Ready to be blown away? High-camp cult musical MOBY DICK! - not seen in London since its brief run at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre in 1992 - returns to London in the autumn. The musical is about a group of girls who stages a musical version of Moby Dick to raise money to keep their school open. Bonus fun: If you turn up at the Union Theatre in school uniform, you get a front-row seat and a part in the show! How's that for a whale of a time?
Not seen in the UK since 1992, saucy cult hit MOBY DICK! The Musical is back. Originally produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Moby Dick! The Musical has a book by Robert Longden and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye. The milestone revival, directed and choreographed by Andrew Wright, runs at London’s new Union Theatre 12 October to 12 November 2016, with a press night on 18 October.
Cameron Mackintosh comments:
“When I first put on Robert Longdon and Hereward Kaye’s irrepressible version of MOBY DICK! The Musical 25 years ago, London had virtually no Off West End theatres and the outrageous joy of shows like The Producers and The Book of Mormon were still decades away. An unlikely alliance between Melville’s great novel and the immortal St Trinian’s girls, ‘Moby Dick!’ is truly a whale of a tale. I’m really delighted that Andrew Wright saw the show as a student in Oxford and has taken up his harpoon to bring Moby roaring back to the New Union Theatre with a wonderful diverse young cast of school ‘girls’ to holler ‘Thar She Blows’!”
The anarchic and nubile girls of St Godley’s Academy for Young Ladies are in trouble! Money for the school has run out and it’s threatened with closure. Determined to save their school from bankruptcy, the resourceful girls, and their unflappable headmistress come up with a plan to keep the school afloat. Using whatever they can find, the girls mount an original production as a fundraiser – a musical version of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick, featuring their own headmistress in the coveted role of Captain Ahab.
This brand new production, staged for the show’s 25th Anniversary, is directed and choreographed by double Olivier Award nominee Andrew Wright. Wright is reunited with producer Amy Anzel after their 2014 UK tour of Happy Days – A New Musical, which featured on Channel 4’s The Sound of Musicals.
Andrew comments:
“I am very excited to bring MOBY DICK! The Musical back to London after 25 years. I saw the original production at the Oxford Fire Station in 1991 and fell in love with its anarchic charm and sheer exuberance. The New Union Theatre is the perfect venue to unleash the girls of St Godley’s version of this classic tale. 25 years on, the piece feels more relevant than ever and after waiting all that time it will hopefully be the dick you’ve been waiting for!”
This show is all about having fun and getting involved. Audience members who come in school uniform will get front row onstage seats and play a part in St Godley’s version of Moby Dick.
