Name a popular TV show or movie from the past few decades and there is a good chance that it’s recently been razzmatazzed into a musical. Bake Off? It’s a musical. Back to the Future? A musical. Groundhog Day? Returning as a musical. The Time Traveler’s Wife? Soon to be a musical. Pretty Woman? A musical, titled Pretty Woman: The Musical. In a sector so jam-packed with safe-bet adaptations of existing media, how can a new, original musical possibly hope to compete?
At Southwark Playhouse’s new theatre, the Elephant, in south London, a new, homegrown musical is aiming to prove that an original, sung-through story can hold its own against the endless adaptations. In rehearsal, Silvio Berlusconi grimaces into an imaginary news camera. Grin wide, eyes wild. Vladimir Putin stands off stage, munching on a banana as he watches the former Italian PM sing. Developed over the past five years, Berlusconi is not a straightforward biopic. Instead, this new production is an analysis of its titular character’s reign and the way his misuse of power laid the groundwork for other populist leaders.
