In this episode of Channel 4's backstage documentary The Sound of Musicals (the second of four), we followed the fortunes of two producers at very different stages in their respective careers.

Theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh is the man behinds a string of hits including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats. The director on his latest show, Barnum, describes him as "hands-on" which, judging by the tense discussions last night, is theatre-speak for "interfering busybody with a million impractical ideas".

Meanwhile, actress-turned-first-time producer Amy Anzel was struggling to find any director at all, even an unhappy one. After Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood pulled out of directing her stage version of Fifties-set sitcom Happy Days, she was reduced to ambushing original Fonz actor Henry Winkler at a book signing: "It's 'Sad Days' at the moment."

Download the new Independent Premium app

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

There was one lighter moment, with a scene revealing how Mamma Mia! achieves that year-round glow: "It's all in a gay's work, my love!" said make-up artist Rick merrily as he watched his assistant Henrik fake-tanning a production line of young men, all of them nude, save for a strategically placed sock. There should have been more. Instead, The Sound of Musicals featured too much of the grinding gears and the sweaty rehearsals and not enough of the exuberance that makes West End musicals so popular. If there's really no business like show business, why is The Sound of Musicals such a drag to watch?

Comments

Share your thoughts and debate the big issues

Learn more
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.

Create a commenting name to join the debate

Please try again, the name must be unique Only letters and numbers accepted
Loading comments...
Loading comments...
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.

Loading comments...
Loading comments...