Musical theatre's James Cundall a showman at heart
Musical theatre impresario James Cundall takes high-profile stage shows around the world, but he only arrived at his calling via farming and asset management, writes Madeline Gressel
Before James Cundall became the founder and CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, which brings international musical theatre productions to Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, he was an executive in asset management. Before that, he was a farmer's son.
How did a farmer's son become attuned to the charm of American musicals? "My father had the LPs, all the old Rodgers and Hammersteins. When I was a child, we would go to see them in an open-air theatre in a city called Scarborough. They had these massive productions - the theatrical equivalent at the time of [Baz Luhrmann's] new Great Gatsby - with casts of hundreds. And that's where I fell in love."
Cundall's favourites in those days were the Rodgers and Hammerstein hits of the 1940s and '50s, such as South Pacific and The Sound of Music. "But that was a long time ago." Now, Cundall and Lunchbox Productions, which he founded in 1999 with wife Rebecca, work to bring updated but classically colourful shows to Hong Kong. The shows cover a range of styles and tastes - from one-man comedy shows to ice-rink spectacles - but they share an effervescent levity and a perceptibly high profile.
Today, the productions are a familiar presence, recognised in the MTR and in local magazines. There's usually something on, be it Stomp, Riverdance, Grease or an Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Cundall had to contend with an audience largely unused to Western musicals and ill-disposed to spending money on shows.