Our House Packs up for Tour & Comeback???
Date: 14 August 2003
Despite enthusiastic reviews, an Olivier Award for Best New Musical and the backing of scores of Madness fans,
Our House, the musical inspired by the greatest hits of the 1980s ska band, closes this coming weekend (Saturday 16 August 2003) after just ten months at the West End's Cambridge Theatre (See
News, 19 Jun 2003). That's the bad news. The good news is that it may well be back.
Tim Firth, who wrote the original book, is tasked with creating on a slimmed-down version that producers hope to take on tour in autumn 2004 and, all going to plan, bring back into town when the West End climate is more favourable (and, no, we're not just talking about the August heatwave). The musical is technically complex and thus expensive to run. It features a
Sliding Doors-like plotline that, often simultaneously, shows the two divergent life paths open to London lad Joe (played by Olivier nominee
Michael Jibson). Let's hope Firth's revision somehow manages to trim
Our House's excess costs while retaining its magic. In the meantime, Madness' lead singer Suggs (who made his musical debut this past spring, playing Joe's Dad in the show) and other members of the band are expected to attend Saturday’s finale.
Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.comRelated Content
