You'd have to know London's West End to notice the difference, but if you did you'd clearly see it. The audiences are just different for the big musical productions. London's theater district, like New York's, has longer attracted an older crowd, folks in their 40s and 50s.
These days you'll see audience dotted with younger faces, people in their 20s and younger.
There're larger audiences too. Musical theater is going through something of a revival. It's often the same big musical productions that stay on Broadway for years at a stretch, but these days there are fewer empty seats. Overall, West End ticket sales rose 10 percent last year, hitting record levels.
The source of this boost would seem most unlikely, what Brits dismiss as the goggle box, the television.
Call it the "American Idol" effect. Singing and dancing competitions are very much back in fashion on British TV these days, much as in the U.S. In fact, it really began here seven years ago with "Pop Idol," the ITV show that went on to inspire the U.S. hit on Fox. This after years in which that sort of entertainment all but disappeared from TV in both countries.
Key to the West End revival were three TV talent competitions in which viewers were invited to vote on which amateur should become the next star in a West End show. The TV shows were hits, and the spillover effect was that audiences of those shows then bought tickets to those West End productions to see their stars-to-be perform.
“We believe that the TV shows brought in a new audience, which is great for the industry as a whole. It helps start people on what could be a journey of a lifetime,” says Rosemary Squire, president of the Society of London Theatre.
The first of the three competitions, called “How Do you Solve a Problem Like Maria,” aired a year and a half ago on the BBC. Amateurs competed to win the part of Maria in a new West End production of “The Sound of Music” being put together by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the man behind such hits as “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera”
The TV show was a huge hit, and so was the West End production.
Lloyd Webber then turned to television audiences in bringing “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” back to the stage. Again, the TV show was a hit, and so was the stage show.
The third competition was a search for a star for a new production of “Grease.” While the TV show, which aired on ITV, wasn't quite such a hit, the effect of the three was to drive up West End ticket sales to new levels.
And as one might expect, most of the increase was for musicals. Their ticket sales were up 19 percent last year, versus just 1 percent for plays. In all, 2007 attendance reached 13.63 million, 10 percent over 2006.
Now the hope is that the magic can be repeated again. The BBC is due to air another reality series, “I’d Do Anything,” to choose the stars in a new production of “Oliver” when it comes out later this year in the West End.
The concept has also been tried in the U.S. Last year, NBC aired “You’re the One That I Want” to find a lead for “Grease.” While the show didn’t make huge ratings, tickets sales for the Broadway show have been strong.
Now, MTV is gearing up to air a reality series to find the next star for “Legally Blonde.” This show has been playing on Broadway, but its current star is due to leave.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, the new movie “Vantage Point” finished No. 1 at the box office over the weekend, bringing in $24.0 million and pushing last week’s No. 1, “Jumper,” to No. 2.
In DVD rentals for the week ended Feb. 17, according to IMDb.com, the family comedy “The Game Plan” fell out of the No. 1 spot after three weeks on top, giving way to new release “Gone Baby Gone.”
On iTunes this morning, Flo Rida’s “Low” was No. 1 for a 15th straight week, followed this week by Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song.”
And in books, John Grisham’s latest title, “The Appeal,” remained at No. 1 on The New York Times’ hardcover fiction best-sellers list for the week ended Feb. 16, its third straight week at No. 1, and it moved from No. 3 to No. 2 on USA Today’s chart for the week ended Feb. 17.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of Feb. 22-24, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
Vantage Point (Sony)
|
3,149
|
$24.00
|
|
2
|
Jumper (Fox)
|
3,430
|
$12.65
|
|
3
|
The Spiderwick Chronicles (
Paramount)
|
3,847
|
$12.60
|
|
4
|
Step Up 2 the Streets (
Buena Vista)
|
2,480
|
$9.79
|
|
5
|
Fool’s Gold (Warner Bros.)
|
3,075
|
$6.27
|
|
6
|
Definitely, Maybe (Universal)
|
2,220
|
$5.18
|
|
7
|
Be Kind Rewind (New Line)
|
808
|
$4.10
|
|
8
|
Juno (Fox Searchlight)
|
1,727
|
$4.10
|
|
9
|
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal)
|
1,873
|
$3.99
|
|
10
|
There Will Be Blood (Miramax,
Paramount Vantage)
|
1,402
|
$2.56
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
Week ending February 17, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
Gone Baby Gone
|
-
|
|
2
|
We Own the Night
|
-
|
|
3
|
The Brave One
|
2
|
|
4
|
The Game Plan
|
1
|
|
5
|
No Reservations
|
-
|
|
6
|
Good Luck Chuck
|
3
|
|
7
|
Elizabeth
: The Golden Age
|
5
|
|
8
|
Saw IV
|
4
|
|
9
|
The Invasion
|
6
|
|
10
|
I Could Never Be Your Woman
|
-
|
|
Source: IMDB
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Monday, February 26, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
Low, Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
|
|
2
|
Love Song, Sara Bareilles
|
|
3
|
Don’t Stop the Music, Rihanna
|
|
4
|
With You, Chris Brown
|
|
5
|
See You Again, Miley Cyrus
|
|
6
|
No Air, Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown
|
|
7
|
Sorry, Buckcherry
|
|
8
|
When You Look Me in the Eyes, Jonas Brothers
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending February 16, 2008
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
The Appeal by John Grisham
|
1
|
3
|
|
2
|
7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
|
2
|
2
|
|
3
|
Duma Key by Stephen King
|
3
|
4
|
|
4
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
|
5
|
39
|
|
5
|
Stranger in
Paradise by Robert B. Parker
|
4
|
2
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
|
1
|
7
|
|
2
|
Reconciliation by Benazir Bhutto
|
-
|
1
|
|
3
|
Real Change by Newt Gingrich with Vince Haley and Rick Tyler
|
3
|
5
|
|
4
|
An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe
|
2
|
13
|
|
5
|
I Am
America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Allison Silverman et al
|
4
|
19
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
|
1
|
14
|
|
2
|
Atonement by Ian McEwan
|
2
|
14
|
|
3
|
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
|
3
|
24
|
|
4
|
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
|
-
|
2
|
|
5
|
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
|
5
|
24
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
1
|
56
|
|
2
|
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
2
|
55
|
|
3
|
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
|
3
|
8
|
|
4
|
Fairtax: The Truth by Neal Boortz and John Linder with Rob Woodall
|
-
|
1
|
|
5
|
90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
|
-
|
69
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending February 17, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
|
1
|
|
2
|
The Appeal by John Grisham
|
3
|
|
3
|
7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
|
2
|
|
4
|
Bratfest At Tiffanys: The Clique #9
|
4
|
|
5
|
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
|
