UK Musical Theatre Conference – April 2024

You’d have to look far and wide for someone at John Good who doesn’t like musicals. As the UK leader in show programme production for musical theatre, it was important for us to be involved with Mercury Musical Developments UK Musical Theatre Conference.

The conference was held at the Royal Court on a glorious spring sunshine day and having lent the event corporate support, our Business Development Manager and Communications Manager were fortunate enough to attend.

The programme was jam-packed and was kicked off by a rousing keynote by the Nimax Theatre powerhouse, Nica Burns. There were fascinating panel discussions and provocations that covered important topics like harnessing technology, audience expectations, artistic direction trends, new generation musicals and the challenge of keeping 20th century musicals relevant.

During the breaks, we caught up with many customers and colleagues - such animated and friendly chats!

Perhaps the most prominent takeaways were that musical theatre development works best when creative-led, the sector is collectively embracing a trajectory toward being greener and that collaboration is key to the success of any musical production. Authors and composers were encouraged to be persistent and compelling, rather than impeded by commercial considerations.

A lively Operation Mincemeat case study with the cast and originators closed off the day with much insight and, unsurprisingly, a lot of laughter!

The conference was co-produced with the Musical Theatre Network.

Thank you to Executive Directors Natalia Scorer and James Hadley for a very rewarding day!

#UKMTConference