Dee Forbes, the Director General of RTÉ, has defended Toy Show the Musical following negative reviews, saying “the audience reaction so far has been fantastic”. Ms Forbes said “families and children are really loving the show”, saying it was “always going to be a show led by children for children, in keeping with Toy Show itself”.
A review of the musical in The Irish Times concluded that “despite the talent evident on the stage and behind it, it is difficult not to feel cynical about the artistic intention of what is essentially a spectacular, self-congratulatory marketing ploy”.
Alan Hughes, a Virgin Media presenter who is producing his own pantomime in the National Stadium in Dublin, has also accused RTÉ of having a commercial advantage over its competitors. He told the Irish Independent last week that he had spent €50,000 advertising his panto on RTÉ, while Toy Show the Musical benefits from free cross-platform promotion on the broadcaster.
“Thanks to the might of RTÉ, I don’t think any other small independent production person could come into this small, saturated market at Christmas,” he said.
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In a statement published on the RTÉ website, Ms Forbes said “attempts by some to pit Toy Show the Musical against other productions is at odds with the broad support we have received from the theatre world”.
“It is also at odds with the amount of airtime support RTÉ routinely makes available to live events of all kinds through its RTÉ supporting the Arts scheme,” she said. “Likewise, RTÉ's commercial airtime is and has always been open to commercial live productions, indeed at present a range of other Christmas shows are being heavily promoted across RTÉ services.”
She said BBC had engaged in similar live shows based on some of its most successful formats, including Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing. She pointed out the show is employing 100 people at a time when there are “few opportunities” in the sector,” she said.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to offer that opportunity to such a young and talented, almost fully Irish, team. RTÉ supports the arts in many ways, but perhaps the most practical way is in creating meaningful creative opportunities and pathways for new talent,” she said.
On Saturday RTÉ was forced to cancel the afternoon and evening shows of the musical due to illness in the cast and crew. It has also cancelled its three shows on Sunday. “The team did everything possible to avoid this situation and are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused,” RTÉ said.
“Our ticketing partner, Ticketsolve will be in touch as soon as possible with those with tickets for cancelled shows regarding rescheduling or refund options.
We will announce any changes to planned shows from Tuesday as soon as we have more information on the impact of illness on the cast and crew.”
Earlier Ms Forbes said competing with the musical theatre shows that regularly visit Ireland was “a risk”. “To do that requires investment in development and in talent and a willingness to take a multiannual view on a return. It also requires a willingness to take some risk – creative projects like original musicals, movies or TV series are always a risk,” she said.
She defended promoting the show on RTÉ platforms. “There are no restrictions on access to RTÉ platforms for the promotion of commercial productions,” she said. “Like all broadcasters, we promote our own programmes and are expressly permitted by our regulator to cross promote programme-related projects like Toy Show the Musical outside of commercial airtime.”
She said RTÉ was “very proud” of the production, which runs at the Convention Centre in Dublin.
“Yesterday at our 12.30 showing we had 1,700 kids from local schools at the show and they almost blew the roof off with excitement. Come and see for yourself,” she said.