A new You Tube channel from Universal is set to broadcast a series of musicals during the Coronavirus Crisis. The Shows Must Go On!
A new show will be uploaded to the channel each week with each show available for a 48-hour period. Amongst the theatre shows included in the initiative are several productions from the legendary British Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The composer’s Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat will launch the initiative on Friday the 3rd of April. This will be followed by Jesus Christ Superstar a week later.
Speaking in a video to announce the project, Webber said: “Universal have come up with the idea of a whole series now called The Shows Must Go On, which is about musicals going from stage to screen.”
Webber mentioned one of the featured musicals, 1975’s By Jeeves which was “buried in the schedule later on”. “I’m very, very fond of it,” said the director behind Cats and Jason and the Technicolour Dreamcoat.
The full schedule for the channel is not available yet but other shows set to feature are thought to include School Of Rock, Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera and Starlight Express.
All of the productions in the initiative are free to view but fans who want to make a donation can do so online.
The Shows Must Go On should not be confused with the online Shakespeare project The Show Must Go Online. The latter is an online initiative to perform Shakespeare’s entire canon using a group of actors who link up by web link. You can learn more about the initiative here.
The Shows Must Go On You Tube channel can be found here.
For information on other great ways to access theatre during the lockdown, please click here.
