Memorandum submitted by Mr Michael Dresser
The union between music and drama is possibly
one of the most powerful art forms in the world and possibly the
most relevant to modern society in terms of how media culture
is consumed by audiences. Musical theatre has a huge potential
to reach out and communicate with people who otherwise would not
consider themselves interested in "art" or even venture
into a theatre. The language of music mixed with dialogue and
visuals is one which the "MTV generation" understands
perfectly. As this label could now apply to many of those over
the age of 40, this represents a significant proportion of the
population.
As a writer of musicals and a small-scale theatre
practitioner, my experiences of the contrast between producing
a straight play and producing a musical could not be more different.
There are virtually no venues or opportunities to develop innovative
musical theatre in the way that plays can be. The recent trend
for "retro" or film based musicals has opened the door
to new audiences and provided them with something to which they
can relate. What is desperately needed now is for those audiences
to be given the opportunity, having discovered that they have
the capacity to enjoy musical theatre, to broaden their understanding
and enjoyment of it.
One of the recent West End success stories has
been Jerry Springer: the Opera. This production started
life as a one-off sketch and was then given the opportunity, by
a non-mainstream theatre, to grow and be developed. I suspect
that if the idea for this show were pitched, even now, to a commercial
production company it would be laughed down. However it continues
to pull in consistent and diverse audiences (on attending a performance
at the National Theatre I saw ages ranging from teenagers to old
age pensioners in the auditorium!).
There are frighteningly few non-commercial venues
in London (and even fewer in the regions) who are prepared to
support work like this and nurture it through the process that
every successful theatre piece must inevitably go through. However
there are many avenues of support for other theatre forms such
as plays, dance and physical theatre—probably not enough,
but significantly more than there are for musical theatre. Off
the top of my head I could name several dozen venues who provide
such support for non-musical theatre. I can think of less than
half a dozen for musical theatre.
In addition, competition for support from those
venues or organisations that do exist is so fierce that it is
often extremely difficult to get a foot in the door simply because
they are not physically able to give attention to the volume of
work which is jostling for consideration.
For an art form which so obviously holds such
incredible potential in the process of drawing people into the
arts this situation seems insane. As Jerry Springer: the Opera
has shown, musical theatre has the possibility to cross many boundaries
and be innovative and commercial without compromising it's own
voice and integrity; but it needs support in order to do so.
If dedicated support and funding for musical
theatre does not begin soon this country may well lose a golden
opportunity to develop a language which the population is already
telling us they want to learn. In the same way that galleries
have propelled their art into the 21st century consciousness,
musical theatre now has the potential to cross over fully into
popular culture and become part of the world of the everyday person;
but it needs support in order to do so.
4 November 2003
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