That’s entertainment! Musicals lift spirits on London West End’s stages
“I simply remember my favourite things and then I don’t feel so bad,” sang Maria among the mountains in The Sound of Music, introducing to the world one of the most memorable musical lines of all time. Uplifting sentiments like these now seem to have set sales of tickets to musicals in the West End of London soaring to new heights, with pundits suggesting two years of misery have left people desperate to lift their spirits.
Box-office figures from the Society of London Theatre (Solt) reveal that, since the beginning of the year, West End musicals outperformed their 2019 equivalents in 20 out of 22 weeks for attendance and 19 out of 22 for revenue. There are fewer plays than in 2019, which might partly explain the strong sales, but people in the industry think it’s more than that.
“Musicals are leading the charge for our industry’s pandemic recovery,” said Martin Scott, Solt’s interim chief executive. “The post-pandemic surge in musicals in the West End and further afield could be interpreted as a sign that audiences are seeking spectacle and escapism during these still uncertain times.”
Such is the need to escape the world’s problems that audiences are particularly drawn to the big entertaining spectacles. Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical has already sold an extraordinary £1.5m of tickets in advance sales for a national tour that will visit leading regional theatres from September. The musical is based on the hit 2019 film, a heartwarming comedy inspired by the true story of the friends who found fame after a holidaying record company executive heard them singing sea shanties in their village pub. It was written by Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard, who have now directed the sequel, entitled Fisherman’s Friends: One And All,
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