London's West End and Broadway trade Broadway musicals on a fairly consistent basis. Broadway recently got a production of Company from the West End, and was set to get Six prior to COVID19. It is still dominated by the Phantom of the Opera as its longest-running musical. Meanwhile, the West End fairly recently got Hamilton from Broadway and is dominated by American musicals like Wicked and The Lion King.
But not every musical makes the journey overseas, no matter the success of it in London.
Today we are sharing five current, past, or future West End musicals that should come to Broadway (obviously once they reopen after the coronavirus pandemic) in no particular order. We are not including revivals that have already been on Broadway in the past, but only original productions.
Everyone's Talking About Jamie
This was a recent hit musical on the West End about an aspiring drag queen in high school as he faces prejudice for his sexuality and dreams of going to prom in drag. It has run in the West End since 2017 and was filmed on stage on top of a movie adaptation scheduled to come out in 2021 (following a delay to COVID19). Broadway has previously seen a hit with a Great Britain based musical featuring a drag queen, and this musical would certainly fit alongside other successful Broadway high school musicals from Dear Evan Hansen to Mean Girls.
Back To The Future
This musical premiered in a UK tryout immediately prior to COVID19 and is set to return in a transfer to the West End next year. This musical hasn't released its cast album yet, but they have released two original songs in promotional videos that are very strong and point towards this being a great musical, on top of it being well-reviewed in the short time it was open (less than a week). This musical adapts an amazing film to the stage with original music and songs from the film to create something familiar and new that would work out great on Broadway.
& Juliet
This musical adapts music from Max Martin into a musical sequel to Romeo and Juliet where Juliet doesn't die (yes that is also the plot to the show within a show of the recent Broadway musical Tootsie). This show has been a hit for its short life since 2019 and it is set to have a production in North America in Toronto. This musical is an interesting production that transforms its music to fit the show in the way of the best jukebox musicals telling original stories. While Broadway currently has a lot of jukebox musicals, this is different than anything else currently open and would be a welcome addition to Broadway.
Prince of Egypt
Based on the animated film of the same name, this was a film begging for a stage adaptation ever since its initial release. From its killer Stephen Schwartz score to its larger than life biblical story, it is a magical production. It manages to tell an impressive and religiously respectful story of Moses in a way that is almost unheard of on the stage. Broadway hasn't really seen something else like this, but hopefully, it would be a success there, even if just for a limited run like in London.
Cinderella (Andrew Llyod Webber)
Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most prolific musical theater composers out there, so how can we not be begging for his latest production to come to Broadway. While it has yet to open on the West End, one can only hope it will have the same level of success as previous shows, and make the journey over the Atlantic to Broadway as well. This show will hopefully reimagine the tale in a way different than other stage productions of the fairy tale (most notably the Rogers and Hammerstein version) and give Andrew Llyod Webber another hit.
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