The Snooty Show

Snooty is as snooty sounds and actress and musicals star Sheila Hancock has been sounding off a bit:

"There's an incredibly grand attitude towards musicals. I don't understand why my profession is so snooty about it. It's not just my profession, it's critics too"

And non-snooty critic Michael Billington has leapt to the defence. No, he says, criticisms of musicals are all entirely snooty-free. Let's see, non-snooty criticism number one:

"The first is what I see as the unhealthy dominance of the musical in the West End"

Hmm, perhaps a touch of snootiness here. I wonder if he's ever argued that there aren't enough musicals in the West End? Or asked why the National doesn't do Lloyd Webber shows? I suspect not. Non-snooty criticism number two:

"TV, in particular, treats the musical as the only theatrical form that matters."

Again, would he be complaining if the Beeb did wall-to-wall Pinter? Why the special pleading for non-musical theatre? Besides television's job is to make good television and I'm not convinced that theatre works particularly well on the box. Even popular musicals, it seems, have to be squeezed and sculpted into a reality TV format. Non-snooty criticism number three:

"One of my big beefs about the genre right now is that it lives almost entirely off the past...Where, I've asked a score of times, are the new musicals?"

This is perhaps the least snooty complaint. But it would be more convincing if he had a surer understanding of what counts as "new musicals". He manages to lump together Sister Act, Legally Blonde and Priscilla as being unoriginal due to the fact that they are based on films (by the same token he would have dismissed A Little Night Music) . Now it's true that Priscilla is a compilation of pop songs but the other two have entirely orginal scores. One by an multi-oscar-winning composer, no less. If that doesn't count as an interesting "new musical" you probably shouldn't be doing musical criticism.

I do suspect a lot of theatre critics have to hold their noses when they attend a musical. To be honest, I don't really blame them. I imagine most of them are smart university graduates who didn't spend their formative years reading Chekhov to have to write 2oo words on drag queens singing disco hits. On top of that, when it comes to musicals, I suspect that critics are fairly redundant. Whereas they may be able to help a struggling straight play get noticed I wonder whether they have much influence on musicals.

So, on the whole, I'm with Sheila. Musicals are simply a cut above common snootiness.