Charles Busch's Times Square Angel To Receive London Premiere at Union Theatre | Playbill

News Charles Busch's Times Square Angel To Receive London Premiere at Union Theatre Charles Busch's 1985 play Times Square Angel, which still gets an annual one-night-only outing at New York's Theatre for a New City when it stars Busch himself, is to receive its London premiere, beginning performances Nov. 26 prior to an official opening Nov. 28, for a run through Dec. 21.

Described in press materials as a "hard-boiled Christmas fantasy," the production will be directed by Bronagh Lagan (currently represented at the Union Theatre by Girlfriends) and will star Ian Stroughair as Irish O'Flanagan.

In the show, set in New York in 1948, Irish O’Flanagan is the tough as nails, red-headed headliner of the Club Intime.  A lifetime of hard knocks has left her bitter and with a chip on her shoulder the size of Mount Rushmore.  In the spirit of fantasies such as "A Christmas Carol," "It’s a Wonderful Life" and  "The Bishop’s Wife," an angel in the form of a sexy vaudeville magician named Albert comes down to show Irish that the path she’s been taking is leading her to disaster.  He takes her on a journey that reveals that in the next 24 hours, she'll be killed in a botched kidnapping of a corrupt senator’s beautiful daughter, Valerie, engineered by the notorious gangster, Chick LaFountain. 

She rejects this look into her future but when indeed everything comes to pass, she desperately tries to no avail to change her fate.  At the moment when Chick LaFountain is about to shoot Irish for real, Albert makes a deal with the Lord to save her life.  However, his good deed must be an anonymous one.  Like Scrooge, Irish has a chance to begin again.  She saves Valerie and with the help of her devoted longtime admirer, a busboy named Eddie, and her faithful maid, Peona, has Chick sent up the river.  Irish and her friends go caroling in Times Square, and for one brief moment, she remembers the wonderful gift that Albert the angel has given her.  He blows her a kiss and she feels it against her cheek.  Albert is able to return to Heaven knowing Irish will be all right.

The production is produced by ID2 Productions. It is designed by Philip Lindley, with costumes by Nik Corall.

Also in the cast are Tom Whitelock, Ellen Verenieks, Jourdan Amelia Storey, John Hicks, Kandy Rohmann, Jacqui-Lee Pryce, Michael Adams, Eduardo Enrikez, Rhiannon Doyle and Alexandra da Silva. To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7261 9876 or visit www.uniontheatre.biz for more details.

 
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