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MickeyJoTheatre
Will these West End shows go to Broadway? | Paddington, Hunger Games, Hercules, Evita & more...
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Mickey Jo
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?
- [16:08]
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- [17:37]
Mickey Jo
Right now, carrying on, let's talk about a musical which actually premiered first in Chicago before eventually finding considerably greater success in London. I'm talking about the stage adaptation of the popular early 2000s film the Devil Wears Prada. Now, this is scored by a British pop icon and composer, Sir Elton John, with lyrics by the Broadway performer and writer Shana Taub, directed by Jerry Mitchell, who increasingly works on either side of the Atlantic, but is originally American, a book by Kate Weatherhead, an American writer and performer. And since it first arrived in the uk, it has starred an American actress. Vanessa Williams stars as Miranda Priestly, to considerable acclaim. The show has actually recently undergone its first principal cast change in London, having been open now for a year. And Vanessa has stayed on in the role with many of the other principal performers having been replaced by new actors. And there has been a lot of chatter about whether or not the Devil Wears Prada would ever attempt to return to New York. The interesting thing here is, and I feel like I've said this so many times in other videos, talking about the industry is these kinds of musical. Think Pretty woman, think Mrs. Doubtfire. They are more often than not more successful in London and in the UK than they are in the US or at least in New York. There seems to be a consensus among audience members that if a film is turned into a stage musical in a way that feels cheap or tacky or a little less than robust and sincere, that they will stay away. And so we've seen a couple of those shows flop it on Broadway also because the opinion of critics carries a little bit more weight there. The impact of the Tony Awards is more considerable there, whereas these admittedly more commercial properties seem to thrive a lot more with general audiences here in the uk. And there are a whole bunch of reasons for this. One of them is that ticket prices aren't as extraordinary as they are in New York, so people don't have to check in with reviews quite as much. They don't have to verify by whether or not the show and the material seems to be worth their time and their money before they go and see it. That's the same reason why awards don't make as much of a difference, because the whole Tony Award Best New Musical carries a lot of weight for tourists who aren't familiar with the shows but want to spend their money on something that's great. If they're going to be paying that much. There is also the fact that the UK is smaller and you have a lot more people traveling to London to see a western show from around the country and less of a sense of a real London audience, in the same way that you might find that in New York book. So given all of that, and given that Pretty Woman did way better here and that there has already been this really disparate success for the Devil Wears Prada, which admittedly was heavily reworked from its original Chicago production, which was not well received whatsoever, is it a little bit of a misguided idea to even try and take the Devil Wears Prada back to Broadway? Certainly, if Vanessa Williams were to lead the show over there, I think that would command a certain amount of box office for some time. The highly anticipated sequel to the film is about to be released. Might that help to boost its profile as well? Could they bring in casting in some of the other roles with Andy and Emily? That would also get people excited about seeing it in New York. I think if they did take it there, it would be really fun to take the show's original London stars with it as well. Certainly Amy du Bartolomeo because she's playing a British character and because she was Olivier Award nominated for her fantastic performance as Emma. But I just don't know. I don't know whether it's going to get past its original reputation in New York. A lot of people once it opened with Vanessa in London were like, oh, I want to see Devil Wears Prada. Why does London get this and Broadway doesn't have this? I just don't know if it would be embraced enough by the community to make it worth it. There is at least one person who wants to take it to Broadway, though, and that is Sir Elton John, who said during the show's opening night celebrations he wants it to go to Broadway so that Vanessa can win a toad. And as big a fan as I am of Vanessa Williams, I don't know that there is quite enough substance in this particular role in this show to get her there. But I love the enthusiasm from Sorrelton. Likewise. As a little footnote, I don't know if Clueless, after not really setting the West End on fire, would attempt to head back to New York, where it has already had a Off Broadway production of a previous incarnation of the show. Here's another one which opened in London a little while ago, which I finally had the chance to see recently. Now, this began its life in New York, not on Broadway, before having a regional Production in New Jersey at Paper Mill Playhouse. It was next professionally produced in Hamburg, Germany before a big splashy London opening at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. I am talking of course about Disney's Hercules. If not from zero to hero. The show certainly went from zero to well here and became the first Disney theatrical production in some years years to have a West End production before it had arrived on Broadway. The last time this really happened was with Mary Poppins and that was only because it was being sort of spearheaded by the co lead producer, Sir Cameron Mackintosh. Worth pointing out as well that Mary Poppins was also scored by British composers and is entirely London set and really speaks to the sensibilities of a British audience. Certainly more so than the Hercules. But there isn't really a thriving enough theater district in Greece to go and open the show over there. There novel as that would admittedly be. Also, is it wild for me to say there's not a thriving theatre district in Greece when they kind of originated the form? That was slight oversight from me there. In any case, Hercules is open in London and at this time Disney Theatrical seems to be planning its next move quite carefully, which is also why I don't necessarily anticipate them bringing this electrifying musical to New York anytime soon. I don't think that's necessarily the plan for Hercules, and I say that not just because I've seen the scale of this production, but also because I can see little other reason as to why they would open it in London first. Although perhaps they learned a lesson from Frozen, as I have previously speculated, because Frozen opened on Broadway and then got reworked and perhaps improved on the North American tour before they opened a finished product version of the show in London, which was professionally filmed for Disney plus, maybe they started to realize that it made more sense not to use Broadway as a guinea pig, but to try and do that process in reverse. Although if they were trying to bring Hercules to Broadway, you would question why the recent cruise ship production seems to have a higher production value in some moments than the version playing on dry land. And honestly, a lot about the design and the writing of Hercules doesn't really feel like Broadway caliber material. It feels a lot like when shows such as the Little Mermaid originally opened on Broadway. Like it wouldn't necessarily have huge staying power. It certainly wouldn't be worth Disney closing Aladdin, their long running hit at the New Amsterdam Theater, in order to install Hercules, which I don't think would be A as popular and B as successful ongoingly. Now, the reason that Hercules is being Produced in London right now might be a little bit more to do with Theatre Royal Drury Lane itself, where Frozen was playing and where Disney had some kind of a hold and agreement. I don't know the exact legal technicalities of this, but it was understood at the time that they wanted to retain their presence at this theatre in advance of the greatest Sherman musical being ready to arrive there. And so in the intervening months, Disney's Hercules would be produced at the venue after a couple of Shakespearean productions back to back, directed by Jamie Lloyd. And allegedly it is Disney have even been a little bit surprised that Hercules was as successful at the box office as it was, because they have never really had enough faith in this property or many of the properties from this era. Looking at you, the Hunchback of Notre Dame Disney, I think in spite of the demographics at the theme parks, underestimates consistently the Gen Z and younger millennial audience for a lot of these shows and the nostalgic ticket buying that is going to be there alongside the family audiences that they're used to calling courting. Now, the Greatest Showman is having a regional world premiere in Bristol, also where Mary Poppins debuted Fun Fact in the spring of next year from mid March. After this time, after it has had this run and then maybe had a little bit more development, perhaps even another workshop. And the Greatest Showman has had more workshops than I have had highlights this year and I've had a lot of highlights. Then there's every possibility that that show will transfer to theatre or Drury Lane if Hercules is still doing good business. There is nothing to say that it it couldn't I another West End home or even go on tour once again, I have seen that show. It could tour. But just like the recent London production of Beauty and the Beast, it might go on tour around America. Doesn't necessarily mean it'll make it to Broadway. The Greatest Showman, however, feels like the next stage production that Disney are really investing in. And that one provided that it is a success in London that I could anticipate going to Broadway, that might even be enough to close Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Dam. Because where better than this historic former Follies house to open the Greatest Showman? And since we're now talking about musicals that haven't technically opened yet, let's talk about everyone's favourite Peruvian bear, Paddington. Now, I'm going to have to hold my tongue just a little bit here because I am not yet empowered as a critic to fully give my theatrical review of padding Paddington. It's also still in previews. I saw the very first preview performance of the world premiere production. It opened cold at the Savoy Theatre in London with no out of town run, with no development run elsewhere. This was truly the first time that audiences were getting the chance to publicly see this material and there's every chance it will undergo small to significant changes over the next month before it opens. In other words, if you want to hear my review of Paddington that badly, make sure you're subscribed here on YouTube, turn on notifications notifications so you don't miss it in a few weeks time. But because it is making such a splash and such an impact on social media, particularly with the reveal of how Paddington Bear himself as a character is being brought to the stage, which you can go and watch my first preview video to learn a little bit more about. I won't spoil it if people don't want to know here. There is now already a lot of conversation about whether American audiences will get the chance to meet this bear and see this musical on Broadway. And I have such mixed feelings about this because there are pros and cons, not in terms of the success of the show, but in terms of just whether I think it's going to happen. In the pro column we have the fact that one of the two lead producers is Sonja Friedman, who more so than almost any other producer really operates in a transatlantic capacity. She is working extensively on Broadway at any given time. She is working extensively in the West End. She is often seen on stage at the Olivier Awards and the Tony Awards in the same season. She is name checked by performers in their speeches at each of these ceremonies ceremonies and as well as working on both sides of the Atlantic, Sonia has a real insight into what will work with audiences in each of those places. She said to me that the real reason that she became involved with Stereophonic before it had transferred to Broadway while it was an Off Broadway success and she was only reading the play, not having seen it at this time. The reason she became involved was that she wanted to be the London partner. In other words, she wanted to bring the show to a West End audience because she thought that London theatre goers would enjoy and appreciate it. Similarly, her London production of Oedipus at the Windhams Theatre, adapted and directed by the fantastic Robert Ike, starring Mark Strong and Leslie Manville, is currently in previews in New York at Studio 54. It is opening next week. I believe that is an example of Sonja seeing something that worked in London that she believes will also work with New York audiences, and I happen to share that opinion as well. But with Paddington, I don't know that it's necessarily that cut and dry. And arguably a great story is a great story anywhere, and a story about family and compassion and community ought to literally transcend borders and countries. But there is something to be said for really being careful with the Paddington brand and how much of a success I think the show is set to be here in the uk. I've said multiple times that the Paddington musical could be disappointing on paper and it would still run for a really long time. Because Paddington, Paddington is so beloved, because as a property, as an entity, he is so huge here in the uk. I anticipate this being, regardless of the material, a really, really sizable hit, the likes of which for a production on this scale and with such a wide demographic, we haven't necessarily seen since Matilda, the success of Six and Operation Mincemeat notwithstanding. But just like Matilda, do I necessarily believe that Paddington will enjoy the same success if it went to New York? And this is also a very expensive production. We also know know that the same show mounted on Broadway rather than in the West End costs perhaps three to five times as much simply to capitalize. This in particular being one of the reasons why so many new musicals have struggled to recoup their initial investments over the last few years. In other words, to make its money back, Paddington would have to not only do well on Broadway, it would actually have to do considerably better than in London. It would have to run for far longer to even start making money. And I don't know if they are going to risk taking what I think is going to be a real London success and having it be seen as something of a Broadway disappointment. Not that it necessarily would be. And obviously Paddington is more known in the UK and Americans in the comments section can let me know I know the films are known there and are appreciated there. I am curious as to whether you think Paddington carries enough cultural weight to be a success. There is the potential for a little bit of star casting. There are certainly some household names in the UK production, but I just don't know whether it would feel like the same kind of smash it over there. Alternatively, just like with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child also playing on either side of the Atlantic, regrettably, and produced by Sonja Friedman, maybe it would be a thing of being a show that's quintessentially British enough that New York audiences enjoy that about it. Or perhaps its greatest destiny is to be a show that runs for decades in London that you have to come to the UK for where you can enjoy the Paddington Bear experience and you can see the statue of him at Paddington Station and you can do the Paddington afternoon tea bus tour. Like, there's loads of stuff that you could complement your day with. Once again, just like with Evita, I think inevitably money talks, and there probably is a conversation already about taking Paddington to Broadway, but I am so curious to see how that continues.
- [31:47]
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- [32:44]
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- [32:50]
Mickey Jo
That hologram trading card. One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set.
- [32:54]
eBay Advertiser / Jessie and Lenny Ware
Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. Ebay has it and now everyone's asking.
- [33:01]
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- [33:10]
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- [33:22]
Mickey Jo
Finally we are going to talk about a play. And ahead of really getting into this one, I do want to name check a couple of other productions. Productions that I think either will or should transfer to Broadway. I say this just after the opening of Kyoto Off Broadway at Lincoln Center. Go and check out that play. I loved it here. I think it's absolutely terrific. Another one that was in London around the same time was the years. I think that I was hearing that this had some aspirations to go to New York. Maybe it's even already been announced and it's entirely slipped my memory. But if it hasn't, the years definitely ought to be seen by New York audiences as well. It might also fare better Off Broadway than on, but in any case it deserves transfer, as does inter alia which I suspect we'll get one, because I feel as though that production from the same writer and director as Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer, is sort of just following in exactly the same path. Similarly, I wonder whether the Cynthia Erivo led Dracula is going to try and do the same thing that the Sarah Snook picture of Dorian Gray did. First we have to see whether it's a success in London, although admittedly Sarah Snook carried more weight in New York and the production I think sold even better there. Another one that's been open for a little while that hasn't necessarily had transformation buzz, but I think deserves to is My Neighbor Totoro. And there is something universal about the joy and whimsy of this production and its puppetry and the way that it truly brings cartoon characters to the stage. Sort of unbelievably. That I think deserves to be seen in more places and that doesn't have to be New York and Broadway. It could be an international tour. But I hope that after its current run at the Gillian Lynn Theatre, unless that continues to extend, that My Neighbor Totoro is seen by more audiences around the world. But the one I really want to talk about in this section is the Hunger Games. Now they had a slightly rocky first preview, which once again I was at and shared some thoughts about here on YouTube. Admittedly more of the issues there were to do with the venue itself, which was also newly purpose built for this production, which was always going to add an additional layer of challenge. But once again, ahead of a full review of the production, which I'm not yet sharing, but you can check back for hopefully a in a few weeks time. Another challenge encountered by the Hunger Games is going to be the fact that they are taking a story we have already seen on screen and trying to replicate it on stage. And the likes of Harry Potter and Stranger Things, the first Shadow, both produced by Sonja Friedman and this notably is not didn't try and do that. They put original stories on stage so that their greatest tricks and their greatest theatrical effects could be really impressive. The same effects that we see in Stranger Things and Cursed Child, if they were done on screen, would just be establishing shots. They wouldn't be nearly as exciting. But the fact you're seeing it done on stage is. That being said, the Hunger Games has recently extended its run due to an extraordinary amount of demand. There are a lot of people who are really excited to get to experience this. It's another property like Back to the Future where fans haven't necessarily had an outlet other than sequel and prequel films to really go and celebrate their Hunger Games fandom. You know, like, there's not a theme park or anything like that. So to have a live event like this certainly is tapping into a really big existing market. The obvious obstacle in the show's way in terms of getting to Broadway, however, is the theater itself. Now, like I said, this is newly purpose built. It is also not a traditional theatrical auditorium. It is in the round. If you don't want to hear spoilers about the Hunger Games, I won't go into it too much, but there are a lot of complex details about the seating and the way that it works. The same space is super state of the art and does an awful lot of very technically demanding things, including now, I believe, allowing wheelchair users to actually see the stage. I gather that's been improved, but it's not a production which you could pick up, fly across the Atlantic and put down in any kind of a traditional Broadway house. It is not going to play in proscenium. It's not even going to play at Circle in the Square. I know. That's the obvious catch all for shows that are slightly more unique in terms of their staging. This needs some somewhere vast and sort of a blank canvas of space as well, really. And there are rumors, from what I hear, and take this with, you know, an entire container of table salt, that there was a space being developed on the west side of Manhattan that was a sort of a floating theatrical space that was maybe at one point conceived to house a transfer of the Bridge Theatre's immersive revival of Guys and Dolls with different moving hydraulic platforms and the audience moving around this shifting playing space that now could possibly accommodate the Hunger Games. I say this having neither heard anything remotely official nor having really seen enough smoke that would suggest fire. But just like Stranger Things before it made the jump, the Hunger Games obviously is a property that is not specific in any way to British audiences. And if there is somewhere they could produce it in New York, then there is every possibility that tickets would be as much in demand over there. Although whether or not the demand for those tickets might be affected by the show's opening weeks and the critical response remains to be seen. We will have to wait and see on that front. In the meantime, I think that's everything that I can currently tell you about the possibility of these West End and UK productions heading over to New York. As a general rule, the plays almost always get there faster. The same thing happens in reverse. That's why we've already had Stereophonic Omari is already on its way way but we're having to wait a considerably longer amount of time for the possibility of death become so we had to wait ages for Beetlejuice, which is finally arriving next year. But it does seem that the cultural exchange of theatrical productions continues to be alive and well across the Atlantic and long may it continue because British and American audiences alike as well as you know, audiences around the rest of the world deserve fantastic theatre. And if you want to hear more about those shows then make sure you have subscribed to my theatre themed YouTube channel or you're following me on podcast plus platforms or other social media platforms. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to my thoughts and insights about the possibility of these UK shows heading to the us. Share all of your thoughts, any questions you might have in the comments section down below. And in the meantime, as always, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
- [39:38]
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- [40:09]
Mickey Jo
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- [40:17]
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- [41:02]
Mickey Jo
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