2000
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER
1
London run: Bridewell, January 10th – February 12th
Music: Burton Lane
Book & Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner
Director: Carol Metcalfe
Choreographer: Lisa Kent
Musical Director: James Dodgson
Photo by Sheila Burnett
Cast: Harry Burton (Dr Mark Bruckner), Jenna Russell (Daisy/Melinda),
Julian Duncan, Rachel Mulcahy, Jennifer Lee Jellicorse, Maurice Clarke,
Rosemary Williams, Martin Johnston, Charles Baker.
Songs: Hurry It’s Lovely Up Here, On a Clear Day, On the SS Bernard
Cohn, She Wasn’t You, What Did I Have that I Don’t Have?, Wait Till
We’re Sixty-Five, Come Back to Me
Story: This is the story of a kooky Brooklyn girl,
Daisy Gamble, who can predict the future and
who exhibits signs of extra-sensory-perception
(Apparently, Alan Jay Lerner was personally
Jenna Russell & Harry Burton
very interested in this subject.) In order to quit
smoking she visits Dr Mark Bruckner, and under hypnosis, reveals that in a former
life she was a spunky heiress named Melinda Wells in 18th Century London. Daisy
falls in love with Mark, but Mark falls in love with the long-dead Melinda, causing
problems for Daisy, who finds she is loved when in a trance, but scorned when wide
awake.
Notes: Premiered in New York in 1965, this ran for just 280 performances with
Barbara Harris and John Cullum (replacing Louis Jordan who was dropped after the
Boston tryout.) It was filmed in 1970 with Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. This
was its British premiere, and received very mixed notices.
FOSSE, The Musical
London run: Prince of Wales, February 8th (383 performances)
Music: Various
Conceived by Richard Maltby Jr, Chet Walker & Ann Reinking
Director: Richard Maltby Jr & Ann Reinking
Choreographer: Bob Fosse recreated by Chet Walker & Ann Reinking
Musical Director: Fraser Skeoch
Cast: Nicola Hughes, Daniel Crossley, Simon Archer, Darren Gibson, Jacqui
Jameson, Jill-Louise Hydes, Jacqui Boatswain
Songs: Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries,
Bye Bye Blackbird, Big Spender, Hooray
for Hollywood, I Wanna Be a Dancin’
Man, I Love a Piano, Steam Heat, Cool Hand Luke, Mein Herr,
Razzle-Dazzle, Mr Bojangles
Story: This was a compilation of dances created by Bob Fosse
from his days as a nightclub performer through to his final
production “Big Deal”. Six of the 27 numbers were repeated from
the 1978 production “Dancin’”. There was no narration, and the
dances were not presented chronologically, but all centred around
the Fosse hallmarks: snapping fingers, bent knees and elbows,
turned out legs, gloves and hats.
Notes: The 1999 New York production ran for 1,093
performances. The London run was eleven months, closing on
January 6th 2001 – 383 performances
2000
CHILDREN OF EDEN (1st Revival)
2
London run: Landor, February 10th – March 4th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz
Book: John Caird
Director: Sue Colgrave
Musical Director: Adeen Ashton
Cast: Stuart Liddle (God), Ian Brandon (Adam),
Melitsa Nicola (Eve), Nikki Tate (Snake),
Stephen Lloyd-Morgan (Cain), David O’Dell (Noah),
Matt Dineen (Japheth), Leigh-Ann Stone (Mama Noah)
Nine years earlier this show had flopped in the West End,
with one critic wise-cracking “Excuse me, where’s the
nearest Exodus?”. This fringe revival did not fare any better, being described as a strange, rather dull musical,
and the remark “like any good musical, this one needs a good book rather than simply plundering the Good
Book itself.”
Notes: Original London Production: Prince Edward, January 1991
SWEENEY TODD (One night special)
London run: Royal Festival Hall, Sunday 13th February
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Book: Hugh Wheeler
Director: Paul Kerryson; Musical Director: Julian Kelly
This was a special 20th Anniversary concert performance in
aid of Crusaid—with a very special cast:
Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd), Judy Kaye (Mrs Lovett),
Davis Gaines (Anthony Hope), Mark Roper (Judge Turpin),
Annalene Beechey (Johanna), Michael Cantwell (Tobias),
Pia Douwes (Beggar Woman), Neil Jenkins (Beadle),
John Owen Jones (Pirelli)
POISON
London run: Tricycle, February 21st – April 1st
Music & Lyrics: David Kramer & Taliep Petersen
Book adaptation: Jenny McLeod
Director: David Kramer
Choreographer: Mykal Rand
Musical Director: Taliep Petersen
Cast: Mykal Rand (Michael), Shelley Williams (Nita),
Koffi Missah (Lyric), Guy Burgess (Poison),
Claudia Cadette (Pamela), Nigel Clauzel (Lucky),
Horace Oliver (Shaggy)
Songs: Friday Night, Just Say No
Story: Michael is a drugs baron and his girlfriend Nita an aspiring singer. Nita’s songs are written by the
talented Lyric, a crack-addict. The drug dealer, Poison, falls foul of Michael and gets his fingers lopped off as a
warning. In revenge he sows seeds of doubt in Michael’s mind, suggesting Nita and Lyric are having an affair,
even though Lyric is in a steady relationship with Pamela, Nita’s friend and an anti-drugs campaigner. A
misplaced red scarf is all it takes to turn the whole thing into a tragedy.
Notes: By the same team that wrote “Kat & The Kings”, this was originally an anti-drugs South African
musical set in Cape Town and based on Shakespeare’s “Othello”. For the London production the setting was
changed to Harlesden in North London. In spite of some praise for the songs (23 of them!) the general critical
advice to theatregoers was “Just say no”.
2000
3
AFTER THE FAIR
London run: King’s Head, March 28th – April 9th
Music: Matthew Ward
Lyrics: Stephen Cole
Director: Raymond White
Cast: Rebecca Lock (Anna), Robert Irons (Charles),
Nicola Dewdney (Mrs Harnham), Terrence Hardiman (Mr Harnham)
Photo by Ash Scott Lockyer
Songs: The World at my Window, Between the Lines, Your Words Were
Music, Just in Case, Summer Fancy, A Spot of Tea, Beloved, Men and Wives
Rebecca Lock & Robert Irons
Story: The annual fair has come to Melchester and Mr and Mrs Harnham are
happy for their maid, Anna, to have the evening off and enjoy herself. At the
fair Anna meets Charles, a dashing young London lawyer and falls in love. He
sends her a letter, and because she can neither read nor write, her mistress
replies for her. The Harnhams marriage is a loveless one, and the emotions
expressed in “Anna’s” letters amaze Charles, who started off regarding the
whole affair as a passing fancy. The letter writers fall in love – on paper at
least – and then the maid finds she’s pregnant.
Notes: Based on a Thomas Hardy story, this had already been turned into a play by Frank Harvey (and was a West
End hit with Deborah Kerr and Julia Foster in 1972 at the Lyric). This chamber musical version, written for four
characters and a quartet of musicians playing cello, woodwind and keyboards, was written by two Americans and had
originally premiered in Dallas. It was highly praised for its music, lyrics, wit and charm. (The story has virtually the
same plot as “Cyrano de Bergerac”, but Hardy’s story was written in 1891 – seven years before Rostand’s play. )
LAUTREC
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, April 6th - (84 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Charles Aznavour
English lyrics: Dee Shipman
Book: Shaun McKenna
Director: Rob Bettinson
Choreographer: Quinny Sacks
Musical Director: Stephen Brokker
Cast: Sévan Stephan (Henri Toulouse-Lautrec), Hannah Waddingham (Suzanne Valadon),
Jill Martin (Adele), Nigel Williams (Alphonse), Martin Fisher (Gabriel),
Peter Gallagher (Aristide Bruant), Sadie Nine (La Goulue), David Langham,
Alexander Delamere, Wendy Lee
Taylor, Richard Gauntlett,
Roz McCutcheon, Jon Emmanuel,
Nic Greenshields
Songs: The Honour of the Family, The Child inside the Man, Love
is a Pain, Me and You, The Can Can, Let Him Be Free Now, When
You Love Me, Waltz and Let’s Drink
Story: This is the life-story of the diminutive artist Toulouse
Lautrec, and skips through his endless battles with his in-bred
aristocratic family, his possessive mother Adele, his troubled
relationship with prostitute-turned-artist’s-model, Suzanne Valdon,
his inferiority complex, his addiction to Montmartre brothels and
absinthe, his incarceration in a lunatic asylum as a syphilitic wreck,
and his ultimate death before the age of forty.
Notes: Praised for its lavish scenery and costumes, the rest of the
show was heavily criticised with phrases like “a poorly structured
and under-written book”, “dreary music and trite lyrics”. It ran for
just ten weeks.
Sevan Stephan as Toulouse Lautrec
2000
4
THE VILLAINS’ OPERA
London run: Lyttleton Theatre, April 11th – June 10th (repertoire)
Music: Stephen Warbeck
Book & Lyrics: Nick Dear
Adapted from The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay
Director: Tim Supple
Choreographer: Jane Gibson
Musical Director: Neil McArthur
Cast: David Burt (Peachum), Alexander Hanson (Macheath),
Madeleine Worrall (Polly), Elizabeth Renihan (Lucy),
Oliver Cotton (Inspector Lockit), Beverley Klein (Mrs Peachum),
Clive Rowe (Mr Big), Sally Ann Triplett (Anne)
Story: Set in contemporary London, where Mr Peachum is a Woolwich magistrate, pub-owner and fence for a
bunch of small-time villains headed by Macheath (Mack the Gun). Macheath has secretly married Peachum’s
daughter, Polly, and at the same time impregnated Lucy, daughter of Police Inspector Lockitt. Macheath, aiming
high, uses a garden fork to puncture both the ego and person of the drugs- and crime- baron, Mr Big – but ends up
betrayed and on his way to the scaffold.
Notes: Clearly yet another “update” on “The Beggar’s Opera” this one fell flat on its face. With expensive and
lavish scenery, a 30-strong company , a ten-piece band, and a composer who had just won an Oscar for his score of
“Shakespeare in Love” it should have worked – but it didn’t. It was generally regarded as inferior to the original and
to the Brecht/Weill “Threepenny Opera”, and for most critics it was “brash, crude and ultimately offensive”, and
“doesn’t possess a single redeeming quality”.
THE KING AND I (6th Revival)
London run: London Palladium, May 3rd – (691 performances)
Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics & Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Director: Christopher Renshaw
Choreographer: Jerome Robbins
Musical Director: John Owen Edwards
Producers: David Ian, QDOS, etc.
This production originated in Australia in 1995, then moved to Broadway with Donna Murphy
and Lou Diamond Phillips and Taewon Yi Kim. After 780 performances in New York it
transferred to London, and opened “to the largest box office advance in theatrical hyperbole”.
It was described as lavish and sumptuous, though the sheer weight of the spectacle, parades and displays tended to
slow down the show, giving it a running time
in excess of three hours. After 3 months Jason
Scott Lee left because of family problems and
was replaced by his understudy, Paul
Nagauchi. In April 2001 the principal roles
were taken by Josie Lawrence and Yeo. The
show ran for a year and 8 months, finishing at
the beginning of January, 2002.
Notes: See original London production,
Drury Lane, June 1953
1st revival: Adelphi, October 1973
2nd revival: London Palladium, June 1979
3rd revival: Sadler’s Wells, Feb & June 1991
4th revival: Freemason’s Hall, May 1995
5th revival: BAC Main, December 1998
Elaine Paige & Jason Scott Lee
Photo by Michael Le Poer Trench
Cast: Elaine Paige (Anna), Jason Scott Lee (King), Taewon Yi Kim (Lady Thiang),
Aura Deva (Tuptim), Sean Ghazi (Lun Tha), Robin Kermode (Sir Edward), Richard Avery,
Miguel Diaz, Ho Yi
2000
5
THE ULTIMATE MAN
London run: Bridewell, May 5th – 27th
Music: Alastair King
Lyrics: Paul Gambaccini & Jane Edith Wilson
Book: Jane Edith Wilson
Director-Choreographer: Paul Tomkinson
Musical Director: Annemarie Lewis Thomas
Cast: Michael Howe (Joe Barino), Nicola Blackman (Thrifty Bazaar), Craig Purnell (Ultimate Man),
Lorraine Graham (Cathy Cookie), Howard Samuels (Rex Ringer), Maureen Taylor (Beth), Paul Bartlett,
Patrick Clancy, Charlotte Thornton
Songs: Surround Yourself with My Love, So Good to be Bad, Halfway Round the Moon
Story: Joe Barino is a cartoonist responsible for the action-hero, caped crusader Ultimate Man. His agent,
Thrifty Bazaar, insists that the way to deal with falling sales of the comic is for Joe to kill off Ultimate Man’s
female sidekick, Cathy Cookie. However, in a blurring of the real and the comic world, Ultimate Man comes
to real life to plead for Cathy’s life. Sadly, by coming to the real world, he has lost all his super powers.
However, the comic-book villain, Rex Ringer, also comes to the real world – and his evil powers are actually
increased. He plans to take over the entire real world as well as the comic world, and makes a start by aiming
to steal Joe’s real-life girl-friend, Beth.
Notes: With a score of pastiche 50s and 60s pop tunes, this was a camp homage to comic-book Americana.
PAGEANT
London run: King’s Head, May 15th – July 9 (Eight weeks)
Transferred to Vaudeville, August 1st (71 performances)
Music: Albert Evans
Book & Lyrics: Bill Russell & Frank Kelly
Conceived by: Robert Longbottom
Director: Bill Russell
Choreographer: Warren Carlyle
Musical Director: Elliot Davis
Cast: Lionel Blair (Frankie Cavalier), Graham MacDuff (Miss Texas),
Dale Mercer (Miss Deep South), Michael Xavier (Miss Great Plains),
Eaton James (Miss Bible Belt), Leon Maurice-Jones (Miss Industrial North East),
Miles Western (Miss West Coast)
Story: Frankie Cavalier is the MC at a beauty contest to find Miss Glamouresse of 2001. The girls parade in
evening gowns and swimsuits, and then comes the devastating moment when they open their mouths to tell us
of their ambitions and plans if they win. In between there are
commercial interludes sponsoring the Glamouresse range of beauty
products: facial fillers for open pores, solar hair-rollers and strap-on
deodorants. Miss Texas does a tap-dance to gun shots; Miss Deep
South sings Dixie songs with her ventriloquist dummies; Miss Great
Plains is “never so happy as when breeding live-stock”; Miss Bible
Belt aims to “spread the Gospel through tele-marketing”; Miss
Industrial North East is “studying hair styling by mail”; and Miss
West Coast intends in the future to “live in the past”. Finally the
audience are asked to vote on the winner. (To add to the beauty, all
the girls are played by men en travestie – hairy chests and armpits on
display!)
Notes: With perma-tanned Lionel Blair standing in at the last
moment as the compère, this was a gloriously camp send-up of the
“brain-dead bimbos who pout and wiggle their way through beauty
contests”. It originated off-Broadway. Following some excellent
notices, the production transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre, where
it survived a further eight week run.
Michael Xavier as Miss Great Plains
2000
6
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
London run: Dominion Theatre, May 23rd - (575 performances)
Music: Richard Cocciante
Book & Lyrics: Luc Plamondon
English Lyrics: Will Jennings
Director: Gilles Maheu
Choreographer: Martino Muller
Producer: Michael White
Cast: Garou/Ian Pirie (Quasimodo), Tina Arena/Hazel Fernandes (Esmeralda),
Steve Balsamo/Dean Collinson (Phoebus), Daniel Lavoie/Fred Johanson (Frollo),
Luck Mervil/Carl Abraham Ellis (Clopin), Bruno Pelletier/Alexis James (Gringoire)
Songs: Live for the One I Love, The Age of the Cathedrals, The Refugees. Belle,
My Heart If You Will Swear, Torn Apart, The Bells, Your Love Will Kill Me, God
You Made the World All Wrong, The Bird They Put in Cages, Dance My
Esmeralda
Story: Quasimodo loves Esmeralda, but she loves Captain Phoebus, already
engaged to Fleur de Lys but flattered by the gipsy girl’s attentions. Meantime the
priest, Frollo, harbours carnal desires for Esmeralda and, egged on by Gringoire,
jealously tries to stab Phoebus to death. Esmeralda is accused of the attempted murder and imprisoned. Frollo
offers to help her escape in return for sexual favours, but Quasimodo frees her and hides her in the belfry at
Notre Dame Cathedral. The homeless refugee Clopin and his gang invade the cathedral to free Esmeralda, but
the invaders are attacked by Captain Phoebus and his regiment. Clopin is killed. Frollo betrays the hiding
place of Esmeralda and Phoebus is forced to arrest her and announce she will hang. Quasimodo throws Frollo
from the top of the belfry and rushes to save Esmeralda. He is too late. He retrieves her corpse and dies
alongside her.
Notes: This sung-through French-Canadian musical based on Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
had opened in Paris in 1998 to phenomenal success. It began life as a concept album and the production was
effectively a massive rock-concert, lavishly staged with acrobatics, gymnastics, trapeze-work, spectacular
choreography involving body-popping, abseiling and “political” updating with the chorus portrayed as asylumseeking refugees. It was performed to pre-recorded music tracks (with a live string quintet playing extracts
from the score in the circle bar during the interval to satisfy the outrage from the Musicians Union). In spite of
its massive success in
Paris and Quebec, it was
slaughtered by the
London critics. The very
few who managed to
appreciate the music and
admire the effects agreed
with the many who
derided the lyrics, the
scenery, costumes and the
sheer overwhelming
vulgarity of the staging
and concept. In spite of
bad notices, it survived a
16 month run, closing at
the start of October, 2001
Garou
as Quasimodo
2000
7
HARD TIMES
London run: Theatre Royal Haymarket, June 6th (95 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Chris Tookey & Hugh Thomas
Director: Christopher Tookey
Choreographer: Craig Revel Horwood
Musical Director: James Burton
Cast: Brian Blessed (Dickens/Gradgrind), Roy Hudd (Samuel Sleary),
Ann Emery (Mrs Sleary/Mrs Gradgrind), Helen Anker (Louisa),
Malcolm Rennie (Bounderby), Peter Blake (Harthouse), Susan-Jane Tanner,
Matt Rawle, Ray C. Davis
Songs: The Greatest Show On Earth, One Of These Days, When I Was A
Boy, Spring, Another Town Tomorrow , A Modern Marriage Pact , Haven’t
We Met?
Story:
Dickens’ hard-hitting novel about the brutal realities and
materialistic spirit of Victorian industrial capitalism is presented in a stylised
pantomime, music-hall and circus format, with the circus performers acting act out the story of Hard Times.
Charles Dickens himself is prevailed upon to play the role of the grim Thomas Gradgrind. The characters
include Mrs Gradgrind (who at one point jumps out of her coffin to join in a tap-dance); their daughter, Louisa,
who is married off to Bounderby, the callous humbug; and the villainous rake, Harthouse, who preys on poor
Louisa.
Notes: The circus-format derived from the appearance in the novel of Samuel Sleary’s travelling circus, but
the whole jolly format came over as a send-up of the novel, rather than a musical. The musical style ranged
from Gilbert & Sullivan to romantic ballads and vaudeville numbers and the show itself was amiable, silly and
old fashioned. With Brian Blessed (“never knowingly underplayed”) and Roy Hudd in an extension of his
glorious music-hall acts, this was a curious mish-mash, and came off on August 26th after just three months.
SWEENEY TODD (4th Revival)
London run: Bridewell, June 7th – July 15th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Hugh Wheeler
Director: Richard James
Musical Director: Stuart Pedlar
Cast: Michael McLean (Sweeney Todd), Jessica Martin (Mrs Lovett),
Joshua Dallas (Anthony), Mark Inscoe (Judge Turpin), Sophie Millett (Joanna),
Michael Kerry (Tobias), Ian Mowat (Pirelli), Dianne Pilkington (Beggar Woman)
Marking the 20th anniversary of the original London production, this was given a
“promenade” type production inside the Bridewell Theatre.
Jessica Martin &
Michael McLean
Photo by Eda Palian
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
2000
8
London run: Victoria Palace, June 8th
(52 performances)
Transfer: Piccadilly Theatre,
August 21st (192 performances)
Music: Laurence O’Keefe &
Stephen Keeling
Lyrics: John Claflin &
Laurence O’Keefe
Additional lyrics: Shaun McKenna
Book: Dana Broccoli
Director: Steven Dexter
Choreographer: Mitch Sebastian
Musical Director: Michael Haslam
Cast: Oliver Tobias (King Roderic),
Julie-Alanah Brighten (Florinda),
David Bardsley (General Espatorias),
Daniel Redmond (Somal),
Richard Woodford, David Bardsley & Patrick Romer
Paul Keating (Agon),
Patrick Romer (Archbishop),
Joshua Bancel (Tariq), Richard Woodford (Marcus), Marilyn Cutts, Luke Evans
Songs: A Place I am Proud to Call Mine, I Will Hold You, Little Girl, My Dream Came True, Within These
Walls, Why Did I Kiss Her?, A Woman's Hands, Say Goodbye, What Would You Do for Your Child?
Story: Roderic, the last Visigoth King of Spain, falls in love with Florinda, the daughter of General Espatorias.
But the ambitious Florinda is secretly in love with young Somal, and when Somal is killed by Roderic , her
revenge includes falsely accusing the King of rape. Abetted by a scheming eunuch,
Agon, and an evil Archbishop, she persuades her father to join with the Muslim
leader, Tariq, and fight against King Roderic. Thus the Moorish conquest of Spain
begins. However, Florinda, too late, genuinely falls in love with King Roderic, and
the outcome can only be all-round tragedy.
Notes: Dana Broccoli was the widow of the legendary producer of the James Bond
films, and a successful novelist in her own right. This lavishly funded production
was magnificently staged with spectacular battle-scenes. The notices were mixed,
though generally they tipped towards the view that the audience would certainly get
its money’s worth and lovers of great romantic, spectacular over-blown epics would
have a great night’s entertainment. After seven weeks at the Victoria Palace it
transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre and finally closed after a total run of eight
months, closing February 3rd, 2001
PERSONALS (1st revival)
London run: Apollo Theatre, June 15th (52 performances)
Music: Various
Book & Lyrics: David Crane, Seth Friedman, Marta Kaufman
Director: Dion McHugh
Choreographer: Sam Spencer-Lane
Musical Director: Matthew Freeman
Cast: Cameron Blakely (Louis), Martin Callaghan (Typesetter),
Marcus Allen Cooper (Sam), Christina Fry (Louise), Carmen Cusack (Kim),
Vicki Simon (Claire)
With the same production team – but a few cast changes – this was a re-creation
of the show that had been performed on the fringe in September 1998. It ran just
over 6 weeks.
Original London run: New End, September 1998
Photo by Hugo Glendinning
Photo by John Haynes
LA CAVA
2000
9
PIRATES OF PENZANCE (2nd Revival)
London run: Open Air Theatre, July 28th – September 5th
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics: W.S.Gilbert
Director: Ian Talbot
Choreographer: Gillian Gregory
Musical Director: Catherine Jayes
Cast: Jimmy Johnston (Pirate King), Lucy Quick (Mabel), Paul Bradley (Major General),
Mark Umbers (Frederic), Gay Soper (Ruth), John Owen-Jones, Sara Hillier, Joanne Redman, Fiona Dunn,
Stephen Matthews
Notes: This was the second
ti me the Joseph Papp
adaptation had been staged in
London.
It had previously
been produced at Drury Lane
and the London Palladium.
Original London Production
of this version:
Drury Lane, May 1982
First revival:
London Palladium,
March 1990
Paul Bradley
as the Major General
EATING RAOUL
London run: Bridewell, August 30th – September 30th
Music: Jed Feuer
Lyrics: Boyd Graham
Book: Paul Bartel
Director: Rick Jacobs
Choreographer: Craig Revel Horwood
Musical Director: Nicholas O’Neill
Cast: Alison Jiear (Mary Bland), Michael Matus (Paul Bland), Eduardo Enrikez (Raoul), Richard Munday,
Jenny-Ann Topham, Ian Waller, David Hall, Joanne Henry, Kate Burrell
Songs: Meet the Blands, A Small Restaurant, Swing Swing Swing, A Thought Occurs, Victim Update,
Sexperts, Empty Bed, Tool For You, Think About Tomorrow, Hot Monkey Love, One Last Bop
Story: Paul and Mary Bland, a sweet, sexually repressed couple, scrimp and save to open a small restaurant out
in the country, far away from the pollution and violence of city life. But their savings are too small until by
chance a couple of sexual swingers turn up at their apartment, providing Paul and Mary with an idea: they start
luring their own kinky clientele, then bump them off with a well-aimed blow of the frying-pan, and steal their
money. But along comes Raoul, an extremely sexy Mexican maintenance man, who discovers their little game
and demands a cut of the spoils in return for helping them dispose of the bodies. But his demands become too
greedy. The solution? Give Raoul the old frying-pan treatment, and dispose of his remains by serving them up
as spare ribs on the menu of the Bland’s lovely new restaurant.
Notes: Based on Paul Bartel’s 1982 cult film, the musical version originally opened off-Broadway in 1992, and
subsequently received numerous regional and college productions. This was its British premiere.
2000
10
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (2nd Revival)
London run: Olivier Theatre, June 22nd – July 20th
Repeated: December 18th – January 27th 2001
Music: Nacio Herb Brown & others
Lyrics: Arthur Freed & others
Book: Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Director: Jude Kelly
Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Musical Director: Mark W. Dorrell
Producer: West Yorkshire Playhouse
Cast: Paul Robinson (Don Lockwood), Mark Channon (Cosmo Brown),
Zoe Hart (Kathy Selden), Rebecca Thornhill (Lina Lamont),
Tony Timberlake (Roscoe Dexter)
Notes: This was a visiting production from the West Yorkshire Playhouse, notable for the use of three screens
and computer graphics for some of the filmed sequences, for the well-handled “rain” sequence, but, above all,
for the muchp r a i s e d
choreography by
Stephen
Mear.
The production
returned to play
the
Christmas
season at the
Olivier with the
same
principal
cast.
See Original
London run:
London
Palladium,
June 1983
First revival:
London
Palladium,
June 1989
MOVING ON
London run: Bridewell, July 25th – August 19th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Devised by David Kernan & John Kane
Director: David Kernan
Choreographer: Warren Carlyle
Musical Director: David Laugharne
Cast: Geoffrey Abbot, Linzi Hateley, Belinda Lang, Robert Meadmore,
Angela Richards
Notes: This was a follow-up to “Side by Side by Sondheim”, with a similar format,
though this time using filmed sequences and recordings featuring Sondheim himself in
place of the earlier narrator. It was staged to mark Sondheim’s 70th birthday.
2000
11
COMPANY (2nd Revival)
London run: Greenwich Playhouse, July 13th – August 6th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: George Furth
Director: Ruth Carney
Choreographer: Susan Hann
Musical Director: Will Barnett
Photo by Paul Welch
Cast: Stephen Guilfoyle (Robert),
Julia Glass (Joanne), Jill Hunter (Kathy),
Emma Field (Sarah), Kate Rawson (Amy),
Jennifer Bryce (April), Orit Hadda (Jenny)
Jonathan Clarkson (David),
Matthew Hendrickson, Mark Hutchinson,
Adam Lee, Louise Linehan,
Michael Palmer, Catherine Reid
Notes: This was staged to mark Sondheim’s 70th birthday.
Original London run: Her Majesty’s, January 1972; First Revival: Donmar, December, 1995
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
Photo by London Evening Standard
London run: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, July 18th (255 performances)
Transferred to Prince of Wales, March 23rd 2001 (251 performances)
Lucie Arnaz, Joanna Riding, Maris Friedman & Ian McShane
2000
12
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
London run: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, July 18th (255 performances)
Transferred to Prince of Wales, March 23rd 2001 (251 performances)
Music: Dana P. Rowe
Book & Lyrics: John Dempsey
Director: Eric Schaeffer
Choreographer: Bob Avian & Stephen Mear
Musical Director: David White
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
Cast: Ian McShane (Darryl van Horne), Lucie Arnaz (Alexandra), Maria Friedman (Sukie),
Joanna Riding (Jane), Rosemary Ashe (Felicia), Stephen Tate (Clyde), Caroline Sheen, Julia Sutton,
Songs: Eastwick Knows, Make Him Mine, I Love a Little Town, Words Words Words, Dirty Laundry, Dance with
the Devil, Evil, Loose Ends, Who’s the Man
Story: Three bored divorcées in Eastwick, USA find their sex lives revitalised when the devilish Darryl van Horne
moves into the local mansion. Alexandra, the sarcastic sculptress, Sukie, the screwball teacher and Jane, the
buttoned-up musician, are all three attractive women in the first flush of middle-age, all starved of male attention,
and all believing they can find true bliss in shared sex sessions with the rich newcomer. The small-minded
townsfolk are very much against their new resident, and are led by the dowdy battle-axe, Felicia, and her totally
henpecked husband, Clyde, who is the editor of the local newspaper. Things get very out of hand when the three
housewives literally start flying around Darryl’s mansion. Then, tennis-balls, cherries and feathers start emerging
from Felicia’s mouth, and the town’s church starts collapsing under the weight of Darryl’s witchcraft.
Notes: Based on John Updike’s novel and the film version starring Jack Nicholson, the musical version initially
earned mostly positive reviews, but failed to fill the vast Drury Lane auditorium. After seven months it was replaced
with a scaled-down version and moved to the more intimate Prince of Wales Theatre. A number of scenes were rewritten and the song “Who's the Man?'” was replaced with a rousing gospel number, “The Glory of Me”. At the
same time Ian McShane left and was replaced by his understudy, Earl Carpenter. At the end of its first year a
general cast change saw Clarke Peters take over as Darryl van Horne and Josefina Gabrielle and Rebecca Thornhill
replaced Lucie Arnaz and Maria Friedman. On Oct 27th, 2001 the show closed after a 15 month run. There had been
a disastrous drop in ticket sales, attributed to a downturn in tourism following the September 11th Twin-Towers
attack in New York.
ASSASSINS (2nd Revival)
London run: Landor, September 7th – October 14th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: John Weidman
Director: Nick Bligh
Choreographer: Darren Royston
Musical Director: Kate Young
Cast: Paul Brereton (Leon Czolgosz),
Craig Adams (John Hinckley),
Nick Barnes(Charles Guiteau),
Nick Stoter (Giuseppe Zangara),
David Bradshawe (Samuel Byck),
Lorraine Graham (Squeaky Fromme),
Dian Perry (Sara Jane Moore),
Cade Siemers (John Wilkes Booth),
Samuel Board (Balladeer),
Lara Hazell, Isaac Davis
Nick Barnes as Charles Guiteau
Original London run: Donmar Warehouse, October 1992
First revival: New End Theatre, July 1997
2000
13
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
London run: Playhouse, September 19th (55 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Trask
Book: John Cameron Mitchell
Director: Peter Askin
Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell
Cast: Michael Cerveris (Hedwig), Elizabeth Marsh (Yitzak)
Songs: Tear me Down, The Origin of Love, Sugar Daddy,Wig in a Box, Wicked Little Town, Midnight Radio
Story: Hedwig is a support act on the Tommy Gnosis glam-rock tour, and while waiting to go onstage she tells
her story. She used to be Hansel, living in Communist East Berlin, but underwent a sex-change operation and
took the name Hedwig so she could marry Luther
Robinson, a US soldier and thus escape to the West.
The operation was botched, and her surgically
constructed vagina closed, leaving Hansel – now
Hedwig – with a dysfunctional one-inch mound of
flesh between her legs. Abandoned by Luther on the
same day the Berlin wall falls, the cheated Hedwig
forms a rock-band called the Angry Inch and makes a
star of Tommy Gnosis, who steals her material and
breaks away to go solo. Hedwig and her loyal friend,
the oafish roadie-turned-lover Yitzak, are forced to
support themselves, playing cheap dates and
supporting bigger acts.
Notes: This fringe rock-musical premiered offBroadway in February 1998, where it ran for two
years and won several awards. Despite its cult
success, the two-hander did not go down well with
London critics or audiences and ran just seven weeks.
Michael Coveney in the Daily Mail said “the whole
tacky experience is like watching a bad Dusty
Springfield concert performed by Lily Savage with a
good backing band.” A film version was made in
2001 directed by John Cameron Mitchell who also
played the role of Hedwig. The film version won
several awards and has become a cult classic.
Elizabeth March & Michael Cerveris,
Backstage at the Playhouse
FAME (3rd Revival)
London run: Victoria Palace, September 28th - (794 performsnces)
Music: Steve Margoshes
Lyrics: Jacques Levy
Book: David de Silva & Jose Fernandez
Director: Karen Bruce
Choreographer: Lars Bethke
Musical Director: David Beer
Producer: Adam Spiegel & Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen
Cast: Mazz Murray (Mabel), Rebekah Gibbs (Carmen), Tee Jay, Robert Miller,
Leigh Ann Regan, Golda Rosheubal, Becks Hanks, William Wolfe Hogan .
This revival, which had been touring the UK, ran for almost two years, closing at the end of August, 2002.
Original London Production: Cambridge Theatre , June 1995
First revival: Victoria Palace, November 1997
Second revival: Prince of Wales, October 1998
2000
14
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
London run: Cambridge Theatre, September 26th (391 performances)
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Ben Elton
Director: Robert Carsen
Choreographer: Meryl Tankard
Musical Director: Kenny Aitchison
Producer: Really Useful Theatre Co
Cast: Frank Grimes (Father O’Donnell), Ben Goddard (Del),
Hannah Waddingham (Christine), Michael Shaeffer (Thomas),
David Shannon (John), Josie Walker (Mary), Dale Meeks (Greg),
Jamie Golding, Alex Sharpe, Diane Pilkington, Nic Greenshields,
David Lyons
Songs: Clean the Kit, God’s Own Country, Our Kind of Love, Let Us
Love in Peace, All the Love I Have, Don’t Like You, The First Time,
I’d Rather Die on my Feet Than Live on my Knees, If This is What
We’re Fighting For.
Story: Set in 1969 Belfast, where Father O’Donnell runs a teenage
football team. Del, the one Protestant boy in the team, is intimidated and expelled from the team by the
Catholic boys, led by Thomas, clearly ideal future IRA material. The team’s dressing rooms are vandalised by
bullying Protestant boys, and then the innocent, ginger-haired Greg, who has just had his first kiss, is tortured
and murdered. Football-mad John loses his chance to move to the mainland and play for Everton when he is
arrested, simply for helping his former team-mate, Thomas, on the run from the police. John’s politicallyconscious girl-friend, Mary, is another victim of the sectarian troubles. So, too, is Del who has married his
Catholic girl-friend, Christine, in spite of the abuse she receives from her friends. Together with their young
baby they are forced to leave Ireland for
America. The bleak message of this Romeo
& Juliet situation seemed to offer the choice
between exile or death.
Michael Shaeffer &
David Shannon
Photo by Ivan Kyncl
Notes: This show truly divided the critics.
Some claimed it was a powerful, dark,
intelligent musical, containing some of
Lloyd Webber’s most sophisticated and
deeply-felt music; others claimed it was a
one-sided, patronising Romeo and Juliet
rip-off, mis-matching over-romanticised
music with an over-done tale of murder,
knee-capping and internment camps. The
show ran for just under a year, closing on
September 1st, 2001. A re-written version
was performed in Canada in 2009 with a
new title “The Boys in the Photograph” and
a happier ending. The song "Our Kind of
Love" was replaced with a new song "The
Boys in the Photograph" and several other
songs were cut. (However, “Our Kind of
Love” would be re-worked and appear in
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s later musical
“Love Never Dies”.)
2000
15
NAPOLEON
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, October 17th (127 performances)
Music: Timothy Williams
Lyrics: Andrew Sabiston
Book: Timothy Williams & Andrew Sabiston
Director: Francesco Zambello
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Musical Director: David Charles Abell
Cast: Paul Baker/Uwe Kröger (Napoleon),
Anastasia Barzee (Josephine), David Burt (Talleyrand),
David Arneil (Fouché), Teddy Kempner (Garreau), Nigel Richards,
Sarah Ingram, Jody Crosier, Nicholas Pound, Lynsey Britton,
Tom Sellwood, Andy Mace, Kristin Hellberg
Songs: The Friend You Were to Me, Only in Fantasy, On That First
Night
Story: The plot centres on two aspects of Napoleon’s life : his rise
from a common man to the leading war general and Emperor of
France, illustrated with battle-scenes, the disastrous attack and retreat
Uwe Kröger as Napoleon
from Russia, the lavish coronation in Notre Dame and, of course,
Waterloo; and alongside these epic events, his romantic relationship with his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais.
After a passionate start and a few hitches when Josephine is caught being unfaithful, his
scheming minister Talleyrand, and his two sidekicks, Garreau and Fouché, force
Napoleon to divorce Josephine because she has failed to produce an heir.
Notes: This Canadian musical opened in Toronto in March 1994 to great success. The
London production had Olivier Award winner Francesco Zambello from the opera
world as director, Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations and both Paul Baker and Uwe
Kröger alternating as Napoleon. (Uwe Kröger performed three shows a week, Paul
Baker doing the other five.) However, it ran just under 4 months. It was one of the
early pioneers of Sunday performances and although weekends were sold out, the rest
of the week was thin. With 32 in the cast and an orchestra of 28, producers cited the
high running costs as the main reason for closure which came on February 3rd.
Generally the original notices had been hostile, and, of course, most could not resist
using the phrase “Not tonight, Josephine” as advice to the readers.
WILD WILD WOMEN (1st Revival)
London run: Orange Tree, Richmond, December 1st – January 27th 2001
Music: Nola York
Book & Lyrics: Michael Richmond
Director: Timothy Sheader
Choreographer: Bill Deamer
Musical Director: Philip Bateman
Cast: Stuart Nurse (Clanton),
Michael Cotton (McLaird),
Abi Roberts (Sister Priscilla),
Sue Kelvin (Madame Lola),
Bill Champion (Bill Tibbs),
Anna-Jane Casey (Alice Tibbs),
Sévan Stephan (Judge West),
Notes: This production saw the show returning to its
original home, where it had been premiered almost
twenty years earlier. It proved to be a highly popular
Christmas attraction for the Richmond fringe theatre.
Original London run:
Astoria, June 1982 (Transfer from Orange Tree)
Sévan Stephan & Stuart Nurse
2000
16
London run: Donmar Warehouse. December 11th – March 3rd 2001
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: George Furth
Director: Michael Grandage
Choreographer: Peter Darling
Musical Director: Gareth Valentine
Cast: Grant Russell (Franklin Shepard),
Julian Ovenden (Young Franklin Shepard),
Daniel Evans (Charles Kringas),
Samantha Spiro (Mary Flynn),
Emma Jay Thomas,
Anna Francolini, Shona White,
David Lucas, Neil Gordon-Taylor,
Dean Hussain, Matt Blair,
James Millard, Mary Stockley,
Grant Russell, Samantha Spiro & Daniel Evans
Zehra Naqvi, Lucy Bradshaw.
Notes: This was the first full-scale production of the work in London and was greatly
praised, receiving almost unanimous praise from the critics.
Original London production: The Prince, SE 10, May 1998
YOU’RE GONNA LOVE TOMORROW
London run: Greenwich Playhouse, December 12th – January 14th
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Director: Simon Bell
Choreographer: Elizabeth March
Cast: Alan Atkins, Kirstie Austin, Gareth Davies, Maxine Gregory.
Notes: A retrospective of some 22 well-known and not-so-well-known songs by Stephen Sondheim, first
staged in New York in 1983
ALL CLONED UP
London run: Grace Theatre (Latchmere), December 12th - January 14th, 2001
Transfer:King’s Head, January 16th – February 4th
Music & Lyrics: Mike Bennett
Additional music: Simon Gulifoyle & Tacye
Director: Alkis Kritikos
Choreographer: Zoe-Anne Phillips
Musical Director: Paul Moran
Cast: Don Paterson (Professor Graham), Jenny Walters (Fiona Graham), Andy Creswell (Philip), Ben Graves
(Stuart), Tacye (Gemma)
Songs: Stitched Up like a Kipper,
Story: Professor Eugene Graham wants to get rid of his beautiful but nagging wife, Fiona. He enlists the help
of his narcissistic assistant, Philip – without realising that Philip and Fiona are already having an affair. The
equally evil plans of Philip and Fiona are discovered by a visiting journalist, Gemma, and by the gawky lab
assistant, Stuart. Professor Graham is the world expert on cloning – so the way to solve is his problems is to
clone everybody,
Notes: This small-scale musical is a kind of “Rocky Horror” follow-on, with lab-coated technicians turned into
genetically programmed zombies while a trio of cloned sheep- the Dolly Clonettes- doo-wop in the
background.
Photo by London Evening Standard
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
(1st Revival)