Guest Blog: Stuart Brayson On FROM HERE TO ETERNITY And His New Musical!

This time last year I had my musical From Here To Eternity playing on Shaftesbury Avenue.

It was a bizarre experience watching an audience respond night after night to a brand new piece and our brand new songs. I often wondered how long it had been since something this new had just popped up in the West End without an album or tour to precede it...and from heaven forbid an unknown composer...from the north no less, shock horror, and working class!

So I watched in, to quote David Bowie, strange fascination in the stuffy previews as quite frequently elderly theatregoers tut-tutted the bad language and occasional lewd behaviour on stage and then giggled to myself as Lord and Lady Ponsonby Smythe squirmed appearing somewhat confused not quite understanding that rare, almost extinct West End beast - a brand new song. Some were disappointed that Some Enchanted Evening didn't appear. Or Frank Sinatra. Some even walked out. Some just tut-tutted and then half way through Act 2, usually during Ain't Where I Wanna Be Blues, stopped fighting the desire to enjoy themselves.

Of course later on in our run the young flocked to see FHTE and, as the young will almost always do, didn't question it: they just got it and got into it. But by then unfortunately our number was up and Memphis was waiting in the wings.

So what did I learn? That launching new musicals is, as Sting has recently found out, not always plain sailing. But the truth is it's what you yourself consider to be a success that matters, and not the critics. Six months in the West End is six months more than my last show Mata Hari achieved. And since last March, FHTE the album has topped the musical charts in the UK and my score has received a lot of positive feedback from far and wide which is simply amazing; and the FHTE movie which was released last summer has been seen in cinemas across the UK, the USA and as far a field as Russia and this month India - and it was on the telly at Xmas. Not bad for a lad from Gateshead!

So what's next? Well, while FHTE is about to be revamped and prepared for the USA I am a previewing a brand new musical of mine called KING PIT, another epic, at the Sage in my hometown of Gateshead on February 3. All new songs, of course; something like FHTE I passionately believe in and believe at this stage of my career I should be doing. Breaking new ground, taking risks and on the way encouraging, discovering and championing new talent. Except it isn't a risk to me, this is all I know. New dawn, new dream.

Of course a show set in a mining community in the North East in 1912 will on paper have its critics, but as I have always said I write the kind of shows I would want to go and see and I can't do anymore than that. But if you got something from FHTE, either the show, movie or cast recording, then you kind of know what to expect. Melody and strong story. Real characters. Something cool and stylish. But this time a musical about family, a community, my home. Yes, of course I miss the West End; for all its faults it kind of gets under your skin, but as The Terminator said, if not eloquently then frequently, I'll be back!