‘Student Cabaret’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as ‘Broadway’, that much is true, yet the latest generation of youngsters have an evident fascination with Musical Theatre which proves it is not something from a bygone Motown era but alive, well and glossed in quality. There was not a feather boa in sight at the University of Bristol’s ‘Music Theatre Bristol’ Showcase Cabaret evening on November 7th, nor is there a cheap glitter curtain or a misplaced karaoke rendition of Tina Turner.

This was Musical Theatre song worthy of the professional stage (bar several slip-ups and some unlikely pop song interruptions) and rehearsed with utter dedication. The accessibility of the Edinburgh stage to those who are prepared to work hard enough to get there seems to be encouraging a revival of dramatic song and, more importantly, of performing them with quality.

With the close of the epic run enjoyed by Cats, a string of new, successful musicals has emerged – think Wicked, think Hair. They are as popular as Lloyd Webber’s time-worna classics, proving that it is no longer he who steals contemporary audiences. The target of tonight’s young performers is not the local Am-Dram Soc but the world stage of Edinburgh. They are writing their own musicals. They are spending their loans on singing lessons. They are living, breathing and in some cases destroying their degrees for Musical Theatre. I do not mean to imply that their favourite entertainment form ever went away, but that it is becoming increasingly popular and praiseworthy instead of shifting aside to make way for television and downloaded chart music.

Certainly, it cannot have hurt Musical Theatre’s popularity that certain Lloyd-Webber-driven televised talent shows have thrown hundreds of ‘Marias’, ‘Josephs’ and other clichéd stage personas into our living rooms; people no longer need to pay buckets to sample what is still a ‘special occasion’ evening of entertainment. There is an entire website dedicated to 21st century Musical Theatre only ten years into the century itself; the list of shows is astonishingly long. On a local level, ‘The Magic of Motown’ toured to the Colston Hall on 17th October and English National Ballet share the same stage that has displayed We Will Rock You just weeks earlier. For this city anyway, Broadway Song is taken seriously not just by the usual Hippodrome followers but displayed in the biggest city concert hall.  Whilst ‘Motown’ implies The Supremes and more song-time than theatre, the music is of a similar style and has a similar grin-inducing effect.

Musical Theatre is, after millions of pounds of promotions and strings of tours and sell-out shows, being taken seriously like never before. It has managed to transform itself from worthy only of the Victorian music hall great uncultured unwashed to the pride of the UK entertainment industry and most decisively, the pride of privileged undergraduates. The MTB Bristol student showcase showed just snippets of the talent which will surely gravitate towards stages of international renown. Motown? Who needs it. Maybe Broadway is set for an influx of British talent that the Americans are often ignorant enough to forget. People can say what they like about the UK film industry, the musical as an entertainment form is as vivid as its performers and there is as much good quality on display as make-up - that, by the way, is a lot. Funding is a different matter altogether; it is a shame that there is so little money being channelled into an art-form that people genuinely love performing and watching.

www.ubu.org.uk/societies/mtb

www.21stcenturymusicals.com

Katy Austin