CAMERON MACKINTOSH

TH 497 - Musical Theatre

'The most successful, influential and powerful producer of our time' - The New York Times

CAMERON MACKINTOSH

For over 45 years Cameron Mackintosh has been producing more musicals than anyone else in history, including the three longest running musicals of all time, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, which are still running extraordinarily successfully across the world.

Link to Cameron Mackintosh.com

Early career

From the age of eight when Cameron Mackintosh was taken to a matinee of Julian Slade’s musical Salad Days he has never wanted to be anything other than a producer of musicals. Starting off as a stagehand at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, he later became an acting ASM on the national tour of Oliver! and by the age of twenty he started to realise his dream. His first productions were small scale tours but within a very short time he had produced his first musical Anything Goes which opened out of town, transferred to the Saville Theatre in London’s West End and closed after a fortnight. Undeterred Cameron returned to his initial musical inspiration and revived Salad Days.

SALAD DAYS - 1954

The 1970s

During the 1970s Mackintosh continued to produce numerous tours, notably Godspell which ran almost continuously for five years. His first success was Trelawny in 1972 that began at the Bristol Old Vic and transferred to both Sadler’s Wells and the Prince of Wales where it ran for a year. This was his first production with Julian Slade. In 1973 he instigated his first original musical The Card with music by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, and a book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, the cast included Jim Dale, Millicent Martin and Joan Hickson and the show ran for six months at London's Queen’s Theatre.

Mackintosh in the 1970s

Click above to link to Millicent Martin performance at 1977 Tony Awards

Cameron's first major international success came in 1976 with the musical revue Side by Side by Sondheim celebrating the wit and lyrical genius of Stephen Sondheim that moved from the Mermaid Theatre to Wyndham’s Theatre and subsequently transferred with the same cast to New York. This was followed by a hugely successful revival of the original production of Oliver! that spawned an innovative collaboration with the Arts Council of Great Britain and successful productions of two of the all time great musicals My Fair Lady and Oklahoma!

Following Cats, came Song and Dance, Little Shop of Horrors, Blondel and Abbacadabra before the next milestone production in 1985 of Les Misérables and Cameron’s brilliantly successful collaboration with the writing team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Click logo to visit Les Mis website

While maintaining an ever expanding number of international productions of Cats and Les Misérables, Cameron Mackintosh joined Andrew Lloyd Webber again to produce The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London in 1986, and in 1987 he produced Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

http://www.bluegobo.com/production/2883009/video/10005

Meanwhile Boublil and Schönberg continued their

collaboration with Cameron on another musical, Miss

Saigon, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in

September 1989. In that illustrious home of the

musical it broke the record for the longest running musical

and in 1999 celebrated its 10th anniversary making it

the fourth of Cameron's productions to continue

running for over 10 years – a feat never before achieved in

the industry.

In 1990 Cameron transferred Five Guys Named Moe to the West End for a hugely successful run at the Lyric Theatre.

Oliver! opened in a completely new production at the London Palladium in December 1994 and on 8 July 1997 became the longest running show at that theatre before enjoying a sell out tour of the UK.

In 1996 Cameron again collaborated with Boublil and Schönberg to produce their third musical Martin Guerre that opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in London where it ran for 700 performances and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical.

The Witches of Eastwick, with music by Dana Rowe and lyrics by John Dempsey, premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in July 2000 and subsequently transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre, running for a total of more than 500 performances.

In June 1998 he celebrated thirty years as a musical producer with a spectacular charity gala presentation of Hey Mr Producer! in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. This show was subsequently released on video and CD.

In March 2001 Cameron presented My Fair Lady at the Royal National Theatre starring Jonathan Pryce as Professor Higgins and Martine McCutcheon as Eliza. This production opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 21 July 2001 with a record box office advance and won a total of 5 Olivier Awards including Best Musical and Best Choreography.

In June 2002 Cameron’s production of Les Misérables became the first full scale production of a western musical to be performed in China. A special concert performance was given at Windsor Castle on 18 November 2004, in honour of the French President, to celebrate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale. Les Misérables overtook Cats to become the longest running musical in the world and on 8 October 2006 it celebrated its 21st birthday at London’s Queen’s Theatre. As well as celebrating this milestone Cameron simultaneously put on a new version of Les Misérables at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York.

In 2004 he realized a long-standing ambition to produce a stage musical of Mary Poppins. The production, in collaboration with Disney, is based on the books by Pamela Travers and the hugely successful Disney film. It opened in London on 15 December 2004 and on Broadway on 16 November 2006 where it won two Drama Desk awards and one Tony® Award. It ended its Broadway run on 3 March 2013.

Mackintosh with Thomas Schumacher

He produced the London production of AVENUE Q in 2007

Les Misérables is now the longest-running musical in the world and, in October 2010, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a theatrical first – three different productions of the musical were staged simultaneously in one city – the star-studded Concert at The O2, the acclaimed new 25th Anniversary Production at London’s Barbican Theatre, and the original production, which continues its record-breaking run at the Queen’s Theatre, London. The new 25th Anniversary Production has been a huge hit all over again, currently breaking box office records across North America, with another production in Korea and more to open worldwide in Canada, Australia, South America, Japan and China over the next three years. Click here to see the Valjean Quartet

On 1 and 2 October 2011 The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a spectacular staging at the Royal Albert Hall. A completely new production of this legendary musical launched on a national tour in February 2012. Over the next three years over 40 new productions of his musicals are due to open around the world. To see the 25th Anniversary Performance curtain call. (click here)

Cameron, in conjunction with Working Title Films and Universal, has produced the film of Les Misérables, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, winner of 3 Golden Globes including Best Picture, 4 BAFTAs and 3 Academy Awards.

Cameron owns seven historic theatres in London’s West End – the Prince of Wales, Gielgud, Queen’s, Wyndham’s, Noël Coward, Novello and Prince Edward, all of which have undergone spectacular refurbishment, giving him the opportunity to indulge his passion for architecture and the restoration of old buildings. He is also the co-owner of Music Theatre International, the World's largest owner of secondary rights of the greatest musicals.

Some of Cameron’s awards include The Queen’s Award for Export Achievement and he was knighted in the 1996 New Year’s Honours for his services to British theatre. In 2006 he received the National Enjoy England Award for Excellence for his Outstanding Contribution to Tourism.

Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh Born: October 16, 1946, London Borough of EnfieldSiblings: Robert Mackintosh, Nicholas MackintoshPartner: Australian photographer Michael Le Poer Trench

U.S. CREDITS for CAMERON MACKINTOSHLes Misérables 2014Mary Poppins 2006Les Misérables 2006Oklahoma! 2002Putting It Together 1999Martin Guerre 1999Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake 1998Carousel 1994Five Guys Named Moe 1992Miss Saigon 1991The Phantom of the Opera 1988Les Misérables 1987Oliver! 1984Cats 1982Little Shop of Horrors 1982, Off-BroadwayTomfoolery 1981, Off-Broadway

UK Production Credits2014 Miss Saigon2013 Barnum2011 Betty Blue Eyes 2010 Hair2006 Avenue Q

Sunday in the Park With George2005 My Fair Lady Tour2004 Mary Poppins2001 My Fair Lady2000 Witches of Eastwick1998 Oklahoma!1997 The Fix1996 Martin Guerre1994 Oliver!

1992 CarouselMoby DickPutting It Together

1990 Five Guys Named Moe1989 Miss Saigon1987 Follies1986 The Phantom of the Opera1985 Les Miserables1984 The Boyfriend1983 Abbacadabara1983 Little Shop of Horrors1981 Cats1980 Oklahoma!1977 Side by Side by Sondheim1970 Salad Days1969 Anything Goes

Read recent news about Cameron Mackintosh here.

SourcesBroadway World.com

Cameron Mackintosh.com

Les Miserables.com

Phantom of the Opera.com

Playbill.com