Lost American Musicals Brought to West End

Ian Marshall Fisher s annual series of ‘lost and neglected musicals by Broadway's finest writers moves to the heart of the West End this spring after eight years at the Barbican Centre. Over the course of the series, more than 40 different shows have been reconstructed and performed by some 600 actors and singers including Henry Goodman, Kenneth Haigh, Louise Gold, Dilys Laye, Joanna Riding, Frank Thornton, Daniel Massey and Sarah Kestleman.

This year's programme of semi-staged live performances will include rarely seen works by Richard Rodgers, Moss Hart, George S Kaufman and Cole Porter. The Lost Musicals will run intermittently from May to November as Sunday matinees at the Fortune and Her Majesty's Theatres.

The 1937 political satire I d Rather Be Right, about an indecisive President, kicks of the 1999 series. With music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by Moss Hart and George S Kaufman, the score includes “Have You Met Miss Jones?”. It will be staged 9, 16, 23 and 30 May at the Fortune Theatre.

110 degrees in the Shade, a 1963 adaptation of N Richard Nash s hit play and screenplay The Rainmaker, follows at the Fortune on 4, 11, 18 and 25 July. It tells the story of unmarried Lizzie who, while looking after her grown up brothers and father, meets a man who claims to be a rainmaker. Music is by Harvey Schmidt, lyrics by Tom Jones and book by N Richard Nash.

Finian's Rainbow comes to the Fortune in the autumn for performances on 5, 12, 19 and 26 September. In this 1947 tale of Irish fantasy and folklore, complete with leprechaun, only Finian of Glocca Morra knows the secret reason to why all American are millionaires - something which seems to have escaped the notice of most Americans. The score includes “Look to the Rainbow”, “If This Isn't Love” and “Something Sort of Grandish”. Music is by Burton Lane, lyrics by E Y Harburg and book by Harburg and Fred Saidy.

The series concludes with a special event at Her Majesty's Theatre on 21 and 28 November. The BBC Concert Orchestra will join performances of the 1935 Cole Porter musical Jubilee which satirises high society and a disillusioned royal family. The Princess falls in love with Noel Coward while the Queen wants Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller to teach her the Australian crawl. The score includes “Just One of Those Things”. Music and lyrics are by Cole Porter and book by Moss Hart.

For further information on Jubilee, contact Her Majesty's box office on +44-171-494-5400. For information on the other lost musicals, contact the Fortune box office on +44-171836-2238.

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