Download London Musicals - Over The Footlights

2003
45
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE (1st Revival)
London run: Bridewell, January 8th – February 15th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Arthur Laurents
Director: Michael Gileta
Choreographer: Darren Royston
Musical Director: Mark Etherington
Cast: Paula Wilcox (Cora), Janie Dee (Fay Apple), Edward Baker Duly (Dr Hapgood),
James Smillie (Comptroller Schub), Mark Heenehan, Aaron Shirley, Orit Haddad,
Simon Masterton.
The book for this production has been slightly revised by Arthur Laurents – currently in
his mid-eighties – now including mentions of mobile phones and lap-top computers, but
the general reaction remained the same: the show was a mess, but as an example of early
Sondheim, far too interesting to ignore.
Original London production: Gladys Child Theatre, February 1990
London run: Jermyn Street, February 19th – March 1st
Music: Larry Grossman
Lyrics: Hal Hackady
Book: Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates
Director: Joseph Pitcher
Choreographer: Joseph Pitcher & Claire Winsper
Musical Director: Matt Malone
Cast: Alice Chiver (Woodstock),
Gemma Maclean (Sally Brown), Sarah Lark (Lucy),
Cassidy Janson (Peppermint Patty),
Stuart Piper (Linus), Stephen Carlisle (Snoopy),
Neil Gordon-Taylor (Charlie Brown)
Original London production: Duchess Theatre, Sept, 1983
JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR
DREAMCOAT
(7th Revival)
London run: New London Theatre, March 3rd (872 Performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Tim Rice
Director: Bill Kenwright
Choreographer: Henry Metcalfe
Musical Director: David Steadman
Producer: Bill Kenwright
Cast: Stephen Gately (Joseph), Vivienne Carlyle (Narrator), John Marques (Benjamin),
Trevor Jary (Pharaoh), James Head, Kay Murphy, Russell Hicken, Philip Burrows
This seventh West End revival ran for an astonishing 872 performances, finally closing
on April 2nd 2005.
Notes: See original London Production, Albery Theatre, Feb 1973
1st revival: Westminster Theatre, Nov 1978;
2nd revival: Westminster Theatre, Nov1979
3rd revival: Vaudeville Theatre, Dec 1981;
4th Revival: Royalty Theatre, Dec 1986
5th Revival: London Palladium, June 1991;
6th revival: Labatt’s Apollo, February 1996
Photo by Pitcher Design
SNOOPY– The Musical (1st Revival)
2003
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CLIFF – THE MUSICAL
London run: Prince of Wales, March 12th
(69 performances)
Music: Various
Director: Trevor Payne
Choreographer: Simon Shelton
Musical Director: Steve Innes-Etherington
Producer: Derek Block, etc
Cast: Mike Read (Lord Cliff),
Gordon Kenney (Bruce Welch),
Ricky Aron (Cliff 1),
Miles Guerinni (Cliff 2),
Jimmy Jemain (Cliff 3),
Zillah Eagles, Sheri Copeland
Songs: Move It, The Young Ones, Miss You
Nights, Congratulations, Mistletoe and Wine,
The Lord’s Prayer, Auld Lang Syne, etc. etc.
Story: It is the year 2020 and Cliff Richard, now Lord Cliff of Weybridge, is celebrating his 80th birthday at
Keith Richard’s retirement home called The Joint. With his manservant, Bruce, formerly Bruce Welch of the
Shadows, they party down Memory Lane. There are four different performers playing Cliff : the 50s wannabe
Elvis , the 60s balladeer with the Austin Powers dress sense, the middle-of-the-road rocker of the 80s, and the
reminiscing octogenarian. They manage to sing their way through many of the Cliff hits which have sold 100
million records over 40 years, and then, at the end, all four Cliffs throw their white boxer shorts into the
screaming audience.
Notes: This was a bit of a jaw-droppingly pointless show – after all, there was no story – Sir Cliff had never
trashed a hotel room, seduced an underage teenager, had a breakdown, or even got drunk – but it did have a
superb band and an army of middle-aged matrons cheering every song. The critics were all happy to report that
Sir Cliff himself was out of the country touring the Far East with his live show, and all expressed the hope this
dreadful show would fold before he got back and would thus spare him the misery of having to watch it. It
managed a 9 week run.
SIMPLY HEAVENLY (1st Revival)
Cast: Ruby Turner (Miss Mamie) ,
Nicola Hughes (Zarita),
Rhashon Stone (Simple),
Cat Simmons (Joyce Lane),
Clive Rowe (Melon), Kenie Andrews,
Des Coleman, Carlton Headley,
Paul Kissaun, Jason Pennycooke
Notes: The basic story – will Jesse
Simple succeed in raising the dosh for a divorce from his ex-wife so he can marry the loyal and loving Joyce –
or will he be tempted from the straight and narrow by the vamping barmaid Zarita? - was considered just as
weak as when the show was first produced in London 45 years earlier. Once again, it was the choreography
and sheer energy of the performers that made it work.
Original London production: Adelphi, May 1958
Photo by Keith Pattison
London run: Young Vic,
March 17th – April 19th
Music: David Martin
Lyrics & Book: Langston Hughes
Director: Josette Bushell-Mingo
Choreographer: Paul J. Medford
Musical Director: Kelvin Thomson
Producer: National Theatre Studio
2003
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RAGTIME
Photo by Catherine Ashmore
London run: Piccadilly Theatre, March 19th
(101 performances)
Music: Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens
Book: Terrence McNally
Director: Stafford Arima
Choreographer: Candace Jennings
Musical Director: Chris Walker
Producer: Sonia Friedman etc.
Cast: Maria Friedman (Mother),Graham Bickley (Tateh),
Dave Willetts (Father), Kevyn Morrow (Coalhouse),
Emma Jay Thomas (Sarah), Iain Davey (Henry Ford),
Samuel James (Houdini), Mark McKerracher (JP Morgan)
Susie McKenna (Emma Goldman), Rebecca Thornhill
(Evelyn Nesbit)
Songs: Goodbye My Love, The Crime of the Century, What Kind of Woman, A Shtetl iz Amereke, Getting Ready
Rag, Your Daddy’s Son, The Night that Goldman Spoke at Union Square, Harry Houdini Master Escapist, Atlantic
City, Our Children, Back to Before, Make Them Hear You.
Story: From 1900 to the outbreak of World War 1 this is the story of three New York families: a white American
family; the Jewish immigrant, Tateh and his daughter who have arrived from Latvia full of hope
for a better life; and Coalhouse Walker Jr, a black ragtime-pianist, and his Harlem family. At the
start of the show Mother says goodbye to Father as he leaves with Admiral Peary for an
expedition to the North Pole, and then is shocked to find a new-born black baby in her garden.
She gives comfort and refuge to its mother, the black servant, Sarah, and allows the father,
Coalhouse, to come a-calling on Sarah until he eventually wins back her affections. In the course
of the story these fictional characters become involved with real-life legendary figures of the time,
such as Henry Ford, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Emma Goldman and the infamous Evelyn
“Crime of the Century” Nesbitt.
Notes: Based on the novel by E.L.Doctorow, this show opened in Toronto in 1966, and was restaged the following year in Los Angeles. In January 1998 the show was given its Broadway
production at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in a cast that included Brian Stokes
Mitchell, Marin Mazzie and Audra McDonald. It ran for 861 performances, winning many major
awards, but closed suddenly in January 2000 when the producers were declared bankrupt. The
London production, though highly praised, did not succeed, closing after just 101 performances.
TELL ME ON A SUNDAY
London run: Gielgud Theatre, April 15th (351 Performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Don Black
Additional material: Jackie Clune
Director: Matthew Watchus
Musical Director: Nick Finlow
Cast: Denise van Outen
Songs: (New or re-worked) Goodbye Mum Goodbye Girls, Haven in the Sky, Speed
Dating, Tyler King, Unexpected Song, Let’s Talk About You
Notes: Originally part of the “Song and Dance” double-bill staged at the Palace Theatre
over 20 years ago, this had now been expanded into a stand-alone piece. It had been
substantially updated (to include the internet, e-mails and mobile phones) and re-written, with the unnamed girl writing
home to Mum in Ilford (originally it was Muswell Hill – in 1982 Marti Webb was far more Jewish than Essex girl
Denise van Outen). The show was still presented as a one-act song-cycle, now running for 90 minutes. There was
much praise for Denise van Outen, and although the material itself received a mixed reaction, the show ran ten months.
During the run Marti Webb returned to her old part and, following the West End run, subsequently toured the UK with
the show, alternating with Faye Tozer and Patsy Palmer.
Photo by Rankin
Producer: Bill Kenwright & Really Useful Theatre Co
2003
JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA (1st Revival)
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London run: Lyttleton, April 29th – September 30th (In rep: 73 performances)
Transfer: Cambridge Theatre, November 10th (536 performances)
Music: Richard Thomas
Book & Lyrics: Stewart Lee & Richard Thomas
Director: Stewart Lee
Choreographer: Jenny Arnold
Musical Director: Martin Lowe
Producer: Royal National Theatre, etc.
Cast: Michael Brandon (Jerry Springer), Alison Jiear (Chantel/Eve),
David Dedella (Warm-up Man/Satan), Wills Morgan (Montel/Jesus),
Marcus Cunningham (Chucky/Adam), Valda Aviks (Zandra/Mary),
Benjamin Lake (Dwight/God), Aally Bourne (Andrea/Archangel Michael),
Andrew Bevis (Tremont/Angel Gabriel)
Songs: Bigger than Oprah Winfrey, I’ve Been Seeing Someone Else, Chick with a Dick, Diaper Man, Eat
Excrete, Him Am the Devil, Satan and Jesus Spat, Jerry Eleison, Adam and Eve & Mary
Notes: This was Nicholas Hytner’s first show as the new artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, and it
seemed to herald a new era, very different from Trevor Nunn’s series of American musicals’ “golden oldies”.
It had been rewritten and enlarged from earlier “fringe” versions at the Edinburgh Festival and the BAC, and
proved to be hugely controversial. The clash of high operatic music and big choral parodies with scatological
lyrics about whores, crack, and junkies made some critics compare it to a modern day “Beggar’s Opera”. A
nearly naked Jesus admitting to being “a bit gay”, a plump glam-rock God descending on a golden swing
singing “It Ain’t Easy Being Me”, and Jesus and Satan performing a baroque duet caused some critics to
scream blasphemy. Adam and Eve and the Holy Virgin appearing as guest artists on the Jerry Springer TV
chat-show made some critics respond enthusiastically to the satire on the cheap values of modern society. The
show won four Olivier Awards including Best
Musial. In July 2004 David Soul took over the
role of Jerry Springer. The show ran a total of
609 performances, closing in February 2005
In January 2005 BBC2 broadcast the show and
immediately received 55,000 complaints – the
largest number ever recorded for a single TV
show. Demonstrations were held outside many
BBC offices and the organisation Christian
Voice attempted to bring blasphemy charges
against the show, but the Magistrates Court
refused to issue a summons, a decision later
upheld by the High Court. Protests continued
at several of its tour venues, and a number of
theatres cancelled their plans to stage the tour
because of the controversy.
In January 2004 a planned Broadway
production was suddenly cancelled, and the
show had to wait until 2007, and a concert
version, for its American premiere in Las
Vegas. It received its first New York staging at
Carnegie Hall in 2008 with Harvey Keitel as
Jerry Springer.
Originally produced as a three-week try out of
concert performances at the BAC in February
2002.
2003
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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
(1st Revival)
London run: Landor, May 1st – June 7th
Music: Mary Rodgers
Lyrics: Marshall Barer
Book: Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer & Dean Fuller
Director: Robert McWhir
Choreographer: Chris Stewart
Musical Director: Tom Attwood
Cast: Donna Steele (Princess Winnifred),
William Maidwell (Prince Dauntless),
Dian Perry (Queen Agravain), Ian Dring (King)
Nick Dutton (Minstrel), Chris Riddy (Jester),
Tom Attwood (Wizard), Alistair Munro (Sir Harry)
Nick Dutton, Ian Dring & Chris Riddy
This was a production where the actors doubled as musicians and was very well received.
Original London run: Adelphi Theatre, September 1960
THE BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS
Photo by Caroline Lewis
London run: New Ambassadors, May 7th – July 12th
Music: J.A.Q. Lyrics & Book: Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason
Catalano, & Eric Weiner
Adapted by Andrew Goldbery
Director: Andrew Goldbery
Cast: Charles Anthony Burks , Chris Edwards,
Joe Hernandez-Kolski, Ranney, Kevin Shand(D.J.)
Notes: This was a hip-hop version of Shakespeare’s
“Comedy of Errors”, aimed at the MTV generation. A set of
twins are separated at birth and put up for adoption when their
father is arrested for drug-dealing, and their story is told in
rhyming couplets against a background of hip-hop and rap.
With a DJ and just four men – the Bomb-Itty Boys - playing
all the roles, bouncing in and out of frocks and wigs to play every part, and keeping close to the original plot with
much wit, slapstick and inventiveness, its infectious energy and entertainment value earned it excellent notices. It
had begun life as a New York University thesis and then became an off-Broadway hit and had transferred to
London from the Edinburgh Festival
DA BOYZ
London run: Theatre Royal, Stratford East, May 7th—June 14th
Music: Richard Rodgers; Lyrics: Lorenz Hart
Book: George Abbot Adapted by: D J Excalibah, M C Skolla & Ultz
Director: Ultz
Choreographer: Steady
Musical Director: Excallibah/ Skolla
Cast: Kyza (Antipholus of Syracuse), Sheryl Peaches Cadogan (Luce),
Lorna Brown (Adriana), Vanya Taylor (Luciana), Kat (Dromio of Syracuse),
Darren Hart (Dromio of Ephesus), Mystro (Antipholus of Ephesus)
Notes: This was a hip-hop re-working of “The Boys from Syracuse” which itself
was adapted from Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” and by sheer chance
opened at exactly the same time as “The Bomb-Itty of Errors”. This Stratford
East version also featured a DJ, but with a lot of hi-tech video footage and far
less genuine wit. It had a much larger cast – an all-black 30 strong team of
dancers, mostly young and all working flat out with fervent energy. It had been
work-shopped with the Theatre Royal’s youth group. It suffered considerably
from comparison with the “Bomb-Itty” version and most critics felt that the original Rodgers & Hart songs most
definitely did not lend themselves to hip-hop and rap interpretations.
2003
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HAVE A NICE LIFE
London run : Pleasance, May 29th – June 22nd
Music & Lyrics: Conor Mitchell
Director: Conor Mitchell
Cast: Chris Robinson (Neville), Richard Clements (Frank), Mary Moulds (Barbara), Rachel Murray (Amy),
Emma Little (Sheila), Karen Rush (Jean), Joe Rea (Chris)
Songs: Hate Male, I’m Not the Failure, I Feel Your Pain
Story: Six troubled souls join a Belfast group-therapy , and each in turn reveals his or her emotional crisis, belting it
out in a Broadway style number. Amy has been left by her husband; Chris believes in old fashioned romance and is
probably gay; sexy Barbara thinks she is possessed by the spirit of an African. The others are Frank, Jean and Sheila
(who turns out to be an imposter!) – all with emotional problems, which finally cause Neville, the none-too-stable
Group Leader to blow his top.
Notes: Originally developed at the Group Theatre in Belfast and staged at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival under the title
“Closure”, this clearly owed a lot in its format to “Chorus Line”. It had been a great hit at Edinburgh but did not
receive the same sort of reaction in London.
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (5th Revival)
London run: Queen’s Theatre, June 23rd – July 5th
Music & Lyrics: Richard O’Brien; Director: Christopher Malcolm;
Choreographer: Stacey Haynes; Musical Director: Ian Vince Gatt;
Producer: Christopher Malcolm Ltd, etc.
Cast: Rhona Cameron/John Stalker (Narrator), Jonathan Wilkes ((Frank-n-Furter),
Graham Tudor (Rocky ), Jon Boydon (Brad), Katie Rowley-Jones (Janet),
Neil Couperthwaite (Riff-Raff), Andrea Stevens (Magenta), Sally Hunt (Columbia),
Drew Jaymson (Eddie/Dr Scott)
Back in the West End, for a two week run celebrating the show’s 30th birthday.
See original production: Theatre Upstairs Royal Court), June 19th 1973; Transferred to
the Comedy Theatre, April 1979; 1st revival: Piccadilly Theatre, July 1990; 2nd
revival: Duke of York’s, June 1994; 3rd revival: Duke of York’s May 1995; 4th
revival: Victoria Palace, April 1999
Jonathan Wilkes
GOLDEN BOY (1st Revival)
Photo by Robert Day
London run: Greenwich Theatre, June 23rd – July 12th
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Lee Adams
Book: Clifford Odets & William Gibson,
revised by Rick Jacobs
Director: Rick Jacobs
Choreographer: Mykal Rand
Musical Director: Steven Edis
Cast: Jason Pennycooke (Joe Wellington),
Sally Ann Triplett (Lorna Moon),
Ray Shell (Eddie Satin), Nicolas Colicos (Tom Moody),
Omar F. Okai (Ronnie Bouvier),
Alana Maria (Anna Bouvier), Jade Walker, Jaye Jacobs,
Neil Johnson, Jason Rowe
Sally Ann Triplett & Jason Pennycooke
Songs: (New songs): Winners, I’m a Success
Notes: Charles Strouse created two new songs for this revival and Rick Jacobs had revised the book to emphasise the
limited success open to black Americans in the early 1960s. In the rewrite he replaced Joe’s father with Anna, a nononsense sister acting as Joe’s conscience. Although generally well received, it was felt this was a “dated” show with
nostalgic or historical interest rather than any contemporary relevance.
See Original London production: London Palladium, June 1968
2003
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PACIFIC OVERTURES (2nd Revival)
Photo by Alastair Muir
London run: Donmar, June 30th – September 6th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: James Lapine
Director: Gary Griffin
Choreographer: Barbara Robertson & Karen Bruce
Musical Director: Thomas Murray & Mark Warman
Producer: Donmar & Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Cast: Joseph Anthony Foronda (Reciter/Shogun/
Emperor), Kevin Gudhal (Kayama), Togo Igawa,
Teddy Kempner, Ian McLarnon, Jerome Pradon,
Richard Henders, Mo Zainal, Rocjard Manera,
Cornell John
With a cast of just ten performers and four musicians in a mixed American and English company,
this show had originated at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Once again it split the critics (and
the audiences) into two opposing camps. (1) This sparse, cut-down production gave the work a
clarity, strength and intellectual brilliance that had been missing from the “overblown” English
National Opera premiere in 1987, and marked it as one of Sondheim’s most fascinating and
rewarding works of art. (2) This production clearly reveals the show to be culturally awkward,
with condescending Western attitudes offering half-baked imitations of Kabuki which come over
as pier-end panto. By a slight majority, the critics hailed this as a major triumph, but there was
still a significant number strongly against the show.
See original London production: Coliseum, September 1987
First revival: Bridewell Theatre, April 1994
CALAMITY JANE (2nd Revival)
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, June 26th – September 20th
Music: Sammy Fain
Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
Book: Charles K. Freeman
Director: Ed Curtis
Choreographer: Craig Revel Horwood
Musical Director: Robert Cousins
This was a touring production which had originated at Northampton Theatre, and had been on the road for some
nine months before coming into London.
During its tour Toyah Wilcox caused some
disappointment to her fans and discontent
among some provincial managers when she
suddenly left the show to appear in “I’m a
Celebrity. . . Get Me Out of Here”. However,
the extra publicity from the television show
persuaded the powers-that-be to bring the
show into the West End. It was criticised for
its touring scenery, and inevitably Toyah
Wilcox was compared unfavourably to Doris
Day in the film version, but all in all her
performance was mostly praised, though the
show itself had a luke-warm reception.
Notes: Original London run:
BAC Main, December 1994
First revival: Sadler’s Wells, May 1996
Photo by Robert Day
Cast: Toyah Wilcox (Calamity Jane), Michael Cornish (Wild Bill Hickok),
Garry Kilby (Lieutenant Danny Martin), Emma Dodd (Adelaide Adams),
Kellie Ryan (Katie Brown), Phil Ormerod (Francis Fryer),
Duncan Smith (Henry Miller)
2003
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THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO
Photo by Talula Sheppard
London run: Bridewell, July 1st – 26th
Music: Mike Reid
Book & Lyrics: Sarah Schlesinger
Director: Carol Metcalfe
Choreographer: Sam Spencer Lane
Musical Director: Michael England
Cast: Anna Francolini (Jo Monaghan), Kieran Brown (Jordan),
Karen Evans (Sara), Phong Troung (Tien Mein Wong),
Daniel Reeves, Craig Pinder, Abigail Langham, Jason Lee Scott,
Gavin James, William Wolfe Hogan, Audrey Palmer,
Ellen O’Grady, Mark Carroll
Songs: Listen to the Rain, I See Heaven, Everything that Touched
Her
Anna Francolini
Story: Josephine Monaghan, the tearaway daughter of a Boston judge, abandons her
illegitimate baby and starts a new life in California, where she is robbed and raped. She
escapes by moving to Idaho, passing herself off as a man and living among the silver
miners of the area. There are comic and sad consequences of this pretence: Jo falls in love
with Jordan, who is pursuing Sara, and, in a “twelfth Night” type tangle, Sara then fancies
Jo. The story also involves industrial problems when desperate Chinese labourers agree to
work the mine for half-pay, and clash with an Irish group of miners who make a scapegoat
out of their leader, Tien Mein Wong
Notes: Hugely praised as the “best new musical for years”, its music ranged from beautiful
and lyrical ballads to true toe-tappers, and a rich score based on the ballads, hymns and
drinking songs from the American folk tradition. Based on Maggie Greenwald’s 1993 film
starring Suzy Amis, Bo Hopkins and Ian McKellen, this musical version was first staged in
September 2000 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater.
HIGH SOCIETY (1st Revival)
Photo by Alastaur Muir
London run: Open Air Theatre, July 24th—Sep 13th
Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter
Book: Arthur Kopit
Additional lyrics: Susan Birkenhead
Director: Ian Talbot
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Musical Director: Catherine Jayes
Producer: New Shakespeare Company
Cast: Dale Rapley (Dexter), Hal Fowler (Mike),
Tracie Bennett (Liz), Annette McLaughlin (Tracy),
Brian Green (Uncle Willie), Peter Forbes,
Brigit Forsyth, Claire Redcliffe, Walter van Dyck,
John Conroy.
Songs: (Incorporated from other Cole Porter musicals in addition to the songs from
the film): I Love Paris, Just One of Those Things, It’s All Right With Me, Let’s
Misbehave.
Notes: The original 1987 London production had a book by Richard Eyre using the
eight songs from the original film version and incorporating an additional ten songs
from other Cole Porter musicals. This was a different version with a book by Arthur
Kopit – a version which had opened on Broadway in April 1998 where it ran for just
144 performances. The Kopit version also incorporated songs from other Cole Porter
musicals – but a different selection of songs from the Richard Eyre version. Although
based on the same story with the same characters, these were two very different
versions.
Original London production: Victoria Palace, February 1987
2003
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (1st Revival)
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London run: Bridewell, August 6th – 23rd
Music & Lyrics: Rupert Holmes
Director: Rachel Moorhead
Choreographer: Edz Barrett
Musical Director: Ryan Weber
Cast: John Horwood (Chairman), Annabelle Williams (Princess Puffer) ,
Melanie Morrisey (Edwin Drood), Jonathan Rose (Stage Manager/James Throttle),
Paul Francis (John Jasper), Chloe Faine, Tessa Vale, Wojtek Godzisz, John Pyle,
Cameron Smillee, Freddy Henry, Ian Buckingham
Original London production: Savoy Theatre, May 1987
ON YOUR TOES (2nd Revival)
London run: Royal Festival Hall, August 7th – September 6th
Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics: Lorenz Hart
Book: Rodgers & Hart & George Abbott
Director: Paul Kerryson
Choreographer: Adam Cooper
Musical Director: Julian Kelly
Producer: Raymond Gubbay
Notes: With three former Royal Ballet stars – Adam Cooper, Sarah
Wildor and Irek Mukhamedov - this was a special treat, even
allowing for restrictions imposed by staging it in a concert hall. In
spite of the brilliant dancing display on offer, many critics felt
Kathryn Evans stole the show.
Original London production: Coliseum, February 1937
First revival: Palace Theatre, June 1984
Adam Cooper as Junior
MARRY ME A LITTLE (1st Revival)
London run: Landor, August 19th – September 6th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Craig Lucas & Norman Rene
Director: Bryony Growdon
Choreographer: Benjamin Yates
Musical Director: Matheson Bayley
Cast: Bryony Growdon, Benjamin Yates
Notes: Original London production: Bridewell, December 1996
Photo by Stephen Vaughan
Cast: Sarah Wildor (Vera Baronova), Adam Cooper (Junior ),
Anna-Jane Casey (Frankie), Simon Coulthard (Sidney Cohn),
Kathryn Evans (Peggy Porterfield), Russell Dixon (Sergei )
Irek Mukhamedov/Ewan Wardrop (Konstantine Morrosine),
Greg Pichery,
Gabrielle Noble,
Matthew Malthouse.
2003
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BYE BYE BIRDIE (1st Revival)
London run: Landor, September 16th – October 11th
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Lee Adams
Book: Michael Stewart
Director: Paul Tate
Choreographer: Richard Swerrun
Musical Director: Amanda Morrison
Cast: Spencer James (Conrad Birdie), Karl Clarkson (Albert Peterson),
Theresa Lawrence (Rose Alvarez), Lisa Cassidy (Kim MacAfee),
Carol Ball (Mae Peterson), Glenn MacNamara (Hugo Peabody),
Paul Tate (Mr MacAfee), Lesley Lightfoot (Mrs MacAfee), Angus Jacobs,
Mark Dugdale
Notes: 42 years after its London premiere (which featured Marty Wilde as Conrad Birdie), the show was
revived in a fringe venue.
Original London production: Her Majesty’s, June 1961
ANYTHING GOES (Transfer)
London run: Olivier Theatre, Dec 18th 2002– Mar 22nd (45 performances repertoire)
Transfer: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, October 7th 2003 (387 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse
New book: Timothy Crouse & John Weidman
Director: Trevor Nunn
Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Musical Director: James Dunsmore
It had been announced that due to illness Denis Quilley would not be repeating his performance as Elisha
Whitney when the show transferred to the West End. The show was already in previews at Drury Lane when it
was announced that Denis Quilley had died – two days before the press night. He was 75 and had died of liver
cancer. The opening night was dedicated to his memory.
Notes: See Olivier Theatre, Dec 2002
MONEY TO BURN
London run: The Venue , October 9th (3 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Daniel Abineri
Director: Daniel Anineri
Choreographer: Michele Thorn
Musical Director: Clive Dunstall
Cast: Peter Blake (Lord OJ), Sarah-Louise Young (Lady Tiggy),
Gabrielle Noble (Rosie Kane), Camilla (Angel), Perry Benson (Perkins),
Tony Kemp (Hugo), Rachel Lynes, Graham Martin, Josephine Buchan
Songs: Piggy Dead Bacon Saved, Wank Me Spank Me (Gag Me with a Hankie),
Your Morals May be Iffy (But You’re Giving me a Stiffy)
Story: Lord Oliver Justin, a gambling, lying, cheating Peer of the Realm, known to his friends as “OJ” has a
penchant for being spanked while wearing frilly knickers. He hires a hit-man to bump off his rich-bitch wife,
Tiggy, so he can inherit, but his plans are scuppered by his vengeful butler and an actress. It was billed as a
“musical-comedy-thriller”.
Notes: The show opened on Thursday 9th October (following nine days of previews) with advance bookings
being accepted up to mid January 2004. The following morning and evening the newspaper reviews appeared:
“Musical-comedy-thriller? It misses all three targets”, “jaw-droppingly dreadful”, “makes Thunderbirds
puppets sound like Chekhov”, “a stinker”, “lyrics of unrivalled awfulness”, etc. After the 6.30pm early show
on the Saturday the company was told the show was ending there and then – they didn’t even play the 9.15pm
show. This was one of the swiftest disasters for many years.
2003
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London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, October 21st
(287 Performances)
New music: Jeanine Tesori
New lyrics: Dick Scanlan
Book: Richard Morris & Dick Scanlan
Director: Michael Mayer
Choreographer: Rob Ashford
Musical Director: Mark Warman
Producer: Paul Elliott, Duncan C. Weldon, etc.
Cast: Amanda Holden (Millie), Helen Baker (Miss Dorothy),
Maureen Lipman/Marti Webb (Miss Meers),
Craig Urbani (Mr Graydon),
Amanda Holden as Millie Dillmount
Sheila Ferguson (Muzzy Von Hossmere),
Mark McGee (Jimmy Smith), Yo Santhaveesuk, Unku, Phong Truong, Rachel Izen, Adam Brooks, Matt Flint
Songs: Not for the Life of Me, Only in New York, Forget About the Boy, I’m Falling in Love with Someone, Long
as I’m Here with You, Gimme Gimmee, How the Other Half Lives, The Speed Test
Story: Millie Dillmount arrives in New York planning to work for a rich man and eventually to marry him. At the
Hotel Priscilla she befriends, Miss Dorothy, apparently an orphan with no family. They are unaware that the hotel
owner, Mrs Meers, runs a white slavery ring, and that orphaned Miss Dorothy is a perfect candidate for kidnap.
Meantime Millie gets a job with handsome Mr Graydon, who falls in love with Dorothy, and not Millie, so she teams
up with penniless Jimmy Smith and his friend, the bizarre Muzzy Von Hossmere. Dorothy is kidnapped, and, of
course, rescued; Mrs Meers gets her come-uppance; and everyone lives happily ever after when they discover
Muzzie is actually the stepmother of both Jimmy and Miss Dorothy and Jimmy is the richest bachelor in the world.
Notes: Based on the 1967 film screenplay by Richard Morris, the musical opened on Broadway in April 2002 and
ran for 904 performances, winning six Tony Awards. The Broadway production team re-created the show in
London, with Maureen Lipman and Marti Webb alternating as Mrs Meers. When Marti Webb left for the “Tell Me
on a Sunday” tour, she was replaced with Anita Dobson. During the run Amanda Holden was taken ill, and her
understudy Donna Steele took over the role to great acclaim. In spite of mostly good reviews the show failed to
catch on with the public, and the show closed in June 2004, after an eight month run.
OVER MY SHOULDER (1st revival)
London run: Wyndham’s, October 28th – November 8th (Limited 2 week run)
Music: Various
Book: Richard Stirling
Director-Choreographer: Stewart Nicholls
Musical Director: Ben Stock
Cast: Anne Rogers (Jessie Matthews), Jo Gibb (Young Jessie),
Abigail Langham (Rosie Matthews/ Sheilah Graham),
Oliver Thompsett (Fred Astaire/Harry Lytton), Gavin Lee (Sonnie Hale),
Duncan Wisbey (C.B. Cochran/ Bing Crosby/Noel Coward), Ben Stock,
Michael Cotton, Daniel Fine
Songs: Over My Shoulder, Parisian Pierrot, Got To Dance My Way To Heaven, My
Heart Stood Still, A Room with a View, Three Wishes, Everything's in Rhythm with
my Heart , It's Love Again, Gangway ,May I Have the Next Romance With You? ,
Dancing On the Ceiling, After All These Years, When You've Got a Little Springtime In Your Heart
Notes: This was a re-written and enlarged version of the show which had first been performed at the Jermyn Street
Theatre in November 2001, and had been touring at various points throughout 2002. It had played a week at the
Greenwich Theatre in May 2002 but now had the opportunity to come into the West End. Wyndham’s Theatre was
suddenly empty due to the collapse of Michael Barrymore’s come-back show and this show was available to fill the
gap. It was a strictly limited two week run. There was a certain nostalgia and theatrical history about this
performance – Anne Rogers had first come to stardom exactly fifty years earlier at this very theatre (in “The Boy
Friend”)
Original London production: Jermyn Street, November 2001
Photo by Alastair Muir
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
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TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
London run: Victoria Palace, November 7th (387 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Rod Stewart
Book: Ben Elton
Director: Ben Elton
Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Musical Director: Nick Finlow
Cast: Tim Howar (Stuart Clutterbuck), Hannah Waddingham (Satan), Dianne
Pilkington (Mary), Howard Samuels (Jorgé), Catherine Porter (Baby Jane Golden),
Keith Bookman, Jeff Edwards, Debbie Kurup, Sharon Clancy, Tim Funnell, Tim
Walton, Lucie Fentum
Songs: D’ya think I’m Sexy?, Maggie May, Sailing, Hot Legs, Stay With Me, You
Wear it Well, and 21 other Rod Stewart numbers.
Story: Stuart Clutterbuck is a hung-up garage mechanic in Detroit, so tongue-tied he can’t find the courage to
declare his love to Mary, the girl of his dreams. He would love to be more like his hero, indeed, he would sell his
soul, to be like the legendary rock vagabond, Rod Stewart. That way Mary would surely be his. At that very
moment up pops Satan, ready to make a deal: in return for Stu’s soul in Hell for all eternity, he can have a lifetime’s
use of the soul of Rod Stewart – and the love of Mary and any other girl he fancies. However Stu will go on to learn
the hard way: you can’t find true love using another man’s moves, and, Devil or no Devil, there’s only one Rod
Stewart.
Notes: This was another of Ben Elton’s catalogue shows, wrapping a story around a series of hit songs. Even
before it opened it was being referred to as “We Will Rod You”. Just like “We Will Rock You”, the critics hated this
show, describing it as written on the back of an envelope while waiting for the kettle to boil. With top-price tickets
at £55, it was rapidly known as “We Will Rob You”. However, perhaps aware of how wrong they were over the
Freddie Mercury tribute, this time most critics were able to praise the music, the choreography and the songs, whilst
hating the thin story, smutty humour, gratuitous gay banter and crude sexual stereotyping. The show ran for eleven
months.
THE WILD PARTY
London run: Union SE1, December 3rd – 20th
Music: Michael John LaChiusa & George C. Wolfe
Director: Sasha Regan & Ben de Wynter
Musical Director: Conor Mitchell
Cast: Ben Nathan (Burrs),
Charlotte Marisa-Moore (Queenie), Janet Kumah (Kate),
Jamie Kenna (Black), Jamie Anderson (Jackie),
Susan Travers (Dolores), Simon Masterton (Oscar),
Conor Mitchell (Phil), Sioned Jones (Madeleine),
Caroline Hartley (Sally), Terence Anderson (Eddie),
Phillipa Burt (Mae), Kirs Lauren (Nadine)
Songs: Queenie was a Blonde, Dry, Welcome to my Party, Breezin’ Through, Tabu/Taking Care of the Ladies,
Wouldn’t It Be Nice? Black Is a People like Us, After Midnight Dies, Golden Boy, The Lights of Broadway
Story: Burrs, a blackface comedian, and Queenie, a disappointed chorus girl, are throwing a party, even though they
are not in party mood following yet another massive quarrel. Their guests are gossipy back-stabbing theatricals
including: Queenie’s best friend, Kate and her younger lover Black; the “ambisextrous” rich-kid Jackie; has-been
Dolores; Oscar and Phil, a dodgy gay double-act; lesbian stripper Madeleine and her druggy girlfriend, Sally;
black prize-fighter Eddie and his white wife, Mae; and Nadine, Mae’s nymphomaniac sister. Throw this lot together
in an orgy of champagne and bathtub gin and the result is explosive, hilarious and decadent.
Notes: The show is presented as a series of variety turns, complete with signs announcing the next scene propped on
an easel at the side of the stage. It is based on Joseph Moncure March’s satirical poem set in 1920s New York. It
opened on Broadway in April 2000 with a cast including Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, and Eartha Kitt returning to
the New York stage after more than 20 years. However, it lasted just 68 performances. (By co-incidence an offBroadway production based on the same material opened at the same time – also called “The Wild Party”, this time
with music by Andrew Lippa. It was a smaller-scale, more tightly focused version of the poem.)
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KISMET (2nd Revival)
Cast: Simon Masterton-Smith (Hajj),
Renee Satewski (Marsinah), Angela Caesar (Lalume),
Oliver Thomsett (Caliph), Hemi Yeroham (Princess),
Alex Banks (Omar Khayyam),
Trevor A. Toussaint (Wazir), Denise Christie,
Alex Constantine, David Hedges, Josian Hughes,
Sarah Mae
Photo by Matthew Frost
London run: Arcola, December 4th – January 4th 2004
Music: Alexander Borodin
Lyrics: Roger Wright & George Forrest
Book: Charles Lederer & Luther Davis
Director: Tiffany Watt-Smith
Choreographer: Carolene Hinds
Musical Director: Allyson Devenish
Simon Masterton & Angela Caesar
This fringe production was accompanied by a single piano, though in the words of one critic: “the only thing to
recommend this feeble, truncated production is the chance to hear once more songs like “Baubles Bangles and
Beads”, “And This is My Beloved” and “Stranger in Paradise”, albeit sung and performed by a cast struggling
in an am-dram quicksand of rough acting, variable vocal styles and clumsy choreography.”
Notes: See Original London Production: Stoll Theatre, April 1955
First revival: Shaftesbury Theatre, March 1978
KAT AND THE KINGS (1st Revival)
London run: Tricycle, December 10th – February 8th 2004
Music & Lyrics: David Kramer & Taliep Petersen
Director: David Kramer
Choreographer: Loukmaan Adams & Jody Abrahams
Musical Director: Taliep Petersen
Cast: Danny Butler (Kat Diamond), Emraan Adams Young Kat Diamond), Loukmaan Adams (Bingo),
Munthir Dullisear (Ballie), Abigail Petersen (Lucy Dixon), Elton Landrew (Magoo)
Returning to its original production home after six years, following the West End, Broadway, several European
theatres and two Olivier Awards – nothing seemed to have lessened its energy and spirit.
Original London run: Tricycle October 1997 (Trans. Vaudeville March 1998)
ME, MYSELF AND I
London run: Orange Tree, December 19th – February 7th
Music : Paul Todd
Book & Lyrics: Alan Ayckbourn
Director: Kim Grant
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield
Musical Director: Paul Havard
Cast: Jacqueline Charlesworth (Me), Jessica Martin (Myself), Stephanie Putson (I),
Nigel Richards (Rodney Beech/Bill Yately)
Notes: This rather strange musical – piano only – is about Mary Yately, who
appears on stage in triplicate. At first she is being interviewed for a local paper
having won the Mother of the Year Award, and two other women seem to be sitting
around making contradictory comments; gradually we discover this is all a fantasy.
Mary is trying to hold together a failing marriage, and the two other women are
different aspects of Mary herself. More confusingly, the reporter and Mary’s husband are played by the same
actor. The show originated as a trio of lunchtime shows and had been staged at the Orange Tree by Kim
Grant in 1982 and again in 1983. In 1985 it was given a few performances in the foyer of the National Theatre.
The National Theatre version, now adapted into two acts of some 40 minutes each, was given its revised
premiere once again at the Orange Tree, some 20 odd years after its first outing.
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RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET (3rd Revival)
London run: Upstairs at the Gatehouse, December 20th – February 1st 2004
Music: Various
Book: Bob Carlton
Director: John Plews
Choreographer: Racky Plews
Musical Director: Oliver Jackson
Cast: Kate Buxton (Miranda),
Brendan Lovett (Dr Prospero),
Michael Instone (Captain Tempest),
Cathy McMananam, Rebecca Oliver,
Racky Plews, Alan Howell,
Stephen Rathman, Nicolas Sagar,
Gareth Dylan Smith
The Gatehouse was by now developing a
tradition in Christmas musicals, and this was
warmly received. The pre-recorded
newsreader/announcer voice was provided by
Angela Rippon.
Notes: Original London production: Cambridge Theatre, September 1989
First revival: Shaftesbury Theatre, December 1995; Second revival: Savoy Theatre, December 2001
SWEENEY TODD (5th Revival)
London run: Royal Opera House, December 15th – January 14th 2004 (In repertoire)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Hugh Wheeler
Director: Neil Armfield
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Musical Director: Paul Gemignani
Producer: Royal Opera House & Lyric Opera Chicago
Photo by Alastair Muir
Cast: Thomas Allen (Sweeney Todd), Felicity Palmer (Mrs Lovett),
William Dazely (Anthony), Jonathan Veira (Judge Turpin), Rebecca Evans (Joanna),
Doug Jones (Tobias), Bonaventura Bottone (Pirelli),
Rosalind Plowright (Beggar Woman), Robert Tear (Beadle)
This production originated at the Lyric Opera House Chicago where its performance was accepted without
question. When it came to Covent Garden it was subject to much discussion. Was it an “opera” or a “musical”?
Did it really belong in the Opera House? Did it work when performed by proper opera singers rather than musical
theatre actors? Did it really need the radio microphones that were used? And, since it was sung in English, why
did the production use sur-titles? The critics mused
and differed on all these questions, but were almost
unanimous in agreeing that the score, with a 50 piece
orchestra, conducted by the legendary Paul
Gemignani, would probably never be better
performed. The physical production was a bit sparse,
and the opera chorus occasionally looked
uncomfortable when required to “act” – but, all in all,
this was regarded as a feather in the cap of the Royal
Opera (even if not quite as glorious a feather as the
recent Opera North version at Sadler’s Wells. )
Notes: See Original London production:
Drury Lane Theatre, July 1980
1st revival: Half Moon Theatre, May 1985
2nd revival: Cottesloe June 1993/Lyttleton Dec 1993
3rd revival: Holland Park , June 1996
4th revival: Sadler’s Wells, June 2002
Felicity Palmer & Thomas Allen
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CALL ME MERMAN
Cast: Angela Richards (Ethel Merman),
Susannah Fellowes (Kitty), Mark White
(Arty), Michael Roberts, Fiz Shapur
Songs: There’s No Business Like Show
Business, Everything’s Coming up Roses, I
Got Rhythm, I Get a Kick Out of You, You’re
the Top, Anything Goes, Blow Gabriel Blow
Angela Richards as Ethel Merman
Notes: The life-story of Ethel Merman,
devised around a fictitious TV biography
being made in Las Vegas. The rehearsal process allows characters to say things like “Shall we include the bit
about. . .?” and then decide against it. In this way it enables the show to refer briefly to Merman’s disastrous
series of ex-husbands and to skim through an incredible career, ranging from early vaudeville to the great days
of Broadway musicals. In real life it seems Merman could be an A-List bitch and some of this creeps through
the story, though much is sanitised. With Kitty playing the young Merman, Arty playing a fellow hoofer, and
with some 33 of the songs forever associated with the incredible Merman, everything really hung on the central
performance of Angela Richards, and, for most of the critics, she came through with shining colours.
Photo by Jim Lee
London run: King’s Head, Dec 30th – Feb 1st
Music: Various
Book: John Kane
Director: David Kernan
Choreographer: Lindsay Dolan
Musical Director: Fiz Shapur