Broadway seems to be the place to go at the moment for new musicals – here Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon picks six that will hopefully make it across…
1. Anastasia – the 1997 film was a firm favourite of mine, not least because it featured beautiful songs such as ‘Once Upon a December’. Now with updated lyrics and new songs thrown in to the mix, the Broadway musical (from the glimpses I have seen) looks beautiful as well. It has also updated the story from the film to try and make it sort of a bit more accurate historically (no involvement of Rasputin here) to give it a fresh and more contemporary feel. Certainly one desperate to see over here!
2. Frozen the Musical – given the immense popularity of this Disney film and the success of other Disney based musicals in the UK it seems a given that this production will make its way to London at some point – it is just a question of when! As well as a stellar cast, the production seems to have plenty of magic attached to it and if it gets younger audiences into the theatre – is that a bad thing? (well dependent on ticket prices of course!)
3. Pretty Woman the Musical – ok so technically this hasn’t even opened for previews on Broadway yet (20th July), but I’m genuinely curious to see how this Jerry Mitchell directed and choreographed production plays out. From the glimpses I have caught (video above is worth a watch), it keeps many of the key elements of the film and time will tell if the musical will breathe new life into the story or if it plays it safe.
4. Mean Girls – there is no denying that the songs in this musical are catchy, sharp and fun, capturing the spirit of the film the musical is based on. With a book by Tina Fey and choreography and direction by Casey Nicholaw – it seems the musical has a pretty solid foundation to make it success over here as well.
5. My Fair Lady – one of my very first experiences of the West End was seeing a production of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (trying in vain to remember who was in the cast at that time) and I remember then falling in love with the music and the story, so it would be lovely to see how this latest Broadway production compares.
6. Moulin Rouge the Musical – currently making its Off-Broadway debut before heading to New York, images of the stunning set and costume designs are beginning to emerge to give people a taste of what to expect and I have to say I’m already loving what I have been seeing. Fingers crossed it lives up to the hype and transfers to London in the future!