Movin’ Out's London Opening Night Moves Forward
By John Nathan
24 Feb 2006
The opening night of the London and European premiere of Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s award-winning Movin’ Out has been brought forward to April 10. The London run is still due to end at the Victoria Apollo Theatre on July 17 before commencing a European tour.
Although the show’s first preview date remains unchanged at March 28, the official opening night for the production was previously set at April 18.
Speaking to Playbill.com, the show’s spokesperson said, “As five of the six principals have already appeared in U.S. productions of the show, the producers felt that with a long preview period, it was best to get the word out there and audiences in as soon as possible.”
Joining British performer James Fox, who takes on the role of Piano Man, is Holly Cruikshank (Contact, Fosse, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Ron Todorowski (Footloose, Copacabana, The Wild Party) and David Gomez (Contact), all of whom were in the Broadway version of the musical.
The Tony Award-winning show differs from other back-catalogue adaptations — Queen’s We Will Rock You and ABBA’s Mamma Mia! — in that the narrative is driven not by dialogue, but dance, with choreography by the Tony Award-winning Tharp.
The music is performed by a ten-piece onstage band who in total perform no fewer than 24 of Joel’s songs, including “Up Town Girl,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “She’s Got a Way” and the title track, “Movin’ Out.”
The show spans three decades, starting on Long Island in the 1960's, and follows the fortunes of five friends and lovers separated by war.
Joel has had 33 top 40 hits, 23 Grammy nominations and with Movin’ Out jointly won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations with Stuart Malina.
Movin’ Out grossed over $100 million on Broadway during its three-year run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre where the show ran for over 1,300 performances until December 2005.
The musical received 10 Tony nominations and has toured across North America playing to 50 cities since February 2004.
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