Full Circle

Olivier Award-winning theatre producer Michael McCabes childhood trips to the theatre in Sussex inspired a glittering careerbehind the curtain of some of the West Ends biggest shows. And now, after returning to his Sussex roots, he is bringing therazzle-dazzle of the West End to theatres across the country.

- Simone Hellyer

Those outside of the confines of theatre land may not know his name, but Michael McCabe has been a driving force behind two of the most successful and longest running shows in West End history. As the original marketing director of Mamma Mia he oversaw the first 14 international premieres of the musical and as a producer he helped bring Wicked to the West End more than 12 years ago. But that’s the thing about theatre producers, though they may spend their lives out of the spotlight, they are very much the puppet masters of the stage.

Michael has been the executive producer of the London production of Wicked since it opened in 2006. He is now bringing the spectacular world of Oz to theatregoers up and down the country with a national tour. The show is now the 15th longest running production in West End history. From his home in Rye, Michael describes how the show has endured in popularity where others have faltered: “One of the key things about any long-running show is that it will only succeed if people want to see it more than once. We have been very lucky that people come back to Wicked time and time again.

“When the show first came out it was very original and seemed very contemporary. It touched a nerve with younger audiences as well as traditional theatregoers and felt like a very modern musical, but was based around characters that people were familiar with. It came along at a very interesting moment and has really snowballed from there.”