The Rise of the Musical Saves UK Theatre
Musical Theatre brought audiences back to the theatre following the pandemic
Musical theatre has been king following the Covid-19 pandemic which saw every theatre across the country close their doors for months.
A report released last week by the British Theatre Consortium – British Theatre Before & After Covid – has deep-dived into how the pandemic has impacted upon live public theatre.
The report is authored by Dan Rebellato and David Edgar. It’s heavily data driven and really worth reading.
Ultimately it found that Musical Theatre is ‘increasingly’ dominating theatre repertoire following the industry closure.
It’s accounted for a third of all performances, half of all theatre attendances and around three-fifth of all box office income.
By 2023, Musicals still continued to dominate, increasing to two-fifths of all performances, over half of all attendances and around two-thirds of all box office income.
It was not so good from Drama, which saw a ‘significant decline’ with the number of productions dropping from 57 per cent to 51 per cent.
When it came to New Work, once again Musicals ruled. In 2019, 37 per cent of musicals were brand new. This rose to around 50 per cent by 2023.
After lockdown, new Musicals accounted for 56 per cent of all box office takings. This was up from 41 per cent.
Findings that may suprise theatre-goers is that the cost of theatre tickets actually fell between 2019 and 2023. This occurred in theatre which traditionally has the highest prices – Opera and Musical Theatre.
‘So, far from pushing up ticket prices, Musical theatre has been significantly responsible for keeping them down,’ the report says.
Of audiences booking tickets, it was found that those attending Musicals booked earliest and those watching Drama the latest.
By 2023, theatre audiences had ‘bounced back’ with Savvy theatres leaning into theatre forms attracting the largest audience, which of course was – the Musical.
The data for the report was drawn anonymously from the UK Theatre Evidence Centre or in data collected by Society of London Theatres (SOLT)
The data does not include ATG’s 20 commercial theatres outside of London – which would include Bristol Hippodrome.
It does include data from Bristol OId Vic through UK Theatre Evidence Centre.
Bristol Old Vic has recently had a big hit and sell-out audiences for a brand new musical in Starter For Ten.
The co-production with Antic Productions and Longshot Films & Playtone, has been part of the theatre’s smart and diverse programming since Nancy Medina became Artistic Director in 2022.
The report authors do acknowledge that the coverage of the regional commercial sector is ‘less complete’ that that of London commercial and subsidised sectors.
Theatres pulled off a ‘minor miracle’ in finding ways to bring back audiences in large numbers to theatres quickly, Rebellato and Edgar conclude.
For more information about the British Theatre Consortium , : https://www.britishtheatreconsortium.co.uk/
Home: https://backstagebristol.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backstagebristol/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@chopsybristoltt
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/backstagebristol/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/backstagebristol
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chopsybaby
