Elvis Lives in 4 Steps to Heaven, 27 July
Date: 5 July 1999
Yet another compilation musical is heading to the West End this month. 4 Steps to Heaven, a musical celebration of four rock 'n' roll greats - Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran - will open at the Piccadilly Theatre on 27 July for a limited nine-week season.
Inspired by the title of Cochran's posthumous 1960 hit song '3 Steps to Heaven', 4 Steps to Heaven features a long play-list of classic songs from the 50s and 60s, including Presley's 'Hound Dog', 'All Shook Up' and 'Love Me Tender'; Holly's 'Heartbeat', 'Peggy Sue' and 'That'll Be the Day'; Orbison's 'Pretty Woman', 'Only the Lonely' and 'Blue Bayou'; and Cochran's 'Summertime Blues' and 'C'mon Everybody'.
All four singers died prematurely: Orbison and Presley both died at the age of 42 of heart attacks, Holly was killed, aged 22, along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash while on tour in the American mid-West in 1959 and, the following year, Cochran died, aged 21, from injuries sustained from a car crash while on tour in England.
4 Steps to Heaven arrives at the Piccadilly following a nationwide tour. Peter Howarth, who starred in Only the Lonely - The Roy Orbison Story, plays the Big 'O' again in the compilation show. He's joined by Reuven Gershon as Buddy Holly, Rebel Dean as Elvis and Kludo White as Eddie Cochran.
4 Steps to Heaven is directed by Keith Strachan whose directorial credits include music tributes Elvis - The Official Musical and Only the Lonely. Set design is by Andy Walmsley with lighting by Jim Beagley and musical direction by James Compton.
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