The creation, gestation, birth and production cost of a new musical is an order of magnitude more difficult than the similar process for a piece of drama, and in the UK (unlike in the USA) there is no 'greenhouse' to nurture the creators of musical theatre.

This is not to say that the creation of a play is easy, for it too has its difficulties, but the large musical, with its crucial interdependance between book and score, its larger team of interpreters (director, musical director, choreographer etc), often larger cast size and its generally larger production scale, conspire to throw up problems not usually faced by the producer of a straight play.

We strongly believe in the need to develop and support the talents of British writers and composers and consequently we have a strategy of representing 'homegrown' creative people wherever possible. So far we've contracted these entirely British full length mainstream musicals ...

(** means member of Mercury Musical Development)

• Act Your Age (by Christopher Wortley)
• Arabian Nights (by Adam Forde & David Perkins**)
  
• Gulliver's Travels (by Chris Chambers** & Andy Rapps)
• Hooked (by Max Kinnings, Matthew James and Nick Hale)
  
• King David (by John Fletcher & David Chapman)
• Lillia (by Stephanie Jayne Amies)
• Quasimodo (by Steve Humfress & Andy Rapps)
  
• Reality (by Stephen Bridges & Noel Bannister)
• Rock Apocalypse (by Simon Haynes & Adrian Cross)
• The Wind In The Willows (a new adaptation by Adam Forde & David Perkins**)
  
• Threads (by John Fletcher & David Chapman)
• When It Rains (by David Shannon & Mark Folan**)
• Witchfinder (by Martin Roche & Ian Crabtree)