WATCH: It Happened in Key West stars give a sneak-peek performance Live at Zedel

27 Jun
2018

Posted in: Features Videos

Author: Staff

We're counting down to the world premiere of US musical comedy IT HAPPENED IN KEY WEST. Earlier this month, the stars gave a little sneak-peek at Crazy Coqs cabaret at Brasserie Zedel and we got our hands on these even sneakier videos (filmed and shared with permission, of course!). We can't wait to see all the shows sung in their full-fledged, in-situ glory once performances start at the Charing Cross Theatre on 4 July... (Psst: Have you entered our competition yet?)

What's it all about?

Do you believe in undying love? Richard Curtis meets Tim Burton. Based on a true story, brand new musical comedy It Happened in Key West takes you on a journey to 1930s Florida, where an eccentric scientist becomes hopelessly inseparable from the woman of his dreams.

Count Carl Von Cosel finally finds the girl he’s imagined all his life, only to diagnose her with tuberculosis and find out she’s married. Hilarious and absurd, this extraordinary love-story follows his desperate attempts to save her life at all costs, and the undying love he displays when she succumbs to her illness.

Dead though she may be, watch Elena come alive with Carl as he lives out their fantasy beneath the palm trees and sunshine of Key West. Funny, shocking and deeply moving, this new American musical will make you re-examine what you believe about the nature of love, loyalty and commitment (either to a person or an asylum!).

Watch: Alyssa Martyn

Here's the show's creator, Broadway composer Jill Santoriello, introducing leading lady Alyssa Martyn, who plays the tragic Elena, singing 'I Feel Loved'. Santoriello explains that the ballad is in Act Two, "so she's already dead". And yet, the lungs on her!

Watch: Jeremiah James

The show, which had a showcase in the US last year, is co-written by novelist Jason Huza and Jeremiah James. Recognise Jeremiah? You may well do. He's gained legions of fans himself as a member of showtunes supergroup Teatro. He showed the audience at Brasserie Zedel he can absolutely still carry a tune himself, with this performance of 'Both Sides Now'.

Watch: Wade McCollum

Last but not least, leading man, and well known to Broadway fans from Wicked, in which he played Doctor Dillamond, Wade McCollum sang Count Carl's devotional 'Undying Love'. This one has also been pre-released as a video single, which you can watch in full here. He's also introduced by Santoriello.