Sheridan Smith wasn’t planning on taking time off until Christmas. The Bafta-winning actress, in the midst of a professional renaissance, was due to star in a West End musical until July 27 and head to Newcastle two days later to record a new TV drama series.
Their plans have changed. Following mixed reviews, poor ticket sales and reports of audiences leaving early, Smith’s musical Opening Night announced it would close two months ahead of schedule. Smith, 42, will find himself at an unexpected loose end in a few weeks.
The blow will be much harder to take because her portrayal of alcoholic Broadway star Myrtle Gordon gave Smith a chance to exorcise her own, well-publicized mental health and booze-related demons. Most notably, she abruptly took a break from her role as Fanny Brice in the 2016 revival of Funny Girl due to stress and fatigue.
Opening Night is a musical reworking of iconoclastic Belgian writer-director Ivo van Hove’s 1977 film John Cassavetes, with songs by Canadian-American singer Rufus Wainwright. It follows Smith’s Myrtle as she is being filmed by a documentary crew (with live footage on screens in the Gielgud Theatre) and as she prepares to take the lead role in a production of The Second Woman. He stumbles into opening night due to his alcoholism, his troubled marriage, and being haunted by the ghost of an admirer who was run over by a car shortly after meeting Myrtle.
The parallels to Smith’s own career are obvious, and he acknowledged it before the curtain rose. “It’s kind of like therapy,” he told an interviewer. “It’s very liberating. “It was actually really refreshing to get it all out there.”
Opening Night should have been a huge success. Smith is ready for Olivier this weekend as Shirley Valentine, van Hove was coming off a commercial triumph with the James Norton-led A Little Life and Wainwright could be an intriguing songwriter. Instead, it became one of the biggest West End flops since Trevor Nunn’s misguided Gone with the Wind musical in 2008. “He is heartbroken because this has been an extremely personal experience for him, given the nature of the subject matter,” the production source says.
The show polarized critics, with national newspapers awarding it everything from one to five stars. Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph gave it two stars because “the evening lurches from one number to the next” but praised Smith for her “capacity to fascinate” and said he hoped it would be a success as it required creative risks that many productions shy away from.
Meanwhile, viewers were stunned by the plot, which was variously described as confusing and pointless. “I had no idea what was going on,” says one paying bettor who saw this this week. “I was completely confused from start to finish and left at that point. I felt really bad for Sheridan. He’s a really good actor but he was set up to fail.” Another who didn’t return after the break says: “It wasn’t interesting or exciting, I couldn’t follow the story at all and the songs were ridiculous.”
Those close to Opening Night insist that Smith was the shining light even though the rest of the show was poorly received. “He gave an outstanding performance every night,” says one of the show’s producers. “Even the critics who didn’t really like the show, there was literally no one who didn’t applaud it.
Will this harm his standing? “Oddly enough, I think exactly the opposite: That puts Sheridan in a daring category, a risk-taking category,” he adds. “Let’s face it, Shirley Valentine isn’t a huge risk. She’s shown that she’s willing to do something artistically challenging. Also, from a personal story standpoint, it’s clear that she’s confronting her demons and succeeding. Any producer who asks if Sheridan is a bit risky says, ‘Actually, “He will be able to say ‘no’. He took on one of the most personally challenging roles and delivered to the end.”
The real blame may lie with Van Hove. “The person who will probably be questioned is Ivo. He was always an interesting, weird guy, and to a certain extent, he was weird, weird, but somehow it worked commercially,” says the producer. “I think he’s going to have a little more difficulty as a result of this.”
The daughter of country and western singers, Smith was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, and began performing on stage at an early age. She was a member of the National Youth Music Theater until 1999, where she debuted on television as Emma in The Royle Family, followed by eight years playing Janet Keogh in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Her most notable role was when she played Rudi, Smithy’s sister, on Gavin & Stacey (as played by her real-life boyfriend at the time, James Corden). Smith is also a regular on the stage and is known for having one of the best singing voices among actresses of her generation.
Fans and critics alike have admired Smith’s impressive presence, whether on stage or screen, and her ability to play both the serious (Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic or the 2022 BBC series Four Lives) and the silly (The Lenny Henry Show and Benidorm). Its emotions never stay too far below the surface, making it an intriguing watch no matter who plays it.
Unusually for such a prominent actress, Smith comes from a decidedly low-key part of the world and is every bit more indoctrinated than some of her peers from more fashionable backgrounds. His mother, Marilyn, once said, “it pierced me: the show must go on.”
He is also proud of his roots. The local press is full of stories about Smith returning to his hometown and buying chips and dip from a popular takeaway.
But things began to unravel for Smith in 2016, when he had a major public meltdown. He missed curtain calls, annoyed audiences and struggled with alcohol addiction after his father Colin was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “I was running away from a lot of things, straight to the bottom of the bottle. “I was trying to get out of my own head,” he said two years later.
Aside from her Olivier nod to Shirley Valentine, her first major stage role since the Funny Girl debacle, Smith recently became an unexpected Netflix hit in the series Cleaning Up, about an office cleaner who resorts to insider trading to pay for gambling. Debts is the third most popular series on Netflix this week.
Musicals are risky business these days, especially ones as esoteric and experimental as Opening Night. Many said more work was needed or that a launch in a lower-profile venue might be beneficial. “Was it perfect? Definitely. Was he at fault? Yes,” says another producer. “But even if it would be better for this kind of work to be carried out in the West End, that is what we should aspire to. The alternative is commercial crap like MJ the Musical, which gets middling reviews but does really well.
One of the people involved in the production of Opening Night said that the show would not have been successful without casting an actor like Smith. “All credit goes to Sheridan for using her star power to greenlight something different,” he says.
Even during previews, the show had its ups and downs, with extensive changes made before press night. One element that did not make the final production was a long sweeping scene. “Like any musical, it’s risky, it’s difficult, and honestly, you don’t know what you’ve got until you put it in front of the audience,” says one producer. “There were a lot of changes during previews.”
Smith has been trying to promote the show with a flourish this week, even though the writing was on the wall. “He’s so top-notch and smart, and that’s what made me want to do this. Because this is so different from everything else I’ve done,” he told Heart FM. “I’ve definitely regained the excitement of theater. I love him.”
She was also asked what her favorite role has been over the years and she mentioned Mrs Biggs, the ITV series about the wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie, before turning to Myrtle Gordon. “I know this sounds cheesy, but this part I’m doing right now is the hardest part I’ve ever had to do, emotionally and physically, and it’s the furthest out of my comfort zone,” Smith said. “So I think that’s the part I’m most proud of.”
The creators of the short-lived musical can console themselves with one fact: Cassavetes’ film was also a flop when it was released. It has since become a cult classic. Smith may have a second chance to make a first impression on Opening Night.