Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions has revealed its next musical theatre projects will be completely original shows that are not based on existing source material.
While this statement is irrelevant in terms of news, it is notable due to the fact a lot of musical theatre work in the capital alone is remaking originals and rarely never-seen-before work. Moving away from the capital into fringe, regional and local theatre, musicals based on existing source material are even more popular, due to lack of resources and the requirement to bring audiences into theatres. A sure fire way of doing this is by offering musical theatre that is well-known and popular.
Having presented Shrek and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Neal Street Productions is perhaps now more known for its work with existing films rather than existing musical theatre material. It has been said that Neal Street Productions has its eye on a couple of musicals, and these could be film titles. However, this is not its aim, first and foremost, so it is perhaps likely that its next two productions will be completely new. Neal Street Productions also co-produced Heidi Thomas’ play, The House of Special Purpose, with Chichester Festival Theatre, emphasising the revival of contemporary plays as an additional strand for Neal Street Productions in presenting on which had been overlooked.
This may be a significant next venture for Neal Street Productions in the reviving of contemporary classics, bringing work back to theatres which has not been seen by the next generation of theatre audiences. These works are often contemporary plays which don’t get revived for minor reasons, and them fall by the wayside as other work comes along which may be more appealing in terms of production and facility.