As usual, Adam, a post full of insight and wisdom. Supplementary thought: Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice's big breakthrough came with JC Superstar, as is well known. I was a schoolboy at the time, and what was unusual, one could almost say mould-breaking, was that JCS had been released as a concept album long before it arrived in a theatre. We listened to that album at school because in many ways it seemed, in terms of idiom, closer to the rock concept albums you'd buy (with the benefit of hindsight) by rather pretentious bands and artists whose epic pseudo-historical doodlings were all over the album charts like Japanese Knotweed. We'd not expect as mere penniless teenagers to go and see the massive live shows theses bands made of their concept albums but if anyone was lucky enough to get a ticket somehow, minds were duly blown etc etc. ALW's move was seen at the time as hugely risky - throwing investment at an album intended one day to go to a West End theatre - what if people just bought the album but didn't bother with the live show? In fact he was proved spectacularly right and the love how was an instant triumph, with a ready-made box office advance & already-hooked audience. in 2021 that may not seem so revelatory a tale, but believe me at the time it was a completely fresh approach, rooted in the idea borrowed from Broadway shows of the 20s and 30s, whose songs were widely known, promoted and recorded well in advance of the opening of the theatre show.
My reason for mentioning this is twofold. 1. you are correct in your piece above that it is a myth that audiences won't go to something they've already got to know in some other form. Indeed, the opposite is true, because opening a NEW musical in the West End (ie, with entirely new music not filched from some popster's back catalogue or recycled from eg a film soundtrack) is - compared to NY - almost impossible without something the London/UK audience is already at ease with - a big star, a famous property, the following wind of a regional tour with fabulous word of mouth etc - in other words, you'd take to the West End something that was already successful, not something you HOPED would be successful. This is broadly speaking because audiences here will give a new play - about which they know not much - the benefit of the doubt but rarely a new musical. Unfamiliar music is a really uphill struggle in the WE, whereas in NY there is an in-built appetite and interest from audiences in the very concept of brand-new musicals. I was struck on my last visit to a Broadway Show (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) how in the interval in the upper, upper circle (well, whatever it was called it was miles away from the stage!) the punters were eagerly, intelligently discussing (in a positive though critical way, as it happens) the merits and style of the - to them - entirely unfamiliar score & songs. It has often been said, correctly, that HAMILTON or SPRING AWAKENING, FUN HOME, DEH or RENT couldn't have been grown and nurtured here as they were in the States (and, including FROM FAR AWAY, Canada) - this isn't just about producer willingness or workshop-capability or critical inexperience, it's about the audience. The WE audience is fearful of new music theatre and critics generally (though not universally) relatively unknowledgeable about music (reflecting, perhaps helpfully, the audience) at least not in the way they are instinctively knowledgeable about spoken plays and Digital theatre, like ALW's JCS on a concept album, gives our reticent, new-music-averse domestic market a chance to become familiar with material. It's a win-win.
2. Because of the conditions outlined above, digital theatre may, like ALW's revolution 50 years ago, be something that works even better as a model here than in NY. There are other reasons why this might be the case - generally less cash floating around to develop new shows or to take big risks with them than in NY, so digital premieres would be away of maximising what interest there is pending further uptake, and the fact that the cost of artists (for better or worse) is lower, and our amazing workforce is concentrated in a small and accessible geographical area. Added to the increasing importance for regional theatres to consolidate their limited resources via co-production, having easily distributable material that can be widely shared is a big bonus. Finally, the ticking time-bomb of the UK's herd immunity, non-mask-wearing approach to covid means that (a) many people over 50, prior to the pandemic a massively important demographic for the survival of any theatre, public or commercial, are still reluctant, despite vaccinations, to go into enclosed, non-AC-ed old buildings with hundreds or other people, 50% of whom might be unmasked, and (b) the scale of our collective failure to control the virus compared to the rest of the planet will mean, sooner or later, some kind of further restrictions my HAVE to be introduced thus hitting our theatre sector yet again. Mark Shenton has written passionately about this in recent days/weeks/months and he is right: the current trend is very, very worrying for anyone working in theatre. So digital theatre HERE may end up being a lifeboat for new theatre work of all kinds, a lifeboat that is less necessary to survival in many other theatre-making countries of the world. Keep up the good work!
Great post. I often hold off on listening to a cast album in order to save the surprise of experiencing the story and its surprises 'live', in the room - but then, I live in London! So I agree that digital theatre and cast albums are essential for people who can't make it to theatre cities, or afford theatre trips. Re another term for "non-corporeal theatre" - howzabout "filmed theatre" or, to capture cast albums too, "recorded theatre"?
Am I right in thinking Hadestown was a concept album before it was a stage show as well? I'm sure I've heard a version with Bon Iver singing on it? That didn't seem to harm the show's success...
While we’re reminiscing…as a child, I got most of my musical theatre experiences from a variety of sources. As well as the cast recordings, films, books and VHS specials, I remember a BBC series called Showstoppers fronted by Gary Wilmot. Then there were the Royal Variety Performances which usually had excerpts from latest shows. I even remember, on occasional trips to the West End, collecting handfuls of those free show pamphlets from theatre foyers. The blurbs and photos were pretty useful for giving you a feel for the show.
So the vast majority of my experience of musical theatre was (and still is) outside of a theatre. Now I’m not saying that picking up a free leaflet was better than seeing a live show. (Although given the cost of West End tickets and the fact that the leaflet was free, then the cost-benefit ratio made it a closer contest than you might think!) The point is that those memories and experiences are no less meaningful to me for being “non-corporeal theatre”. So I see nothing inherently “lesser” in the idea of digital theatre. As you say, just different.
Yeah, “non-corporeal theatre” doesn’t feel quite right. In fact, it sounds quite painful. Has the term “e-theatre” ever been used? Maybe it’s just a Yorkshire thing. Of course, the “e” would stand for Everywhere.
As usual, Adam, a post full of insight and wisdom. Supplementary thought: Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice's big breakthrough came with JC Superstar, as is well known. I was a schoolboy at the time, and what was unusual, one could almost say mould-breaking, was that JCS had been released as a concept album long before it arrived in a theatre. We listened to that album at school because in many ways it seemed, in terms of idiom, closer to the rock concept albums you'd buy (with the benefit of hindsight) by rather pretentious bands and artists whose epic pseudo-historical doodlings were all over the album charts like Japanese Knotweed. We'd not expect as mere penniless teenagers to go and see the massive live shows theses bands made of their concept albums but if anyone was lucky enough to get a ticket somehow, minds were duly blown etc etc. ALW's move was seen at the time as hugely risky - throwing investment at an album intended one day to go to a West End theatre - what if people just bought the album but didn't bother with the live show? In fact he was proved spectacularly right and the love how was an instant triumph, with a ready-made box office advance & already-hooked audience. in 2021 that may not seem so revelatory a tale, but believe me at the time it was a completely fresh approach, rooted in the idea borrowed from Broadway shows of the 20s and 30s, whose songs were widely known, promoted and recorded well in advance of the opening of the theatre show.
My reason for mentioning this is twofold. 1. you are correct in your piece above that it is a myth that audiences won't go to something they've already got to know in some other form. Indeed, the opposite is true, because opening a NEW musical in the West End (ie, with entirely new music not filched from some popster's back catalogue or recycled from eg a film soundtrack) is - compared to NY - almost impossible without something the London/UK audience is already at ease with - a big star, a famous property, the following wind of a regional tour with fabulous word of mouth etc - in other words, you'd take to the West End something that was already successful, not something you HOPED would be successful. This is broadly speaking because audiences here will give a new play - about which they know not much - the benefit of the doubt but rarely a new musical. Unfamiliar music is a really uphill struggle in the WE, whereas in NY there is an in-built appetite and interest from audiences in the very concept of brand-new musicals. I was struck on my last visit to a Broadway Show (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) how in the interval in the upper, upper circle (well, whatever it was called it was miles away from the stage!) the punters were eagerly, intelligently discussing (in a positive though critical way, as it happens) the merits and style of the - to them - entirely unfamiliar score & songs. It has often been said, correctly, that HAMILTON or SPRING AWAKENING, FUN HOME, DEH or RENT couldn't have been grown and nurtured here as they were in the States (and, including FROM FAR AWAY, Canada) - this isn't just about producer willingness or workshop-capability or critical inexperience, it's about the audience. The WE audience is fearful of new music theatre and critics generally (though not universally) relatively unknowledgeable about music (reflecting, perhaps helpfully, the audience) at least not in the way they are instinctively knowledgeable about spoken plays and Digital theatre, like ALW's JCS on a concept album, gives our reticent, new-music-averse domestic market a chance to become familiar with material. It's a win-win.
2. Because of the conditions outlined above, digital theatre may, like ALW's revolution 50 years ago, be something that works even better as a model here than in NY. There are other reasons why this might be the case - generally less cash floating around to develop new shows or to take big risks with them than in NY, so digital premieres would be away of maximising what interest there is pending further uptake, and the fact that the cost of artists (for better or worse) is lower, and our amazing workforce is concentrated in a small and accessible geographical area. Added to the increasing importance for regional theatres to consolidate their limited resources via co-production, having easily distributable material that can be widely shared is a big bonus. Finally, the ticking time-bomb of the UK's herd immunity, non-mask-wearing approach to covid means that (a) many people over 50, prior to the pandemic a massively important demographic for the survival of any theatre, public or commercial, are still reluctant, despite vaccinations, to go into enclosed, non-AC-ed old buildings with hundreds or other people, 50% of whom might be unmasked, and (b) the scale of our collective failure to control the virus compared to the rest of the planet will mean, sooner or later, some kind of further restrictions my HAVE to be introduced thus hitting our theatre sector yet again. Mark Shenton has written passionately about this in recent days/weeks/months and he is right: the current trend is very, very worrying for anyone working in theatre. So digital theatre HERE may end up being a lifeboat for new theatre work of all kinds, a lifeboat that is less necessary to survival in many other theatre-making countries of the world. Keep up the good work!
Great post. I often hold off on listening to a cast album in order to save the surprise of experiencing the story and its surprises 'live', in the room - but then, I live in London! So I agree that digital theatre and cast albums are essential for people who can't make it to theatre cities, or afford theatre trips. Re another term for "non-corporeal theatre" - howzabout "filmed theatre" or, to capture cast albums too, "recorded theatre"?
I like these but am also eager for a catch all term for theatre that is digested outside of a theatre.
Ah, you mean shows that were never in a theatre in the first place - e.g. Shift+Alt+Right? Will ponder...
Am I right in thinking Hadestown was a concept album before it was a stage show as well? I'm sure I've heard a version with Bon Iver singing on it? That didn't seem to harm the show's success...
While we’re reminiscing…as a child, I got most of my musical theatre experiences from a variety of sources. As well as the cast recordings, films, books and VHS specials, I remember a BBC series called Showstoppers fronted by Gary Wilmot. Then there were the Royal Variety Performances which usually had excerpts from latest shows. I even remember, on occasional trips to the West End, collecting handfuls of those free show pamphlets from theatre foyers. The blurbs and photos were pretty useful for giving you a feel for the show.
So the vast majority of my experience of musical theatre was (and still is) outside of a theatre. Now I’m not saying that picking up a free leaflet was better than seeing a live show. (Although given the cost of West End tickets and the fact that the leaflet was free, then the cost-benefit ratio made it a closer contest than you might think!) The point is that those memories and experiences are no less meaningful to me for being “non-corporeal theatre”. So I see nothing inherently “lesser” in the idea of digital theatre. As you say, just different.
Yeah, “non-corporeal theatre” doesn’t feel quite right. In fact, it sounds quite painful. Has the term “e-theatre” ever been used? Maybe it’s just a Yorkshire thing. Of course, the “e” would stand for Everywhere.