British musical theatre: From Adrian Mole to Our Ladies, here's the recipe for a great British musical

Move over Hamilton - British musicals are making a comeback
Recipe for success: British musicals are making a comeback

Batten down the hatches - one of the biggest hits in Broadway history is landing in the West End this November. Hamilton is the hottest ticket in town, and it’s also a great American history lesson told through hip hop.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that the British musical has sung its last high A flat. We’ve made musicals about everything from singing Cats to rollerblading trains; we’ve laughed and cried at Blood Brothers, Billy Elliot, Matilda and Mamma Mia. And now, following years of Broadway domination in the West End from the likes of The Book of Mormon and Wicked, the great British musical is making a comeback.

You couldn’t get more British than Julian Fellowes’ musical update of Half a Sixpence, based on the HG Wells story about a plucky working class lad who struggles to navigate the British class system when he mysteriously inherits a hoard of cash. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour puts a bunch of schoolgirls on stage in a mix of rock concert, choir rehearsal and mad night out on the tiles. And is this line from the new Adrian Mole musical the most British lyric ever put to paper - ‘We will restructure the NHS, dress all the homeless in BHS’?

Added to that the resurgence of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1980s musical Jesus Christ Superstar, which returns to the Open Air Theatre for the second year running this week following wins at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, and it looks like the British musical is in blooming good shape.

So what’s the recipe for a great British musical?

A generous helping of drinks

Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary’s musical adaptation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ opens with a very familiar scene: a New Year’s Day littered with the sore-headed walking wounded, obscenely hungover after enthusiastically imbibing the night before.

When Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour transferred to the West End, signs around the auditorium warned audience to expect swearing, sexual references, flashing lights, pyrotechnics and… ‘excessive drinking’. And some of the biggest numbers on Half a Sixpence have a major knees-up down the pub as their backdrop. It’s true - we don’t mind a pint.

A commitment to self-improvement

Self-titled teenage intellectual Adrian Mole is keen to be the next Voltaire, and the diary is the perfect way to chart this journey of discovery - including the replies from the ‘man at the BBC’ to whom he has sent his poetry. Like Adrian, Half a Sixpence’s Arthur Kipps wants to better himself, so after a hard day’s work at the drapers he goes to a woodwork class. That’s where his problems begin - he falls in love with the upper class Helen Walsingham, with not even a pine chest of drawers to show for it.

Of course, the girls in Our Ladies end up on a day out in Edinburgh because of the success of their school choir - although the only self-improvement they are interested in is losing their virginity and how many tequilas they can handle.

A dollop of stoicism

We love an underdog, and everyone from Billy Elliot to Grizabella the Glamour Cat has kept going through hard times. Matilda endures horrible parents and an even worse headteacher, and kindred spirit Adrian Mole embraces his inner bookworm when his parents divorce and his crush Pandora goes off with his mate Nigel. Perhaps the most moving of all is Orla from Our Ladies, who has already seen off cancer before she’s even sat her Scottish highers.

Musicals in London

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A band of misfits

The greatest British musical theatre heroes always have the sense that they don’t quite fit in. A young boy next to me at the Adrian Mole musical repeatedly asked his mum, ‘Why is he so weeeeeird?’, and a euphoric number set in a school disco pays tribute to the very teenage feeling of being ‘Misunderstood’.

Our Ladies may be a celebration of the collective power of friendship, but it also taps into the feeling of not being like everyone else, from Fionnula’s confusion about her sexuality to Kay’s quiet rebellion from what her parents expect of her. Misfits are the stock and trade of British musical theatre, from ballet legend Billy Elliot, magical power-wielding Matilda, and the mask-wearing sewer-dwelling Phantom.

The good old class system

British culture has always been preoccupied with class, and it provides a great amount of dramatic tension in musicals. In Half a Sixpence, Arthur Kipps goes from counting the pennies he earns in his menial job at the drapers to inheriting thousands - but everything from his accent to his lack of understanding of etiquette means he’s not so warmly welcomed by the upper classes.

Adrian Mole falls in love with Pandora, who has horse riding lessons and reads Tolstoy by the pool in Greece - it may be a meeting of minds, but Pandora probably doesn’t buy her clothes from Littlewoods. But like Pandora and Adrian, the cast of characters in Billy Elliot are fighting a Thatcherite state, as class tensions come to a head whilst Billy is practising his plies.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ is at Menier Chocolate Factory until September 9; Half a Sixpence is at the Noel Coward Theatre until September 2; Our Ladies of PerpetuaL Succour is at the Duke of York's Theatre until September 2