A musician has suggested the failure of his musical was due to Brexit as audiences now “have a narrower outlook” and “lack curiosity”.
Rufus Wainwright was forced to close his show, Opening Night, two months early amid reports that audience members walked out during the performance or during the interval.
Wainwright – who wrote the music and lyrics for the show – claims European audiences welcomed the adaptation of a 1977 John Cassavetes film, while the British turned their back on the project because it was “too European”.
The musical, about an actor – played by Sheridan Smith – struggling to cope, opened in March at the Gielgud theatre.
However a month later announced it would be closing.
“I do feel that since Brexit, England has entered into a darker corridor where it is a little more narrow in its outlook and the vitriol because we put ‘English rose Sheridan Smith through this ordeal of European theatre’ felt a little bit suspect to me,” he told the Guardian.
“There’s a lack of imagination and curiosity about change. All of the reviews from Europe were incredible for this piece; the staging and the rhythm is more European and there was a vitriolic reaction against that.
“I don’t think it was perfect and that I don’t deserve criticism, but this thing of shutting it down if it’s not exactly what you want is not really the theatrical lane that I want to live in.”
More to follow…
