Writing musicals is so very hard to do (and so is catching up)

I got back from Las Vegas yesterday after a trip that ended on a high — not, alas, a high-roller high (in seven trips there now, I am yet to gamble), nor even on that rollercoaster that passes above and through the New York, New York casino (which I am also yet to do). Instead, we took a helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon on Friday late afternoon — and landed at the base of it, near the Colorado River, for a quick champagne (or in my case, Diet Pepsi) snack before flying back as the lights came on over the city.

That meant that we didn’t see a show on Friday at all, before we took another, much longer flight home on Saturday night, landing yesterday at 10.30am. And of course, me being me, last night at 6pm I was already in a theatre, namely Holborn’s Cochrane for the fourth annual Tim Williams Award for new musical writing, featuring songs written to classical and established texts not originally intended to be sung.

I was part of the judging panel that also included The Stage’s own Paul Vale, writers Frank Lazarus and Craig Adams, director Laurie Sansom (who is also chair of Musical Theatre Matters , the advocacy group for theatre creative personnel and producers wishing to develop and champion new musicals) and Neil Marcus (Executive Director of Mercury Musical Developments , the writer-based organisation also dedicated to promoting new musicals).

MTM and MMD also recently won a joint bid for formal Arts Council funding, which means that this work is now being taken seriously at the higher reaches of the arts establishment and musical theatre writers finally have properly established groups to form a community around and forge opportunities through.

There’s a lot of talent out there, but paradoxically little new original work actually being put on — the National’s current London Road is their first original piece of original British musical theatre writing since Jerry Springer — the Opera eight years ago, and even George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who met as students over 30 years ago and have been writing together ever since, only this year finally had their first entirely original score put on in the West End with the opening of Betty Blue Eyes . George and Ants are also board members of MMD (as, to declare an interest, am I), and vigorous champions of new musical writers, awarding the annual Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Award in their names.

Ask Anthony Ellis – Part II

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