Gay’s The Word

by Ivor Novello

Sundays and Mondays, 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 February 2012

The first professional revival of the 1951 smash hit

THE ENTIRE RUN IS NOW COMPLETELY SOLD OUT
INCLUDING THE TWO EXTRA PERFORMANCES ADDED BY POPULAR DEMAND on

Monday, 13 February 2012 at 3.00pm
Monday, 20 February 2012 at 3.00pm

For details of our Returns Policy for sold out performances, please click here

Part of the Finborough Theatre’s CELEBRATING BRITISH MUSIC THEATRE series

★★★★ Four Stars WhatsOnStage

The Finborough Theatre’s acclaimed ‘Celebrating British Music Theatre’ series follows its recent sell-out success of Ivor Novello’s ‘musical romance’ Perchance to Dream with the first-ever revival of Ivor Novello’s last and wittiest musical.

Ivor Novello affectionately sends up his own Ruritanian extravagances in this irrestistible backstage musical comedy. Stage star Gay Daventry, bankrupted from the flop of her latest operetta, opens a drama school and finds – after various misadventures – that the one quality needed to get her back in the spotlight is, to name the show’s hit song, Vitality! Other numbers include If Only He’d Looked My Way (subsequently recorded by Frank Sinatra), Bees Are Buzzin’ and the enchanting On Such A Night As This, all combining Novello’s melodic talent with Alan Melville’s sharp wit.

West End favourite Sophie-Louise Dann stars in the title role of Gay, fresh from her critical sensation in last year’s Lend Me a Tenor. Her co-star is Helena Blackman, one of the UK’s fastest-rising musical performers. The extraordinary 19-strong cast features Tony Award winner Elizabeth Seal, whose career began in the chorus of the original production, as well as RSC and West End stars Frank Barrie, Valerie Cutko, Doreen Hermitage, Eileen Page and Myra Sands.

Presented by special permission of Samuel French ltd on behalf of the Ivor Novello Trustees

About Composer and Playwright Ivor Novello

Welsh-born composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most eminent British entertainers of the last century. His West End musicals include Glamorous Night, The Dancing Years and King's Rhapsody; his most popular songs include Keep the Home Fires Burning, And Her Mother Came Too, Waltz of My Heart, My Dearest Dear, Someday My Heart Will Awake and the perennial We'll Gather Lilacs. As an actor, he was Britain's first major male film star, appearing in over twenty silent features including Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Lodger, playing the sinister title role. As a West End matinee idol, he appeared in many of his own plays and musicals. The Ivor Novello Awards, honouring excellence in British music writing, were established in 1955 in his memory. The Finborough Theatre's recent revival of Perchance to Dream was a complete sell-out.

About Lyricist Alan Melville

Lyricist Alan Melville (1910-1983) was one of the most popular playwrights and lyricists of the post-war years, and later a television personality. His sketches and lyrics featured in many West End revues, including Sweet and Low, Sweeter and Lower and Sweetest and Lowest which together ran for almost 2,000 performances. His long-running plays include Dear Charles, Castle in the Air and Simon and Laura (later filmed with Peter Finch and Kay Kendall).

About Director and Choreographer Stewart Nicholls

Director and Choreographer Stewart Nicholls has directed and choreographed numerous productions, including Cowardy Custard (2011 UK Tour), Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beanstalk (Hall for Cornwall), Hetty Feinstein's Wedding Anniversary (New End Theatre), Lunch with Marlene and Noël (UK Tour), I Love a Piano (World Tour), Big Bruvva and Faith Brown and her Boys in the Buff (Edinburgh Festival), Over My Shoulder (Wyndham's Theatre and National Tour), Beatlemania (Gothenburg Opera House, Sweden), South Pacific (Birmingham Symphony Hall), Carousel (St David's Hall, Cardiff) and Love Songs (Bridewell Theatre). Stewart is a leading archivist of British musical theatre, directing and choreographing ten forgotten British musicals at the Theatre Museum, including Noël Coward's Sail Away (his restored version is published by Warner/Chappell Music) and The Amazons, for which he also co-produced the Grammy Award-nominated CD.

About The Co-Playwright Richard Stirling

The Book has been revised for this production by Richard Stirling who wrote the 2007 Sunday Times top ten bestseller Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography as well as Love From Ivor (a tribute to Ivor Novello, which played to capacity at the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Lincoln Center, New York) and Over My Shoulder, the musical tribute to 1930s film star Jessie Matthews. As an actor, he has appeared on film and television and the West End, regional and American stage. He trained at RADA.

About The Musical Director Ben Stock

Trained at Guildford School of Acting. Theatre includes New Edna: The Spectacle (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Grease (Cambridge Theatre), Over My Shoulder (Wyndham’s Theatre and tour), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium), Beauty and the Beast and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (National Tours), G and I (New End Theatre), Anyone Can Whistle (Savoy Theatre), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Lost Musicals), Follow that Girl (Theatre Museum) and Ray Cooney’s Time’s Up! (National Tour). Regional Theatre includes French without Tears, Murder Mystery Musical, Alice in Wonderland, Feels Like The First Time, Annie, Stepping Out and La Cage aux Folles (English Speaking Theatre, Frankfurt). Pantomimes include Ugly Sister for QDOS. Music Hall includes appearances with the Players’ Theatre, Hiss and Boo and Paper Mill Theatre Company. Musical Direction includes Caroline Sheen’s album Raise the Curtain, Over My Shoulder, Can’t Stop the Music (QE2) and Five Guys Named Moe (Roundhouse). Ben is a regular presenter on BBC Radio Bristol’s Good Morning Show.

About The Celebrating British Music Theatre Series

In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with a sell-out production of Leslie Stuart's Florodora. Productions since then have included sell-out rediscoveries of Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A "Gilbert and Sullivan" Double Bill featuring Gilbert's play Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow, Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd and Ivor Novello's Perchance to Dream.

The Press on Gay's The Word

“Fizzes and sparkles with absolute confidence in its retro content.” Lucy Thackray, The Public Reviews

“Gay’s the Word may be low on plot but it is high on toe-tapping ditties; I left feeling rather as though I’d been snorting sherbet. But in a good way. It boasts great singing, witty lyrics, cheery spirit and jolly good fun. Another fabulous revival from the Finborough.” Lucy Thackray, The Public Reviews

“Gay’s the Word, that originally opened in 1951 and has never been professionally revived since until the ever-amazing Finborough squeezed a cast of 19 onto its tiny stage.” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“It is a huge treat and it must have a life beyond here. Bring on the Novello revival!” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“Its crying out for a major staging & if it got one could be the sort of hit Me & My Girl was second time around (though they might have to change the title!). It’s simply wonderful.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“Helena Blackman continues to impress with a particular affinity & suitability for this period, as she showed in Noel & Gertie last year.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“Blackman suits the bright-eyed ingenue and sings like a nightingale, showing a keen talent for comedy as well as looking period-perfect.” Lucy Thackray, The Public Reviews

“Helena Blackman and Josh Little as bumbling sweethearts Linda and Peter make their incredibly silly storyline quite heartwarming.” Lucy Thackray, The Public Reviews

“Josh Little is an excellent romantic lead.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“The ensemble of eager drama students are a delight to watch, with their complex harmonies blending effortlessly around Dann and Blackman’s stunning solos in some of the slickest company vocals I’ve heard on the fringe (kudos to musical director Ben Stock).” Lucy Thackray, The Public Reviews

“Sophie-Louise Dann who shines above all, pitching the performance perfectly for the intimate space and never letting us forget it is she who is running the show.” Ian, There Ought to be Clowns Blogspot

“There’s a blazing central performance from Sophie-Louise Dann as the ever-resourceful, ironically knowing Gay - a comic peach and a signing, dancing delight.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviews Gate

“Dann is excellent from the off, belting over the eight-strong ensemble in the opening pastiche and wringing every last laugh from her first solo number "It's Bound to be Right on the Night." Andrew Girvan, Whats on Stage

“Sophie-Louise Dann gives one of the finest musical comedy performances I’ve ever seen; she sings beautifully and is a master at comedy.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“There’s a quartet of veteran ladies – Doreen Hermitage, Eileen Page, Myra Sands & Elizabeth Seal – who almost steal the show.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“Delivered brilliantly by Eileen Page, Myra Sands, Elizabeth Seal (who was actually a member of the chorus of the original production) and Doreen Hermitage.” Ian, There Ought to be Clowns Blogspot

“All huge amounts of ridiculous fun and performed with such loving warmth in Stewart Nicholls’ production that it is hard to resist.” Ian, There Ought to be Clowns Blogspot

“Stewart Nicholl’s production sparkles.” Gareth James, Gareth’s Culture and Travel Blog

“The Finborough Theatre has long been well regarded as a powerhouse of intimate (not small!) theatre, developing a strong reputation on two fronts with its rediscoveries of old plays and in the promotion of new writing. But though the space above the rather lovely wine bar is petite, their productions never are and this revival of Ivor Novello’s Gay’s the Word, on for just six performances (now extended by two), features a cast of 19. Last year’s Perchance to Dream, another of Novello’s neglected works, was a genuine pleasure to watch – introducing me to the song We’ll Gather Lilacs which has never since left my head – and so anticipation was indeed high for this.” Ian, There Ought to be Clowns Blogspot

Sundays and Mondays, 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 February 2012

Tickets and Times

Monday 7:30pm
Sunday 7:30pm

Approximately two and a half hours with interval