Boyband Muscles Pinter out of West End Run
Date: 14 May 1999
The Gielgud Theatre, dark since Moises Kaufman's Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde closed prematurely in mid-April, will be filled by the end of this month, but the announcement of just what will be filling it has caused a stir in Theatreland. Boyband, a new 'pop drama' about a Take That-style music group, has muscled out more serious drama in the form of Simon Gray's The Late Middle Classes , directed by Harold Pinter, for the coveted West End slot.
Yesterday, Pinter launched an attack on theatre owner Stoll Moss saying the company's decision was 'a disgrace to me, the production and to English theatre.' In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Pinter added, 'One does have a deep sense within the whole company of shock, and in fact, of betrayal.'
The world premiere production of The Late Middle Classes , Gray's latest stage play, opened at the Palace Theatre Watford in March and has toured with enthusiastic reviews to Brighton, Plymouth, Bath, Woking and Richmond. The story about a young man in the 1950s caught between two forms of oppressive love stars Harriet Walter, James Fleet, Nicholas Woodeson and Angela Pleasance.
Stoll Moss has denied that it opted for Boyband over The Late Middle Classes for commercial reasons and claims that negotiations with Pinter's producers broke down weeks ago.
Boyband, which received its world premiere at the Derby Playhouse three weeks ago, will open at the Gielgud on 8 June, following previews from 27 May. The musical follows fictitious band Freedom as it soars to the heights of chart success under the supervision of an unscrupulous manager. Strains and tensions mount as the band's gruelling schedule takes its toll and personal problems emerge to crack their squeaky-clean image. The tale includes 16 new pop songs performed in concert sequences which take the band from humble school gigs to the pop concert pinnacle, Wembley Arena.
Related Content
