Come Dancing - Ray Davies new musical July 16, 2008
Posted by Linda in : Musicals, Theatre Royal Stratford East, come dancing, dates , trackbackCome Dancing with the Kinks
Come Dancing, is a new musical written by former Kinks singer-songwriter Ray Davies. It will open at the Theatre Royal Stratford East for a short run (13 September to 25 October 2008) before a possible West End transfer. Although the title comes from a song written by Davies in 1983 the show is not a jukebox musical. Original music and lyrics have been written by Davies. The multi-talented Davies (no mean poet as well as song writer) originated the story and co-wrote the book with Paul Sirett, there’s also additional material by Terry Johnson.The show will be directed by Theatre Royal Stratford East’s artistic director Kerry Michael.
The Story
Come Dancing is set in the Ilford Palais in the 1950s. According to the web site it:
“takes us back to a time when Saturday night dancing at the local palais was the magical, not-to-be-missed highlight of every young person’s week”.
Back in 2000 in an interview with Rolling Stone Davies said:
“‘Come Dancing’ is a musical with lots of actors and actresses. It’s about my sisters and how they lived through that time in post-war Britain.”
Ray Davies
Londoner Ray Davies was the frontman and main song writer for The Kinks from the early days (1963) to the end of the band in mid-1990s. He wrote classic hits such as “You Really Got Me”, “All Day and All of the Night”, “Lola”, “Waterloo Sunset”, “Do It Again” and one of my particular favourites “Muswell Hillbilly Boy”. As I mentioned he’s also a published author of both fiction and poetry.
My thoughts on Come Dancing
It’s been a long time coming but it might just be worth the wait. It had a pretty good eight week workshop at the National way back in 2000 and has been promised for further development ever since. Now I’m a Kinks fan of old and I think Ray Davies is a brilliant song writer so I will definitely be hoping to see this at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. I just wonder if Come Dancing will finally make it to the West End, we shall see….
Come Dancing Kinks Video
Meanwhile here’s a video taster of Come Dancing
No comments yet.