Can musical theatre be a source of economic growth for a country in need of a boost?

Jon Gilchrist believes it can. As the Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Birmingham Hippodrome, Jon sees how musical theatre sells, and not just in London’s West End. It’s one of the UK’s major cultural exports. And it creates jobs.

Beyond that, he said, “I think musical theatre is important. It brings people together; it’s a timeless expression of culture. It brings joy, and boy, do we need that right now.”

At the same time, musical theatre — like any business — requires risk. As costs rise, risk tolerance declines. When theatres feel the need to rely on safer material such as jukebox musicals, it’s harder to shepherd new work from creation to the stage. 

How, then, should theatres nurture the next big hits? “Even the classics were new musicals once,” Jon reminded us.

His solution begins at home. The Birmingham Hippodrome, Jon noted, is one of the UK’s busiest theatres. About half of the more than 600,00 tickets they sell each year are for musical theatre.

“Even the classics were new musicals once.”

So, in 2023, the Hippodrome created its own department for new musical theatre. They run a writers’ group that helps six writing teams develop new ideas. They’ve already shared a musical in development to a live audience. A new musical theatre brand, aimed at families with young children, will launch in late 2024. They have created a space dedicated to artists so that creatives from the region can gather, collaborate and dream together. 

And Jon dreams all this will reach new audiences, employ a future generation and transform the region’s economy.

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Jon Gilchrist presented this talk live as part of Tessitura’s Innovator Series at the Tessitura Learning & Community Conference in Washington, D.C., in August 2024.