Word of mouth is vital if a costly West End production is going to succeed, and Opening Night had the wrong kind
When was the last time anyone read a synopsis in a theatre programme? At a lesser-known Shakespeare, perhaps? More likely at an opera being sung in a foreign language with a typically clotted plot. The last place you’d expect to find one is at a musical.
Discovering one detailing the otherwise baffling action in the programme for Rufus Wainwright and Ivo van Hove’s musical, Opening Night, felt not just necessary but a woeful admission of defeat. A musical in English needing a printed explanation for audiences to follow what was going on?
