BWW Interviews: Composer Stuart Brayson On FROM HERE TO ETERNITY And More!

"It was never going to be South Pacific. It's the same place at the same time - but it's not the same."

It's a very different experience talking to Stuart Brayson, creator of From Here To Eternity. He's not a cautious, guarded first-time West End composer; he's outspoken, funny and honest.

It's probably something to do with his background in rock'n'roll ("It was all very theatrical - we used to do Bowie and that - and there's no difference between that and musicals"), but the idea of him collaborating with that monolith of British musical theatre Sir Tim Rice is a little incongruous.

That hits home when he talks about their discussions on lyrics: "I'd be asking, 'Why has that got to rhyme? David Bowie didn't always make things rhyme. He did all right.' And he'd be saying, 'Well, yes, that's a good point.'"

Of course, their show left the Shaftesbury Theatre in March following a six-month run. Brayson is evidently disappointed that it didn't get longer to find its niche.

"I don't like being labelled a flop. I don't like the idea of it, even though I know what we're doing is great and we shouldn't have closed. It's not in my mentality. If I'd had the money I'd have kept it going," he says.

Following a series of changes from the first preview through to closing week, word-of-mouth improved over the course of the run, and it was beginning to establish a core audience - not the senior theatregoers who might have been long-term Rice devotees, or fans of the film, but younger folk who identified with central characters Prewitt and Lorene, fighting against a system that will never let them win.

"Tim said, 'We'll not get people coming back more than once.' We were already getting people in two or three times in previews - and we didn't have it right then. Towards the end of the run Tim was turning up and pointing out people who'd been in multiple times: that's when you know you've got something special. It's young people who've embraced it.

"I'd say it's a show for the young, or the young at heart. Other people wanted something it was never going to be. I've been getting tweets and emails and letters at the theatre, and the average age of the audience is twentysomething. Some shows just don't cater for that age group."

He thinks back to the show's opening, which he says feels like "a lifetime ago".

"When we opened, the first preview was a longer show with a lot more songs, and they went crazy for it. I thought we'd have a massive hit on our hands. I wasn't happy with everything, but I thought I'd have to live with it. And then the next night it went down like a pile of cold sick - it was a completely different audience."

He's critical of ticket prices in the West End and the ageing demographic for musical theatre; he's not, however, hugely critical of shows themselves, saying he always finds something to like in theatre. "I'm one of the company as far as I'm concerned [when I'm in the audience]. Everyone has their taste and likes what they like - there's nothing out there for everyone."

The cast of From Here To Eternity too skewed on the young side - in fact, in a Theatreland with few new shows coming through, most of them had never been able to create a role before.

"They realised they were going to be playing the part for the first time, and they became a family - that's what Rent would have been like. I saw Hair a few years ago, and I think that was the same - it was 1968 as far as they were concerned. That's the energy level you can get with a cast that really believe in it. They lived it."

He's full of praise for all of them individually and collectively, praising the work of the female ensemble, the hard work of the men of G Company, as well as David Stoller who not only played the sadistic Sgt Galovitch but understudied multiple roles ("He could have come on one night as Karen, and he would have been brilliant as well! ")

He's evidently very fond of the company as well, and is grateful to Rice for taking a chance on actors without starry credentials. "Robert [Lonsdale, who played Prewitt] - nobody would have cast Robert. When I first met him in the workshop, I thought, 'He looks the part'; and I started talking to him, and he's so shy. I told him not to worry about hitting the notes, it doesn't matter, just go for it; and then to see him in the West End, doing all that stuff, just a year on - it's an amazing journey, from that little shy lad in workshops to this leading man with all the gravitas.

"But he's a different type of leading man. You don't want these prissy types with great voices; I want to believe what they're singing, I want them to be acting when they're singing. That's what's lovely about Ryan [Sampson, who played Maggio] and Robert and Darius [Campbell, who played Warden], who showed he had this side that nobody knew he had - that confidence."

Prewitt is a very flawed protagonist; he's an anti-hero, who makes bad decisions and does stupid things and yet still inspires audience sympathy. Brayson says all his leading men are like that.

"I never liked all these cheesy chisel-jawed heroes. I like it when you don't expect something and the hero isn't what you thought. He doesn't walk off into the sunset with the girl - that's real. That's why younger people relate to it. You can imagine him sitting in a corner at a party, not doing anything, but just gravitating towards him. He's got something. The girls [Lorene and Karen] as well are tragic figures. It's raw. I love that rawness and that poetry and the beauty."

There were whispers about a UK tour of the show ("If we do that, hopefully we can get a lot of them [the company] back") but plans now are geared towards a Broadway transfer and the imminent cinematic release. Brayson is hopeful that the initial problems with the show are now ironed out - and the issues around marketing the production will be eliminated for an American audience. He was keen to get the entire cast performing on a variety of mainstream television shows, but says his ideas were rejected.

"People kept telling me, 'No, you can't do that.' Why can't you do that? I didn't want it to look like a show that had been written in 1941. I've learnt from this production, mostly on the producing side of it. If a song's not working write a new one. A song's a song. But the producing side of it...you need somebody in control. For America it'll be a new set-up and a lot more in-your-face. "

He admits now he can't walk past the theatre ("too many memories - but that's showbiz. It's a tough business") but he's adamant this won't be the end for a UK production.

"I'm disappointed we've closed - people writing to me and loving the show, that means more to me than anything. It's not going to end here - this is just the start. I'm still fighting the fight."

In the meantime, he has his own plans: he's doing an album, featuring his own vocals ("a few nights in the theatre I got reprimanded for singing along with The Boys of '41"), and a handful of concerts, which will feature songs from From Here to Eternity. He's also working on a new show, which will potentially be presented in a concert format later in 2014.

And of course there's that mooted Broadway run, plus the film, which he is sure is "going to be really awesome" - so he's incredibly optimistic about the future.

"We've crammed a six-year run into six months. Doing a movie - that's the greatest legacy for that company. They're going to be remembered forever. It's all good."

Find out about Stuart Brayson's future plans via his website.

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