Sound of Music's Fisher Returns to London Stage in They're Playing Our Song

By Mark Shenton
July 25, 2008

Connie Fisher — who shot to national fame when she won the public vote in the BBC 1 reality TV series "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" to play the lead role in the West End revival of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium in 2006 — begins performances in her second leading role in the West End July 25.

Fisher is starring in a new production of the 1979 Broadway musical They're Playing Our Song, playing at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which begins previews July 25 prior to an official opening Aug. 4. The limited engagement will play through Sept. 28.

Fisher co-stars with Alistair McGowan, who took over the role of the dentist Orin in the Menier's production of Little Shop of Horrors last year when that show transferred to the West End, and who in June ended a run as the Emcee in the final West End cast of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre.

Fisher and McGowan play the roles of Sonia Walsk and Vernon Gersh, respectively, in the musical that features music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and a book by Neil Simon, and is a semi-autobiographical story based on the real-life relationship between Hamlisch and Sager. The musical was last seen in London when the original Broadway production was re-created at the Shaftesbury Theatre in October 1980, starring Gemma Craven and Tom Conti.

The Menier Chocolate Factory, whose West End transfers include Fully Committed (which moved to the Arts), Little Shop of Horrors (Duke of York's, then New Ambassadors) and Sunday in the Park with George (Wyndham's, then New York's Studio 54), is the producer, and the production is directed by Fiona Laird (who has also staged the most recent Menier production of Simon Gray's The Common Pursuit, which ran to July 20.)

To book tickets contact the box office at 020 7907 7060 or visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com.