''The Hunting of the Snark'' is a musical based on

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

's 1876 poem ''

The Hunting of the Snark ''The Hunting of the Snark'', subtitled ''An Agony in 8 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 por ...

'', written by composer

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantia ...

History

The musical began life in 1984 as a costumed concert with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

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 (Sony). The recording featured

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include " My Generation", " Pinball Wizard", " Won't Get Fooled ...

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 h ...

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...

, George Harrison,

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian i ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

Captain Sensible Raymond Ian Burns (born 24 April 1954), known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. Captain Sensible co-founded the punk rock band the Damned, originally playing bass before switching to guitar. H ...

Deniece Williams Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Bil ...

, 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 David Justin Hayward (born 14 October 1946) is an English musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the rock band the Moody Blues. Hayward became the group's principal lead guitarist and vocalist over the 1967–1974 ...

taking Art Garfunkel's role of the Butcher from the original recording,

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...

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 ''The Hunting Of The Snark'' was successfully presented, again by Batt and by 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 Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category. He is perhaps best known f ...

starring as The Bellman,

Cameron Daddo Cameron Peter Daddo (born 7 March 1965) is an Australian actor, musician and presenter. From 1987 to 1988, he hosted dating game show '' Perfect Match Australia''. He won two Logie Awards for his performances in '' Golden Fiddles'' and ''Track ...

as The Butcher, Jackie Love as The Beaver,

Doug Parkinson Douglas John Parkinson (30 October 1946 – 15 March 2021) was an Australian pop and rock singer. He led the bands Strings and Things/A Sound (1965), the Questions (1966–1968), Doug Parkinson in Focus (1968–1970, 1971), Fanny Adams (1970� ...

as The Barrister,

Daryl Somers Daryl Paul Somers (né Schulz; 6 August 1951) is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award-winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program '' ...

as The Billiard Marker,

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

and David Whitney as The Baker. This production also included additional songs that did not appear on the original 1986 recording. On 24 October 1991 a £2 million budget production of the show opened in London at the

Prince Edward Theatre The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc ...

, with striking scenery and designs. 12,000 animated slides were projected from 152 computer-linked projectors arranged around the theatre. 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 The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...

, 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.

Album and DVD

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. Cast: *Mike Batt, The Boots *

, The Bellman (album only) *

, The Bellman (DVD only) *

, The Barrister *

, The Butcher *

, The Narrator *

, The Baker *

, The Billiard Marker * Midge Ure, The Banker *

, The Beaver

Synopsis

''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. ;Act One *Prologue *Opening Titles *Children Of The Sky *Hymn To The Snark *The Storm and Arrival *Who'll Join Me On This Escapade? *The Way We Think *The Departure *The Bellman's Speech *Midnight Smoke *The Trouble With You *Dancing Towards Disaster ;Act Two *The Banker's Fate *The Hunting *Nursery Pictures *Waiting For A Wave *The Butchery Waltz *Snooker SongChorus 1 used as the theme song for

Big Break ''Big Break'' is a British television game show, created by Roger Medcalf, Mike Kemp and Terry Mardell, presented by comedian Jim Davidson and snooker commentator John Virgo, and broadcast on BBC One between 1991 and 2002. Inspired by ITV's '' ...

, BBC *The Pig Must Die *More Trouble *The Dismal and Desolate Valley *A Delicate Combination *As Long As The Moon Can Shine *Yet More Trouble *The Vanishing *Whatever You Believe

Creative team

*Mike Batt -

Writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

*Jamie Hayes - Co-Director *Andrew Bridge -

Lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

*Jo-Anne Robinson - Choreographer *Kim Baker - Associate

Costume Designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

*Derek Healey -

Projection Projection, projections or projective may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphic ...

Programming and Development *John Delnero -

Sound Designer In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

*Chris Slingsby -

Audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound * Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

Visual Supervisor *Timothy Skelly - Assistant Electrician

Original London cast

David McCallum David Keith McCallum Jr. (born 19 September 1933) is a Scottish actor and musician. He first gained recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E''. In recent years, McCall ...

, Lewis Carroll *

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

, Billiard Marker *

, Bellman *

Mark McGann Mark Anthony McGann (born 12 July 1961) is an English actor. Early life He attended the De La Salle Grammar School, Liverpool. Mark's father Joe was a Royal Naval Commando who died in 1984, and his mother Clare was a teacher. His three bro ...

, Baker *David Firth, Banker *Roni Hart, Beaver * Peter Ledbury, Broker * Allan Love, Barrister * Gary Martin, Bishop * John Partridge, Butcher * Jae Alexander, Bandmaster / Associate Musical Director

References

External links

*Mike Batt's Officia
Website
*''The Hunting of The Snark'' a
IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunting Of The Snark, The West End musicals 1991 musicals Works based on Alice in Wonderland British musicals Musicals based on poems Cultural depictions of Lewis Carroll