0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Theatreland. London's West End.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10One square mile of musical talent
0:00:10 > 0:00:14worth over a quarter of a billion pounds a year.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18One of the cultural epicentres of Great Britain and the world.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23But it wasn't always this way.
0:00:23 > 0:00:2665 years ago, the West End was parochial,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29trapped in a time warp of pre-war nostalgia,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32completely unprepared for a new breed of musical
0:00:32 > 0:00:33emerging from America.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43This is the story of the rise of the British musical,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47how the British fought back against American domination
0:00:47 > 0:00:49to not only reclaim the West End
0:00:49 > 0:00:54but to become a driving force behind musical theatre around the world,
0:00:54 > 0:00:59turning it into a global industry worth over £1.5 billion a year.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04It's a tale of titanic shows...
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Half of it wasn't written.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09And the bits that had been written were far too long.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14Nobody in our team had done it before, except for me.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16This was a sort of a musical phenomena.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19..a story of prodigious talent...
0:01:19 > 0:01:23All the talent that was being invented were all in Britain.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25We just thought, "This is working quite well."
0:01:25 > 0:01:28And that was the day my life changed for ever.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30..and phenomenal daring...
0:01:30 > 0:01:34After the reviews, our box office was shredded.
0:01:34 > 0:01:35They got to see some ass!
0:01:35 > 0:01:37They took him off screaming. We never saw him again.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40That's how difficult that show is.
0:01:53 > 0:02:00# Don't cry for me, Argentina... #
0:02:02 > 0:02:08In 1978, the British musical had reached a high watermark with Evita,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's partnership helping to bring
0:02:11 > 0:02:14the West End back into contention with Broadway.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17But with that relationship coming to an end,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19the British musical had stalled.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23GONG CRASHES
0:02:27 > 0:02:31By the start of the '80s, Britain was in recession.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36The West End was facing rising costs and falling audiences.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Even American imports were having a tough ride,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43finding critical acclaim but disappointingly short runs.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Not the ideal time, then, for Andrew Lloyd Webber
0:02:46 > 0:02:50to attempt a musical about his favourite domestic pet.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Everybody thought we were mad to do a show about cats.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Everybody thought we were raving mad.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00The number of people who asked me
0:03:00 > 0:03:03with an embarrassed smile on their face,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07"Doing a show about pussycats? Really?"
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Cats are not pussycats in my book. They're street animals.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12They're earthy, they're athletic,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14and this is a show that's going to be very much about dance.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Right, now.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Really pull and pull yourself out.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28That's it. And be surprised to see your own leg.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Britain had never had a successful dance musical.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Its strengths were traditionally in singing or acting.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40By attempting a show that required all three was unprecedented.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42It's the sort of show we are told at birth
0:03:42 > 0:03:44it's impossible to do in Britain
0:03:44 > 0:03:47which is precisely why we are doing it here.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57But Lloyd Webber had never had a successful musical
0:03:57 > 0:04:02without lyricist Tim Rice, and the lyrics for Cats would all come
0:04:02 > 0:04:06from a collection of poems by the dead poet TS Eliot.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15I had auditioned, along with Gillian, to find a group of people
0:04:15 > 0:04:19who would want to join a group where, at the outset,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24there was no definitive story and there were no assignable characters.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I mean, that's a tall order.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33It was a musical based on a poetry book that were poems and letters
0:04:33 > 0:04:37sent by TS Eliot to his nephews, nieces and godchildren
0:04:37 > 0:04:41as little newsletters as such.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43So, how were they going to piece all this together?
0:04:49 > 0:04:53While Trevor worked out how to piece the poems into a story,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56choreographer Gillian Lynne set to work instilling
0:04:56 > 0:05:00a sense of catness into the cast.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Is everybody here? Is there any rotter hiding behind a seat?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07'I had to teach them how to become a cat
0:05:07 > 0:05:09'and I had to find how to become a cat myself.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10'Not easy.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:15Not easy to get the muscles to work and to get your hands being paws
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and thinking different and thinking with your ears and all of that.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23It was a whole different realm of work.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28His brow is deep. Hold it there. Boom. Right?
0:05:28 > 0:05:33'She really tried to create this unusual cross between ballet,'
0:05:33 > 0:05:37jazz and this sort of animalistic approach.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41It was hideously hard for all of us, and thrilling.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46# Macavity, Macavity, there's no-one... # Like a stomachache.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50# No-one, da-da ba-ba, ba. #
0:05:50 > 0:05:55# Macavity, Macavity There's no-one like Macavity
0:05:55 > 0:05:58# He's a fiend in feline shape
0:05:58 > 0:05:59# A monster of depravity... #
0:05:59 > 0:06:02'We really had to build up our stamina.'
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And generally, something would happen.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07There were a lot of injuries
0:06:07 > 0:06:09because it was a very difficult thing to dance
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and, of course, in the space you had,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17people were falling over and it wasn't an easy birth, let's say.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25What made Cats all the more challenging
0:06:25 > 0:06:28was that many of the creative team were unused to the demands
0:06:28 > 0:06:31of a commercial West End musical.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36'Nobody in our team had done it before except for me.'
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Certainly, Trevor Nunn hadn't, Gillian Lynne a little bit
0:06:40 > 0:06:44but not to the same degree, but the team picked up on it pretty fast.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Listen, can you give a message to David, please, Linda,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52from Marina Martin that she thinks that the frills round the bed
0:06:52 > 0:06:54look like old knickers and, worse,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56they look like out-of-period old knickers,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58so could you look at it, thank you.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00For producer Cameron Mackintosh,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03whose reputation was in staging revivals,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07finding financial backing for a new musical with no story
0:07:07 > 0:07:12by a dead lyricist about dancing cats, was proving to be a challenge.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15'The finance was impossible. That was the difficult bit.'
0:07:15 > 0:07:19We both had a terrible time getting the money.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22For me, it was less surprising, but bearing in mind
0:07:22 > 0:07:26so many people had made an absolute fortune out of Andrew
0:07:26 > 0:07:29through Superstar and Joseph and things like that
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and of course, Evita. You know, they wouldn't cough up.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37I remember standing on the steps of the New London with Trevor
0:07:37 > 0:07:42and Cameron and Andrew, and Andrew said, "We'll all have to go out
0:07:42 > 0:07:44"and try and find our rich friends."
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And very famous people in the theatre I will not name
0:07:47 > 0:07:50when, who were offered, even during previews,
0:07:50 > 0:07:55a quarter of the capital - we were still that short -
0:07:55 > 0:07:57went, "No, this will never work."
0:07:57 > 0:08:00In desperation, Mackintosh even turned to those
0:08:00 > 0:08:04he hoped would recognise the full potential of the show.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06The cast.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I don't think I'd have invested in it. I'd have given it three months.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12HE CACKLES
0:08:12 > 0:08:13Fool!
0:08:14 > 0:08:16And he's asking me, and I'm in it!
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Have you got any money to put in the show?
0:08:19 > 0:08:23So, the only thing I was aware of was that he was looking for money,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and I didn't put it in, and I've hated myself ever since.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29It wasn't so much whether Andrew would lose money
0:08:29 > 0:08:33or Cameron would lose money. What they would lose was kudos.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37If all that had gone into this big production
0:08:37 > 0:08:40and they had all those names of Trevor Nunn,
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Andrew, Cameron, Gillian and all the stars that were in it,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49if that didn't succeed, how would they have felt?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It was their kudos at stake, not so much, I think, the money.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01The combination of money worries, lack of story
0:09:01 > 0:09:05and exhausting dance rehearsals meant tempers were often frayed.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09'Everybody was very tense and confused.'
0:09:09 > 0:09:11There were lots of tantrums went on.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15There was a big argument, just before the show opened...
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Andrew comes running through the auditorium
0:09:18 > 0:09:20with Cameron not that far behind,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23screaming, "This is the worst piece of music I've ever written!
0:09:23 > 0:09:25"This show is not going ahead."
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It's always a good sign when Andrew withdraws the score!
0:09:29 > 0:09:32It's happened on every show I've ever done with him.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35I thought, "Well, if THEY'RE doubting what's happening
0:09:35 > 0:09:37"and they're producing it,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40"maybe we're in for a disaster here!"
0:09:40 > 0:09:42It did cross my mind.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52Throughout all the difficulties, there was one ray of hope.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55One of Britain's finest post-war actresses had agreed to play
0:09:55 > 0:09:57the key role of Grizabella.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01But this being Cats, acting wasn't enough.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Judi Dench would also have to sing and dance.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10I was rehearsing with Judi Dench. And she went, "You kicked me!"
0:10:10 > 0:10:14And I said, "I didn't, actually." I said, "Are you all right?"
0:10:14 > 0:10:16And she couldn't walk.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Well, what had happened was that that her Achilles tendon had snapped.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25So, she could no longer do the show, which was terrible for her.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29I hate to say this, but, in some ways, a blessing for the show
0:10:29 > 0:10:33because it meant that they had to bring in Elaine Paige.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37And Elaine Paige has a fabulous voice.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Paul Nicholas came up and said to me,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42"What are you doing in this pile of..." You know.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46They were all intrigued as to why I had agreed to join the company,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49because they, I think, they were pretty fed up with it.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Elaine stepped in with just three days left before previews began.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01With a world-class singer on board,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04all they needed now were some lyrics.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08They rehearsed me, I think, Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and for ten previews from that Monday on,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14I sang a different lyric every night.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16I think Don Black wrote,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18# Good times!
0:11:18 > 0:11:20# I must wait for the good times! #
0:11:20 > 0:11:23I did a lyric for it, I think Tim did a lyric.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26A whole bunch of people did a lyric to that tune of Memory.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Tim Rice wrote Streetlamps and the Spaces Between Them.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32I did write a lyric for Memory.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35It went into the show for a couple of nights in previews,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and then it was taken out
0:11:37 > 0:11:42and given to a lyricist chosen by the director.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43The director.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Frustrated with the efforts of the professionals,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53director Trevor Nunn had written his own set of lyrics,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57cobbled together from lines of TS Eliot.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00I showed it to Andrew on the Monday morning.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02And he just said, "That's it."
0:12:02 > 0:12:06And so, it went into the show.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09# Memory
0:12:09 > 0:12:15# Turn your face to the moonlight
0:12:15 > 0:12:19# Let your memory lead you
0:12:19 > 0:12:24# Open up, enter in... #
0:12:24 > 0:12:27But even with the inclusion of Elaine Paige and Memory,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31as the show headed precariously to opening night,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34it was still far from certain that Cats would work.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36'We went on stage really not knowing
0:12:36 > 0:12:41'whether we were going to be the biggest success or the biggest flop.'
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Whether it was brilliant or laughed at,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47it would be extreme.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58I was sitting in the stalls, and I heard the whispering
0:12:58 > 0:13:03around the theatre, as we heard the cats whisper the first words.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08I had a chill throughout.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11I had a tingle,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14because I hadn't experienced anything quite like it before.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The audience were going crazy,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and it was elating, it was extraordinary.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30"Well," I thought, "now dance has arrived in England. Hallelujah!"
0:13:32 > 0:13:35I think for the British musical it was utterly pivotal.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39It absolutely raised the bar as to what the triple thread was
0:13:39 > 0:13:44and you could no longer have actors who sang, dancers who danced
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and singers who couldn't do either. You know?
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Everyone had to do everything.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51And from that point on,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55you saw the rise and rise of the British performers.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57# Jellicles do and Jellicles can... #
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Cats kick-started a major change
0:13:59 > 0:14:02in the fortunes of British musical theatre,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05with Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber taking central roles
0:14:05 > 0:14:07on an increasingly global stage.
0:14:07 > 0:14:13To our surprise, people didn't just want to rent the script,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15the music, they wanted us
0:14:15 > 0:14:19to actually put on our version of the show,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22which started sort of a global enterprise.
0:14:22 > 0:14:23I remember Cameron saying to me,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26"I don't want to get involved with all of this business
0:14:26 > 0:14:30"about musicals and other things. We can get local producers to do it."
0:14:30 > 0:14:33I said, "Cameron, Cameron, you've got to do it yourself,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35"you're a producer, that's what you do.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37"You've got to produce it yourself."
0:14:39 > 0:14:44Their attention to detail extended far beyond the walls of the theatre.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46For the first time in a musical,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50the power of merchandising and advertising came to the fore.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54We always saw it more as the person buying the T-shirt -
0:14:54 > 0:14:58we wanted them to then be a walking advertisement for us.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03It started a whole new form of brand marketing
0:15:03 > 0:15:07that hadn't been around before.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11# Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats! #
0:15:11 > 0:15:14The marketing and success of Cats
0:15:14 > 0:15:17epitomised the prevailing ideals of Thatcherism.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26But for many, the early '80s were not a time of success, but hardship.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30There was a growing social divide between the rich and poor,
0:15:30 > 0:15:31the North and South.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Liverpool playwright and composer Willy Russell
0:15:38 > 0:15:41had reflected these ideas in plays like Educating Rita.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45In 1983, he turned his hand to writing a musical.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Blood Brothers was written at a time
0:15:49 > 0:15:52of terrible social turmoil in this country.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53Although it doesn't deal with that,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56it's not aiming to be a Political play with a capital P,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00a Political musical, that is the backdrop against which it is written.
0:16:00 > 0:16:06# Living on the never never
0:16:06 > 0:16:12# Constant as the changing weather... #
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Blood Brothers told the story of twins separated at birth,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20one raised by a middle-class family, the other working-class.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25I must have my baby. We made an agreement. A bargain.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27You swore on the Bible.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29You'd better...
0:16:29 > 0:16:31- You'd better see which one you want.- I'll take him.- No!
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Don't tell me which one, just take him. Take him.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Whereas Cats had started life in the heart of the West End,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Blood Brothers had much more humble beginnings -
0:16:46 > 0:16:48in a school hall in Liverpool.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Originally, I'd written Blood Brothers for a small group
0:16:51 > 0:16:55of five actors called Merseyside Young People's Theatre Company,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58who went into a school with no props, no lights,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00no scenery, and did a show for 70 minutes
0:17:00 > 0:17:04to truculent, reluctant kids
0:17:04 > 0:17:07who had been told to form their chairs into a circle in the hall
0:17:07 > 0:17:09and sit and shut up for 70 minutes -
0:17:09 > 0:17:13the most difficult audience of all. And it worked like a dream.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14Mother!
0:17:14 > 0:17:16TWO GUNSHOTS
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Did you ever hear the tale of the Johnstone twins?
0:17:19 > 0:17:21As like each other as two new pins.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24How one was kept, one given away.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27They were born and they died on the selfsame day.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37But once the play became a musical,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40the themes that made the story so compelling
0:17:40 > 0:17:44to a captive audience of schoolchildren
0:17:44 > 0:17:46became a very hard sell to a West End audience.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50I'd be trailing around doing pre-publicity for the show
0:17:50 > 0:17:53and going into radio interviews and newspaper interviews
0:17:53 > 0:17:55and they'd say to me, "What's the show about?"
0:17:55 > 0:17:59I'd say, "Well, it's about death," which didn't sell many tickets!
0:17:59 > 0:18:02But, you know, it's kind of what it was about.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07With tickets not selling,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Willy had to turn things around or face being shut down.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21# Tell me it's not true... #
0:18:21 > 0:18:25'And it was only when there was a one-sided acetate
0:18:25 > 0:18:29'of Tell Me It's Not True made for purely promotional purposes -
0:18:29 > 0:18:31'it wasn't for sale...'
0:18:31 > 0:18:33And Terry Wogan picked it up.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37And Terry Wogan started to play this beautifully sung song
0:18:37 > 0:18:39from the end of the show.
0:18:39 > 0:18:45# Though it's here before me
0:18:45 > 0:18:49# Say it's just a dream... #
0:18:49 > 0:18:52And within three to four weeks of Terry Wogan playing the track,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56we were rammed, but by that time, the die had been cast
0:18:56 > 0:18:58and we'd been given our notice for six months hence.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02At a time of increasing economic disparity,
0:19:02 > 0:19:08the tale of northern poverty was not what audiences were easily drawn to.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Blood Brothers closed after just a six-month run.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15# Lead us not into temptation
0:19:15 > 0:19:17# All I desire
0:19:17 > 0:19:19# Temptation... #
0:19:19 > 0:19:21It seemed for many the order of the day was excess,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and Andrew Lloyd Webber had an idea for a show which would deliver
0:19:25 > 0:19:31unprecedented levels of excess, scale, and above all, spectacle.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35I do remember Andrew saying his next show
0:19:35 > 0:19:38was going to be this thing about railway trains.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43You know, you kind of go...
0:19:43 > 0:19:44"Really?"
0:19:44 > 0:19:45With no clear idea
0:19:45 > 0:19:49how a musical with singing trains could be pulled off,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Lloyd Webber had just two stipulations
0:19:52 > 0:19:54to director Trevor Nunn -
0:19:54 > 0:19:58it had to appeal to children and it had to be visually exciting.
0:20:03 > 0:20:09I was in New York, staying in a hotel with John Napier.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13And on a Sunday morning, we took a little walk into Central Park
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and saw, quite soon, a huge crowd of people.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And for the first time in my life, I saw
0:20:22 > 0:20:25people dancing on roller skates.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32Skating backwards, skating on one leg, carrying their music systems,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34spinning endlessly around.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Sensational things happening on roller-skates.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43And I just said to John, "I think we've just found it."
0:20:44 > 0:20:48"I think we found this musical about railway trains."
0:20:50 > 0:20:54If Cats had pushed its cast to a new standard of performance,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Starlight would demand even more.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59I knew that casting Starlight was
0:20:59 > 0:21:02an almost impossible task.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06How could you find people who could actually sing Andrew's music,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10dance, act, and do it all on skates?
0:21:12 > 0:21:15We started auditioning actors and singers who came in
0:21:15 > 0:21:18with their brand-new roller-skates they'd bought that morning.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21They rolled across the stage, hit the piano and fell over.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Smash into the directorial table,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27coffee cups everywhere.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29I mean, there was quite a lot of that.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Oh!
0:21:33 > 0:21:36We got a rule after a bit that anybody who didn't hit the piano
0:21:36 > 0:21:38might be up for a recall.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42In desperation, the team widened the net.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Now it wasn't just West End performers they would audition,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48it was anybody.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51One guy came in, he was a kitchen fitter from Crawley.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53He said, "Are you ready?" And we said, "Yes."
0:21:53 > 0:21:56He said, "Right," and he went across the stage,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59jumped over the piano, landed the other side and turned round
0:21:59 > 0:22:01and said, "Would you like me to sing?"
0:22:01 > 0:22:05At that moment, we thought, "Hey, maybe we can do this show."
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It was magic.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15We knew if you could do that in a theatre
0:22:15 > 0:22:19and, let's say, have somebody jumping over a line of bodies...
0:22:21 > 0:22:22How exciting would that be?
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Two, three, four, five.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29But for those performers unused to being on wheels,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32there was one major drawback.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34It was dangerous!
0:22:34 > 0:22:36In fact, one guy, I can't remember his name,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38he came in, first day of rehearsal,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and they were trying to teach us to jump backwards
0:22:41 > 0:22:43and land on our stomachs. I said, "I ain't doing that."
0:22:43 > 0:22:46He turned around and he was facing this way
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and his foot was facing the other way
0:22:48 > 0:22:50and that was the first day of rehearsals.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53They took him off screaming, we never saw him again.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55So I said, "They are not going to kill me."
0:22:59 > 0:23:02I seemed to be spending quite a lot of time
0:23:02 > 0:23:03like a St John's Ambulance man -
0:23:03 > 0:23:06I mean, sitting holding somebody's hand.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Set designer John Napier was also faced with a major challenge
0:23:14 > 0:23:18in bringing Lloyd Webber's musical spectacular to life.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19How do you stage a musical
0:23:19 > 0:23:23where the cast are travelling at up to 40 miles per hour?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27We completely reshaped the Apollo Victoria
0:23:27 > 0:23:30into a sort of roller derby
0:23:30 > 0:23:35and it was completely risk-taking and barking mad.
0:23:35 > 0:23:41# Only you
0:23:41 > 0:23:44# Have the power within you... #
0:23:44 > 0:23:48The design, which was John Napier,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51was astonishing piece of engineering.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Really difficult to rehearse,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56because the show had almost no flat surfaces at all,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00it was all curves up at the back and this magnificent bridge at the top.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06We named the bridge the Jeff Shankley Memorial Bridge,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09because they hadn't got it settled, and Jeff turned around when skating
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and went bang into that thing, nearly knocked himself out.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14NEWSREADER: 'Starlight Express
0:24:14 > 0:24:17'is the most eagerly awaited production since Cats,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21'and a lot of theatrical reputations are riding on its success.'
0:24:21 > 0:24:23On opening in March 1984,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26those reputations took a bit of a bruising.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28The story of toy trains
0:24:28 > 0:24:31racing to become the fastest engine in the world
0:24:31 > 0:24:33failed to excite the critics.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36The reviews for Starlight were what they call mixed.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39That's to say, some people thought it wasn't very good
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and some people thought it absolutely appalling.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43One critic, I remember, wrote,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46"It has all the intellectual content of a peanut."
0:24:46 > 0:24:52But the answer was, yes, that's exactly right.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56We are doing a show fundamentally for young people,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59a show that's got a huge amount of fun involved in it,
0:24:59 > 0:25:05so there's no apology that it's got a small intellectual content.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09# There are dark days ahead When the power goes dead... #
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The simplicity and spectacle of Starlight
0:25:12 > 0:25:13was attractive to children.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15But in an era of cheap air travel,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18it also appealed to a new kind of audience
0:25:18 > 0:25:20that was arriving in the West End.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25By the mid-80s, 44% of theatre tickets were bought by tourists.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28If you're doing a show for the West End,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32it behoves you to do a show with terrific music
0:25:32 > 0:25:36so that you don't have to understand the words very well.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38And that is a serious point -
0:25:38 > 0:25:41that, actually, an awful lot of the audience,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44after the first year, are not going to have English as a first language.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48They have to be moved by romanticism and excitement of the score
0:25:48 > 0:25:51and by the lighting and all of the production values.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Actually, for somebody who writes the words,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56particularly if you try and write jokes,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59it can be very frustrating popping in to see one of your shows
0:25:59 > 0:26:01and see the jokes whoosh over the head
0:26:01 > 0:26:03of the entirely Japanese stalls.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09# Starlight Express Here's your distress... #
0:26:09 > 0:26:11The visual excitement of Starlight
0:26:11 > 0:26:14helped accelerate the success of the British musical.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17The changing West End audience could still be drawn
0:26:17 > 0:26:21to less extravagant shows if the music was upbeat enough.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23But with Andrew Lloyd Webber
0:26:23 > 0:26:26seemingly the only British composer around with killer tunes,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30to find a hit, rival producers started looking to the past.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32# Any evening, any day
0:26:32 > 0:26:35# You'll find us all
0:26:35 > 0:26:38# Doing all the Lambeth walk... #
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Noel Gay's Me And My Girl was a successful musical from 1937.
0:26:43 > 0:26:4650 years later, it became a hit again,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49after an update by an aspiring young comedian.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53It just somehow became a show that was very hard to dislike
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and very easy to like. It was warm, and it was funny,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and it was delightful, toes tapping,
0:26:58 > 0:27:00and it had the killer tune of The Lambeth Walk.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03# Every little Lambeth gal
0:27:03 > 0:27:06# With her little Lambeth pal
0:27:06 > 0:27:09# You'll find 'em all
0:27:09 > 0:27:11# Doing the Lambeth walk... #
0:27:11 > 0:27:14And so, really, fresh out of university,
0:27:14 > 0:27:15couldn't have been luckier.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18These cheques started hitting the doormat
0:27:18 > 0:27:22that made my eyes wobble and I was never quite the same person again.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25# Once you get down Lambeth way
0:27:25 > 0:27:27# Every evening, every day
0:27:27 > 0:27:30# You'll find us all
0:27:30 > 0:27:33# Doing the Lambeth walk, oi! #
0:27:33 > 0:27:37In 1937, Me And My Girl never transferred to Broadway
0:27:37 > 0:27:39because it was thought too British.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42In the era of Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber,
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Britishness was no longer a problem
0:27:44 > 0:27:48for the powerful American producer Jimmy Nederlander.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51The famous Mr Nederlander who owns much of Broadway said...
0:27:51 > 0:27:55GRUFFLY: "You know, the thing about a show, it's got to have a heart.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56"It's got to have a heart.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59"I've seen your show ten times now. It's got fuckin' heart!"
0:27:59 > 0:28:03And so because it had "fuckin' heart,"
0:28:03 > 0:28:06it seemed suitable for Broadway.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10# Me, I'm for the top of the tree
0:28:10 > 0:28:12# Just you look on... #
0:28:12 > 0:28:16But Nederlander and his co-producer Terry Allen Kramer
0:28:16 > 0:28:20still had one major reservation about their transatlantic cousins.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23She had it in her head that the British couldn't choreograph
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and that only American choreographers knew how to put out a show.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30There is this very odd fact that if you get a line of chorus girls
0:28:30 > 0:28:31and they kick simultaneously,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34an American audience will just wet themselves.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37We didn't have one of those because we thought,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40"It's a bit cheesy," to be honest. "Where's your line kick?"
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I was told that the American producers
0:28:43 > 0:28:46wanted to use an American choreographer.
0:28:46 > 0:28:47It wasn't all that clear why.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50I think they were trying to spare my feelings,
0:28:50 > 0:28:52but obviously the two American producers
0:28:52 > 0:28:54didn't think it was good enough.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Jimmy Nederlander gave me his wisdom.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59He said, "You see, men do not want to go to shows.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02"They do not want... Their wives want to go to shows.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05"So, we've got to give something that men like.
0:29:05 > 0:29:06"They've got to see some ass!"
0:29:06 > 0:29:09And I said, "Of course, of course, what was I thinking?"
0:29:09 > 0:29:13But there was one other producer on the show -
0:29:13 > 0:29:16Noel Gay's son, Richard Armitage.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17He refused to allow Gillian
0:29:17 > 0:29:20to be replaced with an American choreographer.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24You know, we had a very British show
0:29:24 > 0:29:26and he knew that, he recognised that.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30And if you suddenly bring in an American choreographer
0:29:30 > 0:29:35who does razzmatazz, does he understand what this is all about?
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Their resolve paid off.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Cats had put British choreography on the Broadway map,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47but it was Me And My Girl that became the first British musical
0:29:47 > 0:29:50ever to win the Tony Award for choreography.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Can you imagine how I feel
0:29:56 > 0:29:59being an English actor holding this on Broadway?
0:29:59 > 0:30:01It is quite an extraordinary feeling.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11After dominating the post-war musical, Broadway was now in crisis.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14With only one home-grown hit in the last five years,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17the Americans were becoming increasingly dependent
0:30:17 > 0:30:19on hit musicals coming from Britain.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26London was becoming the centre of the musical universe,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29attracting talent from across Europe,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31including two unknown Frenchman,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35inspired by a Cameron Mackintosh revival of a British classic.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37I went to see that musical
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and suddenly I saw on stage the Artful Dodger,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44who was fascinating to me,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47because from that second I started to think of Gavroche,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51who is the young hero from the novel of Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55And he came back to Paris and he said, "Why don't we write
0:30:55 > 0:30:59"a kind operatic musical of Les Miserables?"
0:30:59 > 0:31:03And after five minutes, I said, "Yes, let's try to do it."
0:31:03 > 0:31:06# Quand t'as pas ce que t'aimes Aime ce que tu as... #
0:31:06 > 0:31:09In 1970, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
0:31:09 > 0:31:11had kick-started their career with a concept album.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16Boublil and Schonberg adopted the same strategy.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20# Continuer a vivre. #
0:31:20 > 0:31:24The concept album they had done in France was brought to me
0:31:24 > 0:31:27and I had a listen to it. And within four tracks of it,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29even though it was in French,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33I went, "Wow, this is something completely different."
0:31:33 > 0:31:40# J'avais reve d'une autre vie
0:31:40 > 0:31:45# Mais la vie a tue mes reves... #
0:31:45 > 0:31:49I was already a great lover of Oliver! so the period attracted me
0:31:49 > 0:31:52and also the social background of it attracted me.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55The first phrase Cameron told us was,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59"You do not realise what you have written."
0:31:59 > 0:32:02# J'avais reve d'une autre vie
0:32:02 > 0:32:06# J'avais reve d'une autre vie... #
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Mackintosh wanted to adapt the album for the stage,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11but only on one condition.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16He said, "It must be you. You have to rewrite it."
0:32:16 > 0:32:19And that was very bold from his point of view,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24because we knew nothing about the tradition of musical theatre.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29He said, "This work is so peculiar, that only you can redo it.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34"I will introduce you to people helping you to reshape the work."
0:32:34 > 0:32:37I think it was Tim Rice who suggested "How about Kretzmer?"
0:32:37 > 0:32:40And we were very lucky
0:32:40 > 0:32:42that Herbert Kretzmer was free at that moment.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46He joined the team and from there on, worked day and night
0:32:46 > 0:32:48on all the existing material, obviously,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52and on these new songs, which are Stars and Bring Him Home.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55# Bring him home
0:32:55 > 0:32:59# Bring him home. #
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Mackintosh needed the very best director.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07Trevor Nunn had not only directed Cats and Starlight Express,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10he'd also just completed a major stage adaptation
0:33:10 > 0:33:14of Nicholas Nickleby for the RSC.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17I said, "If I am to work on a show
0:33:17 > 0:33:23"which is an adaptation of a hugely famous 19th-century novel...
0:33:25 > 0:33:28"..I have to use the same team,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30"because I'm going to be using the same techniques."
0:33:30 > 0:33:34And, therefore, the show would have to begin life at the RSC.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Where Cats and Starlight had brought dance and spectacle to the musical,
0:33:40 > 0:33:45Les Miserables would, for the first time, bring the RSC's expertise
0:33:45 > 0:33:49in high drama from the stage direction through to the set design.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57The great genius of John Napier's sets is that people think
0:33:57 > 0:34:01that they watch an elaborate spectacle
0:34:01 > 0:34:04but actually it's very simple. There's nothing on stage at all,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06really, until the big barricades come on.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08It's all done with sleight of hand
0:34:08 > 0:34:11and with moving people around the revolve.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Basically, it's two things that go up and down,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18and go round and around, and the rest of the set is just grey walls
0:34:18 > 0:34:20that are there the whole evening.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24I mean, very sort of...
0:34:24 > 0:34:29RSC, National Theatre work
0:34:29 > 0:34:31put into the musical.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Working at the RSC also allowed access to all of its
0:34:41 > 0:34:44world-renowned acting talent.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46Of course, all the actors in the RSC
0:34:46 > 0:34:48wanted to play the leading characters.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52But your average Shakespearean actor isn't much of a singer.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54It's just like opera.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57You can forgive somebody for not being a brilliant actor.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02If they don't hit the top note at the right moment, you don't forgive them.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06So, we had to go outside the company
0:35:06 > 0:35:09and cast people who could really sing it.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13# A heart full of song
0:35:13 > 0:35:16# I'm doing everything all wrong
0:35:16 > 0:35:19# Oh, God, for shame
0:35:19 > 0:35:22# I do not even know your name
0:35:22 > 0:35:26# Dear mademoiselle
0:35:26 > 0:35:29# I am lost... #
0:35:29 > 0:35:34When we turned up to do the show, half of it wasn't written
0:35:34 > 0:35:37and the bits that had been written were far too long.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40So, we had this beast
0:35:40 > 0:35:43that probably only
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Trevor and John could have tamed.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49The first preview at the Barbican was three hours and 50 minutes long.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52HE CHUCKLES
0:35:52 > 0:35:54It was WAY too long.
0:35:54 > 0:36:00# The very words that they had sung... #
0:36:00 > 0:36:02Fortunately, the publicly funded RSC
0:36:02 > 0:36:06allowed a longer rehearsal time than a normal West End show.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Every minute would be needed in cutting down a 1,200-page novel
0:36:10 > 0:36:12into an evening-sized musical.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16God bless him, he's no longer with us, Ian Calvin.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19His part kept getting cut and cut and cut
0:36:19 > 0:36:22until the only thing he had left to say was,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25"Monsieur le Maire, I have no words." HE LAUGHS
0:36:27 > 0:36:30He was the funniest guy.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Cos a show like this had never been done before,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36so no-one had been in a show like it to be able to compare.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39We were up the barricade, banging away with our guns
0:36:39 > 0:36:42and he looked at me and went, "I don't know, dear,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45"I'm more of a Hello Dolly person, really. Ooh! Ooh!"
0:36:53 > 0:36:56As part of the arrangement with Trevor Nunn, the plan was for
0:36:56 > 0:37:01the show to open at the RSC's home in the Barbican before transferring
0:37:01 > 0:37:06to the West End, but only if the Barbican run was well-received.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11The performance ended over an hour ago. The music is very simple,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14full of instantly likeable tunes - the audience loved it.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17- I thought it was tremendous. - You enjoyed it?- Very much indeed.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21- Just a wonderful thing. - One of the best we've ever seen.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26The audience may have loved it.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Unfortunately, not everybody felt the same way.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34# At the end of the day... #
0:37:34 > 0:37:37There is a tradition for Cameron after an opening night,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41that the following day, we have always a lunch.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46We had bottles of champagne, with Les Miserables labels on,
0:37:46 > 0:37:47but nobody wanted to drink it
0:37:47 > 0:37:49because we had the reviews in front of us!
0:37:52 > 0:37:54People were just...shell-shocked.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00For the tabloids, it was not a musical because we had 30 dead bodies
0:38:00 > 0:38:04on stage at the end, no tap dance, nothing.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12Some of the critics so hated the idea that the RSC should do a musical
0:38:12 > 0:38:17that they were almost vindictive. They wanted to hurt us, I think.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20No-one was saying it, but it looked like the answer
0:38:20 > 0:38:23was going to be, "It's the end of the road".
0:38:23 > 0:38:25I thought, I'll get rid of all the bad news at once
0:38:25 > 0:38:29and find out what's happening at the box office,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32and I eventually got through and they said, "How did you get through?
0:38:32 > 0:38:34"We've already sold 5,000 tickets
0:38:34 > 0:38:37"and it's the biggest day we've ever had."
0:38:37 > 0:38:42I still to this day don't know why it happened so quickly.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47He tapped his glass and said, "I've got something to tell you.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51"The audience is going wild. I'm going to transfer it."
0:38:51 > 0:38:54The theatre is littered with stories like that -
0:38:54 > 0:38:56the most revolutionary shows...
0:38:56 > 0:39:01simply isn't in the mindset of the movers and shakers
0:39:01 > 0:39:05and sometimes, the audience is ahead of...
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Well, quite often, the audience is ahead of the critics.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11# Do you hear the people sing?
0:39:11 > 0:39:15# Lost in the valley of the night... #
0:39:15 > 0:39:19On its move to the Palace Theatre, tickets to Les Miserables became
0:39:19 > 0:39:23the most sought-after in London, providing another hit for Mackintosh
0:39:23 > 0:39:27and much-needed income for a cash-strapped RSC.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31It has gone on to play in 37 countries around the world,
0:39:31 > 0:39:33been translated into 21 languages
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and has celebrated 25 years on the West End stage.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42I don't think anybody ever expected Les Mis
0:39:42 > 0:39:46to be the massive global success it became.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51Why did it work? Because it is musically absolutely thrilling.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55It's absolutely believably something that's in the 19th Century
0:39:55 > 0:39:58and yet it hits you right in the chest,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02it hits you emotionally, as something completely contemporary.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06One of the reasons the show still remains one of the most current,
0:40:06 > 0:40:11contemporary pieces is because the story and the characters
0:40:11 > 0:40:16are recognisable in society today just as they were 150 years ago.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18They never date, and they never will date,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21because human nature doesn't learn from itself.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23# Join in our crusade
0:40:23 > 0:40:26# Who will be strong and stand with me?
0:40:26 > 0:40:28# Somewhere beyond the barricade
0:40:28 > 0:40:31# Is there a world you long to see? #
0:40:31 > 0:40:36It's to do with the last number of the show,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40directly sung to the audience - Will You Join In Our Crusade?
0:40:40 > 0:40:45"Do you want a better tomorrow? Tomorrow comes."
0:40:48 > 0:40:51People just used to stand up like, "Yes! Yes, I do believe in that,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54"I don't know how it's to be accomplished, but yes!"
0:40:54 > 0:41:00THEY HOLD FINAL NOTE
0:41:03 > 0:41:05RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE
0:41:10 > 0:41:13The success of the West End musical
0:41:13 > 0:41:16was generating huge amounts of money.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19By the end of the decade, Broadway's biggest export
0:41:19 > 0:41:22would have earned just £5 million at the box office.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Cats and Les Mis, with their global reach,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29would take over three quarters of a billion.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32With such vast amounts of money to be made,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35others attempted to join the party, but were found wanting.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38In April 1986,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42the West End witnessed a gamble on the most ambitious show yet.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46We were the first high-tech musical in the West End
0:41:46 > 0:41:49and it was amazing to me that we didn't at least
0:41:49 > 0:41:55receive a good critique for our stage, because it was amazing.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03Once again, the designer was John Napier.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06There weren't half some good stuff in it, oh yeah.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08I mean, we had people floating around,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11people didn't know how it happened.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15The whole stage lifts up and you realise that it's a spacecraft,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17and these platforms pull out, and I remember thinking,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19"I'm going to fall off these,"
0:42:19 > 0:42:23but in the end, you think, "This must look wonderful from out front."
0:42:23 > 0:42:26It broke the boundaries of excess
0:42:26 > 0:42:30in almost every department!
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Time had broken new ground with its extraordinary sets,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36but without the gripping music
0:42:36 > 0:42:40and storylines of a Lloyd Webber or Mackintosh show, it failed
0:42:40 > 0:42:45to live up to its contemporaries and closed after two years.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Andrew Lloyd Webber's old writing partner Tim Rice
0:42:50 > 0:42:54had also found success hard to come by with the musical Blondel.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57But when he teamed up with one of the most successful
0:42:57 > 0:42:59songwriting duos of the '70s,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02it appeared his fortunes might be changing.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06As with Evita, Tim had come up with a radical idea.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Both Benny and I were intrigued,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11because the backdrop was the Cold War.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17And we were, you know, very close to the Soviet Union.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21The threat was very tangible from Stockholm,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23much more so than from London, I think.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Chess told the story of Russian and American grandmasters,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33battling it out against a backdrop of the Cold War -
0:43:33 > 0:43:35an ambitious premise for a musical.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39The story became convoluted
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and I think a lot of people didn't quite get it.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Chess can be pretty terrifying to a lot of people,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48just the mention of the word.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50One of the problems Chess had
0:43:50 > 0:43:53was it is a complicated story, a grown-up story, I like to think.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55And really it needs,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58at times, subtitles,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01because when you get more than three or four people singing,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03it's very hard to hear the words.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06- # Wasn't it good?- Oh, so good
0:44:06 > 0:44:09- # Wasn't he fine?- Oh, so fine... #
0:44:09 > 0:44:13But on opening, Chess did perform well,
0:44:13 > 0:44:15and with the show pulling in the audiences,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19Rice, Benny and Bjorn spied a chance to follow in the footsteps
0:44:19 > 0:44:22of Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25After the show's success in London,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28the Broadway production of Chess opened in a blaze of optimism.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Is there a new word on Broadway for success?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Yes! Chess!
0:44:34 > 0:44:38But this weekend, after only two months,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Chess is expected to close, killed, it's claimed, by the critics,
0:44:41 > 0:44:44who, with one or two notable exceptions,
0:44:44 > 0:44:49didn't like what they saw and heard, and said so in savage manner.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53A lot of critics were very pissed off with the fact
0:44:53 > 0:44:56that the British invasion -
0:44:56 > 0:45:01Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh -
0:45:01 > 0:45:05dominated, you know, the Broadway scene
0:45:05 > 0:45:11and he, they... certainly did not like that.
0:45:11 > 0:45:17And so, here comes a musical that's from Europe
0:45:17 > 0:45:22and very vulnerable and a musical that's easy to kill!
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Derided by the critics as "turgid and overblown",
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Chess had another problem - its timing.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35By the late '80s, a musical set against a backdrop
0:45:35 > 0:45:39of the Cold War suddenly seemed horribly out-of-tune.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47I think Chess was clobbered by the fact that the Cold War ended.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50We kept worrying about what was going to be in the papers and we'd go,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52"Oh, my God, terrible news,
0:45:52 > 0:45:56"the Berlin Wall's come down, this is awful! This will ruin our show!"
0:45:56 > 0:46:00- NEWS REPORT:- 'And then they forced open another gate and piled through it.'
0:46:00 > 0:46:05The bloody Iron Curtain had to come down
0:46:05 > 0:46:08and ruin the whole thing for us!
0:46:08 > 0:46:10So, it was bad timing.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Chess ultimately failed in its ambitions,
0:46:18 > 0:46:23just as another musical with gritty themes was finding its feet again.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29# Tell me it's not true... #
0:46:29 > 0:46:31On its launch back in '83,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Blood Brothers had struggled to find an audience.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38But producer Bill Kenwright thought he knew how to make it a hit.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Baulking at a mega-musical-style launch in the West End,
0:46:41 > 0:46:46Blood Brothers would take an altogether more slow-burn route.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49We toured for a year, and during that time,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52the audience found it.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54It started off with very small audiences,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57but it built and built and built.
0:46:57 > 0:47:03I said, "Willy, can I bring it back into town?" He said, "No. No."
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Willy's very... "No." "OK, fine."
0:47:06 > 0:47:08So I said, "Can we take it out on tour again?"
0:47:08 > 0:47:10The following year, we did another tour.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12I think it toured for more than two years me saying,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14"No, I don't want it to go back to the West End,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18"I don't want to go back to the West End, I don't want to go back..."
0:47:18 > 0:47:19And in one sense,
0:47:19 > 0:47:23I think I was protecting a rather treasured memory.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26We made it much more epic, musically,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28than it had ever been before,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31but we kept the story small.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33It was a real labour of love.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36And...the end of the second tour,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39I said, "Can we have a go in London? "No."
0:47:39 > 0:47:43"Fine, OK, fine." So, we did a third tour.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48# Tell me it's not true... #
0:47:48 > 0:47:53Finally, on that third tour, Russell sneaked in unannounced
0:47:53 > 0:47:55to see the production in Manchester,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58and was stunned by the audience reaction.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02I sat in the back of the stalls at the Palace Theatre
0:48:02 > 0:48:05and saw 2,000 people just go mental for this show.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10And I had to accept that it was ridiculous of me to go on denying
0:48:10 > 0:48:15a London audience the chance to react the way this Manchester audience did,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18because of trying to protect the memory - what a stupid thing to do.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20So, I didn't even go back after the interval.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23I just called up and said, "Look, take it in".
0:48:26 > 0:48:30Blood Brothers would go on to become the third-longest-running musical
0:48:30 > 0:48:32in West End history.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35The show that had started life as a humble play for schools
0:48:35 > 0:48:37had grafted its way back into a London
0:48:37 > 0:48:42now dominated by the latest Lloyd Webber-Mackintosh blockbuster.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48In 1986, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh
0:48:48 > 0:48:53reigned over the West End with their international mega-hits.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59For their latest phenomenon, Phantom of the Opera,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Lloyd Webber first turned to Starlight lyricist
0:49:02 > 0:49:07Richard Stilgoe, before finally settling on a complete unknown.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12I remembered a talented young lyricist
0:49:12 > 0:49:17that I'd seen earlier at the first Vivian Ellis prize.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20I'd never written a professional show.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22In fact, I'd never completed an entire musical.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26I'd written music and lyrics for about half a musical
0:49:26 > 0:49:28which was submitted to a new competition.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31So Andrew and I said "All right,"
0:49:31 > 0:49:34so we gave him the music of Think Of Me,
0:49:34 > 0:49:38and he wrote the lyric, and he wrote Think Of Me and he got the gig.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41And I was signing on. I was on the dole, you know.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46So, it was a lovely...surprise.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48And then the tune, on its own...
0:49:56 > 0:50:00The reason Lloyd Webber was so particular about lyrics
0:50:00 > 0:50:05was that Phantom was quite literally a labour of love.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09# Say you'll share with me
0:50:09 > 0:50:13# One love, one lifetime
0:50:13 > 0:50:20# Say the word and I will follow you... #
0:50:20 > 0:50:25Andrew wrote the Phantom of the Opera for Sarah.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Wonderful thing to be able to say, isn't it,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32that somebody wrote such a beautiful show out of love?
0:50:32 > 0:50:36# Say you love me
0:50:36 > 0:50:40# You know I do... #
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Andrew falls in love with a soprano who can sing high D flats,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and the story of Phantom of the Opera
0:50:46 > 0:50:49about this young soprano who comes from nowhere
0:50:49 > 0:50:53and suddenly becomes famous, I mean, there are obvious resonances in that,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57that haven't escaped anybody in the history of the show.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Even though Phantom was written for her,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04director Hal Prince wasn't going to take it on Andrew's word alone
0:51:04 > 0:51:07that she was the right person to star in it.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10I said I'd like her to audition and Andrew said,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13"My God, you're not asking the person I wrote it for to audition?"
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I said, "Yes," and she auditioned.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20# Sing, my angel of music! #
0:51:20 > 0:51:25There were some high Es in the score, you know.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28Very difficult for any singer to hit a high E,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32but Sarah, that was one of her specialities - she could do that.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36# Sing for me! #
0:51:36 > 0:51:39# Ah! #
0:51:41 > 0:51:46With Sarah confirmed, Lloyd Webber next had to cast his phantom.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50On earlier musicals, he had avoided star billings.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52But for Phantom, he changed tack.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59I was in a cafe with Andrew having lunch,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03and the soup spoon was on its way to my mouth and he said,
0:52:03 > 0:52:08"I have asked Michael Crawford to play the phantom, Gilly."
0:52:08 > 0:52:12And it never got to my mouth, the spoon! It went straight back down.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Because like everybody, at that time, when you thought of Michael,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19you thought of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22HEARTY LAUGHTER
0:52:26 > 0:52:30That was a very shrewd piece of casting
0:52:30 > 0:52:33because it attracted a lot of media interest,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36it was perfectly logical, because Michael had a lot of experience
0:52:36 > 0:52:40of musical theatre already, but was not widely known for it,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42so it was a slightly surprising idea,
0:52:42 > 0:52:45and because he's such a dedicated worker, you know.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47You get your money's worth with Michael.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49# Close your eyes
0:52:49 > 0:52:56# And let music set you free
0:52:56 > 0:53:00# Only then
0:53:00 > 0:53:07# Can you belong to me... #
0:53:07 > 0:53:11He understood it's a very, very sexual role.
0:53:11 > 0:53:17He exudes weird sex in it, slightly dark sex, but you know,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20that's all the more perturbing for her
0:53:20 > 0:53:22and that makes the story, actually.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26# Trust me
0:53:26 > 0:53:30# Savour each sensation... #
0:53:30 > 0:53:36But he was thrilling to work with, he totally understood that role.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39Before we start, bear this in mind.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43- The whole first section of this is an opera.- Yep.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44With cast complete,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47the task of staging such a massive spectacle as Phantom
0:53:47 > 0:53:50proved surprisingly straightforward.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55It was one of the easiest shows to put together
0:53:55 > 0:53:57that any of us have ever worked on,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59I mean, compared with putting Cats together,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03for instance, it was a piece of cake.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Hal staged it I think in three weeks, and he only worked mornings.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11I worked from ten till one.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17BOTH: # Past the point of no return... #
0:54:17 > 0:54:20A little girl in the company, a dancer, raised her hand and said,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23"I've been delegated to ask you this question."
0:54:23 > 0:54:24And I said, "What would it be?"
0:54:24 > 0:54:27And she said, "What do you do in the afternoon?"
0:54:29 > 0:54:31- INTERVIEWER:- What DID you do?
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Well, I made a joke, said, "I see Coronation Street,"
0:54:34 > 0:54:38but really what I did in the afternoon was wander the West End,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42read books, sit in Green Park.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Phantom opened in October 1986
0:54:53 > 0:54:55to overwhelmingly positive reviews.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58The sumptuous score, fabulous setting
0:54:58 > 0:55:01and the celebrity pulling power of Michael Crawford
0:55:01 > 0:55:05all combining to ensure that Phantom would go on
0:55:05 > 0:55:08to become the most successful musical of all time.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The real cachet Phantom had is that it was pre-booked for a year,
0:55:12 > 0:55:13you couldn't buy a ticket,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16so it became an incredibly sought-after thing.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19So, by the time tickets DID become available,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23it had sort of become a self-sustaining entity.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32On New Year's Day 1988, Phantom opened on a Broadway
0:55:32 > 0:55:37now totally humbled by the new breed of musical coming from the West End.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Andrew Lloyd Webber took on Broadway, returning to it
0:55:40 > 0:55:44the kinds of melodies and spectacles it no longer produced for itself.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46The story was the same in all the theatres.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49Some said if it wasn't for the British,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51there wouldn't be any more Broadway.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59And it wasn't just Broadway.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Phantom and its ilk have been exported to countries
0:56:02 > 0:56:05far beyond the twin centres of London and New York.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08From unpromising beginnings at the start of the '80s,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13in less than a decade, the West End had conquered the world.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18I think it happened to be that all the talent that was really
0:56:18 > 0:56:22being invented were all in Britain at that point - as simple as that.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26You know, and we happened to all want to do stories
0:56:26 > 0:56:28which had a worldwide appeal.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31None of us knew that upfront. We were only too grateful
0:56:31 > 0:56:34to get through an opening night without being stoned.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Next time on the Story of the Musical,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45how the giants of the West End seemed to stumble
0:56:45 > 0:56:48and a new kind of musical entered the world of the theatre.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52# The heat is on in Saigon... #
0:56:52 > 0:56:56"It was vile. There was not one redeeming feature,"
0:56:56 > 0:56:59he said, in the whole evening.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02I got so incensed, I told them all to bugger off.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06We were onto something really, really big.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Producers love bums on seats, the maths is very simple.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16# How are you doing there, John? #
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Chris!
0:57:18 > 0:57:20# I got the hots for Yvonne
0:57:21 > 0:57:25# We should get drunk and get laid since the end is so near
0:57:25 > 0:57:27# I tell you, buddy, I've had it
0:57:27 > 0:57:30- # I don't want to hear... # - Get out of here!
0:57:30 > 0:57:31# The heat is on in Saigon
0:57:31 > 0:57:34# But till they tell me I'm gone I'm gonna buy you a girl! #
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd