Reflections on BEAM2025 – Mentorship, Musicals, and Making Room for Brave Work

I’m still catching my breath after two days of BEAM2025 at Birmingham Hippodrome – the UK’s leading showcase of new musicals, produced by Mercury Musical Developments and Musical Theatre Network.

From 360 pitches across 20 pitching days around the country, 28 new musicals and 12 individual artists were selected to share early-stage work with an industry audience. These weren’t polished productions – they were ideas on their feet. Little early sparks in public. Proof of concept. But when you look beyond the home-made costumes and two days of rehearsal to the DNA of the work it’s easy to see: this is the start of some of the most exciting musical theatre in the country.

Deep in the Process

This was my fourth BEAM – and my second as Mentorship Co-Ordinator. I attended pitching days across the UK, helped select the final line-up, mentored several of the brilliant teams, and co-ordinated all the feedback (360 individual PDFs – and I only sent the wrong one once!).

That feedback – made possible thanks to the PRS Foundation – meant every writer received a proper response to their pitch. So many people got in touch to say how helpful it was in reframing their work, encouraging a rewrite, or giving them the push to keep going. That matters. Because so often, writers are sending their work into a void. Literary departments are overstretched. Time is tight. And if I took a meeting with everyone who submitted a script to NYMT, I’d spend all my hours talking about dramaturgy (which, yes, is the dream – but we also must do strategy and operations and plan an anniversary year and look after the people we are working with…!).

From Idea to Impact

I’ve seen BEAM act as a launchpad for extraordinary work:

• Two Strangers (Carry a Cake…) was still The Season when I first saw it here.
• Operation Mincemeat shared an early pitch in a small room – and just marked the sixth anniversary of its first preview with a world tour announcement.
• Lovestuck featured at the last BEAM – and now opens in three weeks at @trse. Mentoring James Cooper for BEAM and then collaborating through its evolution has been one of the most joyful writer-dramaturg collaborations I’ve had.

That pipeline – from pitch, to platform, to production – is rare. And BEAM puts all the ingredients in one place, fuels everyone with coffee and pastries, and whispers: “Go on, then. Make it happen.”

Conversations That Spark More

BEAM2025 featured 28 sharings of shows, 12 artist spotlights, and hundreds of conversations – the kind that start with “I loved your piece” and end with “Let’s talk.”

I was especially struck when American colleagues compared BEAM favourably to NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre). It was a quiet, generous compliment – and after spending so much time shaping pitches and rehearsals, it really meant something to hear that the standard of the work, and how we held it, travels beyond our own industry bubble.

Full Circle Moments

At my first BEAM, I remember looking up at the panel with awe, wondering how anyone got to be that articulate, that central, that in-the-room.

This year, I was on the panel – caught mid-disagreement with David James in the official photo by Tyrone Lewis (obviously). But more importantly, I got to sit alongside friends and collaborators I admire, and listen as they spoke with rigour, clarity, and heart about where the form is headed.

The new generation of artists are deeply in love with musical theatre – and fiercely determined to evolve it. They’re thinking about audiences, business models, lasting impact. Not just what a show says, but how it gets made, and who it reaches.

The Heart of It

For me, the work on stage was only part of the story. The bravery I saw offstage – in how people introduced themselves, asked questions, named what they needed, approached someone new – was just as moving.

That kind of openness is hard to sustain in this industry, and BEAM makes space for it. I lost count of how many times I reminded teams not to be nervous about presenting – because this crowd is already on your side. It’s a gift to know that you’re speaking to a room full of people looking for ways to contribute.

And really, that’s what it’s all about: contribution. All of us, doing small things over and over again – making introductions, plugging album releases (Benjamin Button, anyone?), buying tickets, using our platforms to lift others up. The days of someone swooping in with a magic cheque are mostly behind us. The future is slower. More layered. More collaborative. And much more joyful.

Huge thanks to the teams at Mercury Musical Developments and Musical Theatre Network for curating such a big-hearted, hopeful and brilliantly run jamboree. And to everyone who shared work – you’re amazing.

I can’t wait to see where you take it next!