Cameron Mackintosh

One of the most prominent and important theatrical producers to emerge in the late 20th Century, Cameron Mackintosh was able to realize his childhood dream. At the age of eight, he was taken to see his first stage musical, “Salad Days,” and was so enchanted he decided then and there he would grow up to produce similar entertainments. After dropping out of London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, Mackintosh landed his first professional job as a chorus member and assistant stage manager for a touring company of “Oliver!” in 1965. Within four years, however, he had achieved his goal and produced an ill-fated revival of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” Undaunted, Mackintosh persevered and finally had an international success with the revue of Stephen Sondheim songs, “Side by Side by Sondheim,” in 1976. After mounting a long-running revival of “Oliver!” (1977-80) and “My Fair Lady” (1979), he teamed with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to present Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” in London in 1981. The musical, adapted from poems by T. S. Eliot, has gone on to become the longest-running musical in Broadway history.

Mackintosh’s streak continued in the ’80s with such London and NYC successes as “Little Shop of Horrors.” He twice reteamed with Lloyd Webber, for “Song and Dance” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” and also forged alliances with the French team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg (“Les Misérables,” “Miss Saigon,” and “Martin Guerre”). Where Mackintosh has had the greatest effect is in the marketing of his shows. Each has a distinctive logo that pops up on merchandise ranging from T-shirts to caps to coffee mugs. Additionally, he pioneered the superspectacle, big-budgeted musicals with flashy scenery and ensemble casts, cutting down on the reliance of a star to bring in the audience. Not that there have not been “name” performers in his casts; their presence, however, is not necessarily germane to the production. For television, Mackintosh mounted a 10-year anniversary concert of “Les Misérables,” which was also released on video. In 1998, his 30-year career was saluted with “Hey, Mr. Producer!,” a gala performed in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, that was taped for broadcast and aired in the USA on PBS stations.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest