WHO NEW?

Today we celebrate the Opening Nights of two of the most important productions in the history of British Musical Theatre, Cats  (opened 11-5-81) and Billy Elliot The Musical (opened 11-5-05).  Two very different shows, derived from very different source material, that still leave audiences breathless by virtue of quite dazzling levels of that most intangible of assets …ORIGINALITY.   

When US Majors Warner Bros and Ladd Co. closed down their London/UK/European Story Departments, back in the 1980s, I ventured onto a barge in Kilburn to try and nab some reading work.  The company was Virgin, but I wasn’t, however they insisted in guiding me through the standard cover-sheet used to evaluate (and usually reject) prospective movie projects: " Dialogue, Narrative, Production Values, and…”

“’Originality’ I cut in. Yes I know, I put it there.”

Originality hadn’t even been on the page before I’d introduced it; which is perhaps understandable given the difficulty in quantifying its contribution to the commercial prospects of any movie under consideration. All the other criteria (narrative, dialogue, etc.) can usually be judged (to a large extent) within the terms of the actual piece, and the genre in which it sits.  But giving originality a rating, or score, necessarily involves a commercial judgment of the expectations of the audience(s) for which the prospective film is intended. Or rather, the expectations of cinema audiences five or more years on from when the project first gets the green light. No easy calculation.  In fact more of a huge gamble. But at least with cinema, the creative work (and any speculation on ‘originality’) generally ends once the film is released and marketed (with the possible exception of subsequent Director’s Cuts and special or remastered editions).  

With live musical theatre, any commitment to originality is more of a marriage than a one night stand.  Because it will inevitably shape (for good or ill) the different ingredients (story-telling, music, lyrics, movement, dance, stage-craft, lighting, sound design, costumes, scenery, transitions, etc.) that need to come together in a unique and unforgettable experience under the physical, technical and economic constraints of staging a live performance seven or eight times a week. So how do you make the marriage work?

So first your memory I’ll jog, and say a cat is not a dog.

Both Cats and Billy Elliot The Musical are adaptations, rather than the original form in which the works entered the world. And while it would be tempting to suggest that their originality lies in their approach to the source material (T.S. Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and the 2000 film Billy Elliot) I personally don’t think that’s the whole story.  There’s something missing…

Electricity

To my mind, a novel, innovative and original approach to a subject is not enough, in and of itself, to make originality a major factor in either a show’s creative quality or commercial potential. For that to be achieved, I believe that the originality of a show has to be so vividly remarkable that it supplies a power, a kind of incremental charge, which energises the entire production.  And the 'cable' which delivers that electrifying power to the audience (to extend the analogy) is another quality that is rather hard to define… quality

The Moments Of Happiness

Think of it through the eyes (and ears) of the audience at a new show with baked-in originality.  They’re in totally unknown territory, travelling without maps, and the only compass they can access is some vague set of pre-stored standards of how adroitly a show should be presented to them; the look and feel and shape of the piece, and, above all else, the confidence with which it leads them through the new experience by means of the timing, execution (and variation) of the emotional, comic or technical pay-offs, for which you need…

The Naming of Cats

At the 10th Birthday Party for Billy Elliot The Musical, Director Stephen Daldry spent several minutes thanking the people who had contributed to the success of the show, including Lee Hall (book and lyrics) Peter Darling (Choreography) Elton John (Composer) The Producers, Working Title, and all the cast members, musicians, technicians and show staff who'd made the run such a success. In short, the people who delivered the quality I referred to above. A patron might primarily remember the show for highlights such as Liam Mower’s swan-wing-like arms, the incredible rozzer-ballet or Ann Emery’s fiercely defiant Grandmother, but one flat musical note, or late follow spot, would also be indelibly etched in the memory.

A similar roll call, at any one of the twenty-one birthdays for the original London production of Cats, would have included Andrew Lloyd Webber (Composer) Trevor Nunn (Director) Gillian Lynne (Choreographer) John Napier (Designer) David Hershey (Lighting Designer) Producer Cameron Mackintosh and countless cast members, musicians, technicians and show staff.  But unlike Billy Elliot The Musical, Cats does not have a story to help carry the audience through for two hours and forty-five minutes, so the show is entirely reliant on the skill (and energy levels) of everyone involved.

And that means everyone.

When Stephen Daldry was making his mammoth thank-you speech from the stage of the Victoria Palace, he inadvertently omitted to mention one crucial contribution to the show’s West End success, prompting one ticket agent to call out: “What about the Box Office!”

A shout out that could just as easily been made for the Box Office at Cats.

And for the authorised ticket agents and tour operators who paid a crucial role in the success of both shows with their early financial commitment to the productions and their ability to extend the breadth and depth of audiences the shows would need to reach.

Similarly, Cats and Billy Elliot The Musical were both 100% dependent on the skills and persistence of their marketing agencies and Press Officers for both creating the shows’ initial buzz and sustaining it in the face of wars and recessions, the rise of new rival productions and competition from other sectors.

Because the quality necessary to underpin a show’s originality never comes cheap, and the financial challenge of running a (totally) new and (hugely) expensive show in a small (capacity) theatre involves a dexterity, determination and, I would argue, an originality on a par with anything you’re ever likely to see on any stage, anywhere.

 DT 11 May, 2025