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Blues Brothers & Huggy Bear Launch Final UK Tour

The Official Tribute to the Blues Brothers this month launches what is intended to be its last ever UK tour, which opens on 22 January 2002 at Nottingham's Theatre Royal before continuing through May 2002 to 15 further cities.

The UK touring production will star Simon Foster and Brad Henshaw, who are joined by Antonio Fargas, aka Huggy Bear from 1970s American TV series Starsky and Hutch. The three recently appeared in the show's final West End engagement, which ran at the Whitehall Theatre for six months to October 2001.

It was also at the Whitehall where the stage adaptation - based on the hit 1980 film starring Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi - was first seen. The cult musical centres on brothers Jake and Elwood Blues who, after a prison stint, reform their old band to raise money and save their childhood home run by nuns. The film featured songs, sung by the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, amongst other blues greats.

The Official Tribute to the Blues Brothers enjoyed four West End runs in total and won an Olivier Award for Most Outstanding Entertainment of the Year. The show is directed by David Leland and designed by Ken Watts, with choreography by Michael King, musical direction by Steve Parry, costumes by Diane Gardner and lighting by Patrick Woodroofe. It is produced by David Pugh.

Following Nottingham, The Blues Brothers will visit Wimbledon, Brighton, Belfast, Woking, Milton Keynes, Stoke-on-Trent, Norwich, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Bromley, Chichester, Cambridge, Torquay, Newcastle and Leicester.

- by Terri Paddock

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