musicals
Monday 29 April 2013
Kiss Me Kate
Next Show for Perth City Operatic Group is Kiss me Kiss
Date is Tuesday 3rd September Saturday 7th September 2013. North Inch Community Campus Perth Scotland .
Please the Website of Perth City Operatic Group
Saturday 26 January 2013
Oliver
in 9th-13 April 2013
in Perth Theatre Time .7.30pm and Saturday Mat 2.30pm
Please the Website Perth Amateur Operatic Society
Sunday 22 July 2012
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Plot
The film is set early in the flapper era - Thursday, June 2 (according to the calendar behind Mrs. Meers' desk) of 1922 (as stated in the title song's lyrics) (in fact this day was a Friday). Millie Dillmount's (Julie Andrews) ambition is to find work as a stenographer to a wealthy businessman and then marry him—a thoroughly modern goal. Millie befriends Miss Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore) as the latter checks into the Priscilla Hotel. When house mother Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie) learns Miss Dorothy is an orphan, she remarks, "Sad to be all alone in the world." Unbeknownst to Millie, the woman is selling her tenants into white slavery, and those without family or close friends are her primary targets.At a friendship dance in the hall, Millie meets the devil-may-care paper clip salesman Jimmy Smith (James Fox), to whom she takes an instant liking. However, she carries on with her plan to work for and then marry a rich man, and when she gets a job at Sincere Trust, she sets her sights on the attractive but self-absorbed Trevor Graydon (John Gavin). Jimmy later takes her and Miss Dorothy on an outing to Long Island, where they meet eccentric widow Muzzy Van Hossmere (Carol Channing). Jimmy tells the girls that his father was Muzzy’s former gardener.
Although Millie is falling in love with Jimmy, she is determined to stick to her plan and marry Trevor. One morning, she goes to work dressed as a flapper and attempts to seduce him, but her effort fails. Eventually, Trevor sees Miss Dorothy and falls in love with her and vice versa, leaving Millie heartbroken.
Meanwhile, Jimmy's attempts to talk to Millie are continually thwarted by no-nonsense head stenographer Miss Flannary (Cavada Humphrey). He eventually climbs up the side of the building and when he finally gets to talk to Millie, she tells him she is quitting her job since Mr. Graydon is no longer available.
Mrs. Meers makes several attempts to kidnap Miss Dorothy and hand her over to her Asian henchmen Bun Foo (Pat Morita) and Ching Ho (Jack Soo), but Millie manages to interrupt her every time. When Mrs. Meers finally succeeds, Millie finds Trevor drowning his sorrows, and he tells her Miss Dorothy stood him up and checked out of the hotel. Jimmy climbs into Miss Dorothy's room and lets Millie in, and they find all of Miss Dorothy's possessions still there. Millie realizes Miss Dorothy is just one of several girls who have vanished without a word to anyone. Together with Trevor Graydon, they try to piece the puzzle together. When Jimmy asks what all the missing girls had in common, Millie mentions they all were orphans.
Jimmy disguises himself as a woman named Mary James seeking accommodations at the Priscilla Hotel, and casually mentions she is an orphan in front of Mrs. Meers. Mrs. Meers spots Trevor sitting in his car in front of the hotel, becomes suspicious, and shoots him with a tranquilizer dart. Mary James is subsequently captured by Mrs. Meers and Bun Foo, and Millie follows them to Chinatown, where the unconscious Jimmy has been hidden in a room in a fireworks factory where Miss Dorothy is sleeping. Trying to look casual, Millie has been smoking a cigarette outside the building, and when she begins to choke on it, she tosses it into a window, setting off the fireworks. As a series of explosions tear through the building, Millie dashes into the factory and finds several white girls tied up and about to be sent off to Beijing. She unties a couple of them, who then free the other girls, and then bumps into Miss Dorothy. They carry Jimmy out of the building, and head for Long Island and Muzzy.
Mrs. Meers, Bun Foo, and Ching Ho follow Millie and the gang, but under Muzzy's leadership everyone manages to subdue the nefarious trio. Millie then discovers Jimmy and Miss Dorothy are millionaire siblings and Muzzy is their stepmother, who sent them out into the world to find partners who would love them for who they were and not for their money. Millie marries Jimmy and Miss Dorothy marries Trevor.
Cast
- Julie Andrews as Millie Dillmount
- James Fox as Jimmy Smith
- Mary Tyler Moore as Miss Dorothy Brown
- John Gavin as Trevor Graydon
- Carol Channing as Muzzy Van Hossmere
- Beatrice Lillie as Mrs. Meers
- Jack Soo as Ching Ho (Credited as Oriental No. 1)
- Pat Morita as Bun Foo (Credited as Oriental No. 2)
- Philip Ahn as Tea, Muzzy's head butler
- Buddy Schwab as Dorothy's dance partner
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy Hill and
starring Julie Andrews.
The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman who finds
herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights
on marrying her wealthy boss.
The soundtrack interpolates new tunes by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn with standard songs from the 1910s and 1920s, including "Baby Face" and "Jazz Baby." For use of the latter, the producers had to acquire the rights from General Mills, which had used the melody with various lyrics to promote Wheaties for more than forty years.
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and five Golden Globes. It was also the tenth highest grossing film of 1967. In 2000 it was adapted for a successful stage musical of the same name. A DVD was issued in 2003.[3]
The soundtrack interpolates new tunes by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn with standard songs from the 1910s and 1920s, including "Baby Face" and "Jazz Baby." For use of the latter, the producers had to acquire the rights from General Mills, which had used the melody with various lyrics to promote Wheaties for more than forty years.
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and five Golden Globes. It was also the tenth highest grossing film of 1967. In 2000 it was adapted for a successful stage musical of the same name. A DVD was issued in 2003.[3]
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth.
The musical had a successful original run on the West End in 1937 and very successful revivals in both London and New York in the 1980s. The show stopper, “The Lambeth Walk”, was the subject of a news story in The Times of October 1938: “While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances — to The Lambeth Walk.”
Plot
- Act I
In the 1930s, the Harefords, a family of haughty aristocrats, are seeking the legitimate heir to the title of Earl of Hareford. Bill Snibson, a Cockney from Lambeth is found and named as the long-lost “Earl of Hareford”. It seems that the 13th Earl had secretly and briefly wed a girl from a bad neighborhood. But Bill's rough Cockney ways do not satisfy the Will of the last Earl: In order to gain his inheritance of the title and estate, Bill must satisfy the very proper executors (Maria, Duchess of Dene, and Sir John Tremayne) by learning gentlemanly manners. The Duchess thinks that she can make Bill “fit and proper”, but not his Cockney girlfriend, Sally Smith. The Duchess plans a party in Bill's honour, but Sally is not to be invited. Sir John tells Sally that she and Bill ought to return to Lambeth, but he is moved by Sally's heartfelt declaration of love for Bill.
At the party, Bill puts on airs and tries to please his new-found upper-class lawyers, family and servants, but his everyman roots quickly begin to show. Sally shows up in inappropriate garb, with her Lambeth friends, saying that she is going back to where she belongs. Bill seconds this at first but then teaches the nobility The Lambeth Walk.
- Act II
Bill constantly bemoans his separation from Sally. Preparing another party for Bill, the Duchess realises how much Sally means to him. This puts her in a romantic mood, and she accepts an offer of marriage from Sir John. Bill, dressed in his old outrageous Cockney clothes, declares that he's going home and goes upstairs to pack. Just then, Sally astonishes everyone by arriving in an elegant gown and tiara and speaking with a perfect upper-crust accent. When Bill returns downstairs, Sally conceals her identity. When she reveals it, Bill is relieved and the couple gain the acceptance of the family.
- Act 1
- A Weekend at Hareford – Ensemble
- Thinking of No-One But Me – Lady Jaqueline Carstone and The Hon. Gerald Bolingbroke
- The Family Solicitor – Herbert Parchester and The Family
- Me and My Girl – Bill Snibson and Sally Smith
- An English Gentleman – Charles Hethersett and Staff
- You Would If You Could – Lady Jaqueline and Bill
- Hold My Hand – Bill, Sally and Dancers
- Once You Lose Your Heart – Sally
- Preparation Fugue – The Company
- The Lambeth Walk – Bill , Sally and The Company
- The Sun Has Got His Hat On – The Hon. Gerald Bolingbroke, Lady Jaqueline and Ensemble
- Take It on the Chin – Sally
- Once You Lose Your Heart (Reprise) – Sally
- Song of Hareford -Duchess Maria, Bill and Ensemble
- Love Makes the World Go Round – Bill and Sir John Tremayne
- Leaning on a Lamppost – Bill and Ensemble
- If Only You Had Cared for Me – Sir John and Duchess Maria
- Finale – The Company
Characters
- Bill Snibson - a cockney costermonger who inherits Lord Hareford's land and titles.
- Sally Smith - Bill's sweetheart.
- Sir John Tremayne - an older gentleman, who is kind to Sally and Bill. He is in love with the Duchess.
- The Duchess of Dene - an intimidating aristocrat. Bill's Aunt.
- Gerald Bolingbroke - an attractive young man. He is in love with Jackie.
- Lady Jacqueline (Jackie) Carstone - breaks off her engagement to Gerald to pursue Bill.
- Herbert Parchester - the family solicitor.
- Lord Jasper Tring - an elderly and hard-of-hearing nobleman.
- Charles - a manservantoddities.
- Lord and Lady Battersby, Lady Brighton, The Honourable Margaret Aikington, Charles Boulting-Smythe - other members of the family who are mostly interchangeable.
- Mrs Brown - Sally's landlady.
- Bob Barking - a friend of Bill and Sally
Monday 20 June 2011
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical)
Synopsis
[edit]Act I
The company—citizens of London—assembles to perform a no-frills burial, dumping a body in a sack into a shallow grave. The company sings "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", introducing the tale of the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street". They continue to appear throughout the show to comment on the action. Sweeney Todd rises from the grave as if called forth.
The year is 1846.[2] A young sailor named Anthony Hope rides a ship into London. Despite Hope's enthusiasm, his friend and shipmate Sweeney Todd is grim and uneasy. This mood is worsened by a half-mad Beggar Woman who begs from (then sexually solicits) both Anthony and Todd. She appears to recognize Todd, who runs her off. ("No Place Like London"). As they prepare to part, Todd tells Anthony a tragic story about a young and naïve barber, his beautiful wife, and the lustful judge who exiled him to covet her ("The Barber and His Wife").
Todd goes to a meat pie shop on Fleet Street, where he encounters the shop's proprietress, Mrs. Nellie Lovett. She complains about her competition, her own pitiful pies, and the difficult economic times ("Worst Pies in London"). When Todd asks about the upstairs apartment, she tells him the sad tale of the previous tenant, a barber named Benjamin Barker. Barker had been falsely sentenced by the lecherousJudge Turpin and his corrupt cohort Beadle Bamford because of the Judge's lust for Barker's wife Lucy. She reveals how, once Barker had been sent to Australia, the Judge had lured Lucy to his house and raped her ("Poor Thing"). Todd cries out in agony, desperately crying out, "Would no one have mercy on her?", confirming Mrs. Lovett's suspicions that he is Benjamin Barker, back from Australia. She tells him that his wife poisoned herself and that his infant daughter, Johanna, became a ward of the Judge. Todd swears revenge on the Judge who ruined his life. Mrs. Lovett is more concerned with how Todd will make a living, and shows Todd his collection of sterling silver razors, which she has kept hidden for years, telling him that he can become a barber again ("My Friends" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney!").
everal days later, as Todd impatiently waits for the Beadle's arrival, Mrs. Lovett urges patience ("Wait"), when Anthony bursts into the shop. He tells Todd of his sudden romance with Johanna and requests to bring the girl to the barber shop. No sooner has he left than Pirelli and Tobias visit the shop. Mrs. Lovett takes Toby downstairs for a meat pie, leaving Todd alone with Pirelli. Pirelli drops his Italian accent to reveal an Irish one and reveals his real name is Danny O'Higgins, who served as assistant to Benjamin Barker in his barber shop fifteen years ago. O'Higgins has recognized Todd and attempts to blackmail him. Rather than pay O'Higgins off, Todd attacks him and strangles him, dumping his body into an empty trunk just before Tobias enters looking for his master, saying that he has an appointment with a tailor. Todd sends Tobias back down to Mrs. Lovett, tempting him with the offer of another pie and "a nice big tot of gin." Once the door has shut behind Tobias, Todd opens the trunk and finally finishes off his former assistant by slitting his throat. ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: His Hands Were Quick, His Fingers Strong...").Anthony, walking through Kearny's Lane, notices a girl singing at a window admiring a bird seller's wares ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"). The passing Beggar Woman (who again offers herself to him) tells Anthony that the girl is Johanna, Judge Turpin's ward. Anthony is immediately smitten ("Ah, Miss") and pledges to woo her, but the Judge and the Beadle threaten him off. He swears to rescue her ("Johanna"). Meanwhile, in the crowded marketplace, renowned "Italian" barber Adolfo Pirelli and his simple-minded assistant Tobias Ragg pitch a cure-all for hair loss ("Pirelli's Miracle Elixir"). Todd, after exposing the elixir as fraudulent, challenges Pirelli to a shaving and tooth-pulling competition, and invites the Beadle to act as the judge of the competition. Pirelli puts on a grand show, but Todd wins easily ("The Contest"). Todd invites the Beadle to visit his parlor for a complimentary shave ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney Pondered and Sweeney Planned").
Across town, Judge Turpin is tormented by his lust for his ward Johanna and announces to her that he intends to marry her ("Johanna"). Disgusted by the prospect, Johanna and Anthony plan to elope ("Kiss Me"). At the same time, the Beadle, accompanying his master after court (during which the Judge had sentenced a juvenile offender to death for petty crimes), suggests that the Judge visit Todd's barbershop to improve his appearance to better win Johanna's affections ("Ladies in Their Sensitivities"). Turpin agrees and they set off.
Back at Todd's shop, despite her initial shock at O'Higgins's murder, the ever-practical Mrs. Lovett extracts O'Higgins' gaudy coin purse from his corpse when the Judge arrives. Mrs. Lovett returns downstairs to keep Tobias distracted while an eager Todd bides his time and slowly proceeds to exact his revenge, lulling the Judge into a sense of security ("Pretty Women"). Before he can kill Turpin, however, Anthony barges in to tell Todd about his and Johanna's plans, accidentally informing the outraged Judge. He accuses Todd for conspiring against him before storming out of his parlor, vowing never to return. Todd, in his fury, drives Anthony away before descending into utter madness and broadens the target of his vengeance to all of society by punishing the rich, greedy and corrupt and relieving the poor of their misery by death ("Epiphany"). Mrs. Lovett is, however, more realistic and during a discussion with Todd about how to dispose of O'Higgins' body has a sudden burst of inspiration. She suggests they use the flesh of Todd's victims in her meat pies, an idea which Todd enthusiastically falls in love with ("A Little Priest").Act II
Anthony discovers the Judge has committed Johanna to Fogg's Asylum for the mentally deranged and, with Todd's help, infiltrates the asylum, posing as a wigmaker intent on purchasing inmates' hair ("Wigmaker Sequence" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney Waited Too Long Before..."). Unknown to Anthony, Todd sends a letter to the judge notifying him of Anthony's intent to kidnap Johanna, hoping to lure the judge to his shop ("Letter" Quintet).Mrs. Lovett's pie shop has become a thriving business with its new menu ("God, That's Good!"). The only fly in the ointment is the Beggar Woman, who keeps hanging around the pie shop, telling anyone who will listen that Mrs. Lovett is a witch and the devil's wife. Todd and Mrs. Lovett now have a specially-designed mechanized barber's chair that allows Todd to kill someone (preferably a customer who will never be missed) in the barber shop and send the body through a chute directly into the basement bakehouse of the pie shop for Mrs. Lovett to use in her baking. Anthony's fortunes are not so bright as Johanna has disappeared. Over the weeks he searches for her while Todd accustoms himself to the idea that he may never see Johanna again, spending his time methodically slashing throats. ("Johanna (Quartet)"). Later, Mrs. Lovett dreams of a future life with Todd, though he remains uninterested ("By The Sea").
Meanwhile, in the pie shop, Toby begins to suspect that Todd is up to no good and, unaware she is in on Todd's activities, expresses his desire to protect Mrs. Lovett, whom he has come to view as a mother figure ("Not While I'm Around"). When he recognizes Mrs. Lovett's purse as the one that had belonged to Pirelli, she locks him in the bakehouse under the pretext of teaching him how to make meat pies. As she leaves, she encounters Beadle Bamford sitting at her harmonium ("Parlor Songs"), commissioned by the neighbors to investigate the thick black smoke and strange smells from the pie shop's chimney. Together he and Mrs. Lovett wait for Todd, who arrives and offers the Beadle the promised free shave while Mrs. Lovett plays Sweet Polly Plunkett on her harmonium to cover the screams of the Beadle's demise. In the basement, Toby discovers a hair and a fingernail in a pie he's eating when the bloody corpse of the Beadle tumbles down the chute. Horrified, he tries to escape but realizes that he is locked in. Upstairs, Mrs. Lovett informs Todd that Toby has figured them out; they head downstairs to dispose of him.
After Anthony leaves a disguised Johanna in Todd's barber shop to hire a coach to leave London, the Beggar Woman appears, and Johanna hides in the trunk that once held Pirelli's body. Todd discovers the Beggar Woman in his parlor as she desperately tries to warn him about Mrs. Lovett. As Judge Turpin arrives, Todd frantically slits the Beggar Woman's throat and sends her down the chute before Turpin can see her. When Todd assures him that Johanna is totally repentant, the Judge in lecherous expectation asks for a face massage. Once he has his victim in his chair, Todd reveals his identity to the Judge and slits his throat ("The Judge's Return"). As Todd is about to leave the parlor to find Tobias, Johanna emerges from her hiding place. Todd catches her, and, thinking this intruder is a man, prepares to kill her. Todd hears Mrs. Lovett screaming from the bakehouse below, providing a distraction for Johanna to escape. Todd races downstairs.While Todd and Mrs. Lovett search the cellars for Tobias, who at this point has vanished into the catacombs, Anthony infiltrates the asylum. When Johanna inadvertently reveals his true identity, she grabs his pistol and shoots Fogg dead. They both flee to Todd's parlor (Johanna is disguised in sailor's clothing) and the insane inmates pour out onto the streets ("City on Fire").
In the bakehouse, Mrs. Lovett struggles with the dying Judge before she realizes that Todd has killed the Beggar Woman. Todd bursts into the bakehouse and, seeing the face of the Beggar Woman clearly in the light from the open oven doors, drops his razor in horror upon the realization that the Beggar Woman is his wife Lucy, whom he thought to be dead. Todd furiously accuses Mrs. Lovett of deceiving him. Mrs. Lovett confesses the truth but insists that she never lied, maintaining that Lucy had indeed taken poison but instead became insane. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd she withheld the whole truth from him in order to spare him because she loves him. Todd suddenly rises, calms the nervous Mrs. Lovett and tells her that he forgives her. He waltzes her over to the huge oven and hurls her inside, slamming the doors shut. Todd sinks to the floor and cradles his beloved wife in his arms. Toby, now driven completely insane and with his hair now white from the horror of the proceedings, enters and stumbles towards the barber. He picks up Todd's fallen razor as Todd unbuttons his collar. Toby then fatally slashes Todd's throat. As Anthony, Johanna, and some constables burst into the bakehouse, Toby drops the razor and, unmindful of the others, begins to turn the handle for the meat grinder in a mindless parody of his duties for Mrs. Lovett ("Final Sequence").
The company assembles one last time to sing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." As the resurrected ghosts of Todd and Mrs. Lovett rise from their graves, they conclude that the capability for revenge is within all of us. The company exits; Todd and Mrs. Lovett being the last. Todd pauses at the large iron door at the back of the stage to look at Mrs. Lovett one final time before slamming it in the audience's face.
Principal roles[
Character | Voice Type[3] | Description |
Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker | Bass-Baritone orBaritone | Morose and brooding, a barber by profession. Returned to London after fifteen years of unjust incarceration in an Australian penal colony to seek revenge first on the corrupt Judge who sent him there, and then simply on whomever proves unfortunate enough to end up in his shop. |
Mrs. Nellie Lovett | Contralto[4] orMezzo-Soprano | A cheery and chatty but wholly amoral shopkeeper whose premises and pies are coated in dust and plagued by flies. Would like to be more than merely a landlady to Mr. Todd. |
Anthony Hope | Baritone or Tenor | A young, naïve sailor who has rescued Todd. He falls in love with Johanna Barker. |
Johanna Barker | Soprano | A beautiful young woman. Todd's daughter, but claimed by Judge Turpin as his own ward. |
Judge Turpin | Bass or Bass-Baritone | A corrupt and depraved official. An upholder of justice who twists the system to serve his own ends. |
Tobias Ragg | Tenor | A simple young lad who works first for Pirelli, then for Mrs. Lovett. Does not trust Todd. |
Beadle Bamford | Tenor/Countertenor | Turpin's right-hand man and accomplice to his crimes. |
Beggar Woman/Lucy Barker | Mezzo-Soprano | A mad crone with a filthy tongue whose interjections go unheeded. She is eventually revealed to be Lucy Barker, the wife of Sweeney Todd. |
Adolfo Pirelli/Danny O'Higgins | Tenor | A faux-Italian (truly of Irish descent) flashy barber who attempts to blackmail Todd. As a youngster, worked for Todd for a brief period. (In some productions, can be played by a female but still portrayed as a male character.) |
[edit]Musical numbers
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