music theatre in flanders - Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen

Diagram 3: Number of producers per production (for music
theatre only)
500
375
250
125
0
5 of meer
4
3
2
1993-1997 1997-2001 2001-2005
1 177 167 177
1 2 37 90 117
3 16 36 82
4 9 19 31
5 or more 11 23 46
The diagram shows that co-producing became an increasingly current
practice in music theatre during the period of the Performing
Arts Decree. In 1993-1997 the majority of productions – 71% to be
precise – were still taken care of by one single organization. During
the period 2001-2005, this percentage went down to a mere 39%.
When comparing this diagram to the data concerning the entirety
of the performing arts (as published in Metamorphoses), it
is clear that things evolved more quickly in music theatre than in
the performing arts in general. In the performing arts, the general
number of productions made by one single producer decreases
from 80% (during the period 1993-1997) over 64% (in 1997-2001)
to 52% (in 2001-2005). In music theatre, as we noted above, the
number decreases from 71%, over 50%, to 39%. In other words:
there is a difference in pace in co-production practice between
music theatre production and the performing arts in general.
Moreover, there is a remarkable analogy in dance, where things
proved to evolve even more quickly: in 2001-2005 less than a third
of the productions was made by one single company.
Why is there so much co-operation in music theatre? There
are artistic as well as economic reasons. Music theatre production
is interdisciplinary by definition and requires the combination
of very specific artistic competences and skills. Co-operation
can be meant to bring together partners who have very different
forms of expertise. 2 For The Woman Who Walked into Doors, for
instance, LOD and RO Theater worked together with The Royal
Monnaie and De Filmfabriek.
But economic necessity also plays an important part. It is
definitely not a coincidence that there is more co-operation in
dance and music theatre than in the other performing arts. What
both sub-disciplines have in common is that they are relatively
expensive, labour-intensive performing arts disciplines. For music
theatre, you often need large casts – having to involve actors
and (ensembles of) singers/musicians, as a result of the choice
of a specific repertoire,.... Working together opens opportunities
2. The following should be noted: Flyers often mention the contribution of
music ensembles not as ‘co-production’ but as an addition to the cast (e.g.
‘music performance: Ictus’).
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