Calling musical theatre creatives, organisation, and data professionals who love musicals! After our workshop at the UK Musical Theatre Conference, we would like to bring together all those who have a stake in keeping a clear record of our form, this might look like a database, case studies that tell stories that can be used for arts council applications, or something else entirely. How do we demonstrate the expansive presence of the musical in British theatrical life? What might this look like?

Sarah K. Whitfield and Clare Chandler have been working on an incomplete list of over 450 musicals which opened in the UK from 01/01/2010 to 31/12/2019.

“The contemporary musical might not be dead, but it is in danger of disappearing. The lack of consistent data about the musical is no where more evident than when trying to compile this list. We argue that this oversight is a failure of our cultural imagination to see the musical as a serious theatrical form, a presentism which in turn perpetuates and reinforces established cultural hierarchies within the UK and beyond that centres London and pays little attention to the wider systems of production.”

This event will take place on Zoom and is supported by Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) and Musical Theatre Network (MTN).