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Jailhouse Rock Rocks West End, Opening April 19
By James Inverne
19 Apr 2004
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Mario Kombou in Jailhouse Rock
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| photo by Jonathan Alver | With the West End rocking to the nightly sounds of Rod Stewart, Abba and Queen (not to mention recent turns from Boy George, Madness and others), the most famous solo singer of them all is about to descend on the Piccadilly Theatre. Sort of. Jailhouse Rock opens on April 19.
Based on Elvis Presley’s 1957 movie, the show tells the story of Vince Everett, a jailbird who discovers a talent for music and becomes the world’s biggest rock-n-roll star.
A recent copyright dispute, however, means that the London show doesn’t actually use any of the Lieber and Stoller songs from the film. It does, though, contain 22 classic songs. Titles include “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Burning Love,” “Suspicious Minds,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “A Fool Such As I,” “One Night,” “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” "Big Rock Candy Mountain,” “This Ole House,” “Always On My Mind,” “The Wonder of You,” Memphis Tennessee,” “Tutti Frutti” and eight others.
The show was adapted for the stage by the Buddy team of Rob Bettison (who also directs) and Alan Janes. The cast includes Mario Kombou, Lisa Peace, Roger Alborough and Gilz Terera. Adrian Rees designs.
And more Elvis is on the way. Broadway will see All Shook Up from Goodspeed Musicals, aimed to reach New York in 2005. Elvis won’t feature as a character, but around 20 of his songs will be heard. It is produced by Jonathan Pollard, Bernie Kukoff, Clear Channel Entertainment, Harbor Entertainment, Stanley Buchthal and Miramax Films, in association with Eric Falkenstein, Nina Essman/Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Karen Jason and Barney Rosenzweig.
That’s not all — Immortal Entertainment is working on a new musical about Elvis’ relationship with Priscilla Beaulieu.
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