DMT_Mamma Mia_AUG_17 DMT MOCKUP_C

BACK IN TOWN!
five guys
On the opening of the new production
of Five Guys Named Moe at the
purpose-built Marble Arch Theatre,
writer, director – and Hollywood star –
Clarke Peters reminisces about how
he brought his idea for this lifeaffirming
jazz musical to life
*Calls to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres 0844 numbers cost 7p per minute
plus your phone company’s access charge
Where did this idea come from? Like the Five Guys,
out of nowhere. That would be a stock answer. But
actually, the idea came out of my cassette player
during endless hours of driving from the north of
England to the south west.
Without Paulette Randall (who helped structure
the script), Charles Augins (choreographer), Chapman
Roberts (vocal arrangements) and Neil McArthur
(orchestrations), Five Guys Named Moe would have
stayed in the radio. The guys would have remained
one-dimensional characters in my imagination.
Prior to putting together this team, I staged one
song for an evening’s entertainment while on the
road with Carmen Jones: ‘Five Guys Named Moe’.
It was quirky, fun and enjoyed by everyone. That
was the seed. If I could find more of Louis’s songs
and treat them in the same way, there might be
something in this… Over the next four years, life
presented me with an abundance of ‘Nomax’ [the
main character] situations to draw on.
In 1989, I asked David Aukin at the National
Theatre for permission to present the Guys in the
Cottesloe. During the three-night presentation,
Phillip Hedley saw the taster and, months later,
asked if I could develop it for Stratford East.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I put together my
dream team. Cameron Mackintosh came to see
it at Stratford, picked it up, sprinkled it with some
Mackintosh magic and took it to the West End…
and the rest is history.
Clarke Peters is directing the new production
of Five Guys Named Moe – presented by Underbelly
Productions in association with Cameron Mackintosh
– at Marble Arch Theatre until 25 November 2017.
For information and to book tickets, call 0844
482 5116 or visit delfontmackintosh.co.uk