London Musicals - Over The Footlights

1990
1
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE
London run: Gladys Child Theatre, Southgate. February 28th
(4 Performances Limited run)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Arthur Laurents
Director: Dora Basham
Choreographer: Gail Ashwell
Musical Director: James Holmes
Cast: Val Evans (Cora), Audrey Palmer (Fay Apple), Colin Clark (Dr Hapgood),
Ken Dixon (Comptroller Schub), Pat Scott, David Luck, Alan Gronner, Jason Belne
Songs: There Won’t Be Trumpets, Everybody Says Don’t, With So Little to be Sure
Of, Come Play Wiz Me
Story: Cora is the Mayoress of a small town whose corrupt council creates a phoney miracle - water from a rock –
as a money-making tourist attraction. A visiting group from the Cookie Jar, the local mental institution, gets mixed
up with genuine tourists so that no one can tell which is which. Nurse Fay Apple falls in love with Dr. Hapgood
from the hospital, but he turns out to be one of the patients.
Notes: This was a celebrated nine-performance Broadway flop in 1964, despite a cast including Angela Lansbury
and Lee Remick. However the cast recording became a cult item. This first British production in a North London
technical college was an “amateur” one (no one got paid!) but involved a professional production team, and the
Musical Director had only recently finished conducting “Pacific Overtures” at the English National Opera. It was
staged as a means of introducing this Sondheim rarity to London. An off-Broadway revival occurred in 1992,
followed by a famous 1995 concert version at Carnegie Hall. London saw a concert version at the Savoy Theatre
on June 1st 1997 with Jenny Logan, Linzi Hately, Simon Green and Stephanie Beecham.
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Photo by Richard Mildenhall
London run: Lyttleton Theatre,
March 15th (186 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: James Lapine
Director: Steven Pimlott
Choreographer: Aletta Collins
Musical Director: Jeremy Sams
Cast: Philip Quast (George),
Maria Friedman (Dot), Sheila Ballentine,
Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Attwell,
Claire Burt, Nicolas Colicos, Ann Gosling,
Matt Zimmerman, Vivienne Martin
Songs: Finishing the Hat, We Do Not Belong Together, Beautiful,
Sunday, Children and Art, Move On, It’s Hot Up Here
Story: The (fictionalised) story of the creation of George Seurat’s
famous painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Jatte”. In the first act it is 1884 and George is painting the passers-by in a park by the Seine. Gradually some of
their relationships with each other are revealed, as is the relationship between George and his mistress/model Dot.
Their romance is doomed since George is completely obsessed with his work, and Dot accepts an offer of marriage
from a baker.
The second act takes place a hundred years later, in New York, where George’s great grandson (also called George)
is a multi-media sculptor suffering an artistic bloc with his latest “Chromolume” construction. He makes a visit to
France, to La Grande Jatte, and the ghost of his great grandmother appears and urges him to stop worrying about
what others think, and to keep moving on. His confidence is restored.
Phillip Quast
Notes: The show began as a workshop production in New York in July 1983, and was staged on Broadway in May
1994 with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters in the leading roles. It ran 604 performances and was awarded
the 1985 Pulitzer Prize. This London premiere had a very mixed reaction: there was general praise for the first act,
but the majority of critics thought the second act didn’t work.
1990
2
SOMEONE LIKE YOU
London run: Strand Theatre, March 22nd (44 Performances)
Music: Petula Clark
Lyrics: Dee Shipman
Book: Robin Midgeley & Fay Weldon
Director: Robin Midgeley
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Musical Director: Kenny Clayton
Producer: Harold Fielding
Songs: Home is Where the Heart Is, Look Where the Journey
Led, Empty Spaces, Picking Up the Pieces, All Through the
Years, Getting the Right Thing Wrong, It’s a Big Big Country.
Story: A love story set in West
Virginia just after the American
Civil War. Abigail, an English
Petula Clark & Clive Carter
nurse, and her young son, Andy,
are searching through the field hospitals looking for her long-lost preacher husband,
Kane, only for Abigail to fall in love with a military doctor, the Major. Touching
on themes of slavery and sexual liberation, secondary characters included
Susannah, a tempestuous mistress, Moonshine, Andy’s acrobatic friend, and
Serena, the black Mammy.
Notes: The singing and performances were praised but the show itself received a
very mixed reaction. It closed very suddenly after just one month when it was
announced that the producer, Harold Fielding, was going into liquidation after
nearly 50 years in the business.
PIRATES OF PENZANCE (2nd Revival)
London run: London Palladium, March 23rd
(107 Performances- Limited run)
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics: W.S.Gilbert
Director: Peter Walker
Choreographer: Christopher Robinson
Musical Director: Barrie Bignold
Producer: Paul Elliott
Cast: Paul Nicholas (Pirate King),
Bonnie Langford (Mabel),
rank Thornton (Major General),
David Ian (Frederic),
Patricia Lancaster (Ruth), Simon Browne
Notes: This was based on the production which had played Drury Lane
in 1882, and had been re-created for a UK tour. It was booked into the
Palladium for a limited 14 week season.
Original London Production of this version: Drury Lane, May 1982
Bonnie Langford & David Ian
Photo by Dee Conway
Cast: Petula Clark (Abigail), Dave Willetts (The Major),
Joanne Campbell (Serena), Jane Arden (Susannah),
Clive Carter (Kane), Michael Seraphim (Moonshine),
Lewis Rae (Andy), Euan Milne, Michael G. Jones,
Richard D. Sharp, Calum Macpherson, Alan Gill
1990
3
KING
Photo by Donald Cooper
London run: Piccadilly Theatre,
April 7th ( 58 Performances)
Music: Richard Blackford
Lyrics: Maya Angelou & Alistair Beaton
Book: Richard Nelson/ Lonnie Elder III
Director: Clarke Peters
Choreographer: Dianne McIntyre
Musical Director: Fiz Shapur
Producer: H.M.Tennent
Simon Estes as Martin Luther King
Cast: Simon Estes (Martin Luther King),
Cynthia Haymon (Coretta King),
Godfrey James (Billy),
George (Clarke Peters),
Leon Greene (Lyndon B. Johnson)
Songs: Cotton’s My Momma, Bus Boycott, Welcome to Atlanta, Equal Rights, No More Sorrow, The Price of
Freedom, For I am an American, I Have a Dream
Story: This show skims through the highlights in Martin Luther King’s life, establishing the romantic hold
between King and his wife, and dealing with the alleged infidelities with which J. Edgar Hoover tried to smear
King, and the defection of one of his trusted disciples to form the Black Power movement. A subplot saw a
redneck garage owner, Billy, torn between his friendship with his black mechanic, George, and his pack-loyalty
to his bigoted brother and Klansmen friends.
Notes: This was a deeply troubled show. Before the opening night writers, directors,
a producer, a leading actor had all either walked out or been sacked following rows
over racial politics, money or artistic content. Maya Angelou wanted her name
removed from the credits saying “it takes a black man to write about a black man and
there hasn’t been a single black man in the writing of this show”. Martin Luther
King’s widow, Coretta, initially had strong objections to the show and attempted to
ban the impersonation of herself. Once it had opened, the show was criticised for its
lack of drama and character. The book and the production itself were described as
“an insignificant offering. . . of such banality it is a crime against humanity. . .
melodramatic Jim Crowism. . .with little dramatic flair and less depth.” It closed
after six weeks with losses of around £3 million.
GLORY
London run: Lyric Hammersmith, April 26th (20 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Felix Cross
Book: Felix Cross
Director: Earl Warner
Producer: Temba Theatre Co
Story: The story has two threads: a young girl’s fight for emancipation
from a religiously oppressive and sexually abusive family life, and a
Caribbean island’s fight for independence. The girl, Glory, is caught in
a religious clash between the old Shago cult of Trinidad and the harsher
aspects of the Catholicism of her mother.
Notes: This was a touring production by Temba Theatre Company
which originated at Derby Playhouse.
Oscar James as the Politician
Photo by Paul Thompson
Cast: Adjoa Andoh (Glory), Oscar James (Prime Minister/Politician)
Alan Cooke, Oscar James, Godfrey Jackman, Marc Matthews,
Debra Michaels, Akim Mogaji, Taiwo Payne
1990
SONG AND DANCE
(1st Revival)
Photo by Donald Cooper
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre,
April 25th
( 45 Performances - Limited season)
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
Marti Webb
This was a limited 6 week season,
See Original London production :
Palace Theatre April 1985
THE MERRY WIDOW
(9th Revival)
London run: Sadler’s Wells , May 22nd (In repertoire)
Music: Franz Lehar
Lyrics: Christopher Hassall
Director: Wilfred Judd
Choreographer: Jenny Weston
Musical Director: Stephen Barlow
Producer: Opera 80
Cast: Heather Lorrimer, Eleanor Bennet, Richard Halton,
Andrew Forbes-Lane, Ian Platt, Charles Johnston, Lynne McAdam,
Sally-Anne Middleton, Gemma Carrurhers
Notes: Revivals:
(1st) Daly’s, May 1923 ( Evelyn Laye & Carl Brisson)
(2nd)1924 (Nancie Lovat & Carl Brisson)
(3rd) Her Majesty’s , March 1943 (Madge Elliott & Cyril Ritchard)
(4th) 1944 (Madge Elliott & Cyril Ritchard)
(5th) Stoll Theatre, April 1952 (Margaret Mitchell & Peter Graves)
(6th) Palace Theatre, 1955 (Marta Eggerth & Jan Kiepura)
(7th) Sadler’s Wells, January 1958 (June Bronhill & Thomas Round)
(8th) Cambridge Theatre, February 1969 (Lizbeth Webb & John Rhys Evans)
Above: First London production:
Daly’s Theatre, June 1907
Lily Elsie & Joseph Coyne)
Left:
Sadler’s Wells, 1990
4
1990
5
BERNADETTE
London run: Dominion Theatre, June 21st (28 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Gwyn & Maureen Hughes
Book: Gwyn & Maureen Hughes
Director: Ernest Maxim
Choreographer: Pat Dennison
Musical Director: David Beer
Producer: William Z. Fonfé
Cast: Natalie Wright (Bernadette Soubrious), Nikki Ankara (Louise Soubrious),
Meredith Braun (Camille), Terry Mitchell (Philippe), William Pool,
Chris van Cleve, Robin Samson, Drew Millar.
(One of the children in the show was Martine McCutcheon)
Songs: You Are The Reason, I Only Want to See a Light, Only Fools Ignore a Child, Bernadette’s a Liar,
Where You Are I Will Be, God Answer Me, Love Goes On
Story: The true story of Bernadette Soubrious, a young peasant girl who had a vision of the Virgin Mary at
Lourdes in 1858. One day, guided by her Lady, Bernadette discovered a spring of water at Massabielle, a
spring to which cures are attributed. This story is combined with the (fictional) story of a widowed drunkard,
Philippe, whose wife died giving birth to their daughter, Camille. As Camille grows to look more and more
like her mother, Philippe blames her for her mother’s death and begins to beat her. Camille is supported by her
childhood friend, Henri, and when she is thrown out of her home by her drunken father, Camille and Henri plan
to marry. But things change. Is it the waters which cause Phillipe to change his way of life? Is it the waters
which give Camille the strength to forgive her father?
Notes: The husband and wife team who wrote this show were supported by the Daily Mirror, who urged their
readers to become “angels” and invest in this, the “peoples’ musical”. Hundreds of readers contributed small
sums, and a former chauffeur put up £500,000 of his life’s savings, thus raising the £1.25 million needed. The
opening night was cheered to the rafters by a house packed with hundreds of investors, but the critics were
damning (“three thousand angels and not a prayer”, “Pass the loaves and fishes, they need a miracle”). Despite
a blessing from the Pope for the cast and authors, and the investors coming up with more money, the show
came off after 3 weeks, losing all its investment.
THE FABULOUS SINGLETTES
London run: Comedy Theatre, July 10 (39 Performances)
Music: Various
Director: Wayne A. Findlay
Choreographer: Henry Metcalfe
Producer: Bill Kenwright
Cast: Alison Jiear, Naomi Eyers, Simone Dee (The Fabulous Singlettes)
Story: A revised version of the show
“Stop in the Name of Love” which
had played 104 performances at the
Piccadilly Theatre in 1988. However,
this time Lisa Shipley had been
replaced with Simone Dee. This
show was brought in as a quick
“filler”.
See: Stop in the Name of Love,
Piccadilly Theatre, August 1988
6
1990
ROCKY HORROR SHOW (1st Revival)
Cast : Jonathan Adams (Narrator),
Tim McInnerney (Frank-n-Furter),
Adam Caine (Rocky Horror), Adrian Edmonson (Brad),
Gina Bellman (Janet), Edward Tudor-Pole (Riff-Raff),
Mary Maddox (Magenta), Linda Davidson (Columbia),
Gordon Kennedy(Eddie/Dr Scott)
For the past eight years the Theatre Royal Hanley/Kenneth
More Theatre production of “Rocky Horror Show” had been
touring the UK non-stop with
enormous success, breaking box
office records everywhere and creating its own nation-wide cult following. On
several occasions the tour had been invited to stage a West End season, but Richard
O’Brien regularly refused permission, and decided to stage a revival under his own
management. Under standard rules at the time, a West End revival meant a 50 mile
radius of London embargo on any provincial productions, thus forcing the touring
production to end. Adam Caine (as Rocky) was the only member of the original tour
invited to appear in the West End revival. This revival ran for just under a year.
Notes: See original production: Theatre Upstairs (Royal Court), June 19th 1973
Transferred to the Comedy Theatre, April 1979
THE FANTASTICKS (2nd Revival)
London run: Open Air Theatre, July 24th (Limited
Summer run)
Music: Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics: Tom Jones
Director: Ian Talbot
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield
Musical Director: Catherine Jayes
Cast: Erick Ray Evans (El Gallo), Emma Amos (Luisa),
Anthony Barclay (Matt), Anthony O’Donnell (Bellamy),
Roy Hudd (Hucklebee), Basil Hoskins (Henry),
Mark Addy (Mortimer),
Jonathan Markwood & Rachel Pittmann (The Mutes)
Notes: See Original production: Apollo Theatre,
September 1961
First revival: Hampstead Theatre Club, May 1970
Roy Hudd, Erick Ray Evans & Anthony O’Donnell
Photo by Alastair Muir
Photo by Chris Ridley
London run: Piccadilly Theatre, July 16th
(392 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Richard O’Brien
Director: Robin Lefevre
Choreographer: Stuart Hopps
Musical Director: Dave Brown
Producer: Christopher Malcolm & Howard Panter,
Rocky Horror London Ltd
1990
7
THE FROGS
London run: Old Brentford Swimming Pool, July 24th - August 4th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Burt Shevelove
Director: John Gardyne
Choreographer: Ron Howell
Musical Director: Helen Porter
Producer: Community Opera in Ealing
Cast : Rory Johnstone (Bernard Shaw), John Sheppard (Pluto), Geoff Sanders (Shakespeare),
Richard Zajdlic (Dionysos), Bob Husson (Xanthias), Ian Temple (Herakles), Steve Pavey (Charon),
Anne O'Brien (Virilla), Bronwen James (Charisma), Peter Saracen (Aeakos)
Songs: Prologos: Invocation to the Gods and Instructions to the Audience, Parodos: The Frogs, Hymnos: Evoe! ,
Parabasis: It's Only a Play , Invocation to the Muses , Exodos: The Sound of Poets .
Notes: This was originally written for the Yale Repertory Theatre and performed in the Yale swimming baths
(since the Frogs are aquatic creatures!)
This original production is most famous for
having Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver
and Christopher Durang in the chorus.
This British premiere was a community
opera venture with a mixture of
professional and amateur performers
running for two weeks at a public
swimming pool in West London. In 2004
the show was greatly expanded, re-written
and given several new songs for a
Broadway production which managed just
92 performances following a critical
drubbing.
SHOWBOAT (3rd Revival)
London run: London Palladium, August 1st (76 Performances - Limited run)
Music: Jerome Kern
Lyrics & Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Director: Ian Judge
Choreographer: Lindsay Dolan
Musical Director: Wyn Davies
Cast: Sally Burgess/Marilyn Cutts (Julie),
Peter Savidge/Richard Halton (Ravenal),
Janis Kelly/ Jan Hartley Morris (Magnolia),
Bruce Hubbard (Joe), Geoffrey Hutchings,
Margaret Courtenay, Philip Gould, Karla Burns,
Anna Daventry
Notes: This was a joint production between the
RSC and Opera North and played a nine week
season at the Palladium prior to a national tour.
Original London production: Drury Lane 1928
First revival: London, 1943
Second revival: Adelphi, June 1971
Photo by Alan Reevel
Story: Freely adapted from the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, Dionysus, despairing of the quality of
living dramatists, travels to Hades to debate with George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare as to which is
the better playwright. He ultimately decides to bring back Shakespeare, thus improving the world and its political
situation. Crossing the river Styx involves dealing with Charon, the Boatman, and the many frogs who attempt to
prevent entry. Getting into Hades involves dealing with Herakles and other classical figures.
1990
8
LET MY PEOPLE COME (1st Revival)
London run: Boulevard Theatre, August 21st (126 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Earl Wilson Jr.
Director: Johnny Worthy
Musical Director: Christopher Littlewood
Producer: Bernard Jay
Cast: Amanda Burdett, Mike Evans, Lee Hannibal, Deborah Hardy,
Adrian Jeckells, Marinka Lienka, Jon Osbaldeston, Andrew Witshire
This revival was originally intended to run up to Christmas, but came off two weeks
early when the business died away.
See: Original London production, Regent Theatre, August 1974
INTO THE WOODS
London run: Phoenix Theatre, September 25th (167 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: James Lapine
Director: Richard Jones
Choreographer: Anthony van Laast
Musical Director: Peter Stanger
Producer: David Mirvisch
Cast: Nicholas Parsons (Narrator), Julia McKenzie (Witch),
Richard Dempsey (Jack), Patsy Rowlands (Jack’s Mother),
Ian Bartholomew (Baker), Imelda Staunton (Baker’s Wife),
Jacqueline Dankworth (Cinderella), Mary Lincoln (Rapunzel),
Tessa Burbridge (Red Riding Hood), Clive Carter (Cinderella’s Prince),
Mark Tinkler (Rapunzel’s Prince), Eunice Gayson
Songs: Hello Little Girl, I Know Things Now, Giants in the Sky, Agony, It Takes Two, Last Midnight, No
More, Children Will Listen
Story: The story brings together Cinderella and her Prince, Jack the Giant Killer, Little Red Riding Hood and
the Wolf, Rapuzel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty together with two original characters, the Baker and his
Wife and mixes them up in an allegorical tale looking at the darker side of fairy stories. The themes of the
show are communal responsibility and the importance of caring about other people, and passing on decent
values to our children.
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
Notes: The original Broadway production ran for 764 performances in 1987 following a series of workshops
and try-outs. The London production ran just five months, but won Olivier Awards for Best Director and Best
Actress in a Musical (Imelda Staunton).
Jacqueline Dankworth, Ian Bartholomew, Imedla Staunton & Richard Dempsey
1990
9
FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE
London run: Theatre Royal, Stratford East October 22nd – November 24th
Transferred to Lyric Theatre December 14th – 4 March 1995
Transferred to the Albery, 25th May 1995 - 13th January 1996
(Total 2,054 Performances)
Music: Louis Jordan
Lyrics: Various
Book: Clarke Peters
Director: Paulette Randall
Choreographer: Charles Augins
Musical Director: Neil McArthur
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Clarke Peters (Four Eyed Moe – Stratford), C. Derricks-Carroll (Four Eyed Moe – Lyric),
Kenny Andrews (Big Moe), Paul J. Medford (Little Moe), Peter Alex Newton (No Moe),
Omar Okai (Eat Moe), Dig Wayne (Nomax)
Cast: Transfer to Albery Theatre May 1995: Tee Jaye Jenkins, Trent Kendall, Jason Pennycooke,
Richard D. Sharp, Feruma Williams , Monroe Kent III (Nomax)
Songs: Messy Bessy, I Like ‘Em Fat Like That, Safe Sane and Single, Choo Choo Boogie, Is You Is or Is You
Ain’t My Baby, Don’t Let the Sun Catch you Crying
Notes: Paulette Randall was
credited as director at Stratford, but
when the show came to London her
name had disappeared and the
Charles Augins was credited as
Director-Choreographer. The show
involved audience participation,
with the audience invited to join a
conga line through the auditorium
during the intervals and out into the
street after the show. Under the
slogan “The Joint Never Stops
Jumpin’” this was a long-running
success. In April 1992 it was recreated on Broadway for a year’s
run and 445 performances.
Photo by Anthony Crickmay
Story: The lovelorn Nomax is drowning his sorrows and listening to the blues on an old-fashioned wireless.
The radio machine explodes and out of it comes Five Moes – straight out of a Louis Jordan song – and they
proceed to put him right about women and love, and get him to snap out of his misery
Omar Okai, Peter Alex Newton, Clarke Peters, Kenny Andrews,
& Paul J. Medford with black-suited Dig Wayne.
THE VACKEES
London run: Lyric Hammersmith, November 13 (6 Performances – Limited Run)
Music: Carl Davis
Book & Lyrics: Hiawyn Oram
Director: Mick Fitzmaurice
Musical Director: Fraser Skeoch
Cast: Simon Fenton (Kip)
Songs: The Battle of Darchett Hill, Glamour, Blimey London Grimy London
Story: Set at the outbreak of the Second World War, this is the story of the invasion of a Somerset village by
child evacuees from London - the Vackees - and their adventures with the (at first) hostile native children. The
musical centres around a young London lad, Kip, and follows his first experiences of love and war.
Notes: Following a three day try out at the Westminster Theatre in March 1990, this show was revived at
Hammersmith. It was specially written to include a large number of school-children and to mark the 50th
Anniversary of the Blitz on London.
1990
10
JUST SO
London run: Tricycle, Kilburn, November 20th (62 Performances)
Music: George Stiles
Lyrics: Anthony Drew
Director: Mike Ockrent
Choreographer: Anthony van Laast
Musical Director: Kate Young
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Gary Bond (Eldest Magician), Sharon Benson (Zebra),
Martyn Ellis (Rhino), Linzi Hateley (Kolokolo Bird) ,
Richard Henders (Elephant Child), Clive Rowe (Parsee Man),
Jenna Russell (Dingo), David Schneider (Kangaroo),
Nadia Strachan (Giraffe),
Clinton Derricks & Carroll Vincent Leigh (Pau Amma)
Songs: Another Tempest, There's No Harm In Asking, The Limpopo
River, The Parsee Cake-Walk, Pick Up Your Hooves, Does The Moment
Ever Come?, Please Don't Touch My Stove, Little One Come Hither, If.
Story: The Eldest Magician creates a brave new jungle world, but the
animals are threatened by the crab, Pau Amma, who floods the land. The
Elephant’s Child and the Kolokolo Bird set out for the Limpopo River to
stop the flooding. Along the way they discover how the leopard got his
spots, the elephant got his trunk, and the rhinoceros his skin.
Notes: The first version of this show won the Vivian Ellis Award in 1985, after which it was given a try-out at
the Watermill Theatre, Newbury in 1989, directed by Julia McKenzie. This London fringe premiere was the
launching pad for its very successful ongoing productions at regional and amateur theatres everywhere.