Lee Mead Carries West End Babes in Arms???

Rodgers and Hart’s Babes in Arms may provide the next West End vehicle for Lee Mead, the Any Dream Will Do victor turned Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat star.

We hear that the 1937 Broadway classic is being lined up for a West End revival in the new year. The rarely seen musical was dusted off two summers ago at Chichester Festival Theatre, in an acclaimed production directed by Martin Connor and featuring Lorna Luft (the daughter of Judy Garland, who starred opposite Mickey Rooney in the 1939 film version). However, the West End transfer mooted at the time never materialised.

Babes in Arms transports audiences back to the glory years of musical theatre, with a group of bright young things from a Cape Cod playhouse aiming to take their own show from their barn to Broadway. Well-known songs from the show include “The Lady Is a Tramp”, “My Funny Valentine” and “Johnny One Note”.

Other stage projects that Lee Mead has been linked to since handing over his dreamcoat to Gareth Gates at the beginning of this year have included (See Photos, 12 Jan 2009): a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, an adaptation of 1953 screen classic Roman Holiday and Marc Bolan bio-musical 20th Century Boy (See The Goss, 12 Mar 2009).

- by Rowena Betts - Theatregoer Reporter

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