BBC: Lloyd-Webber's marketing partner?

When talking about the imminent demise of the London production of The Lord of the Rings, Matt Wolf - on his Guardian blog - makes a good point about the power of television these days on musical theatre success:

It's hardly news that for all the musicals that the West End (and Broadway, for that matter) produce year in and year out, the economics are grim: last season's revival of Evita - the smartest and savviest large-scale musical production I've seen in London in some time - reportedly fell well short of recoupment, and that was with great reviews of a much-admired piece by the best-known living composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, topped by a blazing star performance from its Argentinian leading lady, Elena Roger. Here's the deal. Most musicals lose money, some of them an awful lot, and it's really only the lucky few mega-hits that encourage producers to continue taking the gamble.

Maybe if Eva Peron - or, for that matter, Galadriel - had been cast via a reality TV program, the scenario would have been different: that's the route being travelled by the latest incarnation of Oliver!, which is likely to follow The Lord of the Rings into Drury Lane.

Read the whole article HERE.

Absolutely. You have to admire Andrew Lloyd Webber's business sense, in creating a TV show that not only finds the star of his next production but also an entire marketing campaign and a ready-for-it audience. And all absolutely free, paid for by that lovely BBC.

When I was at the beeb, advertising of any kind was an absolutely no-no. According to the guidelines, it still is. Only it isn't, not really. Anyone who watches the risible BBC Breakfast on BBC One knows that advertising products, shows, television and radio programmes (particularly the BBC's own), books and films is part of the remit. They may think of it as 'reflecting today's culture' but it's advertising to everyone else.

But the Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria shows, together with the up-coming I'd Do Anything (above) search for an Oliver and Nancy, must be the most blatant advertising campaigns the BBC has ever funded. For weeks and weeks, primetime publicly-funded TV is given over to a venture that will then serve only a commercial purpose. Every week we are reminded about when the show will open, we hear all the songs, meet the production team, learn all about it. Every week we become more eager to see the show when it finally opens. And we do, in our thousands. The popularity of the Joseph and Sound of Music revivals on stage have demonstrate how successful this continued exposure on TV can be. Lord Lloyd-Webber must be thrilled. Does the beeb get a cut of the profits?

It's an outrage that the BBC hands a commercial enterprise such an extraordinary and unprecedented amount of free publicity. All the TV programmes have so far been brilliant - superbly directed, skilfully cast, all-round entertainment. Even ALW himself is good in them. I've no problem with the programmes themselves (although there are usually too many tears for my liking). But this kind of show should be on commercial television, not paid for out of licence-fees.