London Musicals 1975-1979.pub

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
1975
1
th
London run: Adelphi, April 15 , (406 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Hugh Wheeler
Director: Harold Prince
Choreographer: Patricia Birch
Musical Director: Ray Cook
Producer: Mitchell, Milton, Kulukundis, Pilbrow & Delfont
Cast: Jean Simmons (Desirée), Joss Ackland (Frederik) ,
Hermione Gingold (Mme Armfeldt), Terry Mitchell (Henrik), Diane Langton (Petra),
David Kernan (Count Malolm), Maria Aitken (Charlotte)
Songs: Night Waltz, Now, Later, Soon, The Glamorous Life, Liaisons, Every Day a Little
Death, A Weekend in the Country, The Miller’s Son, Send in the Clowns.
Story: Taking place in Sweden around 1900, the story deals with the complicated romantic
world of a middle-aged lawyer, Frederick Egerman, his virgin child-bride, Anne, and his son Henrik who is in love
with Ann (his “stepmother”). Frederik also has to deal with the reappearance of his former mistress, the actress
Desirée Armfeldt, and her current lover, Count Malcolm with his suicidal wife, Charlotte. Everything comes to
crisis point when all the people involved spend a weekend in the country at the house of Desirée’s mother, a former
concubine of several members of royalty and the nobility. Everyone eventually ends up with their appropriate
partners by the end of the weekend.
Notes: Based on Ingmar Bergman‘s 1955 film “Smiles of a Summer Night”, this was an elegant almost operettastyle work, composed almost entirely in ¾ time or musical multiples thereof, and using a quartet of singers to
provide an overture, entr’acte and a commentary on the action at various times, much in the nature of a Greek
chorus. The original Broadway production starred Glynis Johns and Len Cariou.
JEEVES
Photo by Photostage
London run: Her Majesty’s Theatre, April 22nd
(38 Performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics & Book: Alan Ayckbourn
Director: Eric Thompson
Choreographer: Christopher Bruce
Musical Director: Anthony Bowles
Producer: Robert Stigwood & Michael White
David Hemmings and company
Cast: David Hemmings (Bertie Wooster),
Michael Aldridge (Jeeves), Christopher Good (Gussie),
Gordon Clyde (Stinker), John Turner (Roderick Spode),
Angela Easterling (Honoria Glossop),
Debbie Bowen (Stiffy Byng), Gabrielle Drake (Madeleine)
Songs: Banjo Boy, When Love Arrives, Summer Day, The Female of the Species, Eulalie, Today.
Story: Bertie and his friend from the Drones Club are spending a music-making evening when the strings on
Bertie’s banjo break. While Jeeves goes off to find replacements, Bertie comes down into the audience and chats
about the problems in his life. He has somehow got himself engaged to three girls at the same time: the hearty
Honoria Glossop, the ever-so-jolly “Stiffy” Byng, and the pretty Madeleine Bassett. These girls should be marrying
his other friends, “Stinker” Pinker, the newt-loving Gussie Fink-Nottle, and the political Sir Roderick Spode, who is
preaching the politics of the Black Shorts Movement. Finally Jeeves comes back with replacement strings,
impeccably solves all the problems, and the evening ends as it began, with group music-making.
Notes: The show underwent considerable re-writing and shortening during its pre-London tour, and the role of
Aunt Dahlia (Betty Marsden) was entirely cut. By merging several of the Jeeves stories into this show, it became
rather long and complicated, and the intended air of amateurishness provided by Bertie and his friends tended to pull
the show down as the long evening progressed. It was felt to be over-blown and heavy-handed, and came off very
quickly.
1975
2
THE BLACK MIKADO
London run: Cambridge Theatre, April 24th (472 Performances)
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics: W.S. Gilbert
Adapted: Eddie Quansanm George Larnyoh & Janos Bajala
Director: Braham Murray
Choreographer: Amadeo
Musical Director: Dave Bloxham
Producer: James Verner
Cast: Norman Beaton (Nanki Poo),
Michael Denison (Pohh-Bah),
Derek Griffiths (Ko-Ko),
Patricia Ebigwei (Yum-Yum), Anita Tucker (Katisha), Val Pringle (The Mikado)
Photo by Stewart Ferguson
Story: Set in the Caribbean, where the one white man is Pooh-Bah, a
“particularly haughty and exclusive person” this is a Colonial and very British
outpost, with due respect given to the local ruler, the Mikado, a giant of a figure
in a leopard-skin wardrobe with ostentatious spectacles and a three-tier top hat.
With the music supplied by “Juice” – a reggae band – it remains mostly true to
the G&S words and music – though not necessarily the rhythms.
Notes: The production was hailed as great fun, inventive and highly entertaining.
It achieved a very respectable and profitable run.
Norman Beaton & Derek Griffiths
VENUS AND SUPERKID
London run: Arts Theatre, June 1st (25 Performances)
Transferred to Roundhouse, August 21st (24 Performances)
Music: Milton Reame-James
Book and Lyrics: Richard Crane
Director: Chris Parr
Choreographer: Sue Lefton and Pam Ferris
Musical Director: Milton Reame-James
Producer: Unicorn Theatre
Cast: Binkie Shoebridge (Jill Wright – Arts), Keren Wilson (Jill Wright – Roundhouse), Timothy Davies,
William Relton, Tamara Ustinov, Paul Dalton.
Story: An up-to-date version of the Cupid and Psyche legend, written chiefly as a children’s musical with adult
appeal. Richard Crane was the writer-in-residence at the National Theatre.
GODSPELL (Revival)
London run: Phoenix Theatre, June 10th (3 months)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz
Book: John-Michael Tebelak
Director: John Michael Tebelak
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Mary Adams, Sally Bentley, Andrew Frank, Sharon Lyle, David MacArthur, Neil Martin, Su Pollard,
Dee Robillard, Tony Rickell, Andrew C. Wadsworth
This revival ran at the Phoenix for the summer months, and then went on a UK tour.
Notes: See original production, Wyndhams Theatre, November 1971
1975
3
KWA ZULU
London run: New London Theatre, July 24th ( 122 Performances)
Transferred to Piccadilly Theatre September 22nd
Music: Victor Ntoni
Lyrics & Book: Joan Brickhill & Louis Burke
Director: Joan Brickhill & Louis Burke
Choreographer: Josh Makhene
Story: A proud chief with four beautiful wives gives
permission for his eldest daughter to marry a young
man, provided the young man undergoes the age-old
initiation ceremonies. But there is another jealous
maiden who wants the young man, and she uses evil
spells to create a famine. The witch-doctor enacts his
ritual and discovers she is the source of the famine. She
is cast out of the tribe, begs for re-admission, persuades
the chief’s Head Wife to propitiate the gods through
prayers, and the community returns to prosperity.
Notes: Promoted as a cyclical representation of the
basic unity of man in his struggle with the existence and
the elements of nature, this show had a superb ensemble
of singers, dancers, drummers, native costumes, and
semi-naked bodies – and was much praised.
HAPPY END (1st Revival)
London run: Lyric Theatre, August 26th (62 Performances)
Music: Kurt Weill
Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht
Book: Dorothy Lane
Director: Gordon McDougall
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Cast: Angela Richards (Lillian Holliday),
Bob Hoskins (Bill Cracker),
Colin Bennett (Sam Wurlitzer),
John Horsley (Rev. Jimmy Dexter),
Stephen Temperley, Veronica Clifford
This was a new version by the American
Michael Feingold and had originated at the
Oxford Playhouse.
Notes: See original production: Royal Court,
March 1965
Photo by Robin Constable
Producer: Oxford Playhouse
1975
4
TEETH ‘N’ SMILES
London run: Royal Court, September 2nd (30 Performances)
Transferred to Wyndham’s May 26th 1976 (2 months)
Music: Nick Bicat
Lyrics: Tony Bicat
Book: David Hare
Director: David Hare
Producer: Michael Codron
Songs: Last Orders on the Titanic
Story: “I sing of the pain. The pain is real." Maggie Frisby, rock
singer says that so often in interviews that her roadies have taken to
muttering, "Mostly in the arse." Beautiful, talented, self-destructive
Maggie has amassed a minor cult following singing the songs of her
former lover-mentor Arthur. Maggie's habit of dragging her band
around on profitable provincial tours has landed them all at Jesus
Helen Mirren
College, Cambridge, playing for the dreary Undergraduate May Ball
of 1969. The gig starts hours late, following a dispute about who
should plug in the amplifiers. The roadies fill in the time having furtive sex with
groupies. Arthur pays a surprise visit. Maggie gets drunk and passes out onstage. The
band gets busted. Their sleazy but likable manager, Saraffian, arrives to fire Maggie
and replace her with his new discovery. Maggie takes a bum drug rap and goes to jail.
Life goes on and, as the play's memorable (and meaningfully ambiguous) closing song
goes, "The music remains the same."
Notes: At the time this was acclaimed as a musical portrait of England in decay, lost
dreams of the post-War society, a rage against class-distinction, a kind of “Look Back
in Anger” of musical theatre. A few critics declared it was a political exercise with a
few dreary songs, but the overwhelming majority acclaimed it and Helen Mirren and
Dave King won London Critics Awards for their performances. For the Wyndham’s
revival in 1976 Martin Shaw took over the role of Arthur and Gay Hamitlon took over
as Laura, and there were a few other cast replacements.
HAPPY AS A SANDBAG
London run: Ambassadors, September 10th (508 Performances)
Music: Various
Book : Ken Lee
Director: Philip Hedley
Choreographer: Patricia Adams
Musical Director: Nigel Hess
Photo by Zoe Dominic
Cast: David Ashton,
Martin Duncan,
Julian Hough, Trevor Jones,
Robert McIntosh,
Lesley Duff,
Yvonne Edgell, Darlene Johnson, Roy Macready,
Geraldine Wright
Notes: To mark the 30th anniversary of the end of
World War 2, this was virtually a revue of wartime
songs and sketches, loosely wrapped around a story
of American and British servicemen and women
all serving on the same base camp.
Geraldine Wright, Yvonne Edgell & Lesley Duff
Photo by John Haynes
Cast: Helen Mirren (Maggie), Dave King (Saraffian) ,
Jack Shepherd (Arthur), Randolph (Heinz), Cherie Lunghi (Laura),
Anthony Sher (Anson)
1975
5
PILGRIM
London run: Roundhouse, October 15th (19 Performances)
Music: Carl Davis
Book & Lyrics: Jane McCulloch
Director: Toby Robertson
Choreographer: Robert North
Musical Director: Neil Rhoden
Producer: Prospect Theatre Co
Cast: Paul Jones (Christian), Peter Straker (Apollyon, MC, etc), Paul
Nicholas, Ken Bones, Verity Anne Meldrum,
Geoffrey Burridge, Joanna Carlin
Story: The pilgrim Christian, on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, encounters Apollyon,
the Giant Despair, and the people of Vanity Fair, together with a series of demons and temptations all attempting to
impede his progress to Heaven.
Notes: This had been on a UK tour since July, including three and a half weeks at the Edinburgh Festival and was
an attempt to create Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” in the style of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. The elements of the
story were introduced by a “Cabaret”-like Master of Ceremonies (doubling as Apollyon) and the various scenes
were presented as flamboyant spectacles in a “sung-through” style with the cast each playing many roles.
THOMAS AND THE KING
London run: Her Majesty’s Theatre, October 16th (1 month?)
Music: John Williams
Lyrics: James Harbert
Book: Edward Anhalt
Director-Choreographer: Norman Maen
Musical Director: Ian MacPherson
Cast: Richard Johnson (Thomas Beckett), James Smilie (Henry II),
Dilys Hamlett (Eleanor of Aquitaine), Caroline Villiers (Jennie)
Songs: Pilgrimage Procession , Look Around You, Am I Beautiful?, Man of Love, The
Question, What Choice Have I?, We Shall Do It, Improbable as Spring, Power, Will No
One Rid Me, So Many Worlds
Notes: Despite one of the
most lavish productions ever
seen in the West End, it was
greeted with universal
derision by the critics,
described as “a rotten show of
mind-boggling banality” and
came off very quickly.
Photo by Zoe Dominic
Story: King Henry II is unfaithful to his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and has fallen in love with a young peasant
girl, Jennie. Eleanor plans revenge. Meantime Henry has quarrelled with the Archbishop of Canterbury and
following a war between England and France and a dispute with the Pope, has promoted his closest friend, Thomas
Beckett, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas is reluctant and says his conscience will only let him
obey Henry in legal matters and not on Church matters. Soon Henry’s behaviour leads to a breakdown in their
friendship, in spite of Jennie efforts to reconcile them. Henry realises that he will have to destroy Thomas in order
to keep his kingdom. While
kneeling in prayer at
Canterbury Cathedral,
Thomas is murdered. Henry
finds that it is in death that
T ho m a s h a s a c h ie v ed
martyrdom and, from his
grief, Henry vows to build
their dream for England
1975
6
GLAMOROUS NIGHT (Revival)
London run: New London Theatre, November 17th (8 Performances)
Music: Ivor Novello
Lyrics: Christopher Hassall
Director: Alexander Bridge
Cast: John Hanson (Anthony Allen), Pamela Field (Militza),
Keith Bratt (King Stefan), Alexander Bridge (Baron Lydeff),
Eileen Farrow (Phoebe), Maggie Beckit (Spirit of the Forest)
Songs: Fold Your Wings, Shine Through My Dreams, When the Gypsy
Played, Royal Wedding, Far Away in Shanty Town, Singing Waltz, Her
Majesty Militza
Story: The hugely improbable story tells of Anthony Allen who has
invented a television system. The head of radio pays him handsomely
to disappear and take his invention with him. He goes to the kingdom
of Krasnia in Ruritania, where he meets the gipsy princess, Militza, who
is about to marry the King Stefan of Krasnia. Anthony saves her life,
falls in love, is almost killed himself, but gives up his love for Militza
for the greater good of Krasnia.
John Hanson
Notes: The original London production had been at Drury Lane in May 1935, and the plot very much echoed
the current state of affairs where the King of Rumania was willing to give up his throne for the love of a
Romany actress, Mme Lupesco. When the film version was made in 1937 the abdication of King Edward VII
because of his love for Wallis Simpson was even more relevant. This revival occupied an empty week at the
New London Theatre as part of its nationwide tour. The London critics were very disparaging of John Hanson
and his producer, Alexander Bridge.
IPI TOMBI
London run: Her Majesty’s Theatre , November 19th (16 months)
Music: Bertha Egnos Godfrey
Lyrics: Gail Lakier
Director: Bertha Egnos Godfrey
Choreographer: Sheila Wartski & Neil McKay
Cast: Margaret Singana and South African company
Credit Unknown
Story:
Ipi Tombi is an
approximation of the Zulu
phrase "where is the girl?"
and tells the story of a young
black man leaving his village
and young wife to work in
the mines of Johannesburg.
Ipi Tombi
Notes: Originally called
“The Warrior”,
it uses
pastiches of a variety of
South African indigenous
musical styles, and had
enjoyed major success in
South Africa and Nigeria,
and toured Europe, the
United States and Canada to
critical acclaim. Following
this season in the West End,
it also played Broadway.