The Stage

Know the score

Published Monday 30 November 2009 at 17:40

Phil Willmott wishes us good luck with writing our new musicals (page 10-11, November 19). We will need it if we take any notice of his (or anyone else’s) lists of dos and don’ts. This applies to straight plays as well. You write your play or your musical and you play with it until you know it is the one you wanted to write, for good or ill. You realise, of course, that the chances of anyone of importance thinking it’s any good are minute and for it to ever be produced, an awful lot of other factors, nothing to do with talent, will have to come into play.

If, like myself, you have a bit of money put aside, you put the show on yourself, as Sondheim himself said one should, and if you’re lucky, as I was, it goes down well. The main problem nowadays is to get a review, as arenas now rule our cities with a different show every night playing to at least 10,000 people, and these have to be reviewed.

But the attitude you have to overcome, as demonstrated in the article, is the one of ‘obey my rules or else’. “Nobody’s interested in your quirky thoughts on modern dating and the eccentricities of urban life” says Mr Willmott, then has the generosity to point out that Sondheim did this, but “he’s a genius”. The unspoken bit being that ‘you’re not, mate!’. Sondheim only became a genius when it was generally considered by a lot of people that he was. Prior to that, he was just Sondheim.

My advice is, write your musical on any subject you want (not the eccentricities etc - Sondheim’s already done it) but anything else. In the unlikely eventuality of someone producing it, you may eventually become a genius. But don’t please read any of those lists, however well meant.

Howard Kay

Verdala Park

Liverpool