Putting on a Show

As a producer of West End shows, Freddie Tapner (2004), CEO and Artistic Director of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, saw the impact the Covid pandemic had on the industry, but it also provided the opportunity for him to put on a once-in-a-lifetime version of ‘A Christmas Carol’.

This is a story. A tale, not of two cities, but of timing, coincidence and hard graft in the face of Covid uncertainty to pull together a once in a lifetime production in London’s West End.

For the last two years, the musical theatre industry has found itself in its most challenging time since the Second World War. Theatres, much like the rest of the country, had been shut down in the first lockdown of 2020, but when producer and CEO & Artistic Director of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, Freddie Tapner (2004), realised that lockdown may be eased in December that year, he sensed there was an opportunity to do something special. Stage a version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol like no other. In the autumn of 2020, he had none of the three things needed for a West End musical – title rights, a venue and a star. With the clock ticking, he now had just 11 weeks to get a show up and running in time for opening night, a process that would normally take 18 months to achieve…

Freddie conducting the LMTO.

Chapter 1 – The rights

Getting title rights from a rights holder is not simply a transactional arrangement, where you pay the money and in return get the rights to the show you want. Very often a producer can be in competition with others who also want those rights and so Freddie needed to be able to persuade the holders that he was the right person to trust to put on the show. Sometimes this can involve lengthy negotiations with rights holders over numerous face-to-face meetings in the USA. Other times it can be resolved in just one phone call. With time pressing, having no idea how long this part of the process could take might have scuppered their plans from the off. However, when it came to A Christmas Carol, he had an ace up his sleeve. The London Musical Theatre Orchestra (LMTO), under Freddie’s direction, had already been performing the music for this production in concert before the pandemic brought things to a standstill. Having such a good existing relationship with the rights holders meant that he was able to assuage their nervousness that the need for performers to be socially distanced on stage would negatively impact the production and could demonstrate how they had plans already in place to ensure the quality of the show remained high. The rights holders knew they could trust him to deliver and he soon had the agreement in the bag. One challenge down.

The speed with which he was able to negotiate this deal, also helped solve one of the other challenges – the venue. In a feat of circular organisation reminiscent of the Circumlocution Office of Little Dorrit, to secure title rights producers need to go to holders with the exact plan of the production, including the venue and the star. But in order to get the plan agreed, the star lined up and the venue booked, you need the rights… With the rights successfully secured however, Freddie could move on to sorting these.

Chapter 2 – The Venue

West End venues are highly sought after and getting your show in the right venue can make or break it. In recent years there has been too much product vying for too few venues and producers had been scrambling to get their show taken on. From the theatres’ perspective, they want the best-selling ticket in town – the bigger the audience, the more revenue through food & beverage sales and merchandising they can make. When the rental fee paid by producers only really covers the ground rent and staff costs, the venue makes the majority of their profit from these additional

The existing set at the Dominion Theatre was perfect to reuse - here a Victorian London skyline is projected on to the sky piece.

on-site sales. Where footfall is king, venues will therefore likely choose a banker show, for example going for Les Misérables over an unknown or untested new musical. Finding the right venue and negotiating a contract would usually take between 3 and 4 months.

But in the autumn of 2020, the unthinkable was happening. On the day that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced that theatres could open over Christmas and that they would not be closed by a lockdown, three different theatres contacted him asking if they wanted to use their theatre for his run of A Christmas Carol. Each of these theatres, like so many, all had big shows in and set up already, but they had been mothballed for over 6 months. The cost of getting a big show back up and running is eye-wateringly expensive, and with the ever-present risk of lockdown kicking in again, the large shows simply did not need to risk a short, four-week run over Christmas. For LMTO however, the timing worked and the show they had was perfect and the venues needed audience revenue. The opportunity was there, they just needed to get the right venue for their production.

Freddie and his co-producer, Gary England, knew exactly what they were looking for to run A Christmas Carol and, after looking at various venues, they decided on the Dominion Theatre. The show that was already in place there was Prince of Egypt, and the existing set was near perfect to repurpose and reuse for his own production. In Prince of Egypt the stage is a map on the ground surrounded by a dark blue ‘sea’ and above this hangs a reflection of the map – the sky piece. Both the map and the sky are designed to have images projected on them and the ground could become Victorian-style parchment, the dark blue the night sky and the sky piece allowed them to project whatever the scene called for on to it, be that a Victorian rooftop scene or a star-filled night. In an industry where new shows have set budgets of £1-5 million, this was obviously well out of budget for such a short run so having a set that could be repurposed and no need for new costumes reduced this budget to almost zero. It still took Gary two weeks of in-depth negotiations, incentivisation and derisking for both parties to reach an agreement, but eventually they had their venue.

Chapter 3 - The star

Shows in London for a non-tourist, domestic audience simply HAVE to have a star in the lead role. Without a star, people won’t buy tickets. Without a star, the show won’t get featured on television programmes such as This Morning or The One Show and so miss out on vital promotion. Without a star, getting the rights to a show or booking a venue is that much more challenging. Freddie needed a Scrooge.

Unfortunately, it so happens that Scrooge is one of the hardest roles to cast, due to the age profile of the character. Finding an older, male star who isn’t already so big that they’re doing films and TV or are optioned for other shows three years in advance is incredibly difficult. Add to that the short nature of the run and the relatively modest size of the show and he knew he wouldn’t be able to match the financial offer that most stars would expect. Each Christmas there are around half a dozen productions of A Christmas Carol and each of those productions is only as good as

the star that plays Scrooge and how well-matched they are to the style of the production. This was a very upbeat, Broadway-style, family friendly version and to complement this he knew exactly who he wanted to play the part. Brian Conley. Already a superstar name in the world of musical theatre and pantomime for over 45 years, getting his name on the bill of your show can effectively make it a success before it has even opened. Audiences will come to see him in their thousands. Freddie had always wanted Brian to play Scrooge in his productions but knew that in normal times he could never compete with the money pantomime offered. But the Covid disruption in the industry meant that here was a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure him. He made contact and even after being up front about the level of budget they were working within, Brian was still interested. He’d been without an audience for six months and was desperate to get back on stage. So, Freddie found himself on a video call to one of his all-time heroes, to pitch the role of Scrooge that makes or breaks the show, possibly rendering all the hard work of getting the rights and the venue sorted for naught…

Brian’s initial reaction was positive, a great start. It was a role he’d always wanted to perform one day, but he would base his final decision on the music and the script. The call ended with Brian saying he would listen to the first 10 minutes and that should give him enough to decide upon. Exactly 105 minutes later – the exact running time of the music for the show – Brian called back. He was in tears, saying it was the most beautiful show he’d ever heard and he knew that this was the Scrooge he always wanted to play. Having intended to listen to just the first 10 minutes, he had instead sat through the whole thing, unable to stop until the very end. Brian was on board and they had their star.

The show was on!

Chapter 4 – The money

Within the space of just 10 days they had secured all three key elements they needed and it was full-steam ahead. It was now just a problem-solving exercise, but the first of these problems to be solved was the small matter of raising the funding to pay for it all. For a producer to get a West End show off the ground typically needs to see them raise between £3 million and £12 million. Freddie knew raising this amount was simply not going to happen in the two weeks he had available. Even raising the £1 million needed for all the upfront costs and the first two weeks of the run, as is standard practice in the industry, was not going to be achievable. The wider circumstances of the pandemic meant that the return on a £1 million commercial raise just wasn’t going to be enough for the risk the investors would have to take. To get his show up and running, he had to find a way to reduce the amount needed from £1m to £250,000.

Freddie came up with two innovative ways to achieve this. In theatre it is standard practice for venues to only release the money from ticket sales two weeks after they have matured, and so he needed a way to cover this gap in cashflow. His solution was to take out a loan secured against the ticket sales for the first week, timed to kick in only when they were sure the show would go ahead. By this time they would already know how much ticket money was due and therefore how much they needed to borrow to bridge the gap. The other way to solve the cashflow issue was to bring down the costs of the first two weeks, but his solution was one everyone told him couldn’t be done.

His idea was to change how everyone involved in the show would be paid, and he was convinced it could work. Instead of the industry standard of paying salaries in the middle of the week of

Brian Conley as Scrooge (left) led a cast packed with top talent, including Sandra Marvin as Mrs FezziWig (right).

To comply with Covid safety protocols, the cast had to perform socially-distanced from each other.

performance, he asked all members of the company to agree to being paid one week in arrears once the show had opened. All rehearsal costs would be paid on time and all rates were to be the standard West End ones, the only difference being one week’s delay to the first week of payment. Normally agents wouldn’t countenance this, but the unusual situation caused by the pressures of lockdown meant that agents and performers were willing to agree to this to make sure the show could be staged. Freddie had challenged how things could be done and in doing so had solved the cashflow issue. Doing this meant that they could afford to take the risk for those four weeks, entertain tens of thousands of people, give much needed work to fellow creatives and also still make money. This was a real win and one that he is rightly very proud of.

Chapter 5 – The Show

To put the production on, all departments had to adapt the way they worked due to Covid, whether that was sanitising all the props, musicians playing behind Perspex screens or the cast staying two metres apart on stage, except for carefully choreographed fleeting moments. The Test & Trace regime that was in place at the time had the potential to be a huge issue, with one ‘ping’ being enough to shut down the show if social distancing was not managed properly. To counter this issue, all 24 musicians and 28 on-stage cast were each in their own individual bubble of one, so that should anyone require to isolate it did not lead to a whole swathe of the other performers having to follow suit, derailing the show entirely. Such was the success of their planning and protocols that throughout the run there were no positive cases amongst the cast and staff and not even any reported cases from the audiences. Freddie and his team had proved that theatre could be run safely, but he still recalls the daily, even hourly, fear that the show would be shut down.

The performances themselves ran seamlessly. Audiences couldn’t believe how lucky they were to see such a spectacular show after a terrible year of lockdown, and some shows received three standing ovations. The critics were also full of praise, with numerous four-star and five-star reviews and great notices. As the Artistic Director of LMTO, he would usually be up on stage every night, conducting the musicians, but as the co-producer he took the opportunity to watch the spectacle as part of the audience. Standing right at the back of the upper circle looking down on something that you have created, something that wouldn’t have existed without your hard work, is the most exciting place to be for a producer. Whilst stood there, midway through the performance and for the first time at one of his shows, he opened the door into the foyer and left the auditorium. He wanted to test whether the show could continue without him being there to drive the show on. As the production continued on behind the theatre door, he realised that he had indeed created something that was bigger than himself. It was a fantastic feeling.

Then, on the ninth day of their planned 41-night run, with Press Night ahead of them that evening, the announcement Freddie had been dreading came through. London was moving into Tier 3 Covid lockdown and, despite previous assurances that theatre would be able to continue, the show was going to be forced to close just 24 hours later. After such monumental efforts to create this production, this was a body blow. He stood in front of the assembled company and gave an emotional speech, but his message was that it was not a sad day but was in fact a happy day. Covid had indeed brought the show to an end, but it was the

circumstances of Covid that had allowed them to come together in the first place for an amazing three weeks. The cast they had assembled was a once in a lifetime ensemble packed with talent, with all ten principals West End leads in their own right – a normal show would have one or two. Everyone involved realised that such a collection of talent would rarely come together again.

Working with this wealth of experience was also an invaluable experience to the 19 musicians who were given their West End debuts as part of the LMTO’s commitment to developing young musicians at the start of their careers. The most talented recent graduates always fill 15% of LMTO and to allow this approach to continue over the short run of the show, they swapped several musicians each night. Being able to support that many people in their early careers is incredibly powerful and it created such a warm atmosphere amongst the company, with seasoned actors and musicians giving encouragement to each new face.

To Freddie, a beautiful work of art is transient – one that lives on in the memory and a theatre is a special space of transient beauty. Creating these moments is one of the main reasons he works in musical theatre. The narrative symmetry to the show, with Covid being the reason for its creation and its demise just added to this sense of transient beauty. His production of A Christmas Carol was one of those extraordinary moments where everything just slotted into place. He looks back on it as the best three weeks of his life and to him the story has a happy ending because they were able to put the show on at all.

Despite its curtailed run, the show was a hit with audiences and critics alike.

Chapter 6 – The Wrap Up

Despite the devastation of having to close down in the prime of its run, he is hugely proud that the show achieved (nearly) all that he had wanted it to. Before Covid hit, he had been arranging for the show to run for just 10 nights at the Coliseum. The run at the Dominion was finally brought to an end after 11 nights, one more than his original plan. Across the 41-night run they were on course to average 93% capacity, a truly astonishing figure in a market where anything over 85% capacity is considered outstanding. Even ending the run early, they still performed for over 10,000 people and employed over 150 people who had been prevented from working for 9 months. Having to return £1 million of ticket sales was a painful pill to swallow, but the financial management had been so good that his investors still got a decent proportion of their money back. They were so grateful that they said they would invest again even knowing they wouldn’t get that money back. Feeling they were part of something meaningful and impactful and seeing the joy on the faces of the audiences was worth every penny.

Bringing this production to the stage has been life-changing for Freddie, who learned a huge amount about what he was capable of doing over a very short space of time. Having shown this production can work even in the most challenging of circumstances, he’s now having to learn patience – which is hard for a musical theatre entrepreneur and producer. Although they are now perfectly set up to sell this show in the future, the number of other productions vying for attention again as theatre doors open up once more means there just isn’t the space available this year. He knows that this show has the potential to make LMTO, but having taken a huge risk with the initial production now is the time to wait and plan and be ready for the next opportunity. These are exciting times, these are daunting times, but Freddie now has plenty of experience in how to bring stories to life.