In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• To Remind You Of My Love:London's Love Affair With The American Musical
• Laura MacDonald (bio)

When American actor Jake Gyllenhaal commented to a journalist that British musicals no longer had a significant presence on Broadway, then-Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington responded with a roundup of the moment's British musical theatre successes, crowing, "the musical is in rude health in this country—whether Broadway knows it or not."¹ Gyllenhaal was scheduled to appear in London in a transfer of a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and was perhaps recalling that while the George revival ran on Broadway, the only British musicals in the same season were revivals and longruns from the 1980s rather than new imports. "I don't see it as the prime function of the British theatre to supply Broadway with a chain of gold-plated, ready-made hits," Billington grumbled, but without acknowledging that American musicals outnumbered British shows in London and some, including The Lion King (1997), Wicked (2003), and Hamilton (2015), had arrived in the West End as ready-made hits.²

News reports regularly ponder London's ongoing dependence on American musicals, whether they are revivals conceived in the UK or replicas of new Broadway productions. "The West End is now lagging behind America when it comes to making new musicals," Hannah Furness reported in The Telegraph in 2017.³ She quoted Andrew Lloyd Webber, who suggested this might be because new musical development is "in the DNA" of American theatre. "There are masses and masses of theatres where you can try things out and perfect material before they ever get near to Broadway."⁴ Beyond comparing New York City and London's vastly different new musical development pipelines, this article explores the power and presence of American musicals in London to evaluate how [End Page 93] they continue to support the British industry in the twenty-first century. This dynamic manifests in numerous ways, but I privilege the long-term success in London of musicals generated by an established American pipeline, the Public Theater; British directors' preference for American revivals over new British work; and the overall limited support for new British musicals in London.

Anybody Have a Map?: The Venues Where Musical Theatre Happens

Regional and non-profit theatres across the United States and Off Broadway have been a key home to new American musical development, the cells where new musical development DNA is contained.⁵ For decades these venues have embraced musicals, to fill important slots in their seasons and to generate profits that can be re-invested in further programming. Some of these musicals make it to Broadway, reinforcing those venues' relationships with the commercial theatre center. Broadway musicals frequently travel across the Atlantic, making London an additional distribution center for such new musicals, whether they are Hair (1968), A Chorus Line (1975), or Hamilton, developed Off Broadway at the Public Theater; Waitress (2016), developed in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the American Repertory Theater; or Dear Evan Hansen (2016), which premiered at Washington, DC's Arena Stage. Because these musicals already survived the journey from a regional or Off Broadway theatre to Broadway, the process of re-mounting the same production in London (where production costs are lower than New York) is relatively straightforward.⁶ As at the mid-twentieth century point, such transfers are a far more calculated risk for the British producers who fund American musicals' London premieres than the riskier development of new British musicals.

London's fringe venues, many of which are less well-equipped than West End theatres, and the publicly subsidized National Theatre, sometimes take a greater gamble on British musical theatre, but still rely on musicals from New York City. The ambitious and consistently successful Menier Chocolate Factory near London Bridge alternates plays with musicals and revives Broadway classics such as Sweet Charity [End Page 94] (1966)⁷ as well as hosting London premieres of contemporary American musicals such as The Bridges of Madison County (2014). Tightly budgeted with first-class actors performing on a tiny stage for a small audience, and recruiting creative teams drawn from the best of Broadway and...

中文翻译：

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提醒你我的爱：伦敦与美国音乐剧的爱情

代替摘要，这里是内容的简短摘录：

• 提醒你我的爱：伦敦与美国音乐剧的爱情
• 劳拉·麦克唐纳 (bio)

当美国演员杰克·吉伦哈尔向记者评论说英国音乐剧不再在百老汇占据重要地位时，《卫报》戏剧评论家迈克尔·比灵顿（Michael Billington）对当时英国音乐剧的成功做出了回应，他叫道：“这部音乐剧在这个国家——不管百老汇知道与否。” ¹吉伦哈尔原计划在百老汇重演斯蒂芬桑德海姆与乔治在公园里的星期天（1984）的转会中出现在伦敦，也许他回忆起当乔治复兴在百老汇上演，同一季中唯一的英国音乐剧是 1980 年代的复兴和长跑，而不是新进口的。“我不认为英国剧院的主要功能是为百老汇提供一系列镀金的现成热门歌曲，”比林顿抱怨道，但没有承认美国音乐剧在伦敦的演出数量超过了英国演出，包括狮子王(1997)、邪恶(2003) 和汉密尔顿(2015) 已作为现成的热门歌曲抵达伦敦西区。²

新闻报道经常思考伦敦对美国音乐剧的持续依赖，无论它们是在英国构思的复兴还是新百老汇作品的复制品。“西区现在在制作新音乐剧方面落后于美国，”汉娜·弗内斯在 2017年的《每日电讯报》上报道^。3她引用了安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯的话，他认为这可能是因为新的音乐发展是美国戏剧。“有大量的剧院，您可以在它们靠近百老汇之前尝试并完善材料。” ⁴除了比较纽约市和伦敦截然不同的新音乐发展渠道之外，[完第 93 页]他们在 21 世纪继续支持英国工业。这种动态以多种方式表现出来，但我很欣赏由已建立的美国管道公共剧院产生的音乐剧在伦敦的长期成功。英国导演更喜欢美国的复兴而不是新的英国作品；以及对伦敦新英国音乐剧的总体支持有限。

有人有地图吗？：音乐剧发生的场地

美国和百老汇以外的地区和非营利剧院一直是美国新音乐发展的重要家园，这些细胞包含新的音乐发展 DNA。⁵几十年来，这些场馆一直在接受音乐剧，以填补其季节的重要时段，并产生可重新投资于进一步节目制作的利润。其中一些音乐剧进入百老汇，加强了这些场所与商业剧院中心的关系。百老汇音乐剧经常穿越大西洋，使伦敦成为此类新音乐剧的额外集散地，无论是《头发》 （1968 年）、《合唱队》（1975 年）还是在百老汇公共剧院开发的《汉密尔顿》；女服务员（2016 年），在马萨诸塞州剑桥的美国话剧团开发；或亲爱的埃文·汉森 ( Dear Evan Hansen ) (2016)，在华盛顿特区的竞技场舞台上首映。因为这些音乐剧已经在从地区或非百老汇剧院到百老汇的旅程中幸存下来，所以在伦敦（制作成本低于纽约）重新安装相同作品的过程相对简单。⁶在 20 世纪中叶，对于资助美国音乐剧在伦敦首映的英国制片人来说，这种转移比开发新的英国音乐剧的风险要高得多。

伦敦的边缘场馆，其中许多设施不如西区剧院，以及公共补贴的国家剧院，有时会在英国音乐剧上投入更大的赌注，但仍然依赖纽约市的音乐剧。伦敦桥附近雄心勃勃且持续成功的梅尼尔巧克力工厂与音乐剧交替播放，并复兴了百老汇经典作品，如Sweet Charity [End Page 94] (1966) ⁷，并举办了当代美国音乐剧的伦敦首映式，如麦迪逊县的桥梁( 2014）。预算紧缩，一流演员在​​小舞台上为少数观众表演，并招募来自百老汇和...