London Musicals 1980-1984.pub

1982
15
UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES
London run: Prince of Wales, March 4th (15 months)
Music & Lyrics: Various
Book: Patrick Garland & Brian Glanville with Roy Hudd & Chesney Allen
Director: Roger Redfarn
Choreographer: Tudor Davies
Musical Director: Clive Chaplin
Producer: Bernard Delfont & Richard M. Mills
Cast: Roy Hudd (Bud Flanagan), Christopher Timothy (Chesney Allen),
Julia Sutton (Florrie Forde), Joe Black, Peter Glaze, Tommy Godfrey, Billy Gray,
Don Smoothey (The Crazy Gang)
Songs: Just For
Laughs, Umbrella
Man, Flanagan. The Old Bull and Bush, Hey
Neighbour, Hometown, Siegfried Line, Maybe
it’s Because I’m a Londoner, Strolling
Photo by Reg Wilson
Story: The story of the lives and career of
Flanagan and Allen and their long association
with the Crazy Gang, this was an opportunity
to re-create some of their more famous
sketches – “Well Done Gordon”, “Broken
Blossoms” etc – and to re-introduce most of
the songs associated with the Flanagan and
Allen double act. At some performances the
elderly and somewhat frail Chesney Allen
would make an appearance and join in the
singing.
Notes: The production originated at the
Chichester Festival Theatre.
Joe Black, Tommy Godfrey, Christopher Timothy, Billy Gray, Roy Hudd, Don Smoothey & Peter Glaze
GUYS AND DOLLS (1st Revival)
London run: Olivier Theatre, March 9th (Repertoire)
Music and lyrics: Frank Loesser
Book: Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows
Director: Richard Eyre
Choreographer: David Toguri
Musical Director: Tony Britten
Photo by Catherine Ashmore
Cast: Ian Charleson (Sky Masterton),
Julia McKenzie (Miss Adelaide),
Bob Hoskins (Nathan Detroit),
Julie Covington (Sarah Browne),
David Healy (Nicely-Nicely)
This was a National Theatre Production. It received rave notices, and has
become one of the legendary successes of the 1980s. It was scheduled for
a limited number of performances, and was later brought back into the
repertoire, followed by a tour. It then was re-created for the West End in
1985.
Notes: See original London run: Coliseum, May 1953
Julia McKenzie as Miss Adelaide
1982
16
BOOGIE WOOGIE BUBBLE ‘N’ SQUEAK
London run: Mayfair Theatre, March 25th (Very short run)
Music & Lyrics: Various
Director: Stuart Hopps
Cast: Leonie Hofmeyer, Sarah McNair, Michele Maxwell
Notes: Three singers, collectively presenting themselves as the Skirted Issue, sing the past and present
repertoire of a number of girl trios, including The Sisters Andrews, McGuires, Beverleys, Supremes, Pointer,
and the Three Degrees and the Shangri-Las. The show makes satirical fun of the styles and songs, the illusion
of real-life harmony among the girls, the fraudulence of stage allure – and in some unspecified way which
doesn’t quite come off – makes a statement connected with Feminism. It did not receive good notices and was
quickly withdrawn.
BEAUTIFUL DREAMER
London run: Greenwich Theatre, April 22nd (Season)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Foster
Book: Roy Hudd
Director: Roger Haines
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield
Cast: Simon Green (Stephen Foster), Christina Matthews, Dorothy Vernon,
Ian Burford, Paul Bentley, Harry Dickman
Story: The life-story of Stephen Foster, incorporating much of his musical output.
Notes: This originated at the Haymarket, Leicester.
SONG AND DANCE
London run: Palace Theatre, April 8th (781 performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Don Black
Director: John Caird
Choreographer: Anthony Van Laast
Musical Director: Kenny Clayton
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Marti Webb & Wayne Sleep
with Linda-Mae Brewer, Jane
Darling, Andrea Durant, Linda
Gibbs, Claude-Paul Henry, Andy
Norman, Sandy Strallen, Paul
Tomkinson
Notes: This was a show in two parts. The “song” half was a
song-cycle called “Tell Me on a Sunday” – a simple tale of a
young English woman in New York and the trials and
tribulations she experiences through a series of unhappy love
affairs. This was performed by Marti Webb. The second half
was called “Variations”, a suite of variations on a theme by
Paganini, and was interpreted in dance by Wayne Sleep and a
team of eight dancers. (During the long run the Marti Webb
role was taken over by Gemma Craven, Lulu and Liz
Robertson. Wayne Sleep’s role was later danced by Stephen
Jeffries, Graham Fletcher, John Meehan and Paul Tomkinson)
Photo by Donald Cooper
Songs: Tell Me on a Sunday, Take That Look Off Your
Face, Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad, Come Back with the
Same Look in Your Eyes
1982
17
PIRATES OF PENZANCE (Revival)
London run: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane May 26th (17 months)
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics: W.S.Gilbert
Director: Wilford Leach
Choreographer: Graciela Daniele
Producer: Michael White
Cast: Tim Curry (Pirate King),
Pamela Stephenson (Mabel),
George Cole (Major General),
Michael Praed (Frederic),
Annie Ross (Ruth), Bonnie Langford, Louise Gold
Photo by Zoe Dominic
Notes: This was based on Joseph
Papp’s New York Shakespeare
Festival Production.
It was a
completely “new” look at the show
– a kind of Broadway version of
G&S – and received excellent
notices for its exuberance and sheer
fun (without straying too far from
the original!)
It ran for 17 months, finishing on
October 29th, 1983
Tim Curry
BEGGAR’S OPERA (3rd Revival)
London run: Cottesloe Theatre, July 1st
Music arranged by Dominic Muldowney
Director: Richard Eyre
Choreographer: David Toguri
Producer: A National Theatre Production
This revival was set in a Victorian Workhouse and was well received
by the critics. It was always planned for a limited run.
Notes: See Aldwych Theatre, July 16th, 1963
First revival: Apollo, September 12th 1968
Second revival: Lyric Hammersmith, August 1980
Paul Jones as Macheath
Photo by Donald Cooper
Cast: Harry Towb (Peachum),
June Watson (Mrs Peachum),
Belinda Sinclair (Polly Peachum),
Paul Jones (Macheath),
Fiona Hendley (Jenny Diver),
Imelda Staunton (Lucy Lockitt),
David Ryall (Lockitt)
1982
18
WINDY CITY
Photo by Donald Cooper
London run: Victoria Palace, July 20th
(250 Performances)
Music: Tony Macaulay
Book & Lyrics: Dick Vosburgh
Director: Peter Wood
Musical Director: Anthony Bowles
Producer: Louis Benjamin & Toby Rowlands
Dennis Waterman & Amanda Redman
Cast: Dennis Waterman (Hildy Johnson),
Anton Rodgers (Walter Burns),
Diane Langton (Mollie Malloy),
Amanda Redman (Esther Stone),
Robert Longden (Earl Williams) ,
Victor Spinetti, Shaun Curry, David Sinclair
Songs: Hey Hallelujah, Wait Till I Get You On Your Own, Waltz for Mollie, Long Night Again Tonight, No
one Walks Out on Me, Perfect Casting, Bensinger’s Poem, Water Under the Bridge
Story: Hildy Johnson, a crime reporter for 15 years, is saying goodbye to his fellow
workers – he is getting married to Esther Stone and moving to New York. They pay
scant attention, eagerly awaiting the hanging of Earl Williams, the “Bolshevick” (an
event which will help re-elect the unscrupulous Mayor.) News breaks: Williams has
escaped! Everyone rushes off, leaving Hildy alone, then, to his surprise, Williams
climbs in through a window. Hildy hides the escapee in a roll-top desk, postpones his
wedding, and calls Mr Burns, his editor – this could be the scoop of a lifetime. What
follows is a comedy of the misogyny of the newspaper world, problems with Mollie
Malloy (the tart with a heart), the corruption of the mayoral office, and the
ruthlessness of newspaper editors.
Notes: Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
London run: Donmar Warehouse, September 30th (40 Performances)
Music: Harold Rome
Book: Leonard Gershe
Director: Robert Walker
Choreographer: Stuart Hobbs
Cast: Alfred Molina (Destry), Jill Gascoigne (Frenchy), Nicola Blackman (Clara), Julian Littman
Songs: Ballad of the Gun, I Know Your Kind, Anyone Would Love You, Once Knew a Fella,
That Ring on the Finger
Photo by Donald Cooper
Story: Set in the brawling frontier town of
Bottleneck in the 1890s, with a violence hating
sheriff, Thomas Jefferson Destry, and a toughcookie saloon entertainer, Frenchy, this is a
story of the good guys versus the bad guys.
With scenes in the Last Chance Saloon and the
Paradise Alley bordello run by Rose Lovejoy,
this is billed as a “whoopin’, shootin’, hollerin’
“ show
Notes Based on the story by Max Brand, this
began life as a Hollywood film (in fact filmed
three times) most notably with Marlene
Dietrich as Frenchy.
Jill Gascoigne & Alfred Molina
1982
19
WILD WILD WOMEN
London run: Astoria Theatre, June 15th
(29 Performances)
Music: Nola York
Book & Lyrics: Michael Richmond
Director: Michael Richmond
Choreographer: Marcia King
Musical Director: Stuart Pedlar
Producer: Ray Cooney & Laurie Marsh
Cast: James Lister (Clanton),
Marc Urquhart (McLaird),
Marcia King (Sister Priscilla),
Lesley Joseph (Madame Lola),
Steve Devereaux (Bill Tibbs),
Susanna Felowes (Alice Tibbs),
Gordon Reid (Judge West),
Clive Carter
Nola York outside the Astoria Theatre
Story: The McLairds and the Clantons have been tearing the Wild West town of Aggroville apart for many
years in a long-lasting feud. But they are forced to re-think when a nun arrives in town, swinging a guitar and
rosary with equal enthusiasm. She persuades the womenfolk to withhold their “marital favours” until all guns
are firmly back in their holsters. This creates a golden business opportunity for Madam Lola and the “soiled
doves” of The Red Candle Saloon. Mixed in with this Lysistrata tale is a Romeo and Juliet tale adding to what
was billed as a “rollickin', whisky swillin', gun-totin', thigh-slapper of a musical”.
Notes: Originally performed at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, this began as a piece written for students
at Mountview Theatre School. This production at the Astoria was an attempt at creating the American style
“dinner theatre” - where stalls seats were removed and replaced with tables and chairs, and a meal was served
prior to the start of the show.
THE MIKADO (Revival)
London run: Cambridge Theatre, September 28th.(4 months)
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics: W.S.Gilbert
Director: Chris Hayes
Choreographer: Michele Hardy
Musical Director: Ed Coleman
Cast: Murray Melvin (Ko-Ko), Nicholas Smith (Mikado),
Gary Lyons (Nanki Poo), John Hewer (Pooh-Bah),
Stella Goodier (Yum Yum), Eileen Gourlay (Katisha)
Notes: This was a Theatre Royal Plymouth Production.
Eileen Gourlay as Katisha
Photo by Sven Arnstein
Producer: Bill Kenwright & Paul Gregg.
1982
20
ANDY CAPP
Cast: Tom Courtenay (Andy Capp),
Val McLane (Florence Capp),
John Bardon (Chalkie)
Story: A musical story of Andy Capp,
portraying the spongeing, boozing pigeonfancier who hasn’t worked for 32 years, and
surrounding him with a group of cronies –
Tom Courtenay & Val McLane
hard-drinking, tart-chasing, sports-mad
husbands avoiding or trying to outsmart their
hen-pecking, hard-working, huge-busted, clannish wives. At the end his long-suffering wife, Flo, actually
walks out on Andy, leaving him to puzzle over the mystery of how toast gets itself cooked in the morning.
Notes: Based on the Reg Smythe cartoon characters as featured in the “Daily Mirror”, the show had a gritty
reality which didn’t sit too comfortably with its musical format, and an underlying bleakness with its portrait of
poverty, unemployment, disillusion, and an irreconcilability between the male and female points of view. For
most of the critics the verdict was - it didn’t work. However, “Plays and Players” gave it their Best New
Musical of the Year Award!
POPPY
London run: Barbican, September 25th (in Repertoire – fixed season)
Music: Monty Norman
Book & Lyrics: Peter Nicholls
Director: Terry Hands
Choreographer: David Toguri
Cast: Roger Allam (Lin Tse-Tsi), Jane Carr (Queen Victoria), Tony Church (Tao-Kuan),
Stephen Moore (Jack Idle), Julia Hills (Sally Forth), Geoffrey Hutchings (Lady Dodo),
Bernard Lloyd (Obadiah Upward), Michael Gyngell, Susan Jane Tanner, David Whitaker,
Christopher Hurst, Andrew Thomas-James
Photo by Donald Cooper
Story: This was an indictment of the Opium Wars and the Britain’s treatment of the Chinese during the reign
of Queen Victoria, and described the rape and pillage done by British forces in Peking. However, it was all
told in the style of a
British pantomime: a
principal boy played
by a girl, the Dame
played by a man, a
pantomime horse, and
a song-sheet.
Notes: A revised and
re-written version
opened at the Adelphi
in November 1983.
Julia Hills,
Geraldine Garner, &
Geoffrey Hutchings
Photo by Donald Cooper
London run: Aldwych Theatre, September 29th
(99 Performances)
Music: Alan Price
Lyrics: Alan Price & Trevor Peacock
Director: Braham Murray
Choreographer: Sue Lefton
Musical Director: Michael Dixon
Producer: Ray Cooney
1982
21
MATA HARI
London run: Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith (Studio), October 19th
(Limited season)
Music & Lyrics: Chris Smith & Les Chappell
Book: Lene Lovich & Les Chappell
Director: Hilary Westlake
Cast: Lene Lovich (Mata Hari), Rory Edwards, Jeremy Gittins,
Peter Leabourne with Stephen Dixon & Simon Hall (Puppeteers)
Photo by Ray Abbott
Story: The story of Mata Hari, the exotic dancer who claimed to
be a Brahmin temple dancer from Southern India and achieved
great success as a performer and notoriety for her numerous and
wealthy lovers. One of her lovers was arrested by the French
security service and Mata Hari’s love of fantasy and the
glamorous world of espionage led to her being (unfairly?) accused
of spying for the Germans, and being executed by firing squad in
1917.
Notes:
Lene Lovich was not felt to have anything like the
charisma which must have marked the real Mata Hari and, even
though a lot of money had been invested in staging and costumes
with a view to a transfer, the show quietly came to the end of its
season and disappeared.
Lene Lovich
YAKETY YAK
London run: Half Moon Theatre, November 15th
Transferred to Astoria Theatre, January 18th 1983 (3 months)
Music & Lyrics: Leiber & Stoller
Book: Robert Walker
Director: Robert Walker
Choreographer: Lynne Hockney
Musical Director: Tony de Meur
Cast: Paul McGann (Danny), Steve McGann (Bo), Joe McGann (Joe), Griff Fender, Pikey Butler, Rita Ray,
Duncan Kerr, Natalie Ogle, Nosmo King, Jimmy Compton. (Astoria only: Mark McGann, Kenny Andrews)
Songs: 24 Leiber & Stoller songs including: Yakety Yak, Kansas City, On Broadway, Stand By Me, Three
Cool Cats, I Can’t Say No, Searchin’.
Photo by John Haynes
Story: 1950s New York, and Danny comes out of jail to find his kid brother dating his girl, and the middle
brother training to be a priest. In the middle
of all this the boys and girls of the age face
the big questions: to go to College or not?
To hit the road and see life? to get married
and have babies? to get married to the girl
who is expecting your baby?
Kenny Andrews & Paul McGann
Notes: With hardly any plot to worry
about, but excellent performances and the
successful band known as “The Darts”, this
was a great night’s entertainment for lovers
of early rock’n’roll. The three brothers
were played by three genuine brothers. The
show underwent some re-writing and some
minor re-casting for the transfer to the
Astoria. Remarkably the cast was increased
with yet another McGann brother – Mark
McGann – and all four brothers were much
praised for their acting and singing.
1982
22
CAMELOT (1st Revival)
London run: Apollo Victoria, November 23rd
(180 Performances)
Music: Frederick Loewe
Lyrics & Book: Alan Jay Lerner
Director: Michael Rudman
Choreographer: Ronald Hynd
Musical Director: Gerry Allison
Photo by John Haynes
Producer: Paul Gregg & Lionel Becker
Richard Harris & Fiona Fullerton
Cast: Richard Harris (King Arthur),
Fiona Fullerton (Guinevere),
William Squire (Merlin),
Robert Meadmore (Sir Lancelot)
Michael Howe (Mordred),
Robin Bailey (Pellinore)
This was described as a disastrous
revival, and one of the worst productions seen in the West End for a long time. Much of
the blame was laid at the feet of Richard Harris who was accused of “walking through” the
part without any effort. The Plays & Players critic said: “There is no denying the potency
of Richard Harris’s personality. It is merely sad to remember that many years ago he was
an actor.”
Notes: See original London run: Drury Lane, August 1964
ANNIE (Revival)
London run: Adelphi, December 20th (8 week season)
Director: Peter Walker
Cast: Ursula Smith (Miss Hannigan), Charles West (Oliver Warbucks), Peter Honri, Lorrain Grey,
Neil Fitzwilliam, Petra Siniawski.
This production has been on a UK tour and had played Bristol Hippodrome instead of a pantomime in 1981/2
Notes: See original London production: Victoria Palace, May 1978
NIGHTINGALE
Cast: Andrew Shore (Narrator) Sarah Brightman (The Nightingale),
Gordon Sandison (Emperor) , Susannah Fellows (Palace Maid),
Carole Brooke (Mechanical Nightingale),
Jill Pert & Dinah Harris (The Peacocks) Michael Heath, Roy Skelton
Songs: Perfect Harmony, Never Speak Directly to an Emperor, The
Emperor is a Man, A Singer Must be Free, Rivers Cannot Flow Upwards
Story: The Emperor of China owns a nightingale with whom he becomes
good friends, although the nightingale is unhappy at her captivity. One day
the Emperor receives a mechanical singing bird, covered in beautiful
jewels, and this new toy becomes his favourite. The neglected nightingale flies away, and no one notices. But the
mechanical bird breaks down, and the Emperor realizes his mistake: you cannot possess what you love. The
Emperor is dying, so the nightingale returns and her song saves his life. The Emperor asks the nightingale to teach
him the song of life, the greatest gift in the world. The bird tells him that there is a maiden in the palace who has
already given him the greatest gift: her innocent love. The nightingale then teaches them the song, and the Emperor,
the maid and the nightingale all live happily ever after. This “children’s opera”, based on a Hans Christian
Andersen fairy tale, premiered at the Buxton festival then played the Lyric Hammersmith for the Christmas season.
Photo by Ray Abbott
London run: Lyric Hammersmith, December 22nd – January 29th
(Christmas season)
Music & Lyrics: Charles Strouse
Director: Peter James
Musical Director: David Firman
1982
23
MR CINDERS (Revival)
London run: King’s Head Theatre, December 31st (60 Performances)
Transfer to Fortune Theatre April 27th (527 Performances)
Music : Vivian Ellis & Richard Myers
Lyrics: Leo Robin, Clifford Grey & Greatorex Norman
Book: Clifford Grey & Greatorex Norman
Director: Tony Craven
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield
Musical Director: Mike Dixon
Producer: Dan Crawford
Cast: Denis Lawson (Jim Lancaster), Christina Matthews (Jill Kemp),
Philip Bird (Guy Lancaster), Graham Hoadley (Lumley Lancaster),
Oliver Pierre (Henry Kemp), Angela Vale (Lady Lancaster), Derek Smee ( Sir George Lancaster)
Songs: Tennis, Blue Blood, True to Two, On With the Dance, Spread a Little Happiness, 18th Century Drag,
Honeymoon for Four
Story: Jim Lancaster is an adopted son forced to work as a menial for his snobbish stepmother, Lady Agatha,
and her two foppish sons, Lumley and Guy. Jill, an American heiress, is giving a costume ball in the mansion
of her father Henry Kemp and Lady Agatha sees this as an opportunity to catch a wealthy bride for one of her
sons, but refuses to allow Jim to attend. Meanwhile Jill has disguised herself as a servant girl, “Sarah” and
persuaded Minerva, her poor relation, to pretend to be Jill, while Jim manages to get to the ball in a disguise of
his own. The plot then involves a stolen necklace, mistaken identity, and the discovery of a hat belonging to
the mystery person who captured
the thief. A search for the owner
of the hat shows that it fits only
Jim. He wins the £1,000 reward
and learns that the maid "Sarah" is
actually Jill, and she and Jim
agree to get married. Lumley and
Guy, meanwhile, announce their
own engagements so all ends
happily.
Photo by
Notes:
The original London
production was at the Adelphi in
February 1929, and played 529
performances (including a transfer
to the Hippodrome). This was its
first revival. Later in the run the
leading role was taken over by
skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan.
Steven Pacey, Diana Martin, Andrea Kealy & Graham Hoadley