Showcase Musical Productions


Showcase 2003 Production Information

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Act One

Our show opened with Some Like it Hot, from the stage musical version of the classic Billy Wilder 1959 movie of the same name.

Then we moved on to our trip down memory lane with Back to the Sixties. Our first number, I Only Wanna Be With You, was a hit for Dusty Springfield back in 1964. We then slowed things down a little with the classic, A Whiter Shade of Pale, Procul Harem's enigmatic number one hit of 1967, which still has listeners wondering about the lyrics today. Then hey, hey it's the Monkees! Or Showcase's take on the prefab four in the form of their first number one, I'm a Believer. The full company then joined in three numbers which showed the diversity of the Sixties' music - The Kink's Waterloo Sunset, followed by the Moody Blues' Go Now and the Mama and the Papas' California Dreamin'. We rounded off our visit to the Sixties by performing With a Little Help From My Friends. Originally appearing on the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album, the song has been covered many times, and our version was based on Joe Cocker's performance at Woodstock in 1969.

Our Made in Britain section paid tribute to the contribution made by British writers to musical theatre, and featured a wide range, with one or two surprises.

Two Little Girls from Little Rock featured in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, based on the 1949 Broadway musical with music by London-born Jule Styne. We then stayed on Broadway for the duet Someone Like You, from the 1997 musical version of Jekyll & Hyde by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse. The haunting Could We Start Again Please was not in either the original concept recording or stage musical of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, but was an addition which featured in the film and subsequent stage revivals. We then moved onto the show-stopping tear-jerking As Long As He Needs Me from Lionel Bart's Oliver! Dave Clarke's Time opened in 1986 in London starring Cliff Richard and a hologram of Sir Laurence Olivier, and although hugely popular at the time is now largely forgotten - we made some amends by including One Human Family from the show. Fings Ain't What They Used T' Be is best known as the Max Bygraves version which featured next, but the song originally came from Lionel Bart's musical of the same name - albeit with somewhat different lyrics! No One But You can currently be heard in the musical by Queen and Ben Elton, We Will Rock You. It was originally released by Queen in 1997, six years after the death of Freddie Mercury and is a poignant tribute. Next it's the Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien - which probably means  it's the Time Warp that springs to mind. So to be a little different, we presented the number Whatever Happened to Saturday Night, performed by Meatloaf in the film based on the show. We then closed the first half with Tell Me It's Not True, the emotionally charged finale from Willy Russell's smash hit Blood Brothers.

Act Two

Moulin Rouge!, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, premiered at the Cannes film festival in May 2001. It was remarkable enough to be releasing a big-budget musical movie in this day and age; but what was all the more remarkable was the way the film used contemporary songs, reworked and reset in the context of the film. We presented: Sparkling Diamonds - based on Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, written by Jule Styne & Leo Robin, and recorded my Marilyn Monroe in 1951 (with a hint of Madonna's Material Girl thrown in!) El Tango de Roxanne - based on Roxanne, written and recorded by The Police, with additional material written specifically for Moulin Rouge by Marianito Mores and Baz Luhrmann.  Lady Marmalade - written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, and originally recorded in 1975 by Patti Labelle, and recently covered by All Saints as well as being a hit single from Moulin Rouge. One Day I'll Fly Away - written by Will Jennings and Joe Sample, and originally recorded by Randy Crawford in 1980. Like a Virgin - Madonna's 1984 hit, written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly.  Your Song - written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, originally released by Elton in 1971.

Next we moved into Showcase's most familiar territory - Broadway, starting with I Wanna Be A Producer, from the current smash hit based on Mel Brooks' film of the same name. Our next number, wasn't strictly speaking from the Broadway stage, as I Move On was only added to the massively successful recent film version of Kander and Ebb's Chicago. Then we moved on, right back to the twenties, for the Gershwin standard Stairway to Paradise. The musical, Ragtime, by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, was not a huge success in this country, only lasting three months on London's West End, but it was a hit on Broadway with a three year run starting in 1997. If you weren't familiar with Ragtime, we made amends by including Make Them Hear You from the show. Finally, we left Broadway with one of those songs which is possibly better known outside its musical theatre roots - The Impossible Dream, from Mitch Leigh & Joe Darion's The Man of La Mancha.

Our final section we dubbed Heroes. The songs in this section really needed no introduction, suffice to say that they are our tribute to Rod Stewart, Barbara Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr, George Michael, Luciano Pavarotti, and finally, who else but The Beatles.

 

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