Spread a Little Happiness
Discovery Day
2 November 2022
Salad Days record sleeve
The British Musical was triumphant in the 1930s, when the musicals of Noël Coward and Ivor Novello dominated the West End. However the arrival of Oklahoma! in 1948 changed everything. Over the next 30 years audiences flocked to see the big American musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein and others.
Nevertheless the British Musicals held their own, with moments of great success. Julian Slade, Sandy Wilson, David Heneker and, of course, Lionel Bart had hugely successful shows. Then in the 1970s and 1980s Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and others established the British musical as a major force in the UK and around the world. In this Discovery Day Malcolm will show fascinating DVD archival extracts of vintage performances and interviews with creators and leading performers.
Our Speaker Malcolm Jones has lectured on the Victoria & Albert Museum Short Course and Year Course Programmes since 2009, devising and developing a range of courses on Theatre History and Practice. Malcolm was Workshop and Events manager at the V&A Theatre Museum in Covent Garden for 10 years where he was responsible for lectures, Study Days and workshops for adults and interviewed many leading British actors and directors including Kenneth Cranham, Zoe Wanamaker, Barry Cryer, June Whitfield and Don Black.
He has lectured and led workshops in the past at many drama schools including RADA, The Actors Centre and Rose Bruford College. He has also lectured on theatre for groups visiting the UK from America. He has chaired panels and post show talks for Ambassadors Theatre Group.
While at the V&A Malcolm contributed as a speaker on theatre to many television and radio programmes. Since 2000 he has also worked with Age Exchange Community Arts on many creative arts programmes with older people and intergenerational film and theatre projects.
Malcolm Jones