The New Yorkers will kick off a run of four consecutive Sunday afternoon performances at the Lilian Baylis Theatre at Sadler's Wells on March 29. Further performances will be given on April 5, 12 and 19, all commencing at 4 PM London time.
The show, described in press materials as a dizzy distillation of the perpetually party-going twenties in New York, revolves around a romance between an heiress and a gangster. The orginal production featured Jimmy Durante, and there are two numbers written by him that have not been performed since the 1930 Broadway season. The score includes such songs as "The Great Indoors," "Love for Sale," "Let's Fly Away," "Where Have You Been?" and "I Happen to Like New York."
The cast includes Craige Els (recently seen in Never Forget in the West End, and whose other roles include Lancelot in Spamalot and Mamma Mia!), Anna Francolini (Olivier nominated for her performance as Rose in the National Theatre's production of Caroline, or Change), Ursula Smith (Me and My Girl in the West End), Dawn Spence (recently seen as Velma Kelly in Chicago in the West End) and Jon Robyns (original Princeton/Rod in Avenue Q). Also in the company are Stuart Permutt, Michael Roberts, Chris Stanton, Jud Charlton, Matthew Gould, Sandra Marvin, Grant Neal and Ian Davey.
The production will be directed by Ian Marshall Fisher, with musical direction by Steven Edis (soon to be the musical director for Trevor Nunn's production of Cyrano de Bergerac at Chichester Festival Theatre).
The Lost Musicals season will continue with Kurt Weill's first American musical, Johnny Johnson, originally premiered in 1936, which has a book and lyrics by Paul Green. It will be presented for five consecutive Sunday afternoon performances from June 14, with further performances on June 21, 28 and July 5, all at PM, and two performances on July 12 at 2 PM and 6:15 PM. An anti-war fantasy that combined satire, sentiment and surrealism, the score embraces cowboy ballads, French music-hall, American vaudeville, and Weill's own mordant, sinister and heartbreaking style. To book tickets contact the box office at 0870 737 7737 or visit www.sadlerswells.com. For further information on Lost Musicals, visit www.lostmusicals.org.
