Celebrating our world-beating theatre on World Theatre Day
This year, together Crossroads Live and Crossroads Pantomimes will produce more productions than we ever have before, creating thousands of jobs both on and off stage, and bringing thousands of hours of pleasure to audiences worldwide.
There is always discussion about how we attract new audiences as an industry, and whether the rising costs of producing shows will mean that this is the year that theatre finally expires, but the power and allure of live performance endures.
Within our own Crossroads UK eco-system, the audience journey may begin at any one of a number of regional powerhouse venues, let’s say the Opera House Manchester, but it could be the Playhouse in Edinburgh, the Curve in Leicester, Grand Opera House in Belfast, or any number of other venues where we regularly tour.
A family enjoys a Christmas outing to a glittering spectacle of a pantomime, which inspires them to book tickets to The Bodyguard (or Mean Girls, Annie or Waitress) when they tour to their local venue. Next stop, a trip to Beetlejuice in the West End for a birthday treat, followed by the legendary Palladium Pantomime at Christmas.
Crossroads Live has facilitated international tours of Chicago, Cats, Wicked and Jesus Christ Superstar, collaborating with our network of producing partnerships, creative talent, rights-holders and investors to take these illustrious titles to China, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, India, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia
In Australia the Crossroads Live Australia team have opened Anastasia and Cluedo which are now on national tours across the country and are looking forward to welcoming Waitress and My Fair Lady to Melbourne and Sydney.
From our Crossroads North America offices, we have TINA – The Tina Turner Musical and Kinky Boots currently on tour as we gear up for three Broadway openings in quick succession. Audiences will be discovering Beaches and The Lost Boys for the first time and may have been lucky enough to laugh along at Titanique in one of its earlier, or international iterations already.
The creation and retention of audiences relies on the quality of the experience they have, keep delivering quality productions where audiences make precious memories and they will keep coming back.
Future-proofing theatre involves more than just putting on productions and taking them around the world though, it’s about encouraging future generations to make a career in theatre. Whether this is the North American team deep diving into the life of a touring theatre professional at the USITT conference in Long Beach, the UK team demystifying the roles available in a busy theatre production office at Theatrecraft in London each year, or our sponsorship of Crossroads Live scholars at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, providing vital financial support to performers undertaking undergraduate courses in Musical Theatre, Acting and Actor Musicianship, we are committed to nurturing and encouraging talent, whether onstage, backstage, or offstage.
Theatre is our world, and we celebrate it every day.
