A recent interview with Tim Rice has brought up the idea of captioning musicals for audiences to gain a better understanding, using surtitles (not a word I had come across before) as newer generations are so used to subtitling their content anyway.

It’s very frustrating at times, especially if you’re the words man… Time and time again, the lyrics couldn’t be heard when it was choral. If you’ve got great singers like Tommy Körberg or Elaine Paige singing the songs solo, you do hear the words, but the choral stuff can often be quite important and you just don’t hear it.

It’s definitely helped when watching musicals on screen at home - Hamilton definitely benefits for having the words and audio together, and a few others have been more clear once switching the captions on. I do use subtitles a lot so it’s a natural addition to the screen.

I know some people are less keen on captions for the stage - I’ve been to a few performances that have the addition of captioning, and I think it’s great but have heard muttering behind me (“If I’d known it was the captioned one, I wouldn’t have booked.” WHY?). It makes things more accessible, obviously, but also, increases understanding. Win-win!

When Chess was put on at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2008, the opening comic number Merano was accompanied by its lyrics on screen. “And for the first time ever the song got laughs and a big cheer,” said Rice. “And I thought, well, there you are!”

Surtitles actually make the lyrics part of the set design, which has it’s own benefits and drawbacks - it keeps you focused on the stage rather than a prompt just off to one side, but could be distracting if not done well. In the end, as with most developments, I think it will become slightly more prevalent as we evolve but it’s not going to be everywhere and there will still be plenty of musicals that go without. Take it or leave it, and see what happens!