The Rise of the Superfan

Every show has its fans. I learned this for myself a few years ago at the annual performance event West End Live, when I watched a small group of teenagers tearfully singing along with the performance of one of that year’s participating shows. Perhaps you’re picturing the devoted fans of a show with a large teenage fan base like Wicked? Or SIX? Or perhaps Heathers? In fact, it was the stage version of Only Fools and Horses, based on the sitcom that ended about two decades earlier.

The classic musical comedy Guys & Dolls is currently running at the Bridge Theatre (it recently celebrated its 500th performance) in a semi-immersive staging that sees the almost 75-year-old musical infused with a contemporary sensibility. Even though I knew it to be one of London’s most entertaining theatrical offerings, I was still pleasantly surprised when, during a recent return trip to the show, I met a qualified superfan. Maria’s love affair with this production, which offers both seated and standing tickets, began when she first saw it in previews last year. ‘My first couple of shows were seated,’ she tells me, ‘but when I saw how the immersive show worked for those standing, I knew I had to experience that.’ As it currently stands, she has seen the show 33 times – including three performances in one week to celebrate her birthday.

My own four visits to the show have been largely motivated by the opportunity to see it with friends and help them navigate the evolving auditorium, but Maria often goes alone, explaining that the immersive nature of the show makes it easy to find people to chat to. (Incidentally, that is exactly how she and I first met.) Maria tells me that she sees a wide range of shows, and usually only sees them once. ‘But,’ she adds, ‘those musicals that capture my heart are comforting – it’s like watching your favourite TV  show for the umpteenth time because it feels good.’

Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre and superfan Maria (inset)

The motivation for fans to return to the same show upwards of two-dozen times can also be explained by an eagerness to see the performances of the company’s understudies, alternates and swings as they begin to debut in different roles. This is very much the case for Ely, who works as a junior publicist at a leading theatrical press agency. Widely known in the fan community of Newsies, having clocked an impressive 69 visits to the show during its eight-month run at the Troubadour Theatre in Wembley Park, Ely has since become a frequent attendee of MJ the Musical at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.

When I ask how many times Ely has seen MJ (which only began previews in early March 2024), she clarifies that it will be 24 after seeing the show again that evening and that she also has multiple return trips booked. For the most part, as well as having always been a music lover, it’s the variety from one performance to the next that has kept Ely hooked, ‘whether that’s because covers are on or because the vibe from the audience is slightly different that day – I love to spot those differences’. Ely also evades the preconception of a superfan being someone who admires theatre from the outside looking in, because she works within the industry – a position she cites as providing her with a deeper appreciation for the work that goes into making theatre happen.

Of course, many Musical Theatre fans are driven to buy more than just theatre tickets. Earlier this year, when the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown returned to London for its first West End run at the Lyric Theatre, a handful of its most devoted New York-based fans flew across the Atlantic just to be there for the first preview performance. Among them were Ashley, Haley and Kylie, a trio of Hadestown devotees who call themselves the ‘sister fates’ after the show’s characters and have the matching tattoos to prove it.

During the interval of that electric first performance, I found the three of them huddled around an iPhone, making frantic notes about the differences between the Broadway and West End stagings. These ranged from the subtle to the sizeable, with a handful of retooled lyrics for the Act Two song ‘Epic III’ later sending legitimate shockwaves through the online community.

It is surely in part due to such dedicated support of the show that the Broadway production has become the longest-running show in the history of the Walter Kerr Theatre, recently celebrating its 1,500th performance as it metamorphosises from a cult hit into an enduring, long-term staple. Producers are presumably hopeful that the West End transfer (currently booking until December 2024) might enjoy the same longevity and success.

But what impact does this enthusiasm have, beyond boosting ticket sales (and prompting never-ending conversation threads on social media)? One only has to look at the recent, astonishing account of how supporters of this year’s Olivier Award-winning Best New Musical, Operation Mincemeat, strove to #FindHester to see that fans can instigate real change. Having made its way to the Fortune Theatre in the West End via several stints on smaller stages over the last few years, Operation Mincemeat has amassed a huge following and, as with many such groups, they’ve got a name. Born of their tendency to introduce others to the show, they are affectionately known as ‘Mincefluencers’ and have become one of theatreland’s most efficient fandoms.

​​Much like the story within the show, the Mincefluencers have tasked themselves with challenging undertakings, including choreographing a massive group outing to see the show with more than 70 fans in attendance, all cosplaying different characters. Their most impressive achievement to date, however, is when a handful of engaged fans set out to uncover the identity of the real MI5 employee upon whom one of the show’s best-loved characters is based. The aim of ‘Operation #FindHester’ was to give overdue credit to the since-identified Hester Leggatt, an administrative assistant depicted in the musical as long-suffering and unsung, yet utterly invaluable. The thorough research completed by the galvanised group even elicited written confirmation of Hester’s identity and service by MI5.

Olivier Award-winner Jak Malone, who originated the role, said at the time: ‘The commitment, energy and enthusiasm of our fans has left me awed, inspired and immensely proud.’ Hester’s historic contribution to the war-altering ruse is now commemorated with a plaque quoting the show’s own lyrics, which greets audience members in the foyer of the Fortune Theatre.

Hail the power of the Mincefluencers! Hester Leggatt’s plaque is unveiled at the Fortune Theatre (image credit: 

When it comes to motivated fans, few shows have prompted as much positivity as the Olivier Award-winning musical Come From Away, which tells the true story of how the residents of Gander, Newfoundland, took in and cared for the passengers of more than three-dozen re-routed airplanes during 9/11. The show’s depictions of generosity and selflessness have inspired the enshrining of those same values within its fan community, with one repeat attender taking them particularly to heart

In 2019, Lydia, a recipient of the Diana Award (a charity seeking to empower young people), was attending an anti-bullying conference when she was told about the show in a conversation with anti-bullying advocate Charlie Kristensen. Subsequently becoming a member of the fan community, she met Laura Townsend, another dedicated fan who once personally offered me a sacred, initiating shot of Newfoundland Screech rum at the show’s post-lockdown reopening. Laura had been planning to follow the show’s UK tour and perpetrate random acts of kindness along the way but sadly passed away in June last year. This prompted Lydia, who admits to having been sceptical about the practicalities of following a tour, to carry out this work in Laura’s memory. ‘I knew I needed to bring her vision to life,’ Lydia tells me, eager to spread the word as to how much fun performing these good deeds can be.

In addition to honouring Laura, she hopes to encourage others to follow in her footsteps. To that end, she’s just launched a JustGiving page to give more people the opportunity to support the initiative, and the campaign has already exceeded her expectations: ‘Come From Away is more than just a musical to me,’ she says. ‘It’s an inspiration to be a better human.’

Come From Away has inspired Lydia to perform good deeds in Laura’s (inset) memory

It’s clear then, that fans can make a difference – in day-to-day life, but also in terms of how long a show runs for, and if (and when) it returns. No one understands this better than my friend Eleni, who oversees the social media accounts of several popular shows.

Eleni recalls how the predominantly young fans of Heathers the Musical – universally known as ‘corn nuts’ after the final words uttered by school bully Heather Chandler before her demise – have been pivotal in creating demand for the show’s various London returns since it first opened at The Other Palace Theatre in 2018. Their petitioning has worked: the musical has scarcely been absent from London since then, recently reopening at the West End’s newest theatre, @sohoplace, ahead of a third UK tour. As Eleni confirms, ‘The fans have been instrumental in the show’s success – they’ve always turned up and they’ve always supported.’ The show’s producers also respect the sanctity of the fans’ relationship with the show, satisfying their eagerness to engage with a new, more inclusive form of theatre by providing singalong performances and cosplay-filled fan events.

Fans can also help shape a show from its earliest stages. The remit of the annual MTFestUK, for example, is to invite a mix of theatregoers and industry professionals to see new work in what producer Paul Taylor-Mills describes as ‘a safe environment where artists can play with material’. The audience’s feedback is crucial to what happens next. A similar scenario saw SIX ’s Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s Why Am I So Single? being workshopped at Sadler’s Wells last year, before being tweaked and adapted for its upcoming West End debut. As Moss says, ‘We came out with a much more completed show than we had envisaged’ – its structure having changed dramatically as a result of how certain elements landed with the audience.

By the time Ride, an Off-West End musical about Annie Londonderry – the first woman to cycle the circumference of the earth – had pedalled its way from the Charing Cross Theatre to Southwark Playhouse for a brief run, changes had clearly been made. This being my fifth time seeing the show, in its fourth iteration, I noticed that the sapphic romance between the show’s two performers, though still not explicit, was far more heavily leaned into. Rather than inaccurate fan service, this, as it turns out, was rooted in historical truth, bringing to light an aspect of Londonderry’s life that the creatives perhaps felt emboldened to include after the positive response of fans to its quietly queer subtext.

Going 'corn nuts crazy' at the Heathers 'Big Fan Day' at the Other Palace in 2022 (image credit: Danny Kaan)

This kind of passionate fan support can also be hugely beneficial to emerging musicals, particularly those not based on existing intellectual property which may face an uphill battle in building a substantial-enough following to maintain a commercial run. When Jack Godfrey’s new musical 42 Balloons played recently at the Lowry in Salford, it already had a crowd of devotees who had learned about it from an EP recording and a 2022 staged concert. I was still a little surprised, however, when at the show’s press night I met Georgia, who had booked for every performance of the four-week run. Having fallen in love with that concert version two years ago, it had quickly become her favourite show, and when the first fully staged production was announced at her local theatre, she couldn’t believe her luck.

Her first tickets were purchased when the run was announced, and the rest in the nine months spent anticipating the show’s arrival. As she confides: ‘I wouldn’t usually do every show, but I’m pregnant and I just thought there would be no better show for my last theatre binge.’ With such dedicated fans, a future life for this show seems inevitable, although for Georgia’s sake I hope she doesn’t feel obligated to maintain her perfect record!

The Choir of Man’s ‘Wall of Regulars’ at London’s Arts Theatre (image credit: Josh Bird)

Fans, then, can increase ticket sales, mould the structure of a show, and help further its life. With so much to gain from their involvement, the teams behind these shows have rightly started to engage with these fan communities. In addition to participatory events, such as the singalongs for shows like Heathers, some musicals are really pushing the envelope. On a trip to Brazil last year to see Wicked, for example, I learned about the show’s loyalty scheme which incentivised fans to make multiple visits by offering ticket discounts, photo opportunities and, after enough visits, a ceremony in which the company would present them with a replica broomstick. I was introduced to a young woman with not one but two broomsticks – she’d seen the show more than 60 times.

And let’s not forget the merchandise, which can instantly turn a fan into a walking advertisement for a show on top of giving them a cherished souvenir. This fact hasn’t been lost on the organisers of Musical Con, the annual Musical Theatre event which launched two years ago at ExCel London. Participating shows are represented not only in performances and workshops, but with a merchandise stand that sees fans queueing for hours to buy a T-shirt or bag emblazoned with their favourite show’s artwork.

Ultimately, fans are not generally seeking gratitude. They’re motivated by their love of a show that they want to see do well. That’s not to say, however, that they don’t appreciate acknowledgement when it happens. Take the overwhelming popularity of Musical Con, whose tagline reads: ‘This is for the fans’. Or The Choir of Man at the Arts Theatre, a show that just keeps on running, which displays pictures of its ‘regulars’ – a nice touch. Or Rob Madge’s My Son’s a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) – which features fan-submitted videos, underlining the piece’s universality, and making the audience part of the show. Perhaps such public expressions of recognition are no less than these superfans deserve. After all, as we’re still learning, what they can achieve is surely ‘unlimited’.

You can donate to Lydia’s kindness campaign by visiting justgiving.com/crowdfunding/theatricallydia

This article originally appeared in the August / September 2024 issue of Musicals magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today