BEAM 2018 line-up of new works revealed

Fifty-eight new musicals have been selected to be showcased at BEAM2018 at Theatre Royal Stratford East on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March 2018.

Chosen from 298 applications, the writers, whose ideas for new musical projects impressed the panels at 15 Pitch Days held across the UK earlier this year, will see their work included in the largest national showcase of new British musicals in development.

Presented in association with Theatre Royal Stratford East by Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments, BEAM2018 will feature 50 ten-minute pitches and eight 25-minute extracts from the new musical theatre projects judged to have the most potential.

In a statement announcing the line-up for next year’s event, executive director of Mercury Musical Developments, Victoria Saxton, and Musical Theatre Network’s executive director, James Hadley, said: “Having travelled across the UK we can say with certainty that there is a renaissance of talent and confidence and craft in new British musical theatre writing. The overall rise in level of quality in the pitches we saw were evidence that we are no longer in the shadow of the American Broadway tradition. Artists around the UK are developing their own distinct voices as writers of original musical theatre.

“The pitches we saw were significantly more diverse compared to two years ago, both in terms of artists’ cultural heritage and in terms of the musical styles pitched. The work that grass-root organisations such as ours are doing, along with the increase in artistic directors and producers putting long term investment into the development of new musical theatre, is paying off. We cannot wait to share the work of the writers we have discovered with the industry at BEAM2018.”

The eight musicals chosen to feature as 25-minute extracts at the event are: Bollywood Rose by Sumerah Srivastav and Ajay Srivastav, Christmas Already by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, The Wind Singer by Teresa Howard and Sarah Llewellyn, Lucky Petra by Christopher Ash and Carl Miller, The Bow by Finn Anderson, F**ked in Marrakech by Alex Young and Kate Marlais (recently announced as the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer at the Lyric Hammersmith for 2018), Mammoth by Matthew Herbert and Alexandra Wood and  My Marcello by Rosabella Gregory, Dina Gregory and Corey Burnish.

Writers who will take up the 50 pitching slots are: Dylan Wynford, Sevan K Greene, John Victor, Emily Rose Simons, Emily Claire Schmitt, Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts, Harry Blake, Amir Shoenfeld, Stan Hodgson, Meghan Doyle, Getrude Veremu, Mark Powell, Ben Occhipinti, Gavin Brock, Nichola Rivers, Dom James, Tom Rylls, Stephanie Singer, Laurel Haines, Rebecca Applin, Pete Ashmore, Coco Mbassi, Greg Davidson, Chris Coxon, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Theo Jamieson, Firdos Ali, Izo Fitzroy, Matt Borgatti, Mary Erskine, Will Dollard, Ross Millard, Maria Crocker, Katherine Gotts, Maureen Chadwick, Donald Rice, Eva Rice, Craig Adams, Lee Whitelock, Gabriela Garcia, Jack Murray, Shonagh Murray, Kirsty Findlay, Naomi Stirrat, Mike Scott-Harding, Rob Castell, Francine Morgan, Cordelia O’Driscoll, Tom Williams, Paul Montgomery, Graeme Cameron, Stephen Smith, Paul Milligan, Mark Aspinall, Tasha Taylor-Johnson, Phil Cornwell, Adam Taylor, Dillie Keane, Julie Clare, Carol Russell, Christian Czornyi, Rebecca Grant, Giles Fernando, Sara Eker, Shane Solanki, Tim Connor, Sue Pearse, Liam O’Rafferty, Andrew Dyer, Hannah Jarret-Scott, Shona White, Lisbee Stainton, Benjamin Till, Jay Cameron, Emily Aboud, Dougal Irvine, Elizabeth Carter, Josef Pitura-Riley, Shuang Teng, Matthew Lim, Mingyu Lin, Barnaby Hallam, Tamara Saringer, David Tse, Chris Chan, Gus Rowland, David Kent, Darren Clarke, Rhys Jennings and Eamonn O’Dwyer.

BEAM was launched in 2016 as a biennial event aimed at providing a platform for aspiring and established musical theatre professionals to reach producers, venues and anyone with the resources to develop and stage shows. Sixty per cent of the work showcased at BEAM2016 has since received further development and in some cases, has been fully staged.

Angela Thomas