Theatre Breaks In London
Posts tagged Devotees
The Proclaimers – the musical
May 21st
Sunshine on Leith the Proclaimers musical is back! It first appeared at Dundee Rep in 2007 and then toured. The show was very well received.
Billy Boyd, (the only recorded Scots Hobbit, he played Pippin in the Lord of the Rings films!), will join a tour of Dundee Rep’s revival of its award-winning musical, Sunshine on Leith, opening on August 31.
Based around the songs of the Proclaimers the show was written by Stephen Greenhorn. According to the Stage:
Glasgow-born Boyd will star as Davy, a squaddie returning to Leith with his best pal after they have experienced one too-many tours of Afghanistan. The Rep’s artistic director James Brinning will direct, with musical direction by Hilary Brooks and design by Neil Warmington.
After opening in Dundee on August 31 the production will tour Scotland and Ireland to October 23. Dates have been booked in England until November 27 with further dates to be announced. Will the Proclaimer’s musical make it to London? I certainly hope so. I’m a fan of their song writing skills and I think they’ve better credentials than many who’ve found their way onto the London scene recently.
As Bernard Logan said in his 2007 review:
Sunshine on Leith
Abba, Queen, Madness … the Proclaimers?! Well, why not? Dundee Rep’s much-hyped new ‘jukebox musical’ lets others discover what we devotees have long argued: that the Reid brothers are the best songwriters in Britain. The uninitiated will still enjoy a show that hijacks the band’s music to tell the story of two squaddies returning to Leith from Iraq. But I love the Proclaimers so much, my heart wears NHS specs, and to me, this is absolute bliss.
Theatre Breaks in London 2010 – Love Never Dies
Oct 2nd
My tip for theatre breaks in London in 2010 is going to be for, “Love Never Dies”, the Phantom of the Opera sequel. We don’t know all that much about it yet, but that doesn’t matter, even this early. We know the pedigree behind it, with Andrew Lloyd Webber in charge and a whole string of hit musicals behind him, but that’s not the clincher.
Theatre breaks in london
Anybody who has been up to London on a special trip just to see The Phantom of the Opera will be wanting to see what happens next, and that’s where Love Never Dies theatre breaks in London will pick up a certain number of devotees but there’s more. There are two books which Phantom fans may have come across. One by the original author of the novel upon which phantom the musical was based, ( that one is also called “Love Never Dies”) and a later novel by Frederick Forsyth called “The Phantom of Manhattan”.
Where I think this new musical is going to make sure of its own survival in London theatreland though, is in having Ben Elton write the playscript. Elton is the comedian, comedy writer and novelist who is behind the storyline in “We Will Rock You” which is another of the longest running West End musicals, and a long term favourite for theatre breaks in London, not just for the great classic rock songs by Queen. So with a host of talented established musical theatre stars lined up for a possible three instances of Love Never Dies worldwide, with the experience of the management, talent of the writers and the following of Phantom to build on, I can’t see Love Never Dies failing to make a permanent marl on the London theatre breaks scene.
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