The Difference Between a Musical Theatre Culture and a Culture with Musical Theatre

I was struck by this performance of "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Kelli O'Hara at the 9/11 memorial service in New York.

It's a beautiful song, sung simply and very effectively. But what really struck me was how, in a moment of national commemoration, they chose a musical theatre song.

That would never happen here in the UK.

I cannot for one moment imagine the scene at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day with Elaine Paige popping up for a performance "Memory", or Michael Ball chipping in with "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables".

It seems to me that musical theatre is part and parcel of American culture in a way that it simply isn't for Britain (or, I would guess, any other country). I don't mean that Brits can't do musicals. We can. Good ones. Some even say that we started the whole thing - looking at you, Gilbert and Sullivan groupies. 

But America gave us a certain kind of musical theatre and, with it, a certain kind of American culture: popular, confident, optimistic, joyous. For all the megamusicals of the past few decades, it still feels as if British musicals haven't quite found their voice. Even the term 'British musical' still doesn't quite feel right.

This may be to do with the difference between a European culture that was formed from a tradition of high art and an American one that comes out of the more commercial and popular end of things. I don't really know. If it is the case, then I say we could do with a bit more of the popular stuff. And, as watch that beautiful song being heard by everyone from the President and former Presidents down to the firemen and ordinary families, I'm reminded of one important thing: musicals are for everyone.

Even the Brits.