BEAM2025, a showcase for new musicals, reveals line-up

Musical Theatre Network, Mercury Musical Developments, in association with Birmingham Hippodrome, have revealed the musicals and artists who will feature at BEAM2025.

Taking place on 15 and 16 May at Birmingham Hippodrome, 28 musicals and 12 artists will be spotlighted.

As the UK’s largest showcase of new musical theatre, the event will also include panel discussions and networking opportunities. Over 35 musicals showcased at previous BEAM events have gone on to become full productions, including such successes as Operation Mincemeat, which opened on Broadway last night and continues in the West End, and fan-favourite Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), which recently confirmed its North American premiere.

The 12 Artist Spotlight creatives are: Annabelle Lee Revak, Evie Press, Hayley Canham, Leo Simpe-Asante, Lewis Cornay, Mahlon Prince, Matt Thorpe, Max Welton, Michelle-Kim Vacciana, Parisa Shahmir, Rev Ben Cahill-Nicholls, and the duo Tennick and Ramsay.

Meanwhile, this year’s collection of musicals offers a unique collection of stories. All My Heart examines the resilience of donor families, while Blocks Falling looks at the electrifying battle between art and capitalism, and Bog Bodies follows dark and comedic graveyard antics.

Chasing Icarus explores identity through 18th-century castrati singers, while Clara at the Door with a Revolver presents a courtroom drama inspired by true events. Layla and Captain Doom follows a playful young heroine, while Cricket and the Freebugs introduces a new whimsical world, meanwhile, Duppy Quadrille features haunting Caribbean folklore and EXOTIC! is a queer wrestling fantasia.

Adaptations wise, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close delves into post-9/11 loss, Paradise Road reframes WWII survival and Maison Mac reimagines Macbeth in the world of fine dining. If you’re looking for surreal comedy, Flat Earth is on offer, while Fairlight tells a queer origin story of lawn tennis. Hong Kong After Midnight uses disco as defiance against oppression and Elbow Deep is a tale of loss and healing.

A hidden group of teenagers grapple with activism and identity in Others, while Sheltered portrays working-class struggles. Resilience and roots in rural Devon are celebrated in The Orchard, while The Rivals of Pinner reinvents Sheridan’s comedy. The mystical and reflective The Snare and Feral uses music to explore atonement, and The Swansong weaves a tale of redemption.

Completing the line-up is Pit Stop and Wash, a romantic comedy set around a magical laundrette, Y Pentref, a Welsh-language story of community crisis, and Time-bomb, which puts climate activism on trial. Finally, Vamp is a rocking tale of vampires and rebellion, and 73 Seconds offers a look at grief and courage in the shadow of the Challenger spacecraft tragedy.

Natalia Scorer, executive director of Mercury Musical Developments commented: “BEAM is now a proven developmental pathway for new musicals. It’s exciting to see the continued journeys of past BEAM shows, with Operation Mincemeat being the first to open on Broadway! The connections and conversations that happen in these two days are vital for sustaining a vibrant and dynamic new musical theatre sector in the UK. We had a record number of shows pitch to be in BEAM2025 and we can’t wait to share these shows and artists with the wider industry.”

James Hadley, executive director of Musical Theatre Network added: “Those 356 musicals pitched for BEAM reflect the increased interest in original UK musicals, from audiences, creatives and industry partners – and that buzz is not unrelated to the fact that the quality, craft ability and creative innovation of what was pitched was arguably at an all-time high. There is a diversity of stylistic content and lived experience among the musicals and creatives participating in BEAM2025 that make attending like going on a two-day mini-break: full of satisfying new discoveries.”

BEAM is co-produced by Musical Theatre Network, Mercury Musical Developments in association with Birmingham Hippodrome, with funding support from Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

Tickets for BEAM2025 are now on sale.