“When The British Musical Ruled the World” – Book Review

This review was published in the Oct/Nov 2023 issue of Musicals Mag. Find more on Musicals Mag here.

“Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”, “Memory”, and “I Know Him So Well” all topped the music charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Coincidentally, Elaine Paige performed all three songs in the original casts of Evita, Cats, and Chess. Her star casting centralised a new era of British megamusicals — a cast and a production were now revered in equal measure. But how did the “megamusical” dominate the West End?

In Robert Sellers’s fascinating work, “When The British Musical Ruled The World”, readers can dive into the triumphs of seven iconic 20th-century musicals: Evita, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Chess, and Miss Saigon. Each chapter focuses on a blockbuster hit, chock-full of facts and shocking secrets behind industry-shaking creative collaborations. I’m still thinking about the heated taxi ride between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh (no spoilers here.)

To Sellers’s credit, he doesn’t ignore the failures either — a hologram of Laurence Olivier in Metropolis, anyone? By the end, recreational theatre fans and aficionados alike will have a newfound appreciation for world-class West End shows. 

In The Phantom of the Opera section, readers learn about the birth of “stan” culture; even if a show received poor reviews, people camped overnight to get their hands on tickets because they “trusted Andrew Lloyd Webber”. And, in the Les Mis and Starlight Express parts, you’ll find out why technology needed to match the libretto and score (including a shocking turn of illegal microphone usage!) Sellers’s book paints a vivid picture of an everchanging theatre landscape where a blend of creativity and commerce transformed British musicals.

Sellers’s book places each musical within the sociopolitical moments of their time, allowing readers to understand their relative success while reflecting on modern-day issues. In particular, the Miss Saigon section comments on its recordbreaking four year run and Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga’s Olivier-winning performances. Yet, this book doesn’t shy away from debates around whitewashing and a need for authentic storytelling. In doing this, readers get a sense of how megamusicals changed — and could still change — theatre, for better or worse.

Overall, Sellers’s book is an endearing tribute to a transformative era and a time that “had never happened before in [musicals] and hasn’t happened since.” Many of the shows and techniques discussed are still used today and continue to entertain large crowds every night. This book clarifies why the people sing.