Beloved in London, ignored in New York: Starlight Express and We Will Rock You

Since the 1970s and the rise of the so-called megamusical, it has often been assumed that the British and American audiences form a single market, with shows that triumph in the West End inevitably doing the same on Broadway. However, it isn’t always that simple. This chapter examines two shows, both long-runners in the West End, that failed to reproduce their success in the United States: Starlight Express (1984) ran two seasons, as opposed to its eighteen in London, while We Will Rock You (2002) became the most successful British musical not to open on Broadway since Salad Days (1954). This chapter examines the differing transatlantic fates of these two shows and looks at what this tells us about national attitudes to rock music, spectacle, and to the musical theatre itself.