There’s the Bright Side to London Theater . . . : . . . and There’s the Dark Side on the West End

Because most of the hit shows that have arrived on Broadway in recent years originate from England, it’s tempting to assume that London’s West End must be flourishing.

On the face of it, this appears to be the case. Hit musicals like “Phantom of the Opera,” “Miss Saigon,” “Aspects of Love” and “Les Miserables” keep London’s theater box offices busy and their investors smiling.

These are the shows to which tourists will inevitably flock this summer, having bought tickets in advance at inflated prices. And these shows perpetuate the notion that all is well in the West End.

Out of 42 theaters in the district, seven are housing shows that could fairly be described as big hits--the four named above and “Cats,” “Me and my Girl” and “Starlight Express.” All of these shows are musicals, and four of them bear the imprint of the ubiquitous Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yet only “Miss Saigon,” which opened last fall, is a recent arrival to the West End. “Phantom,” “Cats,” “Les Miserables” and “Starlight Express” have been playing for several years.

Another half-dozen shows, including “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” “Shirley Valentine,” Willy Russell’s musical “Blood Brothers,” “Buddy,” a musical about the late pop singer Buddy Holly, and the Cole Porter revival “Anything Goes,” have settled into long, profitable runs.

It is perfectly normal for the West End’s hit shows to be concentrated in a handful of theaters. But in terms of the recent survival rate among new shows, the West End is experiencing troubled times. It is plagued by rising costs, ticket scalpers and a rash of frankly second-rate new productions. These problems have been highlighted since the beginning of May by a run of eagerly awaited and much-heralded plays closing prematurely.

The most notable disaster has been “King,” a 3-million ($5-million) musical dealing with the life and death of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It has closed a mere two months after opening to savage reviews.

Another show, “Someone Like You,” starring Petula Clark, was also received coldly by reviewers. Audiences stayed away in droves, finally dwindling to 25% of capacity. Its end came after just over a month, almost forcing its main backer, veteran London impresario Harold Fielding, out of business. Fielding is now liquidating one of his companies but will continue to invest in West End shows.

The same week “Someone Like You” closed, the revival of William Inge’s “Bus Stop” with Jerry Hall--which had received mixed notices but intense publicity--took its final curtain after nine weeks of playing to a half-empty theater.

Worse followed. “Look Look,” a new work by the highly regarded playwright Michael Frayn, wound up after less than a month. This was surprising, as Frayn’s last play, “Benefactors,” received popular and critical raves in London and on Broadway.

Then “A Clockwork Orange,” a Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel, which had sold out in a limited run at the RSC’s Barbican theater, folded five weeks after transferring to the West End.

These failures have caused shock waves in London’s theater community. Current wisdom holds that it is now more difficult than ever to create a hit show in the city.

Many people in the community blame the theater critics of Britain’s newspapers, who generally panned all the shows that recently closed.

“Our critics are becoming outrageous,” complains Fielding, who has staged 35 musicals in the West End since 1958. “Some of them simply set out to make a name for themselves. They have their own pictures at the top of their columns, rather than those of the stars.”

London critics certainly had a field day with “King.” One, John Peter of the Sunday Times, dismissed it as “a piece of tedious, muscle-bound mediocrity” and complained that opera singer Simon Estes played the title role “with a massive, impassive dignity, and the weight and intellectual refinement of a large rock.” Another, the Observer’s Michael Coveney, sniped: “Sanitized vacuity reigns.”

Yet, no individual London critic wields the influence to close a show with a harsh review in the way the New York Times can affect Broadway productions. And it is fair to say that many people in the sparse audiences who attended “King” agreed with the critics. In the bar at the interval one night during its first week, complete strangers were striking up conversations with each other, shaking their heads and murmuring about the dire quality of the production.

“I hesitate to criticize another production, but it may be that the subject matter was all wrong,” says Harold Fielding of the “King” fiasco. Certainly, the story of a slain Black American civil rights leader held little appeal for the “coach parties”--the busloads of (usually) middle-aged theatergoers from the suburbs and provinces who buy blocks of theater tickets and tend to prefer cheery, bland entertainment.

That description better fits Fielding’s show “Someone Like You,” a Civil War-themed musical with a romantic story and a star in Petula Clark who might appeal to the coach parties.

“All I can say is, it was charming when it played out of town in small theaters,” says Fielding. “Something happened when it came to the West End. It lost some of its charm.”

The backers of “Bus Stop” may have overrated the box-office appeal of Jerry Hall in the lead role. Hall, the international model who is perhaps best known as Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, received charitable reviews for her work in the role that Marilyn Monroe made famous on film, but Inge’s play seemed dated and scarcely worth reviving.

Pallid reviews killed off the prospects of “Look Look,” a play, ironically, about a theater audience. After its closure was announced, playwright Frayn wrote an article for a Sunday newspaper, which recounted the play’s problems and concluded that “Look Look” was simply not good enough.

The Royal Shakespeare Company, with its severe financial problems (see box, Page 7), was immensely heartened by the standing-room-only audiences packing the Barbican for the limited run of “A Clockwork Orange.” The RSC hoped that transferring it from the Barbican to a commercial West End theater would ease its deficit and duplicate the company’s success with “Les Miserables,” which also transferred to the West End.

But “A Clockwork Orange” did not appeal to traditional theatergoers. At the Barbican, audiences were of the kind one might expect to see at a rock venue, and many were clearly drawn to the production to hear the score--composed by Bono Hewson and The Edge, two members of the rock group U2.

Fielding thinks the quality of new West End shows is secondary to the problem of rising costs and admissions.

“Our biggest problem is that the touts (scalpers) have got hold of too many tickets,” outside a theater. At the average bureau de change in the West End, it’s the same. You pay 50 ($83) for a 25 ($41.50) ticket--if you’re lucky.

“Then there are tourists staying in London at big hotels, who ask the porter at the desk to get them tickets for a big show. They’re prepared to pay 100 ($166) a ticket for the service. It all helps to force prices up.” Recent government legislation aimed at curbing the scalper activity, says Fielding, has had only a limited effect.

Other costs are squeezing theater backers, claims Fielding. “If a show is (panned) by critics, it needs money in the kitty to keep going,” he said. “If you make a judgment that your show is right despite what the critics say, then you go out and market it differently. But television commercials are exorbitant now. For a 20-second spot during the 10 o’clock news, you have to pay 20,000-25,000 ($33,200-$41,500).”

Union problems play a part in the West End’s woes too. Fielding and many other producers want theater unions to show more flexibility in a deal under which they are paid up to double time for working Sundays.

“If we could make it economic to have one performance on Sunday, probably a matinee, most of us would be happy to see theaters dark Mondays,” says Fielding. “It would create a lot of extra revenue. This has worked well on Broadway, and it would benefit the West End tremendously.”

So who would try to open a new show in the West End, assuming their name wasn’t Lloyd Webber? Oddly, the combined problems of rising costs, harsh critics, scalpers and unions don’t deter backers intent on pursuing the chance of a fortune.

Later this month, a new 1-million ($1.66-million) musical called “Bernadette,” based on the life of the visionary 19th-Century Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, opens at the Dominion Theatre. Implausibly, it was written by two schoolteachers, Maureen and Gwyn Hughes. Producer Jim Murray raised one-fifth of his budget by persuading 2,000 people to gamble 100 ($166) each on its success. Will they get their money back? Hope springs eternal.

‘KING’S’ FALL: A play about the civil rights leader closes in London. Page 41.