After 24 years, the musical Blood Brothers is closing on the West End, heading on that long trail known as tour, the trail that awaits every single successful musical and play. It's not alone in its fate; after 15 years Chicago will also be finishing its West End run, causing countless men to sob as it's one of the few shows they don't mind being dragged to, what with all the scantily clad ladies and all.
This is not unusual, nor is it a negative outcome of the recession. In fact, this is very much the continuing of a long story that started a decade or so ago when one of the most successful musicals ever, Cats, surprised everyone by closing its doors. It does have something to do with money in a sense - no doubt the shows that will take over from these two winners will be either transfers or revivals. It is however a more artistic approach that has been required over the last few years.
Nobody now should try and put on a brand new musical on the West End without any kind of pre-run anywhere else. It's both a wonderful and perhaps unhappy circumstance that the West End really has become the English Broadway.It just costs too much money. Back in the 1980s, when Cameron Mackintosh reigned supreme, his ploy was to start the shows in the West End before transferring them to Broadway. Now even the West End is too expensive.
Smaller theatres benefit hugely from this. We are seeing many more transfers from the likes of the National Theatre or the Chichester Festival Theatre; examples including the brilliant new production of Sweeney Todd; One Man, Two Guvnors (which has won critical acclaim on Broadway and a Tony for its star); War Horse and most recently Singin' In The Rain. These shows have triumphed in smaller theatres and thanks to word of mouth sold brilliantly in the West End after transfer. Now Spamalot, the Monty Python musical, is returning after a few years tour; ironically, this is exactly what happened with Blood Brothers when it returned in 1988, having not being entirely successful in its first run but becoming the power house it has been after a tour of two/three years.
Blood Brothers is a very good show with a storyline that could have been taken from Greek Tragedy; if you haven't seen it yet, go see it. Someone once described it as the musical for people who don't like musicals. I don't think this is necessarily true. It doesn't have the greatest of scores for one thing; there's a little too much repetition, though it's greatest moment is at the end with the showstopper of a number, "Tell Me It's Not True". It is in fact a play with songs. This is different to a musical, something I will elaborate further in a future post. The important thing is it's a GOOD show and you should see it if not already. Good luck to the tour and here's to whoever moves into the Phoenix.
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