London Musicals - Over The Footlights

1992
19
SOPHISTICATED LADIES
London run: The Globe, January 6th (24 Performances)
Music: Duke Ellington
Lyrics: Various
Book & Concept: Donald McKayle
Director: Roger Haines
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Musical Director: Charles Miller
Cast: Jacquie Boatswain, Sergio Covino, Jacqueline Dankworth, Janie Dee, Jacqui
Dubois, Martin Eyre, Dollie Henry, Horace Oliver, Neil Patterson, Jon Peterson,
Rebecca Thornhill, Richie Pitts
Songs: Mood Indigo, Take the A Train, I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good, In a
Sentimental Mood, It Don’t Mean a Thing
Notes: A sung-through collection of 35 Duke Ellington numbers, with a 12 piece band
onstage and a dozen performers singing and dancing their hearts out. This had opened in New York in 1981
and ran for an incredible 767 performances. The London show simply failed to catch on, and closed within
three weeks.
SPREAD A LITTLE HAPPINESS
London run: King’s Head, January 14th ( 40 Performances)
Revived at Whitehall Theatre, 29 June (24 Performances)
Music: Vivian Ellis
Lyrics: Various
Director: Dan Crawford
Choreographer: David Toguri / Irving Davies (Whitehall)
Musical Director: Kevin Amos/ Gary Hind (Whitehall)
Cast: (King’s Head) Thelma Ruby, Frank Thornton, Maurice Clarke, Ray C. Davis, Rachel Robertson,
Fiona Sinnott, Sheridan Morley
(Whitehall) Thelma Ruby, Simon Shepherd, Jimmy Thompson, Clare Burt, Maurice Clark, Rachel Robertson,
Andrew Newey, Sheridan Morley (alternating with Dillie Keane)
A Nanny’s Lament, Ma Belle Marguerite, Hengist and Horsa,
Notes: A celebration of the still living (87 year old) Vivian Ellis, illustrating the contribution he made to preWar revue, musical comedy and operetta. For some it was a “delightful nostalgic evening recalling a time
when romance was compatible with wit, irony and
fun.” For others, it recalled
the “reactionary, snobbish
and sexually repressed and
juvenile theatre when
censorship ensured our stage
was as wholesome as a
Monday wash and rather less
interesting”.
The revived
production at the Whitehall
saw several cast and other
changes because of the four
month gap between
productions.
Rachel Robertson, Frank Thornton & Fiona Sinnott
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Songs: I’m on a See Saw, Piccadilly,
Uproarious Devon
1992
20
GOOD ROCKIN’ TONITE
London run: Strand, January 28th – 14th March
Transferred to the Playhouse, 17th March
Transferred to Prince of Wales, July 21st
(Total 327 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Various
Director: Jack Good/ Ian Kellgren
Choreographer: Henry Metcalfe
Musical Director: Keith Strachan
Producer: Bill Kenwright
Cast: Philip Baird (Jack Good), Anna Juliana Claire (Mrs Good),
Anne Smith (Connie Francis), David Howarth (Tommy Steele/Larry Parnes), Michael Dimitri (Gene Vincent),
Tim Whitnall (Cliff Richard), Gavin Stanley (Billy Fury), Marcus D’Cruze (Ritchie Valens),
James Compton (BBC Head)
Story: Loosely based on the early life of Jack Good – the influential producer of TV’s earliest pop shows, “Oh
Boy!” and “Six-Five Special” – this was an excuse to celebrate a large number of pop songs from the 50s and
early 60s. Such plot as there was, involved Jack Good stumbling through an obsessive relationship with
music, a fiery one with his wife, and very theatrical quarrels with the Head of BBC Light Entertainment. The
uncannily accurate impersonations of the pop stars of the age were the highlights of the show. Following its
London run it made an extensive UK Tour.
THE COTTON CLUB
London run: Aldwych Theatre, January 29th (173 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Various
Book: Douglas Barron
Director-Choreographer: Billy Wilson
Musical Director: Joseph Morley
Producer: Stardust Productions
Cast: Joanne Campbell (Millie Gibson), Debby Bishop (Dinah Andrews),
Richard Lloyd King (Jim Carlton), Britt Wilson (Andy Chambers),
Marcel Peneux (Bojangles Robinson), Marilyn J. Johnson
Songs: I Got it Bad, Don’t Mean a Thing, Stormy Weather, Bye Bye Blackbird,
Minnie the Moocher, The Joint is Jumpin’, I’m Just Wild About Harry
Story: Yet another compilation show, this time with an ostensible plot to link
the numbers. Millie Gibson’s career as a singing star at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club is coming to an end
because of her drug addiction, but her
niece, Dinah Andrews, is able to step in
at the last moment and receive acclaim
as a potential star. Fellow performer,
Jim Carlton, hopes to get a dried-out
Millie to Paris to kick-start a new
career, while bandleader Andy
Chambers presides overall in a Cab
Calloway style.
Notes: Once again this was yet another
compilation show joining several
similar productions in the West End at
the time. With the thinnest of plots, it
was more or less an excuse to perform
the great songs and dances from the era.
It lasted five months.
1992
21
FROM A JACK TO A KING
London run: Boulevard, February 13th – May 30th
Transferred to Ambassadors Theatre, July 20th (Total 202
performances)
Music & Lyrics: Various
Book: Bob Carlton
Director: Matthew Devitt
Musical Director: Matthew Devitt/Kate Edgar
Cast: Matthew Devitt (Eric Glamis),
Robert Dallas (Terry King), Alison Harding (Queenie),
Christian Roberts (Duke Box), John Ashby (Len Knox),
Annie Miles (Laura Ross), Brierley Arnell (Evilynne Gore)
Songs: Shakin’ All Over, You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’,
Leader of the Pack, Stepping Stone, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’
On
Story: This is a spoof version of
“Macbeth”, intended as a follow-up
Matthew Devitt
to the re-written “Tempest” which
became “Return to the Forbidden Planet”. Eric Glamis is a stand-in drummer for
the Coronets, a rock band run by Duke Box. Eric is jealous of the success of
Elvis-style lead singer, Terry King and so Eric’s girlfriend, Queenie, encourages
Eric to tinker with Terry’s motor-bike (“Is this a spanner I see before me”) and
cause a fatal accident. Eric takes over as lead singer (changing his name to Thane
Cawdor) and experiences the glory only to be haunted by guilt.
Notes: The show contained large extracts of speeches and scenes from “Macbeth”
and other Shakespeare plays. It probably suffered by being yet another compilation
musical at a time when the West End was filled with similar shows.
London run: King’s Head, March 2nd
(24 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Anthony Newley
Book: Anthony Newley &
Arnold Mittleman
Additional lyrics: Various
Director: Anthony Newley
Musical Director: Wendy Gadian
Cast: Anthony Newly (Father),
Diane Langton (Mother),
Natalie Wright (Daughter),
Leonard Kirby/Kristopher Milnes (Son)
Songs: What do Women Want?, If Only
Diane Langton, Anthony Newley & Natalie Wright
You Were Here, Oh What a Son of a
Bitch I Am, Learning to Love You Again, What Did You Do in the Great War Daddy?
Story: A sequence of 26 ballads with no dialogue at all - telling the story of a man, woman and their two
children. The man is an entertainer who once played top venues but is now a fading star, has divorced his wife,
but realises what is wrong: he is a father who has lost his children, and a husband who has lost his lover and
best friend. Meantime his children make a direct appeal to God to bring their parents back together again.
Notes: Lambasted by the critics for being schmaltzy, dripping with self-pity and a small-scale version of
Newley’s earlier shows, the show was a quick flop.
Photo by Adam Lawrence
ONCE UPON A SONG
1992
22
London run: Piccadilly Theatre, March 17th (127 Performances)
Music: Hereward Kaye & Robert Longden
Book & Lyrics: Robert Longden
Director: Robert Longden
Choreographer: Anthony Lapsey
Musical Director: Martin Koch
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Tony Monopoly (Dorothy Hyman/Ahab),
Hope Augustus (Lolita/Esta/Tashtego),
Jayne Collins (Trixie/Starbuck), Jackie Crawford (Cora/Pip/Chilean),
Theresa Kartell, Leigh MacDonald, Joanne Redman, Dawn Spence,
Earl Tobias, Mark White, Emma Priest, John Tobias
Songs: Forbidden Seas, Primitive, Love Will
Always, Mr Starbuck, Building America, Save the Whales.
Story: The sixth-form girls at a St Trinian’s type school decide to create a musical
version of Herman Melville’s classic “Moby Dick”, and to stage it in the school’s
swimming pool. They persuade the headmistress (played in drag by cabaret artist Tony
Monopoly) to undertake the role of Captain Ahab, whilst the girls themselves appear as
scantily-clad sailors (with old pantomime jokes like “three years at sea and no sign of
Dick”). Some of the girls were played by young men in drag! – and the final curtain-call
from a chorus line of security guards saw them all stripping to their g-strings accompanied
by a placard describing them as “The Chipolatas” as opposed to the Chippendales.
Notes: The show generally met with critical howls of derision. Cameron Mackintosh
kept the show running for 15 weeks in the hope of building up some kind of cult
following – but it finally succumbed to the inevitable. Over the years it would acquire a
“legendary flop” status.
SOME LIKE IT HOT
London run: Prince Edward Theatre, March 19th (108 Performances)
Music: Jule Styne
Lyrics: Bob Merrill
Book: Peter Stone
Director: Tommy Steele
Choreographer: Norman Maen
Musical Director: Barrie Bignold
Producer: Mark Furness
Cast: Tommy Steele (Joe), Billy Boyle (Jerry), Mandy Perryment (Sugar),
Royce Mills (Osgood), Graham Hoadly, Stephen Mear, Kim Harwood,
Songs: Sun On My Face, Sugar, What Do You Give a Man Who’s Had
Everything?, When You Meet a Man in Chicago, It’s Always Love
Story: Set in 1931, Joe and Jerry are two dance-band musicians who witness the Valentine’s Day massacre in
Chicago. They manage to escape from Spats Palazzo’s thugs by disguising themselves as members of an allgirls orchestra – and end up in Miami for a series of romantic complications when the boys have to pretend to
be girls. One falls in love with Sugar (the part immortalised on film by Marilyn Monroe) and one is amorously
pursued by the elderly Osgood (equally immortalised by Joe E Brown).
Notes: Based on the screenplay by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, the original musical version was entitled
“Sugar”. In spite of a number of pre-production problems, the show managed to run for 505 performances in
New York. This London version originated at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley and was heavily revised, with
the emphasis switched from the character of Sugar to the show’s star and director, Tommy Steele. It was also
given a new title – the same as the famous film. It was damned by the critics – inevitably known as “Some
Like it Luke Warm”. Tommy Steele was forced to withdraw from the cast following an accident, and as a
result, the show soon closed, apparently having lost over £2 million.
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
MOBY DICK
1992
23
THE BLUE ANGEL
Cast: Kelly Hunter (Lola), Philip Madoc (Professor Raat), Judith Bruce,
Sidney Livingstone, Peter-Hugo Daly, Cheryl Ferguson, Sarah Flind,
Songs: Ich bin die fesche Lola, Nimm’ dich in Acht vor Blonden, Jonny,
Falling in Love Again
Story: In 1920s Hamburg, Professor Raat, a tyrannical and repressed elderly
school-teacher, pursues a group of errant pupils into a cheap waterfront
Kelly Hunter
cabaret where he becomes hopelessly infatuated and obsessed with Lola, the
seductive, skimpily clad resident chanteuse. Eventually she marries him for his money and then leaves him when
the money has gone. At the same time, he has been rejected by polite society because of Lola’s profession, and
takes his revenge by cultivating a nice line in blackmail. However, his enemies get the better of him, and he ends
up being forced to play the clown (literally) for their benefit.
Notes: Based on Josef von Sternberg’s famous film with Marlene Dietrich, this began at the RSC’s studio at
Stratford-upon-Avon in 1991 and was then brought to London. By coincidence Marlene Dietrich herself had died
just prior to the opening night. Despite some excellent central performances, it was generally felt that this “studio”
show did not really work now that it had transferred to a full-size theatre.
WHAT ABOUT LUV? (1st Revival)
London run: Holland Park, June 16th (5 performances - Limited run)
Music: Howard Marren
Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead
Book: Jeffrey Sweet
Director: Kenn Oldfield
Choreographer: Tim Flavin
Musical Director: Charles Miller
Producer: Fenton Gray
Cast: Rosemary Ashe (Ellen), Tim Flavin (Milt), David Janson (Harold)
This limited run in the open-air theatre in Holland Park earned rave notices for Rosemary Ashe.
Notes: Original London production: Lyric Hammersmith, April 1987
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (2nd Revival)
London run: Sadler’s Wells, June 22nd (88 Performances)
Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse
Director: Wendy Toye
Musical Director: Nick Davies
Cast: Liz Robertson (Maria),
Christopher Cazenove (Captain von Trapp),
Linda Hibberd (Mother Abbess),
Jan Waters (Elsa),
Robin Nedwell (Max Detweiler),
Lottie Mayor (Liesl), George Alprey (Rolf).
Photo by Robert Workman
Photo by Clive Barda
London run: Globe Theatre, May 20th (45 Performances)
Original songs: Friedrich Holländer & Mischa Spoliansky
Book: Pam Gems
Additional music: Steven Edis
Director: Trevor Nunn
Choreographer: David Toguri
Musical Director: Steven Edis
This production came to London following a
long nationwide tour.
Notes: See Original London production, 1961
First London revival 1981
Christopher Cazenove & Liz Robertson
1992
24
GRAND HOTEL
Cast: Brent Barrett (Baron von Gaigern),
Liliane Montevecchi (Ballerina Grushinskaya),
Debbie de Coudreaux (Raffaela) , K.C.Wilson (Director Preysing),
Barry James (Otto the accountant), Lynnette Perry (the Typist),
Kieran McIlroy (Erik Front Desk), Barry Foster, Eric Flynn,
Adam Caine, Nigel Francis.
Songs: The Grand Parade, As It Should Be, Some Have Some
Have Not, Who Couldn’t Dance With You, The Boston Merger,
Love Can’t Happen, I Waltz Alone, Roses at the Station
Story: A series of stories about the staff and guests at the Grand
Hotel: the penniless Baron turned cat
burglar who fell in love with the
Brent Barrett & Lynette Perry
ageing ballerina instead of stealing
her jewels as he planned; Raffaela, the devoted lesbian secretary who loves the
ballerina; the industrial magnate who wrestles with his conscience before
surrendering to the big lie; the young out of work typist who dreams of being a
Hollywood star; the accountant who wants to live before his incurable illness
carries him off – all these separate tales were woven together in an over-riding
choreographic pattern.
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
London run: Dominion, July 6th (136 Performances)
Songs: Robert Wright & George Forrest
Additional music & lyrics: Maury Yeston
Book: Luther Davis
Director-Choreographer: Tommy Tune
Musical Director: Kevin Amos
Notes: Based on the 1928 novel by Vicki Baum and originally produced in New
York on Nov 12th 1989 where it ran for 1.018 performances. The show was given
without an interval, and since it lasted just over two hours this was the source of
much comment. Although the production was greatly praised, for its performers,
staging and direction, it only managed to run for four months.
LADY BE GOOD (2nd Revival)
London run: Open Air Regent’s Park, July 29th – September 9th
Music : George Gershwin
Lyrics: Ira Gershwin
Book: Guy Bolton & Fred Thompson
Director: Ian Talbot
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield
Musical Director: Catherine Jayes
Notes: The original London production
was at the Empire in April 1926.
First London revival:
Saville Theatre, July 1968
Photo by Alastair Muir
Cast: Simon Green (Dick Trevor),
Joanna Riding (Suzie Trevor) ,
Jane Maud (Josephine Vanderwater)
Bernard Cribbins (J. Watterson Watkins),
Antony Howes (Jeff),
Zubin Varla (Jack Robinson),
Gavin Muir (Bertie Bassett)
Jane Maud & the Lady Be Good Company
1992
25
VALENTINE’S DAY
London run: Globe Theatre, September 17th (28 Performances)
Music: Denis King
Lyrics: Benny Green
Book: Benny Green & David Willilam
Director-Choreographer: Gillian Lynne
Musical Director: Ian Smith
Producer: Brian Brolly
Cast: Elizabeth Counsell (Mrs Clandon), John Turner (Crampton Clandon),
Teresa Banham (Gloria), Edward Petherbridge (Walter),
Alexander Hanson (Valentine), Edward de Souza, Amanda Dainty,
Eileen Battye, Nicky Adams
Songs: He is Nothing to Me, Life is a Game
Story: Mrs Clandon is an emancipated “new woman”, who, living abroad, has brought up her three children in
ignorance of the identity of their father for no more reason than “he is a brute”. Back in England and on
holiday in Torquay the elder daughter, Gloria, falls in love with Valentine, an impecunious dentist from a
totally different social class. And, to make matters worse, they all suddenly bump into the long-ignored Mr
Clandon in Torquay. These family crises are accompanied and served by Walter the Waiter, hilariously
stealing every scene.
Notes: Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play “You Never Can Tell”, this had originated at the Minerva Studio
in Chichester. It did not transfer comfortably to the larger Globe Theatre, and received very mixed reviews. It
came off very quickly.
London run: Queens Theatre, October 15th
(108 Performances)
Music: Noel Gay
Lyrics: Various
Book: Abi Grant
Director: David Gilmore
Choreographer: Anthony van Laast
Musical Director: Robert Scott
Producer: Alex Armitage
Cast: Tony Slattery (Sammy Shaw),
Peter Rutherford (Heathcliffe Bultitude),
Kathryn Evans (Olive), Jeff Shankley (Gary Strong),
James Buller (Jeeps), Amy Chapman, Wilfred Davies,
Tamzin Outhwaite, Martin Eyre, Linda Mae Brewer
Songs: Run Rabbit Run, Let the People Sing, Who’s Been Polishing the Sun, Ali Baba’s Camel, Hey Little
Hen, There’s Something About a Soldier, I Took My Harp to a Party
Story: Sammy Shaw, star of the wartime radio show “Variety Bandwagon”, is
anxious to persuade the Americans to come into the war. His show is broadcasting
its first live link-up with the States but everything goes wrong thanks to air-raids –
(“Bloody Nazis: first Poland, then France, now the ventriloquists”). Then the new
producer, Heathcliffe Bultitude, starts censoring the script, and Sammy’s sweetvoiced sweetheart, Olive, seems to be enraptured by the visiting Hollywood star,
Gary Strong. Jeeps, the sound effects man, seems to think banging coconut shells
together is an appropriate introduction to Eddie Cantor. Sammy’s sidekick, Wilf, a
good-hearted spiv, adds to the general chaos as the bombs begin to fall.
Notes: Following a try-out at Birmingham Rep, this show came into London on the
skirts of the hugely successful “Me and My Girl”. With its total emphasis on
nostalgia the older critics loved it, while the younger ones were mystified. It ran for
three months.
Photo by Mike Martin
RADIO TIMES
1992
26
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
Cast: Brent Carver (Molina), Anthony Crivello (Valentin),
Chita Rivera (Aurora), Herndon Lackey (Warden),
Philip Hernandez (Esteban), Michael McCormick (Marcos)
Songs: Her Name is Aurora, Over the Wall, Where You Are,
Morphine Tango, You Could Never Shame Me, Gimme Love, Mama
It’s Me, The Day After That, Anything for Him.
Story: The grim story of life in a prison cell in a South American
police state tells of the developing relationship between Molina, a gay
window dresser jailed on a morals charge, and his straight cellmate,
Valentin, jailed for his Marxist revolutionary
activities. In order to cope with the
Chita Rivera & Brent Carver
brutality of prison life Molina dreams of
Aurora, the Spider Woman, a B-movie star, and recounts the details of her films to
Valentin. Gradually the two men are drawn together and in their loneliness become
lovers, though finally Molina, like the spider woman herself, ends up betraying Valentin.
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, October 20
(390 Performances)
Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb
Book: Terrence McNally
Director: Harold Prince
Choreographer: Vincent Peterson (re-created by Rob Marshall)
Musical Director: Gareth Valentine
Notes: Based on the novel and play by Manuel Puig, and following workshop productions
in New York and a try-out in Toronto, the musical had its premiere in the West End in a
much-praised production by Hal Prince. In spite of winning the Evening Standard Best
Musical Award, it lasted just nine months in London. It was then re-mounted on
Broadway in May 1993 with the same principal cast, and ran for 906 performances,
winning six Tony Awards and many other prizes.
WHICH WITCH
Credit Unknown
London run: Piccadilly Theatre, October 22nd – Dec 19th
Benedicte Adrian as Maria Vittoria
1992
27
WHICH WITCH
London run: Piccadilly Theatre, October 22nd – Dec 19th
Music: Benedicte Adrian & Ingrid Bjornov
Lyrics: Kit Hesketh-Harvey
Book: Piers Haggard
Director: Piers Haggard
Choreographer: William Tuckett
Musical Director: Ingrid Bjornov
Producer: Notabene Productions
Cast: Benedicte Adrian (Maria Vittoria), Graham Bickley (Bishop Daniel), Stig Rossen (Anton Fugger),
Vivien Parry (Anna Regina), Sara Weymouth, Leo Andrew, Gay Soper, Jahn Teigen, Issy van Randwyck,
Paul Gyngell, Derek Cullen, Michael McLean
Songs: The Blessing, Bad Omens, Maria’s Curse, Black Mass, The Exorcism, 2,665,866,746,664 Little Devils.
Story: Based on true 16th century history, Maria Vittoria rejects an arranged marriage to the German banker,
Anton Fugger, and announces she is in love with the Catholic Bishop Daniel. However, the Bishop’s sister,
Anna Regina, spreads the word that Maria is a witch, and she is accordingly burnt at the stake.
Notes: Originally a concert piece performed in Bergen in 1987, this became a best-selling album in
Scandinavia and was turned into a full-scale stage musical. However, the production was jaw-droppingly
awful. The best remembered scene - the Act One finale - saw a stage full of flying devils, with huge
flapping genitals, having graphic sex with many three-breasted witches.
Despite package tours from
Scandinavia and a much-publicised visit from King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, the show lasted just
ten weeks. It received the most damning series of critical reviews anyone could remember. Some critics
suggested it was Norway’s revenge for always coming bottom in the Eurovision Song Contest, especially since
Jahn Teigen (legendary receiver of “nul point” in 1978 ) appeared as the Executioner with a song called “Who
do you want to burn?”. According to Sheridan Morley in the “Herald Tribune”: “Years from now, stunned
members of the first-night audience will be holding reunions to try to recall whether ‘Which Witch’ was really
as appalling as it first appeared. It was, it was.”
ASSASSINS
London run: Donmar Warehouse,
October 29th (84 Performances)
Louise Gold as Sara-Jane Moore
& Cathryn Bradshaw as
Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme
Photo by Michel Le Poer Trench
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: John Weidman
Director: Sam Mendes
Musical Director:
Jeremy Sams/Mark Dorrell
1992
28
ASSASSINS
London run: Donmar Warehouse, October 29th (84 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: John Weidman
Director: Sam Mendes
Musical Director: Jeremy Sams/Mark Dorrell
Cast: Paul Bentley (Proprietor), Jack Ellis (Leon Czolgosz),
Michael Cantwell (John Hinckley), Henry Goodman (Charles Guiteau),
Paul Harrhy (Giuseppe Zangara), Ciaran Hinds (Samuel Byck),
Cathryn Bradshaw (Squeaky Fromme), Louise Gold (Sara Jane Moore),
David Firth (John Wilkes Booth), Sue Kelvin (Emma Goldman),
Anthony Barclay (Balladeer), Gareth Snook (Lee Harvey Oswald)
Songs: Everybody’s Got the Right, Ballad of Booth, Ballad of Czolgosz, Ballad of
Guiteau, How I Saved Roosevelt, Unworthy of your Love, Gun Song, Another National Anthem, Something
Just Broke.
Story: The story of nine of the 13 people who have tried – four of them successfully – to assassinate the
President of the United States. In a cabaret-style show set in a fairground shooting gallery, the various
assassins emerge from their booths to play out their individual dramas, and explain what drove them to their
desperate acts. Covering a period from the beginning of the 20th Century, the music in the show amounted to a
potted history of American popular music with its collection of marches, waltzes, folk songs, and vaudeville
numbers.
Notes: The original workshop production took place off-Broadway in January 1991 to a limited sold-out run,
greeted variously as “a lethally brilliant musical” and “an aimless project”, but generally regarded as a bit of a
flop. The London version was only slightly re-written and included an extra song – “Something Just Broke”.
It, too, was a total sell out, but this time received almost nothing but praise, and won the Critics Circle London
Drama Award as the Best Musical.
ELEGIES FOR ANGELS PUNKS AND
RAGING QUEENS
London run: King’s Head, November 16 – December 24
Transfer to the Drill Hall, January 19 – February 17 1993.
Music: Janet Hood
Book & Lyrics: Bill Russell
Director: Bill Russell
Musical Director: Janet Hood
Producer: Giacomo Capizzano
Cast: A cast of 33 performers (including a very early appearance of
the unknown Lily Savage)
Songs: My Brother Lived in San Francisco, Learning to Let Go,
Holding On To You
Story: This was a series of life stories of some 33 individuals who died from AIDS .The actors step forward
one by one and talk in simple rhyming couplets about the disease that killed them. The youth from North
Dakota who lived it up too wildly in Greenwich village; the star-struck son of fundamentalist parents who
succumbed to AIDS after landing his first part in a Broadway show; the middle-aged man who decides death is
“better than slowly growing old”; the clergyman who never came out of the closet; the grandma with the illfated blood transfusion; the ordinary Joe who visited a prostitute; the nurse who pricked herself with a needle,
the black orphan kid born with the disease; and the monster who seduces young men in order to infect them.
Notes: Described as a theatrical representation of America’s Aids Memorial Quilt, one critics called it “. .
.well-meaning, terminally fluffy, theatrically bereft and incurably American in its sentimentality”. The general
reaction was respectful of its intent but scornful of the method. It transferred to the Drill Hall with some cast
changes. (In the following year it would return to the West End in a slightly re-written version with a smaller
cast)
1992
29
RAGS
London run: Kenneth More Theatre, November 17th (Limited run)
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz
Book: Joseph Stein
Director: Vivyan Ellacott
Choreographer: Loraine Porter
Musical Director: Edna Graham
Cast: Laura Nayman (Rebecca), Adam Perl/Simon Parsons (David),
Jason Belne (Nathan Hershkowitz), Philip Halpin (Saul),
Joann Kenny (Bella Cohen), James Norris (Avram), Jeremy Lynch (Ben Levitowitz),
Simon Curtis, Sally Woodfield
Songs: I Remember, Greenhorns, Brand New World, Children of the Wind, Blame it on the Summer Night,
The Sound of Love, Bread and Freedom, Dancing with the Fools
Notes: “Rags” opened on Broadway on August 21st 1986 and closed three nights and one matinee later – by
any reckoning a major flop. Between the matinee and evening on the last day the cast organised a protest
march down Broadway calling for the show to be saved. Seven months after it closed most of the cast were reassembled to make a recording of music from the show (though the original leading lady, opera singer Teresa
Stratas, was not available and was replaced by another opera diva, Julia Migenes.) This CD earned much
respect and led to a much smaller-scale (two pianos only) version being re-written for the off-Broadway
American Jewish
Theatre in the
summer of 1991.
This production at
the Kenneth More
Theatre was the
British premiere,
and
was
reassembled with bits
from both previous
American versions.
It attracted much
interest and was
attended by several
British
and
European managers
with a view to
further European
productions. Sadly,
none materialised.
Photo by Philip Wade
Story: Ellis Island, 1910, and a boatload of immigrants arrive. Rebecca Hershkowitz and her young son,
David, fleeing a pogrom, hope to find her husband, Nathan, who has been in America for several years but not
yet sent for them. Avram Cohen and his teenage daughter, Bella, have come in search of a better life. And Ben
Levitowitz, a brash young man who has fallen in love with Bella, has come to make his fortune in a land where
the streets are said to be paved with gold.
Rebecca fails to find Nathan, and finds work in a sweatshop, where she gradually falls in love with Saul, a
fiery labour organiser, even though they disagree about "making trouble". Then Nathan turns up, with a new
name and a job doing dirty work for the corrupt Democratic machine. Rebecca has to tell Saul she can never
see him again.
Tragedy strikes: Bella is killed in a sweatshop fire. A devastated Rebecca defies Nathan and leads a strike
against sweatshop conditions. Nathan, fearful for his political career, abandons her and Rebecca remains with
Saul and the strikers. These immigrants have endured hardship, heartbreak, wrenching change, and the fairest
of them has perished, but in the end Rebecca, David, Avram, and Ben have begun to make a new life in their
new world ... as another boatload of immigrants arrives.
1992
30
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (2nd Revival)
London run: Prince of Wales, November 25th
(53 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Irving Berlin
Book: Herbert & Dorothy Fields
Director: Roger Redfarn
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Musical Director: Nick Davies
Cast: Kim Criswell (Annie Oakley),
John Diedrich (Frank Butler), Leon Greene (Buffalo Bill), Brian
Glover (Chief Sitting Bull),
Norman Rossington (Charlie Davenport),
Meg Johnson (Dolly Tate), Veronica Hart, Alison Pollard
This production originated at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Notes: Original London production:
Coliseum on June 7th 1947
First revival Aldwych Theatre, July 1986
Kim Criswell & Children
THE NEW STARLIGHT EXPRESS (Revised Production)
London run: Apollo Victoria – Revised November 23rd (Total: 7,461 Performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Richard Stilgoe
Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Director: Trevor Nunn
Choreographer: Arlene Phillips
Musical Director: David Caddick
Producer: Really Useful Theatre Co
Cast: Mark Walker (Greaseball), Samantha Lane (Ashley), Voyd (Buffy), Caron Cardelle (Dina),
Reva Rice (Pearl), Lon Satton (Poppa), John Partridge (Electra), Greg Ellis (Rusty)
New Songs : Crazy, Next Time You Fall in Love, Rap, Make Up
My Heart, Right Place Right Time
Photo by Donald Cooper
Original opening date : Apollo Victoria, March 27th 1984
Notes: After eight and a half years the show was re-directed, rechoreographed, re-lit, and given five new songs as well as being
shortened by 30 minutes. (Songs cut from this revised version
included “A Lotta Locomotion”, “Belle, the Sleeping Car”, “Call
Me Rusty”, “There’s Me”, and “Only He has the Power to Move
Me”.) At the time Lloyd Webber stated: “This is the first musical I
know where the entire creative team came together to reproduce a
show for a new generation”. The show was initially billed as “The
New Starlight Express”.
Lon Satton was the only surviving member of the original cast.
The changes were to address certain changes in fashion – bodypopping movement from the mid 1980s were now very passé – and
to tighten the narrative and give the show a fresh look.
Jeffrey Daniel as Electra (original version)
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
Producer: Ronald S Lee & Eddie Kulukundis
1992
31
CAROUSEL (1st Revival)
London run: Lyttleton Theatre, December 10 - March 27, 1993
Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics and book: Oscar Hammerstein II.,
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
Musical Director: Justin Brown
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Michael Hayden (Billy Bigelow), Joanna Riding (Julie Jordan),
Janie Dee (Carrie Pipperidge), Clive Rowe (Enoch Snow),
Patricia Routledge (Nettie Fowler), Anna Nygh, Phil Daniels,
Stanislav Tschassov, Luke Hope
This first major revival was a
National Theatre production and
hugely praised for its brilliant
designs (Bob Crowley) and for the
brilliant ballet danced by Bonnie
Moore and Stanislav Tschassov.
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
It would later be revived for a West
End season at the Shaftesbury
Theatre .
Notes:
See Original London
Production: Drury Lane June 1950
The spectacular opening scene
designed by Bob Crowley
BARNUM (2nd Revival)
London run: Dominion Theatre, December 17th ( 84 Performances)
Music: Cy Coleman
Lyrics: Michael Stewart
Book: Mark Bramble
Director-Choreographer: Buddy Schwab
Musical Director: Simon Lowe
Producer: Apollo Leisure UK
Cast: Paul Nicholas (P.T.Barnum),
Carol Duffy (Charity Barnum),
Richard Gauntlett (Ringmaster),
Simon David Trout (Tom Thumb),
Clara Miller (Jenny Lind)
Photo by Robert Workman
Notes: See Original Production:
London Palladium June 1981
First Revival: Victoria Palace, March 1985
Paul Nicholas as Barnum