''A Damsel in Distress'' is 2015 musical written by
Jeremy Sams
Jeremy Sams (born 12 January 1957) is a British theatre director, writer, translator, orchestrator, musical director, film composer, and lyricist.
Early life and education
Sams is the son of the late Shakespearean scholar and musicologist Eri ...
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
, the 1928 play adapted from the novel, and the 1937 musical comedy film '' A Damsel in Distress'' based on the novel and play. The musical ran from 30 May to 27 June 2015 at
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...
.
Main cast
*
Richard Fleeshman
Richard Jonathan Fleeshman (born 8 June 1989) is an English actor and singer. His television career began as a 12-year-old, playing Craig Harris for four years in ''Coronation Street'' before going on to become an established television, West E ...
as George
*
Summer Strallen
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen (born 21 December 1985) is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of '' Love Never Dies'' and Maria ...
as Maud Marshmoreton
*
Desmond Barrit
Desmond Barrit is a Welsh actor, best known for his stage work.
Biography
An early screen role for Barrit came in ''Alice through the Looking Glass'' (1998), in which he played Humpty Dumpty.
In 2003, he played Shylock in the Chichester Festiva ...
as Keggs
*
Isla Blair
Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''.
Early life and education
Isla Blair w ...
as Lady Caroline Byng
*
Richard Dempsey
Richard Dempsey is an English actor.
Biography
Dempsey's first role came at the age of 15, when he appeared as Peter Pevensie in the BBC's adaptation of '' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' in 1988. The following year, he appeared in the ...
as Reggie Byng
*
Nicholas Farrell
Nicholas C. Frost (born 1955), known professionally as Nicholas Farrell, is an English stage, film and television actor.
Education
Farrell was educated at Fryerns Grammar and Technical School in Basildon, Essex, followed by the University of ...
as Lord Marshmoreton
*
Sally Ann Triplett
Sally Ann Triplett (born 15 April 1962, London, England) is a British singer and actress. She participated in two editions of the Eurovision Song Contest and West End productions.
Career
Triplett first represented the United Kingdom in the E ...
Rob Ashford
Rob Ashford (born November 19, 1959) is an American stage director and choreographer. He is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner.
Early life and education
Born in Orlando, Florida and ...
, the designer was
Christopher Oram
Christopher Oram is a British theatre set and costume designer.
Background
He trained at the West Sussex College of Art and Design (latterly Northbrook College).
Early assisting work for designers Anthony Ward and Ian MacNeil, included ''A ...
, and the musical supervisor was
David Chase
David Henry Chase (born August 22, 1945) is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced the HBO drama ''The Sopranos'' which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2007. Chase has also produced and written for such shows as ''The Rockford File ...
. The musical director was Alan Williams, the orchestrator was Bill Elliott, the lightning designer was Howard Harrison, and the sound designer was
Paul Groothuis
Paul Groothuis is a Dutch sound designer who has had a long career working on the London stage. Groothuis was born in the Netherlands and moved to the UK in 1979 to study Stage Management at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He joined the N ...
. Gabrielle Dawes and James Orange were the casting directors.
Musical numbers
;Act 1
* "Overture" – Orchestra
* " Things Are Looking Up" – Billie and Ensemble
* "Put Me To The Test" – George, Billie
* "Mine" – Lord Marshmoreton
* "The Jolly Milkmaid And The Tar" – Keggs, Reggie, Alice
* " Nice Work If You Can Get It" – Maud, Alice
* "Feeling I’m Falling" – George
* "I’m A Poached Egg" – Reggie
* "You Are You" – George, Alice, Reggie, Lord Marshmoreton, Lady Caroline
* "
Stiff Upper Lip
A person who is said to have a stiff upper lip displays fortitude and stoicism in the face of adversity, or exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion.I Can't Be Bothered Now" – Billie and Ensemble
* "Love Walked In" – Lord Marshmoreton, Billie
* "French Pastry Walk" – Dorcas, Pierre and Ensemble
* "Soon" – Maud, George, Billie
* "Mine (Reprise)" – Lord Marshmoreton, Billie
* "Fidgety Feet" – Reggie, George and Ensemble
* "Sing Of Spring" – Lady Caroline
* "I’m A Poached Egg (Reprise)" – Reggie, Alice
* "Mine (Reprise II)" – Lord Marshmoreton, Billie
* "
A Foggy Day
"A Foggy Day" is a popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film '' A Damsel in Distress''. It was originally titled "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" in reference t ...
" – George
* "Finale" – Full Company
Reception
Reviews were generally positive. ''BritishTheatre.com'': "Sams and Hudson have done an excellent job of adapting this work for the stage, inventing and re-inventing parts of Wodehouse’s original wheel. The dialogue is snappy and effervescent, and the tone light and supple throughout. There might be a tad too much emphasis on George’s artistic angst than is strictly necessary or properly explained, but that does not really get in the way of the roller coaster of frivolity that the duo has here penned."
''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'': "In an age of metamusicals from The Producers to the current Broadway hit Something Rotten, which offer their own ironic commentaries on the genre itself, A Damsel in Distress is both blissfully affectionate yet never affected as a young Broadway composer (Richard Fleeshman) and a British socialite (Summer Strallen) are set on an tangled but inevitable course towards each other in a dizzying, but always sincere, series of romantic collisions. Rob Ashford directs and choreographs an absolutely luxurious cast that includes hilarious turns from Richard Dempsey, Isla Blair and Desmond Barrit, and the brassily brilliant Sally Ann Triplett as the leading showgirl."
''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'': "While complex characterization was perhaps not one of Wodehouse’s main preoccupations (there are several sour little quips around George’s desire to create serious, incomprehensible 'art', rather than mere shallow, enjoyable 'entertainment'), both Summer Strallen as Maud and Richard Fleeshman as George bring a sparky edge to their obstacle-filled romance, while the late-blooming love between Nicholas Farrell as Lord Marshmoreton, who always wanted to marry a showgirl, and Sally Ann Triplett as the girl of his dreams, equally at home on the stage or in the pigsty, is genuinely touching."