"We'll do anything for our kids. We're helicopter parents, watching, hovering, listening, so beware..."
It is only lunchtime in Victoria, but already one of its theatres is in full song.
You won't have heard of PTA The Musical because technically it doesn't exist yet. But in the foyer of The Other Palace (so named because a slightly more famous palace sits just across the road), the show is taking its first steps into the limelight — debuting in public on a small stage, while a group of theatre lovers and the theatre-curious watch on from tables in the adjoining cafe, with cups of coffee and slices of pizza.
As the cast (most of them doubling up as two characters) sing and dance their way through the comic-drama travails of an under-funded school threatened with closure, passers-by gaze in through the rain-streaked windows to see what all the fuss is about — not realising they've become incidental background artists.
Musical Bites has been going since spring 2023; each season is a chunk of four or five shows, performed at 1.30pm every other week. The definition of 'musical' is purposefully loose, incorporating anything from large cast ensembles to one-person projects. It's low risk, high reward; audiences pay a fiver to watch a generous snippet of a musical in production, while enjoying a slice of theatreland culture that easily beats chewing a sandwich in front of YouTube videos. The musicals' creatives get their show in front of discerning eyes and ears — perhaps even those of an agent or producer.
"A lot of these pieces — this is the first time they've shared things with audiences at all," says Kiki Stevenson, Programme Manager at The Other Theatre, "One of the key things when we designed this was we very much wanted it to fit into someone's lunch break.
"So we do see regular local people who come to enjoy some new musicals."
Kiki created Musical Bites alongside Mercury Musicals, the UK's membership organisation for writing musicals, who organise events to help writers get their musicals on stage. "A lot of them will use it as an opportunity to invite industry people to come — producers and venues — to see a snippet," says Natalia Scorer, Mercury Musicals' Executive Director, who grew up on musicals, "because it's much easier for a producer to know if something has legs if they can actually go to see something."
Making a musical is not all fun and games. As Andrew Lloyd Webber — who previously owned The Other Palace — once said, "It's extremely difficult to know why a musical works and whether it will work." Endless rewrites and tweaks are involved. Their development is notoriously lengthy; the chances of making it to a full production are small. But there have already seen success stories, notably The Highwayman — which ran in Musical Bites' first season, and went on to tour the UK.
For the creatives of early stage shows like PTA The Musical, perhaps the most valuable thing is honest feedback. This can come over a post-show glass of wine, or — for those who prefer to deliver their candid feedback at an arm's length — by email. "It's a really important part to get feedback, see what's landing, what needs work," says Kiki. "Even just having eyes on the audience when you're in the room is a lot of the feedback. You can clearly see if something is landing, or if you've lost the audience in a certain moment, and you're like 'OK, that needs to rework.'
"A lot of them say it's been super useful."
The final instalment of this series of Musical Bites has now sold out, but the programme will return in spring 2026. The £5 entrance fee goes directly to the shows' creators.
