London Musicals 2000-2004.pub - overthefootlights.co.uk

Photo by Ash Scott LockyerRebecca Lock & Robert IronsAFTER THE FAIRLondon run: King’s Head, March 28 th – April 9 thMusic: Matthew WardLyrics: Stephen ColeDirector: Raymond White2000Cast: Rebecca Lock (Anna), Robert Irons (Charles),Nicola Dewdney (Mrs Harnham), Terrence Hardiman (Mr Harnham)Songs: The World at my Window, Between the Lines, Your Words WereMusic, Just in Case, Summer Fancy, A Spot of Tea, Beloved, Men and WivesStory: The annual fair has come to Melchester and Mr and Mrs Harnham arehappy for their maid, Anna, to have the evening off and enjoy herself. At thefair Anna meets Charles, a dashing young London lawyer and falls in love. Hesends her a letter, and because she can neither read nor write, her mistressreplies for her. The Harnhams marriage is a loveless one, and the emotionsexpressed in “Anna’s” letters amaze Charles, who started off regarding thewhole affair as a passing fancy. The letter writers fall in love – on paper atleast – 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 WestEnd hit with Deborah Kerr and Julia Foster in 1972 at the Lyric). This chamber musical version, written for fourcharacters and a quartet of musicians playing cello, woodwind and keyboards, was written by two Americans and hadoriginally premiered in Dallas. It was highly praised for its music, lyrics, wit and charm. (The story has virtually thesame plot as “Cyrano de Bergerac”, but Hardy’s story was written in 1891 – seven years before Rostand’s play. )3LAUTRECLondon run: Shaftesbury Theatre, April 6 th - (84 performances)Music & Lyrics: Charles AznavourEnglish lyrics: Dee ShipmanBook: Shaun McKennaDirector: Rob BettinsonChoreographer: Quinny SacksMusical Director: Stephen BrokkerCast: 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 LeeTaylor, Richard Gauntlett,Roz McCutcheon, Jon Emmanuel,Nic GreenshieldsSongs: The Honour of the Family, The Child inside the Man, Loveis a Pain, Me and You, The Can Can, Let Him Be Free Now, WhenYou Love Me, Waltz and Let’s DrinkStory: This is the life-story of the diminutive artist ToulouseLautrec, and skips through his endless battles with his in-bredaristocratic family, his possessive mother Adele, his troubledrelationship with prostitute-turned-artist’s-model, Suzanne Valdon,his inferiority complex, his addiction to Montmartre brothels andabsinthe, 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 theshow was heavily criticised with phrases like “a poorly structuredand under-written book”, “dreary music and trite lyrics”. It ran forjust ten weeks.Sevan Stephan as Toulouse Lautrec