'Curtains!' A backstage musical comedy whodunit. Landor Theatre, Clapham, London 25th July to 1st Sep 2012.
Book by Rupert Holmes Lyrics by Fred Ebb Music by John Kander Additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes, based on the original book and concept by Peter Stone.
Directed by Robert McWhir Choreography by Robbie O'Reilly.
It's the brassy, bright, and promising year of 1959. Boston's Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of a new musical, Robbin' Hood of the Old West. When the leading lady, faded film star diva Jessica Cranshaw, mysteriously dies on stage the cast and crew all become suspects; enter Lieutenant Frank Cioffi of the Boston Police Department stage left, who just happens to be a musical theatre fan!
Loved the show in New York - genuinely witty with a wonderful score! David Hyde Pierce was very good but there were lots of terrific performances in what is very much an ensemble piece - Debra Monk, Jason Daniely, Jill Paice and (for me) Karen Ziemba stole the show.
(Also IMO Pierce did not deserve the Tony. I thought Raoul Esparza's Bobby in Company was an even stronger performance and Michael Cerveris's performance as Kurt Weill in Lovemusik was simply astonishing.)
Anyway, back to Curtains lol -having seen many of Robert Mcwhirr's truly amazing productions at the Landor, I am very excited about this. I think it will work well and I'm intrigued to learn about the casting.
Another West End performer is in the company, Leo andrew.
I really enjoyed this clever show when I saw it in previews, Debra Monk was superb along with a very tight company. It's a shame London never got a full blown production as West End audiences tend to like this kind of thing.
Saw this yesterday, it's a total blast, pure joy from start to finish and Jeremy Legat is a dream as Lieutenant Cioffi. There is a 19 strong cast and they do the most incredible ensemble routines in what is after all a room above a pub. We had a depleted band (no brass and a drummer arrived just in time for the second act) so I presume it's even better, but we loved it as it was. I've gushed endlessly on my blog, but if you need cheering up the Landor is the place to be. Curtains
I resent the fact they're labeling it as the European Premiere. I saw this done at Guildhall (on a much larger scale than the Landor could ever dream of) and it was marvellous!
Love the show; great score - and some of it is surprisingly moving when you know about the history of Fred Ebb's involvement with it.
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joined:9/28/08
Posted: 5/30/12 at 09:44am