Post by interval99 on Aug 27, 2024 15:37:38 GMT
Twenty-seven, the average age of the twenty-eight musicals running in the West End W/C Aug 19th.
While getting shows together for my August London Theatre trip and looking at the special peak tourists season runs producers had planned, it did strike that the old classics are still the default fallback. The 2024 summer runs of Oklahoma (80) Kiss me Kate (76) Hello Dolly (60) Fiddler on the Roof (60) along with catching up with Guy and Dolls (74) cover 350 years between them, average age 70. Even adding relative newcomers to the west end shows of two strangers (5) and Next to Normal (15) to my tickets the average age of the musicals I saw was over half a century (53).
Based on the date the show first made its initial performance MJ is currently the youngest show at 3 years despite most songs being several decades old. Take out jukebox and shows based on an existing movie to leave just the original scored ones and the average age jumps to 36, which rather goes against the several articles run this year that the new musicals are striking back – even if they have open in the West end recently it does seem some take a long time getting here e.g. Hades town (18) first performed 2006 and even the recent opened two strangers carry a cake (5) was first performed in 2019. While Broadway is still getting new original scored shows it seems to have become a rare sighting in the West End and sadly those Broadway shows have not made it over here bar the jukebox ones. Despite millions enjoying ALW shows he has not successfully managed to inspire any composers to follow his dedicated work ethics and output.
The Summer runs of 2024 may have been one of those nostalgic coincidences, but even when those runs close the average age of West End Musicals will be about twenty-three. It will be interesting to see the 2025 summer selection in a few months.
While getting shows together for my August London Theatre trip and looking at the special peak tourists season runs producers had planned, it did strike that the old classics are still the default fallback. The 2024 summer runs of Oklahoma (80) Kiss me Kate (76) Hello Dolly (60) Fiddler on the Roof (60) along with catching up with Guy and Dolls (74) cover 350 years between them, average age 70. Even adding relative newcomers to the west end shows of two strangers (5) and Next to Normal (15) to my tickets the average age of the musicals I saw was over half a century (53).
Based on the date the show first made its initial performance MJ is currently the youngest show at 3 years despite most songs being several decades old. Take out jukebox and shows based on an existing movie to leave just the original scored ones and the average age jumps to 36, which rather goes against the several articles run this year that the new musicals are striking back – even if they have open in the West end recently it does seem some take a long time getting here e.g. Hades town (18) first performed 2006 and even the recent opened two strangers carry a cake (5) was first performed in 2019. While Broadway is still getting new original scored shows it seems to have become a rare sighting in the West End and sadly those Broadway shows have not made it over here bar the jukebox ones. Despite millions enjoying ALW shows he has not successfully managed to inspire any composers to follow his dedicated work ethics and output.
The Summer runs of 2024 may have been one of those nostalgic coincidences, but even when those runs close the average age of West End Musicals will be about twenty-three. It will be interesting to see the 2025 summer selection in a few months.