Note of discord as musicals face snobbish chorus of disapproval

Hancock, who has been starring in the 7m West End stage adaptation of Hollywood film Sister Act, told Radio Times: "There's an incredibly grand attitude towards musicals. I don't understand why my profession is so snooty about it. It's not just my profession, it's critics too. They say there are too many in the West End. But the big houses have got to do musicals to fill them."

"You're never going to get 2,400 people a night for a play. I'm sorry, you really aren't. We should be so grateful for musicals, and the amount of work that goes into these shows is easily comparable to things I've been in at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Why do we think it is less important?"

Why indeed. it seems that the subject of snobbery towards musicals is raised too regularly for there to be nothing in it. Peter Lathan has written in The Stage about the snootiness towards the musicals in theatrical circles, suggesting that many regard them as a lower art form, "if they are an art form at all".

One charge that is often levelled at musicals is that they are taking over London's West End, yet according to London Theatre Online, there are an equal number of straight plays and musicals currently running in the capital, with many of the plays enjoying the same queues for tickets as the "fluffy stuff". Musicals do tend to run for longer and therefore put more "bums on seats" than individual plays.

Devotees of plays are surely wrong if they feel the art they care about passionately is threatened. Last year, the West End saw a bumper year for box office receipts, with a 7.6 per cent increase in takings, totalling almost 505m, according to the Society of London Theatre.

Musicals continued to flourish, but plays like Jude Law in Hamlet also enjoyed spectacular success, with play audiences up 26 per cent. Musicals receipts were actually two per cent down for the year, but across the board, audiences broke the 14m barrier for the first time.

But that doesn't answer the point about snobbery.

"You do encounter some snobbery about musicals, " says Garry Lyons, award-winning screenwriter, playwright and producer, who is also a lecturer in writing for performance and performance production at Leeds University. His musical adaptation of The Secret Garden was a smash hit at West Yorkshire Playhouse last Christmas. "As long as it is serious work and well produced, I can't see why anyone objects. In The Secret Garden we had a very talented cast who had come from different backgrounds including straight acting and radio work. These days you can't just stick to one niche, either financially or in terms of exploring your own talent as a performer. Our female lead, Jayne Wisener, who played Mary Lennox, had just finished the film of Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp and afterwards went to a part in an episode of (TV teen comedy) The In Betweeners.

"I suppose some of the snobbery that exists relates to the quality of musicals. I would share the concern regarding 'jukebox' shows, where producers take music that already exists for some other purpose and string the songs together with a storyline. Jersey Boys is an example – the songs were pop hits, rather than specially-commissioned songs which complemented the story or moved it on in some way.

"In traditional musicals like those of Rogers and Hammerstein, the song and book are interwoven, and the songs exist to further the story. Another jukebox show is Mamma Mia! It's hugely popular and I love it, but whether it is helping musical theatre to further its cause is another question."

Garry Lyons says there is a widespread feeling among writers that producers are not investing in new talent and work which appeals to a wider audience. "How much in the West End is aimed at a younger audience or at ethnic minorities, for example? Yet there is loads to appeal to the blue rinse brigade and coach parties. More could also be done in the way tickets are marketed to appeal especially to the young, too."

Returning to the theme of snobbery, when you scratch the surface of some of those who loftily claim to hate musicals, you'll find they love Cabaret ("So stylish"), and they're crazy about The Rocky Horror Picture Show ("it's ironic") and maybe even Cats ("well, the lyrics are by TS Eliot").

What they really mean perhaps is that they dislike bad musicals. Well, don't we all, but we don't claim to inhabit some cultural high ground, writing off all musical theatre, including some of the greatest entertainment ever created.