The Musical - Drawn from Life

The second programme in a special season of documentaries celebrating the most popular and successful form of theatrical entertainment in the world: The Musical. There are eight documentaries, each presented by a leading name from the world of musical theatre. Programme Two: Drawn From Life (Daniel Evans) It's clearly important for the musical theatre audience to understand the characters on stage and their motivation which is why, as we discovered in last week's programme, the story - or, as it is called in the musical, 'the book' is of vital importance. It also probably explains why so many musical stories are not original but are borrowed from other sources such as novels, plays and increasingly these days, films. Always popular with composers are the life-stories of real people. Some of them were already famous before becoming characters in musicals, but many were largely unknown - until becoming the subject of a successful show brought them a unique kind of fame! This documentary considers the musicals that have been 'drawn from life' including: 'Gypsy', 'Evita' and 'The King and I'. Key contributors include: Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Patti Lupone, Paul Nicholas, Maury Yeston, Elaine Stritch, Maria Friedman, Victor Spinetti, Ruthie Henshall, Tim Rice, Elaine Paige, Richard Stilgoe, Michael Grandage and Liz Robertson. 'Drawn From Life' is written by Brian Sibley and produced for Radio 2 by Malcolm Prince.