image via Unsplash
by Saoirse Anton
With the news from across the water that Birmingham Hippodrome is to launch the UK’s first in-house musicals department, I’ve been thinking about, well, musicals.
I’ve often heard them dismissed as a theatrical form, by people who state “I don’t like musicals.” But with such a broad genre, I would note that this is akin to saying “I don’t like plays,” or “I don’t like novels.” Perhaps you genuinely don’t like any musicals, or plays, or novels, but perhaps you just didn’t like the ones you first came across. For many of us, our image of a musical is of the classic Sunday afternoon fare of Howard Keel, Doris Day, Gene Kelly, or perhaps memories of surly teenage embarrassment at taking part in school musicals. However, the genre is so much more than that (not to knock the classic Sunday afternoon fare, they remain some of my favourite films!).
From bolshy, affecting moments of protest and celebration such as Arthur Riordan’s 2017 work The Train, which presented a fictionalised account of the legendary 1971 Contraceptive train, to a shiny new era of Hollywood musicals ushered in by films like La La Land and In the Heights, to critically acclaimed jukebox musicals such as Conor McPherson’s The Girl from the North Country, there are myriad fresh and exciting options to choose from within the genre.
However, I know that too much choice can be a daunting thing, so read on for my recommendations of some the musical delights gracing our stages in the coming months.
This musical based on a graphic novel memoir by Alison Bechdel, who lent her name to the Bechdel Test, has scooped up armfuls of awards since its first Off-Broadway production in 2013. Directed by Róisín McBrinn, this production is an exciting addition to the programme at The Gate. Running from 1st July – 26th August.
A new historical musical, featuring a contemporary folk score, Amy Day’s In The Midst of Plenty tells the story of Bridget Connor, living through the depths of the Great Famine as she struggles to protect her family from the forces of starvation, eviction and emigration. Sure to be a powerful and affecting piece of theatre, In the Midst of Plenty embarks on a nationwide tour from the 25th May to the 14th July.
Based off the charismatic and absorbing film of the same name, Good Vibrations is a musical telling the story of music-loving idealist Terri Hooley whose passion for the music scene in Belfast helped to propel bands such as The Undertones, The Outcasts and Rudi onto world stages and charts. Full of memorable punk anthems like Teenage Kicks and Alternative Ulster, this revival of the Lyric Theatre’s sell-out 2018 production is sure to be a must-see show of this Spring. Running at the Grand Opera House Belfast from 9th May – 20th May.
Technically straying into the realm of opera rather than musicals, but I am excited about this production so it’s going in the listings. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, this opera is designed to be watched from above. Observing an afternoon on a busy beach, the audience hears “sunbathers sing of early morning flights, burnout, sunblock and piña coladas, while also observing changes in the natural world around them.” Lucia Pietroiusti’s Sun & Sea sounds like nothing I have come across before.
Whatever catches your attention, be it a local amateur production, the long-awaited run of Hamilton at the Bord Gáis, or an obscure surrealist musical you found running in a basement venue somewhere, give the genre a go and maybe you’ll find a new favourite.
