The Hunting of the Snark is a musical based on Lewis Carroll's 1876 poem The Hunting of the Snark , written by composer Mike Batt.
The musical began life in 1984 as a costumed concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, conducted by Mike Batt and starring Paul Jones as the Baker and Christopher Cazenove as the narrator.
It was created as a concept album in 1986 but withheld from sale after a dispute with the record label CBS (now Sony Music). [1] The recording featured Roger Daltrey, Art Garfunkel, John Gielgud, Stéphane Grappelli, George Harrison, John Hurt, Julian Lennon, Cliff Richard, Captain Sensible, Deniece Williams, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Later that year it was performed as a concert at the Barbican. "Midnight Smoke" was released as a single on 17 November 1986.
A further (costumed) production took place at the Royal Albert Hall on April Fool's Day 1987, with Justin Hayward taking Art Garfunkel's role of the Butcher from the original recording, Billy Connolly replacing Cliff Richard as the Bellman and Midge Ure performing George Harrison's guitar parts. Other performers recreated their roles from the concept recording. This concert was filmed and screened as a television special in some countries.
In October 1990, after Batt had completed the full-length theatrical score and book, it was successfully presented again by Batt and Jackson-Mayo Productions as a dramatised concert in Australia at Sydney's State Theatre and the Hills Centre with the Elizabethan Sinfonietta, with Philip Quast starring as The Bellman, Cameron Daddo as The Butcher, Jackie Love as The Beaver, Doug Parkinson as The Barrister, Daryl Somers as The Billiard Marker, John Waters as Lewis Carroll and David Whitney as The Baker. This production also included additional songs that did not appear on the original 1986 recording. [2]
On 24 October 1991, a £2 million production of the show opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre, with striking scenery and designs. 12,000 35mm slides were projected from 152 computer-linked projectors arranged around the theatre using a technique developed by Batt over many years, and which had been featured in his Zero Zero TV musical fantasia in 1982. Although reviews praised Batt's visual concepts and Quast as the Bellman, the show closed seven weeks later.
The show was later presented as an amateur production in July 1995 at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, with slightly different songs and libretto created by Batt for the occasion. The Sheffield amateur production was produced by Ian Gude for Jolly Good Musical Productions, directed by Steve Morrell, with musical direction by Ian Gude.
In November 2010, Mike Batt's company Dramatico Entertainment released the original record album from 1986, together with a DVD of the Royal Albert Hall concert from 1987. A sheet music folio of the original album was released to coincide with the 2010 DVD/CD release.
The Hunting of the Snark tells the tale of several characters who go on a sea journey, searching for a mythical creature called "The Snark", whatever it may be, for the Snark is different things to each of the characters. The Baker's uncle once told him, "If your Snark be a Boojum! ... You will softly and suddenly vanish away, And never be met with again!". Through this journey relationships develop, tensions rise and the Baker's worst nightmare comes true.
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Into the Woods is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and songs including "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "The Boxer" (1969) and "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970) reached number one on singles charts worldwide.
The Hunting of the Snark, subtitled An Agony, in Eight fits, is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter known both for his solo work and his collaboration with Art Garfunkel. He and his school friend Garfunkel, whom he met in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, including hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer", served as a soundtrack to the counterculture movement. Their final album, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), is among the bestselling of all time.
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Christopher John Spedding is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of the most sought-after session guitarists in England. Spedding has played on and produced many albums and singles. He has also been a member of eleven rock bands: the Battered Ornaments, Frank Ricotti Quartet, King Mob, Mike Batt and Friends, Necessaries, Nucleus, Ricky Norton, Sharks, Trigger, and the Wombles. In May 1976, Spedding also produced the first Sex Pistols recordings.
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Michael Philip Batt, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
"The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a standalone single on March 21, 1969, but included on the album nine months later. The song is a folk rock ballad that variously takes the form of a first-person lament as well as a third-person sketch of a boxer. The lyrics are largely autobiographical and partially inspired by the Bible and were written during a time when Simon felt he was being unfairly criticized. The song's lyrics discuss poverty and loneliness. It is particularly known for its plaintive refrain, in which they sing 'lie-la-lie', accompanied by a heavily reverbed snare drum.
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The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert that took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City in response to the September 11 attacks. Aside from performing for charity, the concert was an attempt to honor the first responders from the New York City Fire Department and New York City Police Department, their families, and those lost in the attacks and those who had worked in the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in the weeks since that time.
Patrick James Woodroffe was an English artist, etcher and drawer, who specialised in fantasy science-fiction artwork, with images that bordered on the surreal. His achievements include several collaborations with well-known musicians, two bronze sculptures displayed in Switzerland and numerous books.
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Quadrophenia is a stage musical based on the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who, released on 19 October 1973, and a film of the same name, released in 1979. The album was the group's second full-length rock opera, and the story reveals social, musical and psychological events from an English teenager's perspective. The music and songs were composed by Pete Townshend and the story is set in London and Brighton in 1964 and '65.
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