South Pacific

 Posted on March 24, 1993  |  

Wednesday 24 March 1993—Saturday 27 March 1993 South Pacific was first produced on the New York stage in 1949 and reached London in 1951. A very young Larry Hagman played one of the sailors, while his mother, Mary Martin, was the leading lady. Set on an island in the South Pacific towards the end of World War Two, the story centres around the love of the exiled French planter??????? Emile de Becque for Ensign Nellie Forbush. [Read More]

Annie

 Posted on October 27, 1992  |  

Tuesday 27 October 1992—Saturday 31 October 1992 Annie is a musical based on the comic cartoon strip “Little Orphan Annje” which follows the fate and the fortunes of a little girl and her dog in America during the 1930s. The story begins at The New York Municipal Girl’s Orphanage as Annie sets out determined to find her long lost parents. Her journey is beset with many pitfalls despite being taken under the wing of “Daddy” Warbucks a wealthy industrialist in New York city, who is captivated by the warmth and friendliness of the eleven year old girl who comes to stay with him over the Christmas vacation. [Read More]

Kiss Me, Kate

 Posted on March 18, 1992  |  

Wednesday 18 March 1992—Saturday 21 March 1992 Considered by many to be Cole Porter’s masterpiece, ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ was first produced on Broadway in 1948, and is a classic example of ‘a play within a play,’ leaning heavily on Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’ A group of strolling players, led by actor/manager Fred Graham, arrive in Baltimore to put on a production of ‘The Shrew,’ and at the dress rehearsal it is obvious that relations are somewhat strained between Fred and his leading lady Lilli, who is also his ex-wife. [Read More]

The Wiz

 Posted on October 15, 1991  |  

Tuesday 15 October 1991—Friday 18 October 1991 The Wiz is an exiting Motown musical, written originally for Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, which follows the storyline of the classic movie “The Wizard of Oz”. Dorothy, a young Kansas girl, is unexpectedly carried off from her family home by a huge tornado. She finds herself in a strange but colourful land and is greeted by everyone she meets. Her only chance of getting back home, the people tell her, is to visit the Wiz, so she sets off on the Yellow Brick Road with her new-found friends, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tinman. [Read More]

Hello, Dolly!

 Posted on March 20, 1991  |  

Wednesday 20 March 1991—Saturday 23 March 1991 ‘Hello, Dolly!’ was first produced on Broadway in 1964 with Carol Channing in the leading role. It was later made into a successful film with Barbra Streisand. Set in and around New York a hundred years ago, its central character is an attractive widow who lives by her wits and a number of business ventures, one of which is a marriage bureau. Engaged to arrange the second marriage of the crotchety but wealthy Horace Vandergelder, she sees a possible escape route from her busy but lonely life as a widow. [Read More]

Grease

 Posted on October 31, 1990  |  

Wednesday 31 October 1990—Saturday 3 November 1990 During a visit to America, Australian Sandy meets Danny Zuko at the beach and falls in love. She is heartbroken when Summer ends and she has to return home and their last kiss on the beach is a very emotional one. But fate lends a hand - her parents decide to stay in America and she finds herself attending the same school as Danny. [Read More]

Oliver!

 Posted on March 14, 1990  |  

Wednesday 14 March 1990—Saturday 17 March 1990 Charles Dickens’ immortal classic is given a new “twist” in this adaptation by Lionel Bart. Oliver causes uproar in the orphanage by asking Mr Bumble for more food, so Bumble and Widow Corney decide to get rid of him by selling him to the Sowerberrys who have an undertaker’s business. Noah and Charlotte make life unpleasant for him and he escapes inot the London streets where he falls in with the Artful Dodger, one of a gang of young pickpockets looked after by Fagin, an elderly but astute miser. [Read More]

The Pajama Game

 Posted on March 15, 1989  |  

Wednesday 15 March 1989—Saturday 18 March 1989 There’s trouble in the Sleep Tite Pajama Factory. The workers’ demand for a 7 and a half cents rise has been refused by Mr Hasker, their skinflint boss. Prez, the union organiser and factory romeo, has come up with some way of making the boss pay up. Will he be able to get his mind off the ladies for long enough? Sid Sorokin, the new supervisor, has problems. [Read More]

Annie Get Your Gun

 Posted on March 23, 1988  |  

Wednesday 23 March 1988—Saturday 26 March 1988 Annie Get Your Gun was written in 1945 and recently revived in the West End with Suzi Quatro in the lead role. The show contains many of Irving Berlin’s best known songs. The story is based on a real life character, Annie Oakley. Annie, an unsophisticated backwoods girl with a deadly accurate rifle shot, is persuaded into show business as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. [Read More]

Carousel

 Posted on March 11, 1987  |  

Wednesday 11 March 1987—Saturday 14 March 1987 Rogers and Hammerstein’s famous musical, which has delighted theatre audiences for almost forty years centres on Billy Bigelow, a fairground barker on the carousel. He charms Julie and Carrie, two of the patrons of the carousel owned by the brazen Mrs Mullin, who herself has designs on Billy. He eventually marries Julie, whlie Carrie marries Mr Snow, a poor but ambitious fisherman. Billy is restless and unhappy in his married state especially with a baby on the way, an hankers after his life of freedom on the carousel. [Read More]