A Million Miles from Broadway - Musical Theatre Beyond New York and London

Musical theatre is an international form, not just an American one

It can take root anywhere, although the form is so linked in the public’s mind with Broadway that it is sometimes referred to as the “American Musical Theatre”

In fact, the late Peter Stone, a former president of the Dramatists Guild and a noted Broadway librettist, once claimed that no musical theatre existed outside of New York City

On the other hand, Alan Jay Lerner, the librettist behind My Fair Lady said, “Broadway cannot live without the musical theatre, but the musical theatre can live without Broadway. After all, its first home was Paris and then Vienna and then London and then New York. So changes of address are not uncommon”

I want to explore the work that does exist outside of New York

I’m not talking about the many franchised versions of Fiddler on the Roof and Grease that have played everywhere from Tel Aviv to Abu Dabi

I’m referring to indigenous musical theatre created in places other than New York by people other than New Yorkers and drawing on traditions other than just those of Broadway

To read an extract, click here