Michael Harrison is currently producing the first West End revival of Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton at London’s Savoy Theatre with David Ian and the world premiere of Mrs Henderson Presents which will be opening early next year at the Noel Coward Theatre. He co-produced The Bodyguard, Barnum and Annie. His previous musicals have included U.K. Tours of The Witches of Eastwick, I Dreamed a Dream, Jolson and Co, Chess and Titanic and Aspects of Love.
He has also produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment who will be bringing Cinderella, starring Brian Conley and Lesley Joseph to The Cliffs Pavilion this December.
In 2012 he was awarded a Companionship to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts by Sir Paul McCartney.
Michael very kindly took some time out to have a chat with me about his life as a producer, working with talented performers and how pantomime and musicals aren’t actually all that different these days.
He has also produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment who will be bringing Cinderella, starring Brian Conley and Lesley Joseph to The Cliffs Pavilion this December.
In 2012 he was awarded a Companionship to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts by Sir Paul McCartney.
Michael very kindly took some time out to have a chat with me about his life as a producer, working with talented performers and how pantomime and musicals aren’t actually all that different these days.
West End Producer, Michael Harrison
Me: First of all I’m really quite starstruck at meeting you?
Michael: Me? Why?
Me: Because you’ve produced so many fabulous shows and you must have met so many famous people - but is there anybody who ever gets you starstruck?
Michael: It’s a hard one because I never really think of it in terms of stars; yes, there are stars and yes, I’ve worked with loads of stars but you know I hark back to the days of variety - I’m starstruck by meeting somebody like Ken Dodd and I had lunch about four weeks ago with Stanley Baxter - they are stars in my view. But I also grew up on a Saturday night watching the Brian Conley show and I watched Birds of a Feather. I was sitting at home and all of sudden Birds of a Feather was on the tv and suddenly you know Lesley Joseph is the godmother to my child, so life has a way of surprising you but in terms of stars, I love the old stars of yesterday.
Me: How did you come to this point of being a producer?
Michael: I always wanted to be a producer but I didn’t know how. I don't think many people know what a producer is or what a producer does and people kind of get confused between a producer and a director but I knew I wanted to be a producer. I was doing terrible little shows in Newcastle, where I’m from, and I came down to London and I worked with an established producer. I stuffed the envelopes, made the tea and working in that office started to learn everything. I then started out on my own and did tiny little shows and little plays.
I always wanted to produce musicals and pantomimes and then got into the world of pantomime and then got into the world of musicals managing to run them both in tandem and what’s nice is when you can let the two worlds cross. So you know, this year I’ve produced Barnum with Brian but I’ve also got a relationship with him in pantomime; I’ve produced a new production of Annie in which Craig Revel Horwood and Lesley Joseph are sharing the role of Miss Hannigan but I work with Craig in pantomime and I work with Lesley in pantomime so it’s nice when the worlds of pantomime and musical theatre can cross over because actually they’re not very different. Pantomime’s are now becoming blockbuster musicals.
Me: What’s your biggest achievement so far?
Michael: I don't know about my biggest achievement. There are things that I’m proud of. I’m massively proud of Gypsy which I’m producing in the West End at the moment. I’m hugely proud of The Bodyguard because it was new, it was something that I started from scratch and produced in the West End and now it’s in Holland, Italy, Germany, Toronto, the USA, Australia and in the Far East so I’m proud of all my shows for all different reasons.
Me: You were working for quite a long time to get the Bodyguard up and running weren’t you?
Michael: I spent about six years working on it before it got to this stage. Producing new shows is a hard business. When you do Gypsy or you do Annie, it’s tried and tested material. The Bodyguard, okay it was a juke box musical but it was still difficult to “let’s take this movie and put it on the stage” to where it is today. I’ve just opened another new show, Mrs Henderson Presents and it had an original score, original lyrics and original music and new musicals are really hard to crack. I first worked with Zoe (lead in The Bodyguard tour at Southend) in Darlington in pantomime in Beauty and the Beast, another example of the two worlds crossing over.
Me: What would you be looking for if someone came to pitch an idea for a new musical?
Michael: It always starts with the story because you’ve got to have a good story to tell but I’ve got to be turned on by the music. When I first heard Mrs Henderson there were 3, 4, 5 songs that I just couldn’t get out of my head. When we were planning The Bodyguard, I knew what that catalogue of songs could be and I knew that an audience would respond to it but you know Mrs Henderson’s a great story. It’s about the war, it’s about a group of women who did something extraordinary by deciding that they’re going to participate in onstage nudity at a time when the Lord Chamberlain was closing theatres for things like that - so it’s a terrific story but it’s got to have a good score.
Me: Is there a show from any period of time that you’ve always thought, “I would really love to put that one on’?
Michael: Without question the Phantom of the Opera because it was the show that really made me fall in love with musical theatre and it made me fall in love with what could be achieved staging wise and I still love it now. I’ve seen it 40 times. When I was at University in Edinburgh I got a job as an usher in the Edinburgh Playhouse, just to watch Phantom of the Opera. I think it’s the perfect combination. It’s a brilliant piece of producing.
Me: I read somewhere that you really fought for I Dreamed a Dream because you thought it was an underdog musical and that people wouldn't like it in the West End and that’s why you toured with it.
Michael: Well what happened with I Dreamed a Dream was that I had a long relationship with an actress called Elaine C Smith, who again I worked with in pantomime, and she wanted to play Susan because the Britains Got Talent bit was actually a very small part of Susan’s life so we set about creating this small musical.
Cameron was massively supportive in letting us call it I Dreamed A Dream as were Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg because they thought it was a story that should be told. Before we opened there was a lot of sniggering and criticism - “oh what you are doing a musical about Susan Boyle for, that’s a terrible idea” and of course we opened to the most stunning reviews I’ve ever had for anything until Gypsy came along. The Daily Telegraph said “never judge a book by it’s cover, the Susan Boyle musical is a sensation and deserves to go far” and you notice how I can rattle that off because you know, it really stuck with me and we got 4 and 5 stars - I remember the 5 stars coming in from the Express, the 5 stars coming in from The Mail, the 5 stars coming in from The Telegraph. In the same way that people sniggered at Susan, the same people sniggered at Susan the Musical and you know we optioned a film of it and people wanted it internationally. It was a huge role for Elaine to play, it was very much Elaine’s role and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it really with anybody else other than Elaine but it was 14 weeks of real hard work and real hard slog.
Me: Did Susan Boyle come and see the show
Michael: Susan appeared at some performances, singing at the end.
Me: That must have been quite emotional for her?
Michael: Massively emotional. She was very very brave.
Me: So you’ve received an award from Paul McCartney?
Michael: Oh yes, I was made a Companion of LIPA by Paul a couple of years ago now.
Me: What’s it like meeting a Beatle?
Michael: It was great. I don’t think I really knew what I was going into in the ceremony and there he was and I was put in a gown and cap and he shakes your hand and says congratulations. It was terrific but I think i’m still baffled why I was honoured by Liverpool. If I was honoured by Newcastle I might have been able to understand it but I don't think I’ve been honoured by anything in Newcastle despite everything I’ve done there but it was really nice of Liverpool to recognise me.
Michael: Me? Why?
Me: Because you’ve produced so many fabulous shows and you must have met so many famous people - but is there anybody who ever gets you starstruck?
Michael: It’s a hard one because I never really think of it in terms of stars; yes, there are stars and yes, I’ve worked with loads of stars but you know I hark back to the days of variety - I’m starstruck by meeting somebody like Ken Dodd and I had lunch about four weeks ago with Stanley Baxter - they are stars in my view. But I also grew up on a Saturday night watching the Brian Conley show and I watched Birds of a Feather. I was sitting at home and all of sudden Birds of a Feather was on the tv and suddenly you know Lesley Joseph is the godmother to my child, so life has a way of surprising you but in terms of stars, I love the old stars of yesterday.
Me: How did you come to this point of being a producer?
Michael: I always wanted to be a producer but I didn’t know how. I don't think many people know what a producer is or what a producer does and people kind of get confused between a producer and a director but I knew I wanted to be a producer. I was doing terrible little shows in Newcastle, where I’m from, and I came down to London and I worked with an established producer. I stuffed the envelopes, made the tea and working in that office started to learn everything. I then started out on my own and did tiny little shows and little plays.
I always wanted to produce musicals and pantomimes and then got into the world of pantomime and then got into the world of musicals managing to run them both in tandem and what’s nice is when you can let the two worlds cross. So you know, this year I’ve produced Barnum with Brian but I’ve also got a relationship with him in pantomime; I’ve produced a new production of Annie in which Craig Revel Horwood and Lesley Joseph are sharing the role of Miss Hannigan but I work with Craig in pantomime and I work with Lesley in pantomime so it’s nice when the worlds of pantomime and musical theatre can cross over because actually they’re not very different. Pantomime’s are now becoming blockbuster musicals.
Me: What’s your biggest achievement so far?
Michael: I don't know about my biggest achievement. There are things that I’m proud of. I’m massively proud of Gypsy which I’m producing in the West End at the moment. I’m hugely proud of The Bodyguard because it was new, it was something that I started from scratch and produced in the West End and now it’s in Holland, Italy, Germany, Toronto, the USA, Australia and in the Far East so I’m proud of all my shows for all different reasons.
Me: You were working for quite a long time to get the Bodyguard up and running weren’t you?
Michael: I spent about six years working on it before it got to this stage. Producing new shows is a hard business. When you do Gypsy or you do Annie, it’s tried and tested material. The Bodyguard, okay it was a juke box musical but it was still difficult to “let’s take this movie and put it on the stage” to where it is today. I’ve just opened another new show, Mrs Henderson Presents and it had an original score, original lyrics and original music and new musicals are really hard to crack. I first worked with Zoe (lead in The Bodyguard tour at Southend) in Darlington in pantomime in Beauty and the Beast, another example of the two worlds crossing over.
Me: What would you be looking for if someone came to pitch an idea for a new musical?
Michael: It always starts with the story because you’ve got to have a good story to tell but I’ve got to be turned on by the music. When I first heard Mrs Henderson there were 3, 4, 5 songs that I just couldn’t get out of my head. When we were planning The Bodyguard, I knew what that catalogue of songs could be and I knew that an audience would respond to it but you know Mrs Henderson’s a great story. It’s about the war, it’s about a group of women who did something extraordinary by deciding that they’re going to participate in onstage nudity at a time when the Lord Chamberlain was closing theatres for things like that - so it’s a terrific story but it’s got to have a good score.
Me: Is there a show from any period of time that you’ve always thought, “I would really love to put that one on’?
Michael: Without question the Phantom of the Opera because it was the show that really made me fall in love with musical theatre and it made me fall in love with what could be achieved staging wise and I still love it now. I’ve seen it 40 times. When I was at University in Edinburgh I got a job as an usher in the Edinburgh Playhouse, just to watch Phantom of the Opera. I think it’s the perfect combination. It’s a brilliant piece of producing.
Me: I read somewhere that you really fought for I Dreamed a Dream because you thought it was an underdog musical and that people wouldn't like it in the West End and that’s why you toured with it.
Michael: Well what happened with I Dreamed a Dream was that I had a long relationship with an actress called Elaine C Smith, who again I worked with in pantomime, and she wanted to play Susan because the Britains Got Talent bit was actually a very small part of Susan’s life so we set about creating this small musical.
Cameron was massively supportive in letting us call it I Dreamed A Dream as were Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg because they thought it was a story that should be told. Before we opened there was a lot of sniggering and criticism - “oh what you are doing a musical about Susan Boyle for, that’s a terrible idea” and of course we opened to the most stunning reviews I’ve ever had for anything until Gypsy came along. The Daily Telegraph said “never judge a book by it’s cover, the Susan Boyle musical is a sensation and deserves to go far” and you notice how I can rattle that off because you know, it really stuck with me and we got 4 and 5 stars - I remember the 5 stars coming in from the Express, the 5 stars coming in from The Mail, the 5 stars coming in from The Telegraph. In the same way that people sniggered at Susan, the same people sniggered at Susan the Musical and you know we optioned a film of it and people wanted it internationally. It was a huge role for Elaine to play, it was very much Elaine’s role and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it really with anybody else other than Elaine but it was 14 weeks of real hard work and real hard slog.
Me: Did Susan Boyle come and see the show
Michael: Susan appeared at some performances, singing at the end.
Me: That must have been quite emotional for her?
Michael: Massively emotional. She was very very brave.
Me: So you’ve received an award from Paul McCartney?
Michael: Oh yes, I was made a Companion of LIPA by Paul a couple of years ago now.
Me: What’s it like meeting a Beatle?
Michael: It was great. I don’t think I really knew what I was going into in the ceremony and there he was and I was put in a gown and cap and he shakes your hand and says congratulations. It was terrific but I think i’m still baffled why I was honoured by Liverpool. If I was honoured by Newcastle I might have been able to understand it but I don't think I’ve been honoured by anything in Newcastle despite everything I’ve done there but it was really nice of Liverpool to recognise me.
With Michael’s continuing success in producing top notch West End productions, pantomimes and tours, I really don’t think it should be too long before the City of Newcastle honour one of it’s most successful sons. I look forward to seeing Cinderella at the Cliffs Pavilion in December and wish Michael every success for Mrs Henderson Presents next year.
To see the interview in full click on the YouTube video below...
To see the interview in full click on the YouTube video below...