Sitting in a shiny armchair in the newly opened piano bar of the Nuevo Teatro Alcalá in Madrid, Marcos Cámara expresses himself with the passionate gesture of those legendary producers who forged the spirit of Broadway. People as much or more dreamy than artists. His passion is business management, but he has the characteristic sparkle in his eyes of someone who vibrates and suffers behind the scenes. This fall he’s especially excited because he has two biggies in his hat. The first has already exploded: Evil, The Spanish version of the popular musical, which has been on stage for 22 years in New York theaters and now also adapted to cinema, explodes at the box office in Nuevo Alcalá from the beginning of October 3rd. But above all he is enthusiastic about the new production he is preparing. The wretched, for which he confesses to feeling weakness, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of its premiere in London. “For me it’s the best musical in history. It’s my white whale. It was very difficult, it took me more than six years to negotiate it, but finally we have it,” he says, unable to contain his enthusiasm.
The dream will materialize on November 28 at the Apolo theater, the second of the three stages he manages in Madrid. The other is Rialto, where the third season of The Book of Mormon, success that must also be attributed to him. Just like Billy Elliot (2017), History of the West Side (2018), Matilda (2022) or Oh mama! (2022), all at the helm of SOM Produce, the company he co-founded in 2011 that is largely responsible for making Madrid the third-largest international market for musicals in just two decades, behind New York and London. To the point of causing a seismic movement on the genre’s global map: last January, SOM Produce was integrated into the British multinational ATG, which manages 71 theaters around the world, including historic venues on Broadway and in the West End. ATG’s landing confirms it: enormous business is done here and one of its visionaries was Marcos Cámara.
Not in vain the ATG keeps him in command of the ship Madrid. “It’s every entrepreneur’s dream: you create a company, you grow it, they buy it from you for a million dollars and they keep you in place with the same team.” Cámara laughs, without revealing the financial terms of the operation: “The advantages are many, of course. These large multinationals have an investment capacity unimaginable for a small production house. Now we can access a practically universal catalog of titles and we have remodeled the structures. Of course, the audience wins. But on the other hand, I can assure you that I have never felt so much tension as in these first premieres with ATG. We are integrated into the most important theater company in the world and we cannot fail. We must respect the standards”, he acknowledges.
The figures, of course, are mind-boggling. To create a musical that meets the fundamental standards of the genre (developing plot, live orchestra and voices, good choreographic numbers and quality production) a minimum initial investment of 10 million euros is required. “It’s just to get started and endure the first season, because the expense is usually never recouped in the first year. And when you get into productions the size of Evil OR The wretched, you put yourself at 20 million. It takes two or three seasons to start earning, always with 100% occupancy,” explains Cámara.
According to a recent report published on The New York Times, None of the 18 commercial musicals that debuted on Broadway last season have yet made a profit. Not only that, but the three newly created, Tammy Faye, Boop! and Smash, They were removed from the billboard in less than four months. The executives quoted in the article assume that the company is in crisis and attribute this to rising production costs.
Perhaps this is why multinationals are exploring other growth markets such as Spain, despite the sector in this country being traditionally reluctant to publish its accounts. The last known data dates back to 2018: that year the public and private theater operators in Madrid achieved a turnover of over 160 million euros, of which 110 through musicals: more than the 103.8 million that cinemas collected throughout the national territory. Why this opacity? “There are many reasons. For example, loss of reputation due to bankruptcy or the relationship with investors. Some of us have tried to be more transparent, but there is no consensus in the sector. I myself, who need to know what the market is like, have to do the exercise of consulting the public accounts of each competitor and then draw my own conclusions,” replies Cámara.
But regardless of whether the numbers add up, what does the success or failure of a musical among the public depend on? “It’s a cocktail of factors. Apart from personal taste, which is not decisive, you have to see whether the story will be understood, whether the characters will reach your audience. For example, there is a Hollywood superhit, Hamilton, which is very difficult to adapt because it has no lyrics, only music and songs, with very American codes. It would be very risky,” reflects the producer.
The key, according to Cámara, is to diversify. “There are musicals for all tastes. Classics, family, for couples, for groups or for a new audience such as The Book of Mormon. You have to balance the ingredients well and think about the most favorable calendar for each one”, he maintains. Even if the fundamental factor, the one that has transformed SOM into such a locomotive in Madrid, is the understanding of the market. “The fact of having been small has allowed us to know our viewers well. We practically raised them. This is why giants like ATG trust us. They know we will take care of the productions and their brand,” he says. Aren’t you afraid of losing that personality after the absorption? “We’re not a franchise. Except for The wretched, There is no better way to tell it than the original, we generally do not make replicas of the titles we import, but rather adapt them for Spanish audiences. We tell stories from our point of view,” he says.
Given his career, Cámara seems to have the magic wand. Perhaps your family history contributes. Born in Madrid 51 years ago, he knows like few others the peculiarities of the world of entertainment because he is the son of the legendary record industry executive José María Cámara, who died in 2021, who directed the careers of artists such as Camilo Sesto, Joaquín Sabina or Mecano and was behind successes such as The Macarena from Los del Río or the Asereje of Ketchup. It was he who, according to his son, had the idea of staging a musical with Mecano’s songs. “It occurred to him while he was living in New York, one evening when he went to dinner with José María Cano and they went to see Oh mama! He didn’t intend to do it, so I, who at the time was working in the contracts and licensing area of SGAE and was extremely bored, got together with some friends and stole the idea from him,” he jokes.
This is how it was created I can’t get up today, debuted in 2005, one of those first musicals that made Madrid’s Gran Vía the epicenter of musicals in Spanish. A few theaters with Broadway hit franchises had begun to reopen shortly before, but that was the first major native creation. Years later, José María Cámara himself will join the adventure and in 2011, after disagreements with his partners, they founded SOM together with Pilar Gutiérrez and Juanjo Rivero and Gonzalo Perez.
Since then, musicals have become a powerful cultural driver in Spain, with a fully mature industry that also boosts tourism and hospitality. Which also generated some shadows. Last year, during the delivery of the main national awards in the sector, a new gala was held on Monday in which Argentine production triumphed Eating from afarcomplaints were heard about the working conditions of artists and technicians. Cámara responds: “There is a collective agreement that establishes the relational frameworks between all the agents who participate in the market. The important thing is that this is respected. And we strictly respect it”, he assures.
Ultimately, Cámara acknowledges, it is a professional and very delicate job: “Every production is an obstacle course until the curtain rises. But that’s part of the charm of this industry and I consider myself lucky to be part of it.” Word of the manufacturer.
