The Stage

Musical theatre concerts to continue at BBC Proms

Published Friday 23 April 2010 at 17:20 by Matthew Hemley

BBC Proms director Roger Wright has indicated that musical theatre will continue to be represented at the classical music festival, revealing plans are already in place to do more concerts dedicated to the genre.

Wright, who is also controller of Radio 3, hinted that next year’s programme - which has already been planned - is likely to feature musical theatre, following on from this summer’s event, which will see a concert dedicated to Stephen Sondheim and another devoted to the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein, as revealed by The Stage last week.

He claimed that last year’s prom dedicated to the musicals of MGM had “unlocked something rather special”, and said there was an appetite for shows based around musicals.

“You have to pick your moments quite carefully, but clearly there is an appetite amongst the audience for it. It is something that is a fun summer thing to do,” he said.

Wright added there was no guarantee there would be proms for musical theatre fans every year, but said there were concerts already being planned for the future.

He also said that classical music fans did not take issue with part of the BBC Proms being handed over to musical theatre, and said he hoped musical theatre fans would discover new music by attending.

“Once you get them in, then you can take them on a different journey,” he said.