Stephen Ward | |
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The Scandal That Shook Society | |
Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
Lyrics | Don Black Christopher Hampton |
Book | Don Black Christopher Hampton |
Basis | The Profumo affair and the life of Stephen Ward |
Premiere | 19 December 2013 : Aldwych Theatre |
Productions | 2013 West End |
Stephen Ward is a musical with a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. [1] The musical is based on the 1963 Profumo affair involving the War Minister John Profumo and the socialite Stephen Ward who introduced Profumo to his mistress Christine Keeler, who was also involved with a Russian spy. [2] [3] The musical's world premiere was in London's West End at the Aldwych Theatre in 2013.
In February 2012, Webber first revealed in an interview with the British broadcaster Chris Evans that he was considering working on a show based on the Profumo affair. [4] A first reading of the musical [1] was held in London in early 2013, [5] with its first public staging in March, [6] with Miloš Karadaglić [7] performing the title song from the show on an ITV special Andrew Lloyd Webber: 40 Musical Years. The track was later released as a digital download. [6]
Officially confirmed on 28 June 2013, producers announced that the initial production would be staged at the Aldwych Theatre, [8] with tickets going on sale immediately. [9] The show, budgeted at £2.5 million [10] had a book with lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton [11] and is directed by Richard Eyre, [12] with choreography by Stephen Mear, set design by Rob Howell, lighting design by Peter Mumford and sound by Paul Groothuis. [13]
In 2014, the full libretto of the musical was published by Faber and Faber in book form. [14]
Stephen Ward began previews on 3 December 2013, [15] at the Aldwych Theatre, London, before holding its official opening night on 19 December, [13] booking until 1 March. [16] On 6 September 2013, full casting was announced with Alexander Hanson playing the title role of Stephen Ward, [17] Charlotte Spencer as Christine Keeler, [18] Joanna Riding as Valerie Hobson, [19] Charlotte Blackledge as Mandy Rice Davies, Anthony Calf as Lord Astor, Daniel Flynn as John Profumo, Ian Conningham as Ivanov, Christopher Howell as Percival Murray, Ricardo Coke Thomas as Lucky Gordon and Wayne Robinson as Johnny Edgecombe. [20]
The West End production of Stephen Ward received mixed reviews from critics. [21] [22] The official opening night was overshadowed by an incident at the Apollo Theatre: [23] during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part of the theatre's ceiling fell onto the audience. Members of the West End theatre circuit, managers and producers, who were attending the premiere of Stephen Ward were told of the incident during the interval; many left the theatre to attend to the incident at the Apollo Theatre. Media who were attending Stephen Ward were diverted by news-desks to cover the incident at the Apollo Theatre. The planned after-show press room was cancelled, once the scale of the incident at the Apollo Theatre became clear and that audience members had been hurt.
Despite initially announcing the production would extend to 31 May, [24] the show closed on 29 March 2014, the same day as Lloyd Webber's former lyricist collaborator Tim Rice's show From Here to Eternity . [25] [26] A typical London performance ran 2hrs 20mins, including one interval. [27] Michael Billington wrote that Lloyd Webber's "great gift is for writing music about either fulfilled or unrequited romantic passion". On Stephen Ward, he wondered why Lloyd Webber "ever felt it was the right subject for his particular talents and why the producers thought a show about a flagrant miscarriage of justice half a century ago had much resonance for a modern audience." [28] An admirer of Lloyd Webber, Billington believed such a project had demanded the "satirical bite" which Kander and Ebb displayed in the musicals Cabaret and Chicago . [28]
1. The Chamber of Horrors
3. Wraysbery
4. The Cottage at Cliveden
5. Murray's Club
6. Wimpole Mews
7. A Party in Hyde Park Square
8.The El Rio Cafe in Notting Hill
9. Astor's House in Cliveden
10. Wimpole Mews
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1. Wimpole Mews
2. An Office at the News of the World
3. The Dorchester Hotel 4. The Profumo's House in Chester Terrace
6. The Home Secretary's Quarters in the Home Office
7. Marylebone Police Station
8. The Hotel Cipriani, Venice
9. The Arrest
10. Court No.1 at the Old Bailey
11. Wimpole Mews
12. The Chamber of Horrors, Blackpool
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RecordingsA West End original cast album was released on 30 December 2013, [29] featuring nineteen songs. [30] The album released by Decca Records was originally slated for a March 2014 [31] release, but was brought forward due to demand. [32]
Principal roles and cast members
Related Research ArticlesAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler beginning in 1961. Profumo denied the affair in a statement to the House of Commons in 1963; weeks later, a police investigation proved that he had lied. The scandal severely damaged the credibility of Macmillan's government, and Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health. The fallout contributed to the Conservative government's defeat by the Labour Party in the 1964 general election. John Dennis Profumo was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affair, led to his resignation from the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan. Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963. Christine Margaret Keeler was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became sexually involved with a married Cabinet minister, John Profumo, as well as with a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov. A shooting incident involving a third lover caused the press to investigate her, revealing that her affairs could be threatening national security. In the House of Commons, Profumo denied any improper conduct but later admitted that he had lied. Marilyn Foreman, better known as Mandy Rice-Davies, was a Welsh model and showgirl best known for her association with Christine Keeler and her role in the Profumo affair, which discredited the Conservative government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1963. Stephen Thomas Ward was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, and contributed to the defeat of the Conservative government a year later. Scandal is a 1989 British historical drama film, directed by Michael Caton-Jones. It is a fictionalised account of the Profumo affair that rocked the government of British prime minister Harold Macmillan. It stars Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler and John Hurt as Stephen Ward, personalities at the heart of the affair. Sir Christopher James Hampton is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses based on the novel of the same name and the film adaptation. He has thrice received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Atonement (2007) and The Father (2020); winning for the former and latter. Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is an English actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has written ten books, directed in the UK, US, Romania and Japan, and is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his role as Moff Jerjerrod in the original Star Wars trilogy film Return of the Jedi. The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. Donald Blackstone, known professionally as Don Black, is an English lyricist. His works have included numerous musicals, movie, television themes and hit songs. He has provided lyrics for John Barry, Charles Strouse, Matt Monro, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Hoyt Curtin, Lulu, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Hayley Westenra, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman. Captain Yevgeny Mikhailovich Ivanov, also known as Eugene Ivanov, was a naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy in London during the early 1960s, and was also engaged in espionage. His affair with Christine Keeler resulted in another of her lovers, John Profumo, resigning from the United Kingdom government, in what became known as the Profumo affair. Alexander Harald St John Hanson-Akins is a Norwegian-English stage actor who has appeared in numerous plays and musicals in the West End, and also on Broadway. Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon was a British-based Jamaican jazz singer who came to public attention during the Profumo affair. He arrived in Scotland from Jamaica in 1948, and moved to London after a few days. John Arthur Alexander Edgecombe was a British jazz promoter, whose involvement with Christine Keeler inadvertently alerted authorities to the Profumo affair. Top Hat the Musical is a 2011 stage musical based on the 1935 film of the same name, featuring music and lyrics by Irving Berlin with additional orchestration by Chris Walker. The show opened on 16 August 2011 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, touring the United Kingdom before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End. Top Hat won multiple 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards after receiving seven nominations. The musical closed in London on 26 October 2013, with a UK and Ireland tour commencing in August 2014. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a play by Simon Stephens based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. During its premiere run, the play tied the record for winning the most Olivier Awards (seven), including Best New Play at the 2013 ceremony. The play is a National Theatre Production, in association with Frantic Assembly, who specialised in the movement direction. Charlotte Spencer is an English actress, dancer and singer. She is known for playing the female lead in The Living and the Dead. Screen International magazine named her a Star of Tomorrow 2015. The Trial of Christine Keeler is a British television series based on the chain of events surrounding the Profumo affair in the 1960s. The six-part series premiered on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2019. The series was adapted by screenwriter Amanda Coe and stars Sophie Cookson, James Norton, Ellie Bamber, Ben Miles, Visar Vishka, Emilia Fox, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Anthony Welsh. References
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