Chichester Festival
Chichester Festival
THIS year the Chichester Festival is offering a mixture of musicals, revivals and new plays. The casts include names such as Diana Rigg, Robert Lindsay, Maureen Lipman, Brian Conley, Susan Hampshire, Michael Pennington and Jemma Redgrave. Wow.
Musicals
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THE MUSIC MAN
Book, Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson. Story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey.
June 23 – August 30, Festival Theatre
The Music Man, which opened in New York in 1957, made a musical star out of a minor Hollywood actor – Robert Preston – who played the lead not only in the show but also in the film version (1962). The principal character, “Professor” Harold Hill, is a fraudulent travelling salesman who uses his skills to sell musical instruments to the citizens of a small mid west town for their children but is redeemed by his love for the local librarian.
FUNNY GIRL
Music by Jule Styne and Lyrics by Bob Merrill; book by Isobel Lennart.
April 28 – June 14, Minerva Theatre
Funny Girl opened on Broadway on March 26, 1964 with Barbra Streisand in the name part and ran for 1,346 performances, making Miss Streisand a star. It was seen in London, again with Miss Streisand in the title role, in 1966 but it only ran for 112 performances as Miss Streisand’s pregnancy forced her to leave the cast and the show could not survive without her.
A film version with Miss Streisand was made in 1968 and there was sequel, Funny Lady, in 1975 dealing with Fanny Brice’s later life, also with Miss Streisand, but with a score by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret and Chicago).
…Bob Merrill, the lyricist, is probably best known for the popular song How Much Is That Doggy In The Window although he also wrote scores for other Broadway musicals including Take Me Along (a musical version of Anna Christie) and Carnival (a dramatisation of the film Lili).
Revivals
THE CIRCLE by Somerset Maugham
July 22 – August 29, Festival Theatre
Written in 1919 and produced in 1921, The Circle is considered one of Maugham’s better comedies which has been revived on many occasions. An elegant and entertaining social satire on the compromises and bargains of married life and the conflict between romance and responsibility.
Directed by Jonathan Church.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD by Anton Chekhov
May 15 – June 7, Festival Theatre
Diana Rigg plays Mme Ranevskaya in Mike Poulton’s version of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece in the opening production in the Festival Theatre. Also in the cast are William Gaunt, Jemma Redgrave and Maureen Lipman and the director is Philip Franks, who last year directed Twelfth Night and co-directed The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
TAKING SIDES and COLLABORATION by Ronald Harwood
July 16 – August 30, Minerva Theatre
Taking Sides focuses in on conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. Prized by Hitler as the cultural jewel in the crown of the Third Reich, he became the perfect post-war target for interrogation as a Nazi sympathizer. Collaboration begins in 1931 in a spirit of optimism as composer Richard Strauss and writer Stephan Zweig embark on an invigorating artistic partnership. Taking Sides premiered in the Minerva Theatre in 1995 and is revived here with a world premiere of Harwood’s new play Collaboration.
Philip Franks directs.
SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR by Luigi Pirandello.
A new version by Rupert Goold and Ben Power
June June – August 23, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: 8 July)
A bold re-imagining of a masterpiece, Six Characters has been updated and re-conceptualise as a a dark parable for a media-obsessed age.
Rupert Goold returns to Chichester to directs.
New Plays
ARISTO by Martin Sherman
September 11 – October 11, Minerva Theatre
Martin Sherman’s new play Aristo completes the festival. Robert Lindsay plays tycoon Aristotle Onassis in a world premiere based on the last years of his life, including his complex connections and interwoven relationships with Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas, and his son Alexandros.
CALENDAR GIRLS by Tim Firth
September 5 – 27, Festival Theatre
Tim Firth’s brand new adaptation of the Miramax film Calendar Girls follows the fortunes of a group of extraordinary women, all members of a very ordinary Yorkshire Women’s Institute, who persuade each other to pose for a charity calendar with a difference. A hit film in 2003, the story is based upon true-life events.
