Transcript
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Mickey Jo (2:30)
With more and more high profile new theatrical productions originating in London rather than in the US and with more and more connection thanks to social media between theatre fans on either side of the Atlantic, the emerging question is quickly becoming is that West End show going to transfer to Broadway? Which is refreshing because for many years it's felt like we were more often than not asking the same question in reverse about Broadway shows transferring to the uk. And as your friendly neighbourhood theatre aficionado, I thought I would bring you a little bit of an update. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to you if you're listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional theatre critic and a content creator and a theatre fan first and foremost. I see as much as I can on either side of the Atlantic and around the world and we have been pretty spoiled recently with some fantastic and a lot of very high profile new theatrical openings in London and here in the uk. So much so that the majority of the American theatre goers who I know personally, all made their way here earlier this year to catch Evita at the London Palladium, many of them having already fallen in love with new musicals like the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which recently closed at the Ambassador's Theatre. And right now, London is enjoying two of the most anticipated theatrical openings of the year with the Hunger Games at the Troubadour Theatre in Canary Wharf and Paddington the Musical at the Savoy Theatre, both in preview set to open this month. But not every American theatre fan has the opportunity to fly over to the uk, prompting many to ask the question, is that show going to transfer to Broadway? And admittedly, although the two theatre districts, Broadway and the West End, are both, you know, very celebrated, Broadway is still often seen as the true epicenter of the industry. Sunset Boulevard as an example, made a lot of impact when it was here in London, but it wasn't until it arrived at the St. James and started walking around Schubert Alley that it really became a cultural phenomenon. So today I'm going to talk through a couple of the most discussed shows. We're going to talk about PADD and the Hunger Games as well as Evita, the Curious Case of Benjamin Button and some other new musicals currently running in London like the Devil Wears Prada and Hercules, as well as perhaps some side notes about new plays like Inter Alia, or some ongoing productions which opened here a few years ago, like my neighbour Totoro. If there are any that I don't get the chance to talk about today that you are curious about potential Broadway transfers for, let me know in the comments section down below and I will do my best to bring you answers. But in the meantime, here is what I know about the possibility of these shows heading over to the US Foreign let's start with Evita the Jamie Lloyd directed Fabian Eloise choreographed bold revival that took place at the London Palladium earlier this year, starring Rachel Zegler singing from the balconies as Ava Peron in this fantastic performance alongside the brilliant rising star leading man Diego Andres Rodriguez. I saw it thrice over the summer. Literally been there, seen it, got the T shirt. Wearing the T shirt right now for those of you listening on podcast platforms. And as soon as it was beginning, even before we had reached opening night in the UK when the clips were going viral on TikTok of Rachel singing to crowds gathering daily every single show outside the London Palladium dedicatedly trying to see this performance for themselves, but also film it and share it on social media, there has been conversation about whether this even could transfer to New York. Now the same conversations were being had about Sunset Boulevard when it was playing a comparatively limited run at the Savoy Theatre in London a couple winters ago, with leading man Tom Francis performing what was then considered a really revolutionary and bold and brave way of staging the Act 2 opening number, the title song Sunset Boulevard, by walking out of the stage door with a live camera feed following him round the exterior of the Savoy Theatre and back into the auditorium. Little did we all know then that when the show transferred to Broadway they would have even more ambitious plans, crossing in front of Manhattan traffic, heading up Schubert Alley and back down with a couple of variant options in case that wasn't feasible on busier nights. But even then, the conversation before it opened in New York was they're never going to be able to replicate that in Manhattan. And guess what? They did. Which is why you have to take with a pinch of salt all of the naysayers who are suspicious of whether or not Evita could even work in New York. Although there are some key differences. And I say all of this if it wasn't obvious, because if Evita were to transfer to New York, director Jamie Lloyd has made it very clear that the balcony performance happening outdoors to a crowd on the street would have to remain intact. This would have to stir be a part of the show and they would have to find a Broadway theatre where not only would they have a balcony to perform from, but also they could responsibly encourage a crowd to gather on the street. Interestingly enough, Argyle street, where the show was performed in London, is not actually a pedestrianised piece of road, but for the benefit of the duration of those performances each time it became pedestrianised. I actually think it would not hurt whatsoever to entirely pedestrianize this road every single day of the year. But that's just me. Ban all the cars from Central London. I say start with Old Compton street, but I'm getting sidetracked. And you know me to be Mickey Jo Theatre and not Mickey Joe Civil Planning, so I'll stay on task. And there are admittedly a couple of key differences between Tom Francis Sunset Boulevard Walk and Rachel Zegler. Presuming it would still be Rachel Zegler performing Don't Cry For Me Argentina from a balcony. For one thing, the Don't Cry For Me Argentina performance blasted not only her own vocals, but also the orchestral sound out onto the street so people could really appreciate the performance. When Tom Francis was walking past you on the street doing Sunset, only he could hear the orchestra. You were just hearing him go past you like a car playing music loudly out of some open windows. So it wasn't as satisfying to watch. The most exciting thing about watching Sunset Boulevard on the street was seeing the entire process and the village of people coming together to make it work with the security, with the camera operators walking backwards, for goodness sake. So not only is Rachel's performance considerably more entertaining to go and watchfully on the street, you're actually getting to hear and enjoy an entire song and hear the backing and everything. She is also a considerably bigger star name. Now, Tom Francis gained some notor, certainly within the Broadway community during the run of Sunset Boulevard, but Rachel would be arriving as a huge star already. And if we learned anything from the chaos at the Romeo and Juliet stage door at the Circle in the Square, it's that she commands something of a fan base. So the notion of trying to do this at any Broadway theater and not anticipating that there would be a disproportionately huge crowd that might not be feasible within the greater Times Square area is perhaps a slightly foolish one. That's before we even get to the conversation about which theaters even have the balcony space to accommodate this. A lot of people saw the construction that was happening at the St James Theatre balcony, where the Queen of Versailles has just started preview performances and is soon to open. And I will disappoint you by telling you that that construction actually began while Sunset was there, because I was queuing up for a Rush ticket to see Mandy Gonzalez be terrific in the show towards the end of its run, and they were doing very loud construction above my head while I was trying to vlog about it. All of this before Evita had even started previews in London. I promise you that that is construction relating to the the was not specifically with an incoming Evita transfer in mind. Some people have commented on the possibility of the Palace Theatre because there is some kind of a Times Square performance space that is connected to the theater somehow. There has also been speculation about the Walt occur which has a balcony from which the Hadestown flowers were recently removed. I don't necessarily think that's an indication that Hadestown will be getting evicted anytime soon. So you don't need to panic. But certainly it is a big question mark. All of this being said, the revival was hugely financially success successful here in London. There was an extraordinary buzz about it. Paddington is currently getting a lot of that buzz in previews. People are talking about the Hunger Games, but right now Evita is the most talked about show of the year, possibly on either side of the Atlantic. It really dominated conversation throughout the summer and I would be shocked if they aren't ongoingly trying to find a way to get this to Broadway. I know that Sir Angelo Webber has expressed a certain amount of reluctance. Maybe there was even a personal falling out with director Jamie Lloyd. Comparatively, his collaborator, Sir Tim Rice expressed a real eagerness for the production to be seen in New York. And if it weren't for the balcony of it all, you have to assume that it really would have been a slam dunk. But we're going to have to wait and see. Next up, another celebrated musical production here, but one which was comparatively much smaller. I am talking about the most recent Olivier Award winning best new musical, the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Now, if you're familiar with the story but you don't know the musical, I do encourage you to go and listen to the cast recording. It's absolutely stunning. It is a Cornish set. Actor, musician, performed, folk scored retelling of the story of Benjamin Button as originally conceived by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which retains the idea, the notion of a man aging in reverse and the implications of that on his life and his attempts at having a family and finding happiness and romance and fulfillment. But it jettisons almost every other detail about any other version of Benjamin Button that you may have seen in the past, including the book, including the film, because it relocates his story to early 20th century Cornwall in a small fishing village. This being the idea of one of the show's two co creators, Jethro Compton, who directed, set designed, wrote the book, co wrote the lyrics along with the composer Darren Clark. They are absolutely brilliant. It's A beautiful show that deserves to be seen around the world. I hope that it goes on tour around the UK after the closure of the London production recently. It's very much a plucky little show that grew to prominence because it had multiple off West End runs at a small fringe venue called Southwark Playhouse. But it really captured a lot of audiences hearts and like shows like Come From Away, it was very uplifting and heartwarming. I know very few people who went to see this who weren't really emotionally engaged by it. And that includes a lot of Americans as well, who are personally very eager for the show to be seen somewhere in New York. Now, the road for Benjamin Button might be a little bit of an interesting one because during the show, and this isn't a spoiler, Benjamin travels from his native Cornwall across to the US to I believe, Maine, I think is where he ends up and spends a small portion of the show. And I hear a sort of a whisper on the wind, as yet entirely unconfirmed, which could amount to nothing whatsoever. That there is the notion that if this were to be presented in New York, not necessarily on Broadway, but in New York, that the geography of that could be perhaps reversed and it could be a show instead set in Maine in the US with a character who travels briefly to the southwest coast of the uk. And a lot of fans of the show may sort of immediately feel very indifferent to the idea of changing it and relocating the story. There's something really inherently Cornish and British about its DNA. I would be so intrigued about the implications of this, and my initial reaction would be one of real shock. Subsequently, I think I would ultimately decide that whatever helps to endear this terrific, ultimately emotionally universal material to a culturally different audience is probably a good thing. We've seen very few examples of this in the past, of shows being heavily rewritten in order to relocate them to a different audience. Although there is one other notable example, and it's another new musical which ran at the Ambassadors Theatre here in London where Benjamin Button played, and that is Kathy and Stella Sol A Murder. Now, it hasn't yet had a full professional, fully staged production in North America, but it recently had an industry workshop in New York. And this is a story originally set about two best friends who have a murder podcast together who end up having to solve an actual crime. It's all very comic, very sort of Victoria Wood esque comedy. Again, sort of quintessentially British in its tone. It is originally set in Beverly, near Hull, and I gather that the American version with an American cast has been relocated to, I think Duluth, Minnesota. If that is in fact a place that is part of that other place, I think that's the location that they moved it to. And having seen Kathy and Stella four or five times during its development from its Edinburgh Fringe origins all the way through to the West End, I would be so intrigued to see how that material has adapted and changed. I think for both shows, it would ultimately be a great thing if that geographical switch was the thing that not only allowed them to be more accessed and engaged with and understood by New York audiences, but perhaps more widely produced by region and community theaters around the country. Anything which can afford those small new musicals, a Greater Life, is probably a step in the right direction. Now the conspicuous backdrop to this particular conversation, figuratively speaking, is Operation Mincemeat, a show that openly and publicly questioned during their own road to Broadway, where they're currently playing at the Golden Theatre whether their show was too British for American audiences. The only difference being with Mincemeat, it's based on a real historical chapter during the Second World War that took place in London. London. And other than tweaking a couple of small bits of wording in the script and a couple of cultural references in the same way that Hamilton did when it first came over to London, barely noticeable changes. They made the decision to stick with their UK sensibility and it seems to be working for them, right?