could probably sustain a few week's worth of tickets (but only if they'd played the part for a sustained period of time).

Anyway I digress.  Back to the ENO.  There's something very peculiar about the world of Opera that has always baffled me (not that I've been to that many)...it's about how vocal the audiences are.  No stiff upper lip here.  Seemingly in an opera house it's OK to boo as well as 'brava or bravo'.  I was first alerted to this on my first trip to see a 'proper grown up opera', when I watched part of the Richard Jones interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle.  It was the part that they dared to have some of the characters in naked fat suits.  To be fair I rather liked the interpretation (but I confess I was already a Richard Jones fan having seen his version of Into the Woods several times, and had personally worked first hand with Julia Bardsley, who worked very closely with  Jones).  Anyway on the press night it all kicked off.  The creatives came to take their bows (another peculiar thing about this world)...and I was truly taken back to hear people booing them.  Suddenly I felt like I was in some sort of surreal parallel universe. I've often spoken about my working class roots, and so I was already feeling somewhat out of place at the Royal Opera House (with my best ironed jeans on)...until this moment.  When suddenly I felt like I was being transported back to a panto at the Swansea Grand.  The audience had been split down the middle and half of them were shouting bravo (which up until that point I hadn't realised was a 'real thing'...for some reason I thought that it was made up), and the other half were actually booing people that had spent weeks creating this vision.

Now whether you like a piece of not, surely you must give respect to people's right to express artistic opinion? I know, I know...which leads to a whole debate about freedom of speech and the audience's right to express their opinion too.

So...jump back to last week, and let's spare a thought for the poor, poor bloke that had to stand up on that stage and announce that Ms Close was off? He was greeted by this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4_s0h5_g8&feature=youtu.be
Now what the hell is that about? I 100% get that you've waited your entire life to see someone live playing a particular part, and I 100% get the immense disappointment you feel when that person isn't on.  Your dreams are shattered, your wallet is lighter, and for what? When I went to see Gypsy, I distinctly remember that stomach churning moment just before the show started, when I literally held my breath in case that dreaded announcement came across the tannoy 'in this afternoon's performance of Gypsy the role of Rose will be played by...'. Fortunately it didn't happen BUT it has happened to me several times in my life, and every time I've been secretly devastated...but the key word here is secretly.  Never in my wildest dreams would I vocalise my upset because I understand that some poor sod is stood in the wings getting ready only to hear an audience sigh/groan...and my heart just feels for them.  I'm also aware that there are other people in the show, and I know from personal experience how despondent it can make you feel when you know that the audience are against you from the start. However, that said...this was the ENO...so there were no sighs, there was a full out shouting war going on.

I went on the 2nd night and I heard a similar reaction (probably not quite so pronounced)...and saw people instantly getting out of their seats to leave the theatre.  So they hadn't come to see the show AT ALL...it was literally all about Ms Close.  Yet ironically IMHO the star of Sunset is Joe Gillis. He never gets top billing, but it's HIS story isn't it? He guides us through the events that led to his death; I mean he's barely off stage.

In this current production the part of Joe is played just beautifully by Michael Xavier. It's the first production of Sunset that I've seen where I actually felt a sense of empathy for him, if I'm honest in the other productions I could have shot the Joes myself a few scenes earlier (if I were a fading film star with a psycho streak that is of course)

However Sunset is always billed around the Norma. Maybe because you can always surprise people with your casting I don't know.  It Antonio Banderas played Joe maybe the tables could finally turn (or even better...James Corden...too far?).

Again I digress.  So the show is held for 20 mins as everybody takes it out on the box office staff and the FOH staff (as they are clearly the reason that Ms Close is indisposed), meanwhile waiting in the wings was one of the West End's most accomplished performers, ironically waiting to sing the role that she had actually originated.  Maybe the thing that we should be most ashamed about here is the fact that when her name was announced, Joe 'I came to see a Hollywood star' Public didn't even recognise her name. As far as they were concerned, the director had bolted it to the Theatre Cafe and asked if any of the people singing karaoke fancied taking a stab at the role. This randomer from Wales had volunteered, the outfit fitted so she was on.

Now as some of you know I happen to know Ria personally....in fact I've known her on and off for around 40 years, since she was a child star, and I was . . . well, I was finding my place in the world ;-)
In fact I've known her predating her days belting out a show tune or two in the working men's clubs around the Swansea area.  I played the same circuit...but I was playing the electric organ, attempting to accompany the 'acts', as they got seriously heckled - very, very quickly(there was none of this 'give them a chance' time at some of the venues).  I say attempting because some of those clubs were so tough I couldn't hear the acts let alone follow them, due to the audience opting to give a vocal critique as though the cabaret was some nightmarish immersion theatre piece.  Interestingly I would say that the crowd were a bit rough at times....but having been at the ROH that evening, I can now reframe the occasions into an audience with vocal energy.

In other words... I knew that Ria, with her 40 odd years of stage experience was not going to be beaten by the boos.  I also knew that she has wanted to play this role since she originated it back in Sydmonton when dinosaurs were still ruling the earth.  For the past 20 odd years I've worked off and on as Ria's MD, and she invariably sings a Sunset song, and it always brings the house down. Just last year we did a gig back in Swansea together and she sung As If We Never Said Goodbye (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqhRcYIjqI) - listen to that applause at 2 mins 48 secs.  Without fail when she sings that exact moment, I get goose bumps. In recent years the line has been even more poignant given her much publicised health scare.

So here's my moan - I KNOW that it's PR gold to talk about the understudy becoming a star, but that's never real. In fact it's as real as Norma Desmond's comeback.  It's a fantasy, spun to the world, to make us all think that there's a short cut to success.  Shouldn't the headlines be shouting out "FINALLY THE ACCOMPLISHED THEATRE STAR GOT TO PLAY THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME"?  Shouldn't Ria be dragged onto every talk show going, to talk about this unique journey of hers? Shouldn't we be attempting to make her a household name in that precise moment? Shouldn't we be using the opportunity to finally explain to 'Joe Public' how amazing our understudies are...and that they're very likely not playing the lead, because their public profile isn't big enough? Then let's talk about the real saviours of Musicals - the Swings.  The performers learning countless tracks, ready to switch sides and harmonies within a heartbeat, in order for the show to continue.  Shouldn't we talk about the fact that in NY the Swings are revered, yet over here it's almost a 'next best thing' to be the Swing in a show.
Maybe we should talk about the fact that in NY Broadway performers can demand a huge salary, whereas reaching the top in the UK...those not famous performers who are supposedly at the top of their profession as they're performing in the West End....invariably have to get a day job to subsidise their income in order to live in the city that we all aspire to work in.
Maybe...just maybe...we could have just spoken about real life theatre?

The PR story was great - the Theatre Cafe girl won over the crowds and in the end they cheered her. The movement gathered momentum and people started to book tickets in the hope of seeing her...but what now? One paper rightly commented that they hoped that Ria's agent was currently taking their time sifting through hundreds of offers, then choosing their pick of shows for her to do.  There's a Joe 'musical theatre fan' Public rumbling almost daring ALW to produce a full version of the show with Ria finally in the lead.  Could that happen, or more specifically could that happen without Ria first having to compete on live TV with all the other actresses of a certain age, that could equally play the role brilliantly?  Of course that wouldn't happen, as the majority of those actresses (Ria included I would suspect) wouldn't put themselves through the editing hell that is a reality 'Search for your Star' programme.

So what's my annoyance? A dear friend and colleague finally got to play the role of her dreams, and everybody got to hear about it.  My annoyance I guess is that we now live in a world that needs us to spin a story, as oppose to acknowledge and celebrate hard work and perseverance.  Ria is the only person I know in this industry that has never done a 'crap job' just to get by and pay her rent. I think that that is phenomenal, and secretly we'd all like to dislike her a bit for that fact, but we can't, because she's also notoriously nice.  She's the worse that this industry can produce....a lovely grafter, like Kerry Ellis, Caroline Sheen, Rosie Ashe, Killian Donnelly, Mike Jibson, Alistair Harvey, A J Casey, Cassidy Janson,  Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans...Michael Xavier my list is endless. Is there any wonder that we're in a world where young graduates leave the industry within 5 years because they haven't 'made it' yet, or where people won't tour, because they're waiting to 'open in town'.  Even when something great happens, we feel the need to perpetuate the myth. Not necessarily in the full articles, but pretty much in every headline.

I keep screaming this - let's create stars out of our stars.  People like talent. Ria proved that 4 performances in a row...and because she's a seasoned professional, I'd put money on the fact that she could have played the role every performance (unlike a ridiculous article that I was reading today about how roles were now so difficult all performers needed a show or two off??) It you're playing Eva Peron maybe (just maybe)...if you're playing Charity Hope Valentine, just develop the stamina to do the job that you're paid pennies to do.

Our industry has the most phenomenally talented people in it, advertise them at the side of your Hollywood stars, as you never know...one night they might have to go on and save you £££££'s in returned ticket revenue.

Auditions. Whatever happened to class?

Auditions are a funny old thing aren't they? They can last just minutes, but sometimes they can determine the path that your life is going to take from that moment. At The MTA my graduating year group have just survived their hardcore round of private auditions. 15 auditions over the course of 6 days, spread out over 2 weeks. I was in awe of their resilience walking back into the room, exuding confidence, when in reality they were slowly getting acquainted to our old friend rejection.  Of course, they weren't actually getting rejected, they just didn't fit into the books of the agents that we'd invited at this stage.  Of course it doesn't feel like that at the time, when all of your friends' mobiles are pinging because yet another agent has invited them in for a meeting.  The other day we were talking in class about validating yourself, because if you wait for the industry to do it, you'll probably give up your dream really early, whilst acknowledging that it is again easier to do so if you have had a pinging phone for a week!

The MTA has an amazing record of getting 100% of our graduates representation prior to graduating, but that in itself puts a huge pressure on the students.  Who's going to be the poor sod that's the first one not to get signed from the college? We are forever talking to them about being proactive and going after their own work, and indeed a few of the late 'signers' have always found their first contract prior to leaving college by simply getting themselves out there on the circuit.  Of course it's easier with an agent...2 people working for you not just one (aka you)..but it's certainly not impossible. I fail to see how we can keep up this record, and myself and the team are always under the tightrope ready to catch the person or indeed people that feel like they've already been thrown off, before they've even began.

Then there's the tortuous set of auditions that performers have to take, in order to get into a college like ours in the first place.  Now I've written about this before: http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-the-audition-problem/ 2 whole years ago in fact.  How desperately annoying then that the problems that I wrote about then are still so prevalent today.

Just the other week 6 people did a no show? I mean, what the hell is that really about?  So at The MTA, we send people an initial letter and get them to confirm their attendance.  Even in that letter I write a whole thing about 'if you've changed your mind, just let us know, so that we can offer your place to someone else'.  I even helpfully add in the link to the above blog, so that people get a sense of how annoying it is.  A week before the audition I write to them again, just confirming everything from our point of view, and again checking that they can attend.  So this would be the perfect time to write back and say thanks but no thanks, meaning that we can offer someone that place with a full week's notice. Simple yes? However nothing could be further from the truth.  We audition on a Friday this year - late on Wednesday one person contacted me to say that they'd opted for a different college (along with an apology for the late notice).  Now I know that they had secured their place a few weeks earlier...so why not have told us then? Next up Thursday evening...the night before audition day, when nerves would be at their peak.  Cue my phone pinging then...one drop out at 10.30pm, one drop out at 11.30pm. Obviously I contemplate the possibility of calling someone up and offering them the slot - after all they would have had 9.5 hrs notice to prepare?!?! The audition day arrives...and a further 3 just don't show up...they don't phone, they don't email...nothing.  Seemingly it's OK nowadays to just not bother, I mean who knew? Did I miss the memo that everyone else seemed to have, which states that you no longer have to be courteous when you get an email? Maybe it was sent to our old address?

A few days later I hear from a casting director that they too have had the same problem, with professionals just not turning up, or dropping out at the last minute. Yet people are regularly moaning about not being seen for jobs? How does this work?

So when did this spate of not giving a damn kick in?  When did it become OK to just not bother and not say anything?  At the end of every MTA audition day we send out written feedback to every applicant. You know the sort of written feedback that everybody says that they so desperately crave? I also make a point of asking them to acknowledge receipt of the feedback, even if the over all result of the day isn't as they would have wanted.  On average only 50% of applicants will acknowledge receipt of that email?

We will continue to acknowledge receipt of every serious email that gets sent to the college, as I believe it to be courteous.  We will also continue to preach to our lot that they not only must do the same, but also, if they are lucky enough to get an audition, they should bloody well attend it, and try to get a job.  In other words, in spite of the increasing rudeness that we're seeing, we will continue to be respectful to other people. Isn't it a shame that we all don't think the same? Does our disposable culture now automatically mean that people have some sort of 'filter' in place which means that they only 'switch on' when it's something that they really want, or indeed need to hear/read about?

To all those people, starting out and indeed established professionals that continue to put themselves relentlessly through the audition circuit, you have my admiration. To all those people that don't turn up, don't communicate...try learning some professional etiquette. It's a small industry with long memories. Opportunities aren't just created in an audition room - they're created by the way in which you treat others.

Mental Health in Drama Schools Conference

So after 4 years of quietly mentioning it, 2 years of positively shouting about it, and about 18 months of screaming in despair about it....I finally decided to do something positive about what I considered to be the plight of poor mental health provision in drama schools.  What better thing to do than to call a conference? To call together all the people interested in this area and then to brainstorm how to ensure that we improved things.

I won't 'go on' again, but the perceived understanding(taken from a variety of International Studies) is that 1out of every 3 people involved in the arts will have a mental health issue at some point in their lives.  This is higher than the National average of 1 in 4.  At The MTA we've always had a unique take on this area insomuch as we've made it one of the cornerstones of the course.  There is no stigma around Mental Health, all the students understand various mental health issues, and most importantly of all most check in with our Health and Welfare consultant at some point during their training (and indeed after).  H&W in this instance happens to be Angie Peake who is a dual registered nurse and therapist, who has the skill set to actually diagnose mental health illnesses, and then as she also happens to be a nurse prescriber is also able to liaise with the GPs etc as to what the best course of treatment is, and finally is able to discuss a relapse prevention plan with the student.

So the conference was called being very clear that we were going to be discussing our unique model..however as we acknowledged in the conference we could only do this because at any time the maximum students we could have would be 44.  Even that was pushing our resources sometimes, but we could do it!

Since I've started shouting about Mental Health I've successfully managed to polarise friends in the industry. There are some that have found me to be the annoying fly that won't go away, but the one who can't be ignored, however the majority of the industry just agrees with me that there is 'an' issue.

I advertised the conference for 4 months on FB and twitter.  I also put out a request for people to tell me their experiences of Mental Health awareness at college. Though not inundated with stories, I didn't hear one good thing (with the exception of The MTA lot that wrote in, who mostly acknowledged an illness, said that they had been helped through it by Angie, and informed me that they were now having a lovely time carrying on with the rest of their lives).  The stories that I was told were shocking and dangerous. Staff saying completely inappropriate things to people, which they've continued to carry with them to this day.  In a few cases inappropriate 'treatment' at colleges had resulted in people not going on to have the career that they would have liked.  Now even reading the emails with a realisation that I was hearing a 'one sided' argument, and that the person could have been misinterpreting what a teacher was saying to them...it was still bloody shocking.   People bravely wrote of their experiences purely in the hope that by writing the email, they might make a difference.  Their voice (though anonymous) would be finally heard.

A few weeks before the conference The Stage had done a 'Green Room' feature (which is set out like an informal Green Room discussion between actors all talking under a pseudonym), on Mental Health in the Arts. The feature was shocking - the ignorance displayed by the actors was terrifying BUT if that was the perception of 'well' people in the industry, then at the very least we had an industry that needed educating.

In the build up I'd had several conversations with people about the conference, and indeed reassurances that 'so and so' would be there representing 'such and such' institution. Interestingly a few people that I'd contacted about the conference who had been extremely public about their own mental health struggles had failed to connect at all.  Still I increased the tweets and FB posts right up until the day. A big shout out here actually to @WestEndProducer who was a big twitter supporter, never failing to RT when asked (unlike lots of other tweeters with large followings)

Then came the day of the conference and I was literally inundated with messages from people wishing me well for the conference, and suddenly revealing their own mental health pasts, and again stating that something had to be done about it. I felt like the Mother Abbess in the Sound Of Music hearing all these 'confessions'.  Yet why were they all so hidden? Is the stigma around Mental Health even worse than I realised?  I should add that I had been thinking that way for quite some time, as since I've been blogging and shouting about it, The MTA's phone had started to ring, not with the usual student enquiries, but this time from people saying that they didn't know where to go, but they were in trouble, they were ill - please could we help them? They'd read some of my blogs or had seen that I was 'going on ' about mental illness so maybe I could point them in the right direction.  Hell at one point even a major production company contacted us in order to have some assistance on a Mental Health issue.  To be fair the only direction I can ever point anybody in on this topic is Angie, who, as far as I'm aware always helped them out.

The conference was set up to be time limited, to ensure that we could remain focussed and on topic, as it's so easy to drift. Although we set a rule up about protecting anonymity all the 'delegates' have indeed tweeted to say that they were with us, so I'm not breaking any confidences when I say that we had someone from a FE college (their identity remains protected I believe), Susan Elkin from The Stage, Pat O'Toole from Rose Bruford, Laura and James the co-founders and Principals of the Dorset School of Acting and Equity, who impressively had sent a senior member from their main office plus Adam Pettigrew the Chair of Equity YMC...and ............well that was it.

I completely applaud Equity for sending 2 senior members, in an instant showing how important a subject they considered this to be. I'd go so far as to give them a standing ovation given that I had gone a few rounds with them on Twitter over this topic many a time.  Similarly great to see our industry's paper there ready to report on this important and life changing subject...but where were the other drama colleges? Drama UK who I've always maintained are a joke, didn't show, in spite of being sent a reminder email a few days before (which of course was acknowledged by an automated response. No doubt they were over in China or somewhere building up their brand awareness). However where were the course leaders that on twitter always publicly comment on my thoughts about Mental Health, and always ask to arrange a coffee to discuss the topic...and who have never, ever followed through?  Where was the Pastoral team member from another major college who had had an extensive email exchange with me over the conference, agreeing that something needed to be done, and stating that they had already popped the date in their diary? Where were the actors, who had been very vocal with me about their own struggles during college, and telling me in no uncertain terms that they would be at this conference as something had to be done?

10 of us in total were in that room, and do you know what the saddest thing of all was...that had exceeded my expectations.  I knew that all those people wouldn't turn up.  Everybody today is a social network warrior. They'll shout about stuff on FB, they'll press 'attend' to all the political events and rallies. They'll write posts and share posts about how we should be implementing social change. They'll moan and rant about simply anything...but when it comes to leaving their homes or offices to actually implement that change....nothing.  Of course there will always be the anti establishment extremists who turn up at any event ready to fight whoever over whatever, but they're not the people that we're trying to engage here. I'm talking about the everyday actor who knows that this industry is struggling (and I know this because as well as seeing it myself, they've told me).  Talk to me about your time at college when you witnessed people going through so much pain, with so little help. Oh that's right, you will  talk or write to me about that 'poor' person, but you won't go and sit in a room one afternoon in a bid to help the next poor sod going through the system?

As it turns out the conference was extremely useful.  We all sat around and nodded as we shared experiences of mental traumas in college.  Even in that room the 1 in 3 was sounding like an optimistic figure.

Equity were very much on the front foot, and had some plans underway which might help the issue somewhat.

However there IS still an issue here, and if anything Drama UK being useless has made it even harder. All of the colleges, big and small, should have a mental health policy..but you know a policy means nothing.  It means that someone sat down, like I'm sat writing this blog, filling up a word document, with all the right 'things' that we'd want them to say, no doubt hitting on the buzz words of the moment.  Here's the rub though.....it don't mean a thing, if in practice your staff and your students don't understand Mental Health.  A person in crises won't just suddenly knock on a stranger's door to tell them their issues, more than that, if they're in crises, they might not even know that they're in crises. Good mental health policy (as witnessed at the conference actually) showed that these things had to be 'picked up' not just ignored by staff and students, or put down as 'being a bit off', or 'having the bad day'.

Who does now regulate drama schools? Or indeed does it matter? Should good Mental Health policies (and by that I mean the ones that actually deliver....not like one that I heard about that got 'put on the table every time that there was an inspection') almost get a Kitemark, to show that they operate within an agreed set of guidelines (or at the very least are attempting to)? If so, who's to hand out the elusive 'marks' and then who's going to go around every year and check that they're being upheld?  It almost needs a 'secret shopper' approach to ensure that standards are upheld.

So lots of questions still to be answered, but at least we started.

Ironically it's not my students that I'm worried about, I know that we're implementing an active Mental Health policy.  I'm actually fighting for seemingly the majority of the rest of them. The stunning teachers, like the other ones in the conference, are fighting for their students that they can't get hold of because they're swamped and over subscribed.

How to convince a 'business' to invest in the invisible that won't pay back a dividend for years? Invest in your students today and don't see any reward for years? As that's what we're asking.  The payback for good Mental Health would be experienced throughout the entire industry (hell CSM's wouldn't know what had hit them). First though...how to get everybody to leave their homes and offices to have the discussion?

Déjà vu

Do you sometimes feel like you're living in a world of déjà vu? Or like you've been banging the same drum for so long that it's just become a noise that people can blot out...yet you KNOW that it's still relevant?


My friend and esteemed colleague Chris Grady has just written a great blog about the need to create 'celebrities' from Musical Theatre performers.  Here have a read: http://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/whos-in-it-a-challenge-and-maybe-a-solution/. I took the opportunity to remind him of a blog that I'd written way back in Jan 2015 http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-new-year-same-problems/ In part covering the same topic that I'd touched on then...and indeed making reference to the fact that I had been speaking about this very subject some 9 years earlier (or was it 8?)!  In fact (as stated in my 2015 blog), the thinking behind The MTA covering acting for camera in a 50/50 split with acting for stage was predominantly for this very reason.  I'm still staggered by the fact that some 2 years on we are still the only Musical Theatre course to genuinely split the focus of our acting course.  In fact next term will see (we hope) the birth of the third MTA short film.  Oh how I wish that I could share the links with you of the first two, as they're genuinely inspired, and indeed, when you think that they were written and shot in just one week, they're truly remarkable too.  Now we can only do this because a) our Head of Acting is Tilly Vosburgh who is in fact a national treasure (except that the nation doesn't quite realise it yet) and b) we have an up and coming award winning director called Alex Warren who has an amazing eye, great vision, and a very generous spirit to edit the film for us.

How many times since I first spoke out about this in 2007 (or was it 2008...I still don't remember) have I seen 'Musical Theatre' performers cross over into the medium of film, blatantly, and wisely IMHO, raising their profile, so that they can cross back into the world of theatre, suddenly being seen for roles, and demanding a much higher salary  (which also means that they can indulge in the occasional off-West End profit share type show too).  It's the perfect win/win.  The world of TV is gaining some great 'names' and the world of theatre can reclaim them, and surprise a whole new audience.  If Celebrity "X" is putting new bums on seats AND being brilliant what's not to like about the arrangement? Right now John Partridge is shocking Eastenders' audiences up and down the UK by staring in Chicago. I'd love to know what percentage of the Chicago audiences are newcomers to the theatre just to see a popular soap actor 'take on' a musical theatre role.  Of course the fact that he trained at both the Royal Ballet Lower School and then Birds just might have passed them by. Just like the fact that for the 20 years before he was the 'newcomer' in Eastenders, he had predominantly worked in Musical Theatre.  However I love that!  Rewind to 1991 and I vividly remember paying my 2nd visit to Into the Woods down at the Phoenix...but this time I had my mum and dad with me. I'd been out of college for a couple of years, and I'd saved up enough money to take them to the theatre for a change.  In retrospect why I thought that my dad would like Sondheim, when he didn't really 'get' musicals at all is beyond me.  Anyway the show starts and my father sits up, all excited to see 'that woman from Fresh Fields' on stage...all shocked (he explained in the interval) that she could sing alright couldn't she?  Of course 'that woman from Fresh Fields' was the amazing Julia McKenzie, half the reason that I had opted to pay a 2nd visit in the first place (the half being Imelda Staunton, who was playing the Baker's Wife, and I hadn't seen her in anything before, but thought that she was really something quite special and wanted to watch her performance again).

So even as I write this blog, the penny drops that psychodynamically maybe I had made the connection way back then that 'celebrity' could actually be a good thing for Musicals, as opposed to the force for evil that it suddenly became in the noughties? Now before anybody shouts about all the stunt casting...well that's a different thing altogether isn't it?? All of the above is clever casting, and clever career progression.  Having a Big Brother contestant playing Billy Flynn is ludicrous, having them playing a pantomime villain is insulting to all those people who trained to do it properly, yet sadly, good business, and last time I checked, the secret to commercial theatre producing was the first word, not the second two(and yes, yes, yes...in the ideal world commercial, good business and integrity all combines, but the world has never been perfect).  Also look at the social change that took place in the noughties - the television landscape suddenly changed overnight.  Big Brother, American Idol, The X Factor, Masterchef, Location, Location, Location, Wife Swap....the list is never ending.  Hours of broadcast time with TV companies spewing out 'the everyman', who let's face it, were much cheaper to populate our screens with, than the 'every actor'!  Ironically we then attempted to turn them into the latter via pantos and 'an audience with..' theatre tours.  The trouble is, as I stated up in Edinburgh however many years ago it was. . . you either moan about it, or beat them at their own game. In the Noughties, everyone was still in the Thatcher glow of you could have anything if you wanted it.  The daughter of a humble grocery store owner could become Prime Minister. We could all become that illusive thing called 'a celebrity'.  This was a different thing to 'celebrities' of old (who we actually called stars not celebs....because they shone a bit brighter than the rest of us, or at least that's my favorite definition of the word).

I think that theatre lost it's way a bit during this time. We were so busy moaning about this new era, we forgot to keep up.  Shows became 'stars' not performers, and our 'stars' faded into the background.
Fastforward 10 years and we're all writing blogs about it!

Then my 2nd déjà vu is the constant 'noise' at the moment around the fact that we have a Mental Health crises in this country.  I've lost count of how many times in the last week alone friends and colleagues who are aware of my fight around this topic (specifically within the drama school sector), have sent me links to articles stating that the Mental Health provision in this country is in trouble. The service is crumbling under the demand.  Well pardon my French but 'no shit Sherlock'? MIND have long stated that 1 in 4 people will experience some sort of Mental Health crises in their lifetime. As my PA corrected my maths just the other day, meaning that in The MTA, which currently has a roll call of 41 students, I should have 10 students either struggling with a Mental Health issue, or who are ticking time bombs waiting to go off later on in life. Now these time bombs could be an almighty explosion or a tiny whiff of smoke, who's to say...but that's a lot of 'tiny bangs' going off in society at any one time isn't it?  I'm currently collecting stories (both good and bad) from people that have gone through a drama school education with a Mental Health issue, plus from staff at the colleges, just finding out what support is really being offered (as opposed to tick box exercises where an administrator says in theory what's going on).  I'm not exactly letting a cat out of the bag when I say that early findings support the Australian findings on this topic (http://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2015/09/14/demands-of-acting-hurting-performers--mental-health.html), The Californian findings (http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jul/18/actors-struggle-resolve-emotional-problems) The Icelandic findings (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3115620/Creative-people-prone-suffering-mental-illness-Actors-dancers-musicians-likely-genes-causing-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder.html) ....I won't go on but you get the picture.  A little bit like my thoughts around 'celebrity' I hate to say 'I told you so' (although as my students know those are my 4 favorite words)...but I've been banging on about this for years.  Way before The MTA in fact.  Well clearly, otherwise I wouldn't have thought of opening a college with Mental Health Wellbeing at the heart of it.  I mean if I could timetable  the subject in I really would (instead my students have to 'study it' in their own time as and when they find it necessary). That said it's great to see all the various # campaigns designed to raise awareness of this important issue.  Do check out  https://www.facebook.com/events/911328365625354/ if you get the chance, contribute if you can find the time or the inclination...and most importantly of all, if I ever randomly come up with 6 numbers between 1 and 49 write them down and play them in the lottery around 10 years later...as seemingly I'm quite good at predicting the future ;-)

Another Closing, Another Show

Last night another new British musical opened in the West End, whilst ironically, on the same day, the news broke that Stage Entertainment were axing their UK Production department.  Cue a load of people tweeting woefully about the demise of new UK musicals before they've even got started.  

This is just so frustrating though isn't it? Now I might call myself a composer and a lyricist hell <drop that link> MMD even made me a feature of their latest Spotlight feature http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=ec5465f9637ff25801f1e12bc&id=070983c735, which I have to say I'm really grateful for as it's nice to remind people that I have a day job which runs alongside being the Principal of The MTA. However I live under no pretence that I'm ever likely to write a West End mega hit.  More than that, I've never even attempted to.  I'm much more 'functional' than that - I simply write to demand. So I write whatever somebody asks (and indeeds pays) me to write.  I hope that I've always delivered a really good piece of writing that I can look back on with pride.  So far so good.

However I still don't think that the UK is getting it right with new writing.  I'm sorry to be negative, but I really don't.  I think that we try  really hard, but at the end of the day, the Americans seem to be really storming it.  The reason, I believe is rather simple (disclaimer right here...of course, what would I know?).  

Many moons ago there was the inaugural Musical Theatre conference run, back then, by MDM (which morphed into MTN a while later).  It felt like the dawning of a new age - a whole group of writers/directors/producers, sat upstairs in the Old Vic discussing Musical Theatre in the UK. However the bit that really stuck in my mind was a line said by one of the American guests that day. So I'm clearly paraphrasing now, but it was something along the lines of, you have to put on 100 crap musicals to find that special show.  This concept blew my mind, because in that moment I knew that we were fighting a real uphill battle, as there just weren't those opportunities to produce (to stage) that many new shows.

It's just so bloody expensive to put on a musical, and therefore nobody was going to take a punt when funds are stretched already.  We workshop shows really well over here, we spend years developing them...but we always fail at that last hurdle of getting them into production. There are literally a handful of provincial producing houses, and the West End is blocked by the long runners, so we haven't got the physical space let alone the inclination.

Then the poor shows that actually do make it into production have the weight and the expectations of the world on their shoulders, as immediately everybody's waiting, hoping for that next great British 'hit'. Seemingly though the playing field has also changed as to what constitutes a hit. A point made beautifully I thought by Howard Goodall the other day.  Nowadays you have to have been running for at least a decade before people consider the show successful.  It's like a musical maternity ward....some of them come out a bit, well, ugly and under developed, but you can't say it, so you smile sweetly and congratulate the writers on its birth anyway. You might even say a slight fib to help them on their way, and even compliment the new born, whilst walking off, thinking something very different.

When the new show closes, everybody gets annoyed that 'we didn't support our own', and then moan once more in a typically British way about how it's not fair and things needed to be given a chance. Yet the Americans were saying that a closed show isn't a disaster...you just get up, brush yourself down and put on another new show...and so it goes on, until you find the one that's perfectly formed, and bingo...THEN you have you mega musical, ready to be franchised out around the world (if indeed, that is the definition of a 'hit').

Over the years I've seen some UK shows that have closed early and genuinely been amazed (and indeed disappointed for the writers) that they've never taken off.  Really well crafted pieces that for some reason, didn't spark the public's imagination enough to support it.  Similarly I've seen some bloody awful shows that everybody else seemed to be raving about, running for far longer than I would have put money on.  I guess I'm saying that there's a bit of luck involved here too isn't there? The show has to hit the public's imagination at exactly the right time e.g. the happy go lucky musical in the middle of a depression, the musical that has enough star power to raise the Titanic, and that alone can keep a bad show afloat for longer than its craft might really dictate.

In spite of Stage Entertainment's news, we are really trying.  The upcoming BEAM event is definitely a new departure for the UK, and it will be really interesting to see how quickly the successful pitches get their shows actually up on their feet and produced at a theatre.  

It's not the lack of material that's holding us back, nor the lack of writers, however it might be the lack of good material.  Plus the chemistry has to be just right doesn't it? That lethal cocktail of a storming book that holds up to scrutiny, lyrics that are clever but not too clever leaving an audience fully understanding the reason for the song,  a kick ass score well arranged,  a cast and a creative team that do the work justice and finally a society that is ready to 'tune in' to your show at the exact same moment that it's produced.  

When you think of it like that, then there's little wonder why shows close. I think that my gripe really is the fact that we don't jump up and write another one, we throw all our toys out of the pram and sulk for a few years before trying again.  Performers are the worse for this on twitter, moaning about people not supporting new musicals and therefore what else could we have expected.  Of course within a few months they're onto their next show, and whilst they might still be cross about the closure of the 'amazing new piece of UK writing that they championed', they are fundamentally over it, living 'the dream' on the next piece, whereas the poor writer has another few years of purgatory ahead of them as they 'start again', and this time it's even harder as the royalty cheques have dried up and they're having to 'earn a living' too.   

I go to see an American transfer, and I instantly seem to get why it's a success (even if I don't personally like it). Before your eyes you see all the components fit smugly together like a well oiled machine. I seldom get that vibe from a new British show...one of the ingredients just didn't work out, but we just can't admit it as that's like musical blasphemy; or it's the other extreme and the writers have been so clever that those of us that that love this art form seem to just adore it, but you know instantly that there's no real commercial future for the show.  It's the show that's too clever for it's own good (at which point everybody talks about the writers in terms of 'Sondheim'...they are always 'the next Sondheim', as opposed to the 'first them')

The answer is, that we need to produce more shows, and get that turnaround of new material out there. It's getting better for sure, and if there were a road to follow, it seems obvious that we've gone the right way....however, we're playing catch up, and I suspect that it'll be another few years before some of the amazing writers out there really get the break that they so richly deserve.  In the meantime though let's keep it real - we're all capable of writing a turkey (they're seemingly much easier to write than a hit), and if it so happens that our turkey gets produced with none of the right components to turn it into a hit, why don't we just quietly acknowledge the truth that you can't polish a turd...and just go straight back to our computers and attempt to write another one. Meanwhile the performers can 'act out' their annoyance that nobody supported the show (when in reality they're cross that their contracts have ended sooner than their landlords needed them to)

So with this most insightful of realisations, feel free to go to the Pheasantry this Sunday to hear Jordan Langford singing Romantic Notions from Dangerous Daughters, courtesy of Snappy Title who are producing the evening.  See whether from that snippet I should be buying some polish in an attempt to keep that song and show alive.