Cameron Mackintosh
Encyclopedia
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British
theatrical producer
notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows such as Les Misérables
, The Phantom of the Opera
, Mary Poppins
, Martin Guerre
and Cats
.
, London
, the son of Diana Gladys (née Tonna), a production secretary, and Ian Robert Mackintosh, a timber merchant and jazz trumpeter. His father was Scottish and his mother, a native of Malta
, was of Maltese
and French descent. Mackintosh was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic faith and educated at Prior Park College
in Bath.
He first knew that he wanted to become a theatre producer after his aunt took him to a matinee of the Julian Slade
musical Salad Days when he was 8 years old.
, graduating to stage manager on several touring productions. Before long, he began producing his own small scale tours before becoming a London-based producer in the 1970s. His early London productions included Anything Goes
(which closed after only two weeks), Side By Side By Sondheim
, The Card
, My Fair Lady
and Tom Foolery
.
In 1981, he produced Andrew Lloyd Webber
's Cats
, then considered an unlikely subject for a musical. It became the hit of the season and went on to become one of the longest running musicals on both sides of the Atlantic. After the success of Cats, he approached the French writing team Claude-Michel Schönberg
and Alain Boublil
about bringing their musical Les Misérables
(then a successful French concept album) to the London stage. The musical opened in 1985 at the Barbican
before transferring to the Palace Theatre
. Les Misérables had a shaky start at the box office and a lukewarm critical reception before becoming a massive hit, largely by word-of-mouth.
In 1986, Mackintosh produced Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
, perhaps the most commercially successful entertainment enterprise in history, outgrossing hit films such as Titanic
and E.T.
. The original London and New York productions are currently still running.
In 1990, he produced Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's next musical Miss Saigon
, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, and was similarly successful, and the Broadway production achieved what was then the largest advance ticket sales in theatre history.
Mackintosh has produced several other successful musicals, including Five Guys Named Moe
and a much-revised production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies
.
In 1995, Mackintosh produced the 10th anniversary concert of Les Misérables in London. Additionally, throughout the 1990s, he was responsible for presenting the West End transfers of the National Theatre
revivals of Oklahoma!
, My Fair Lady
, and Carousel
.
Mackintosh's less successful productions include Moby Dick
, Martin Guerre
and the stage adaptation of John Updike
's The Witches of Eastwick
which, despite some positive reviews and run of over 15 months, failed to replicate the worldwide success of his previous blockbusters.
When Walt Disney Theatrical
president Thomas Schumacher
met Mackintosh in 2001, Schumacher found out Mackintosh wanted to make Mary Poppins
from screen to stage. So, together, they started making the musical. Mackintosh's involvement in the development of the 1964 musical adaptation
led to his producing both the 2004 West End and 2006 Broadway productions, at the Prince Edward Theatre
and the New Amsterdam Theatre
, respectively along with Schumacher. He also co-produced the London transfer of Avenue Q
, which opened at the Noël Coward Theatre
on 1 June 2006.
In 1998, Mackintosh celebrated thirty years in the business with Hey, Mr. Producer!, a gala concert featuring songs from shows he had produced during his career. The concert was performed twice, on 7 and 8 June, with proceeds going to the Royal National Institute of the Blind
and the Combined Theatrical Charities. Many celebrities took part, and the 8 June performance was attended by Queen Elizabeth
and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
.
In 2008–9, Mackintosh produced a revival of Lionel Bart's Oliver!
at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The production was cast via the hit BBC television series I'd Do Anything
. Jodie Prenger became the eventual winner and was subsequently cast as Nancy in the production, with Rowan Atkinson
as Fagin. The publicity and attention surrounding the production was unprecedented on the West End stage, and it was reported in January 2009 that the production was the fastest-selling show in West End history, with £15 million of pre-opening sales.
Mackintosh has voiced interest in producing a Broadway revival of Barnum
with American actor Neil Patrick Harris
in the title role.
In April 2010 Mackintosh staged a West End revival of the musical Hair
in London's Gielgud Theatre
. This production was transferred from Broadway where a production was revived in 2009.
In mounting a plethora of productions across the globe, he has maintained tight creative control of his musicals in order to ensure the consistency and quality of the productions, no matter where they are seen. As far as possible, productions worldwide of Mackintosh musicals use the same staging, production design, lighting, front-of-house design, and orchestrations as their London and New York counterparts. This is a departure from previous practice, where international productions of West End or Broadway musicals would often be licensed out to foreign producers and entirely reconceived locally, with highly variable and often substandard results.
Mackintosh has also had considerable success in bringing legitimate theatre directors (such as the Royal Shakespeare Company
's Trevor Nunn
and Nicholas Hytner
) and technicians to the world of musical theatre.
He is renowned for how closely he works with the creative team of a production.
He has recently expressed his interest in producing musicals from the otherwise neglected Asian and African regions, citing that the potential in these markets is inexhaustible.
Mackintosh's Delfont Mackintosh group owns seven London theatres, the Prince Edward
, the Prince of Wales
, the Novello
, the Queen's
, the Gielgud
, the Wyndham's
, and the Noël Coward
.
in the 1996 New Year's Honours List for services to musical theatre.
His partner is Australia
n-born theatre photographer Michael Le Poer Trench.
In 2006, Mackintosh was listed 4th on The Independent on Sundays Pink List, a list of the most influential "out-and-proud" gay men and women. He was also listed 4th in 2005. Mackintosh also topped The Stage 100 list in 2007 for the first time since 2000. The list recognises the most influential members of the performing arts community at the end of each year.
He is a Patron of The Food Chain
, a London-based HIV
charity.
His younger brother, Robert Mackintosh, is also a producer.
In 1994 Mackintosh bought the Nevis Estate, on North Morar, to the east of Mallaig
in the West Highlands
of Scotland
, covering around 14000 acres (5,665.6 ha). He has since been involved in a long-running dispute with a tenant crofter, over the land use on the estate. Mackintosh wants to use the land for building holiday homes, but the crofter says the land is needed for grazing.
, a decision he was later to regret, saying: "Labour really fucked it up. They were profligate at a time when we were doing well. That's why we have the problems we have now. They didn't save any money for a rainy day. It couldn't have been worse these last 12 years."
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows such as Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
, The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...
, Martin Guerre
Martin Guerre (musical)
Martin Guerre is a two-act musical with a book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Stephen Clark, and music by Claude-Michel Schönberg....
and Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
.
Early life
Mackintosh was born in EnfieldLondon Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the son of Diana Gladys (née Tonna), a production secretary, and Ian Robert Mackintosh, a timber merchant and jazz trumpeter. His father was Scottish and his mother, a native of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, was of Maltese
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
and French descent. Mackintosh was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic faith and educated at Prior Park College
Prior Park College
Prior Park College is a Roman Catholic co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils.It is situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bath, in Somerset, in south-west England...
in Bath.
He first knew that he wanted to become a theatre producer after his aunt took him to a matinee of the Julian Slade
Julian Slade
Julian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....
musical Salad Days when he was 8 years old.
Theatrical career
Mackintosh began his theatre career in his late teens, as a stagehand at the Theatre Royal, Drury LaneTheatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, graduating to stage manager on several touring productions. Before long, he began producing his own small scale tours before becoming a London-based producer in the 1970s. His early London productions included Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
(which closed after only two weeks), Side By Side By Sondheim
Side By Side By Sondheim
Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the songs of Broadway and film composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from Company.-History:...
, The Card
The Card (musical)
The Card is a musical with a book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall and music and lyrics by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent.Based on Arnold Bennett's 1911 comedic novel of the same name, it chronicles the rise of Denry Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley through luck, guile, initiative,...
, My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
and Tom Foolery
Tom Foolery
Tom Foolery is a musical revue based on lyrics and music that Tom Lehrer first performed in the 1950s and 1960s.Devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, it premiered in London at the Criterion Theatre, directed by Gillian Lynne, on 5 June 1980, where it had a successful run...
.
In 1981, he produced Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, then considered an unlikely subject for a musical. It became the hit of the season and went on to become one of the longest running musicals on both sides of the Atlantic. After the success of Cats, he approached the French writing team Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
and Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil is a musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End...
about bringing their musical Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(then a successful French concept album) to the London stage. The musical opened in 1985 at the Barbican
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
before transferring to the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
. Les Misérables had a shaky start at the box office and a lukewarm critical reception before becoming a massive hit, largely by word-of-mouth.
In 1986, Mackintosh produced Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, perhaps the most commercially successful entertainment enterprise in history, outgrossing hit films such as Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
and E.T.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
. The original London and New York productions are currently still running.
In 1990, he produced Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's next musical Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, and was similarly successful, and the Broadway production achieved what was then the largest advance ticket sales in theatre history.
Mackintosh has produced several other successful musicals, including Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
and a much-revised production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
.
In 1995, Mackintosh produced the 10th anniversary concert of Les Misérables in London. Additionally, throughout the 1990s, he was responsible for presenting the West End transfers of the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
revivals of Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
, and Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
.
Mackintosh's less successful productions include Moby Dick
Moby Dick (musical)
Moby Dick is a musical with a book by Robert Longden, and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye.A mixture of high camp, music hall-style smut, and wild anachronism overflowing with double entendres, the show focuses on the anarchic and nubile girls of St...
, Martin Guerre
Martin Guerre (musical)
Martin Guerre is a two-act musical with a book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Stephen Clark, and music by Claude-Michel Schönberg....
and the stage adaptation of John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
's The Witches of Eastwick
The Witches of Eastwick (musical)
The Witches of Eastwick is a 2000 musical based on the novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe , directed by Eric Schaeffer, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh....
which, despite some positive reviews and run of over 15 months, failed to replicate the worldwide success of his previous blockbusters.
When Walt Disney Theatrical
Walt Disney Theatrical
Disney Theatrical Group, also known as Disney Theatrical Productions, is the stageplay and musical production arm of The Walt Disney Company...
president Thomas Schumacher
Thomas Schumacher
Thomas Schumacher is a theatrical producer, currently president of Disney Theatrical Group, the theatrical production arm of The Walt Disney Company.-Biography:...
met Mackintosh in 2001, Schumacher found out Mackintosh wanted to make Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by P. L. Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. The books centre on a magical English nanny, Mary Poppins. She is blown by the East wind to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London and into the Banks' household to care for their...
from screen to stage. So, together, they started making the musical. Mackintosh's involvement in the development of the 1964 musical adaptation
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...
led to his producing both the 2004 West End and 2006 Broadway productions, at the Prince Edward Theatre
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
and the New Amsterdam Theatre
New Amsterdam Theatre
The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...
, respectively along with Schumacher. He also co-produced the London transfer of Avenue Q
Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a musical in two acts, conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show was directed by Jason Moore and produced by Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, and Jeffrey Seller...
, which opened at the Noël Coward Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
on 1 June 2006.
In 1998, Mackintosh celebrated thirty years in the business with Hey, Mr. Producer!, a gala concert featuring songs from shows he had produced during his career. The concert was performed twice, on 7 and 8 June, with proceeds going to the Royal National Institute of the Blind
Royal National Institute of the Blind
RNIB is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss.- History :The Royal National Institute of Blind People was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a successful doctor who suffered from eyesight problems.In 1868 Dr Armitage founded an...
and the Combined Theatrical Charities. Many celebrities took part, and the 8 June performance was attended by Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
.
In 2008–9, Mackintosh produced a revival of Lionel Bart's Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The production was cast via the hit BBC television series I'd Do Anything
I'd Do Anything (BBC TV series)
I'd Do Anything is a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and broadcast on BBC One. It premièred on 15 March 2008...
. Jodie Prenger became the eventual winner and was subsequently cast as Nancy in the production, with Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
as Fagin. The publicity and attention surrounding the production was unprecedented on the West End stage, and it was reported in January 2009 that the production was the fastest-selling show in West End history, with £15 million of pre-opening sales.
Mackintosh has voiced interest in producing a Broadway revival of Barnum
Barnum (musical)
Barnum is a musical with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. It is based on the life of showman P. T. Barnum, covering the period from 1835 through 1880 in America and major cities of the world where Barnum took his performing companies. The production...
with American actor Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
in the title role.
In April 2010 Mackintosh staged a West End revival of the musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
in London's Gielgud Theatre
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
. This production was transferred from Broadway where a production was revived in 2009.
Influence
Mackintosh is notable as a producer for his transformation of the musical into a global, highly profitable brand, and was the first theatrical producer to recognise that both touring productions and worldwide productions (often in countries where musicals were seldom seen, such as the former eastern bloc countries in the early 90s) were potentially highly lucrative markets which could, collectively, match and even surpass the revenues generated from New York and London productions.In mounting a plethora of productions across the globe, he has maintained tight creative control of his musicals in order to ensure the consistency and quality of the productions, no matter where they are seen. As far as possible, productions worldwide of Mackintosh musicals use the same staging, production design, lighting, front-of-house design, and orchestrations as their London and New York counterparts. This is a departure from previous practice, where international productions of West End or Broadway musicals would often be licensed out to foreign producers and entirely reconceived locally, with highly variable and often substandard results.
Mackintosh has also had considerable success in bringing legitimate theatre directors (such as the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
's Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
and Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
) and technicians to the world of musical theatre.
He is renowned for how closely he works with the creative team of a production.
He has recently expressed his interest in producing musicals from the otherwise neglected Asian and African regions, citing that the potential in these markets is inexhaustible.
Mackintosh's Delfont Mackintosh group owns seven London theatres, the Prince Edward
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
, the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner...
, the Novello
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
, the Queen's
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
, the Gielgud
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
, the Wyndham's
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
, and the Noël Coward
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
.
Personal life
Mackintosh was knightedKnight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the 1996 New Year's Honours List for services to musical theatre.
His partner is Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-born theatre photographer Michael Le Poer Trench.
In 2006, Mackintosh was listed 4th on The Independent on Sundays Pink List, a list of the most influential "out-and-proud" gay men and women. He was also listed 4th in 2005. Mackintosh also topped The Stage 100 list in 2007 for the first time since 2000. The list recognises the most influential members of the performing arts community at the end of each year.
He is a Patron of The Food Chain
The Food Chain
The Food Chain is a London, United Kingdom-based charity working to provide food and nutritional services to people living with HIV and related illness. Formed on Christmas Day 1988, its stated aim is "to ensure that those living with HIV.....
, a London-based HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
charity.
His younger brother, Robert Mackintosh, is also a producer.
In 1994 Mackintosh bought the Nevis Estate, on North Morar, to the east of Mallaig
Mallaig
Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig...
in the West Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, covering around 14000 acres (5,665.6 ha). He has since been involved in a long-running dispute with a tenant crofter, over the land use on the estate. Mackintosh wants to use the land for building holiday homes, but the crofter says the land is needed for grazing.
Politics
In 1998 Mackintosh was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party (UK)Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, a decision he was later to regret, saying: "Labour really fucked it up. They were profligate at a time when we were doing well. That's why we have the problems we have now. They didn't save any money for a rainy day. It couldn't have been worse these last 12 years."
See also
- The SundoweThe SundoweThe Sundowe is a musical written by Edinburgh-based writers and performers John, James and Gerry Kielty and featuring their band The Martians. The Sundowe was entered into the "Highland Quest For A New Musical" competition in early 2006, and was announced as the winner in July 2006...
, A new Scottish-based musical being produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Eden Court Theatre and the Scottish Executive
Further reading
- Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh by Sheridan Morley and Ruth Leon, published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and in the US by Back Stage Books, 1998