''Gambler'' is a musical written by

Eric Woolfson Eric Norman Woolfson (18 March 1945 – 2 December 2009) was a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist, and co-creator of The Alan Parsons Project. Together with Parsons they sold over 50 million albums worldwide. F ...

. It features several of his most popular songs from his earlier writing with

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanie ...

. It is loosely based on the Project album ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'', although it also contains several newly written songs as well as two songs from later albums, and doesn't include many songs from the 1980 album (unlike had been the case with ''Gaudi'').

Plot

The plot, inspired by

Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's 1866 novel '' The Gambler'', involves a young man entering the Peking Palace Casino and becoming a serious gambler in order to win the affection of a showgirl there, both of whom are being manipulated by the casino boss.

Production

''Gambler'' the musical had world premier and was created in October 1996 at stadttheater in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

, Germany, and it ran October 1996 till June 1998; it was staged in 1999 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea.

Album release

The recording of the German cast was released as a CD in 1997 (with the subtitle "Das Geheimnis der Karten", lit. "the secret of the cards"). It is currently out of print, but is available as a digital download from Woolfson's official website.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by

. #"Fanfare" (0:30) #"Green Light Means Danger" (7:01) #"Love In The Third Degree" (4:14) #"When The World Was Young" (6:14) #" Games People Play" (5:21) #"The Golden Key" (4:49) #"

Limelight Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when ...

" (7:11) #"9 x 9 x 9" (4:40) #"Halfway" (5:10) #" Eye in the Sky" (9:01) #"(You'll be) Far Away" (4:21) #"

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

" (7:19) #"Medley" (0:55) #"Afterture" ''(bonus track to the download version)''

References

External links

Gambler - Eric Woolfson official website
* {{Authority control 1997 albums 1997 musicals Adaptations of works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Eric Woolfson albums Concept albums Musicals based on novels Musicals set in casinos Musicals about gambling