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| Iyer & Fraser at today's launch |
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£4m Far Pavilions Introduces Stars to Press TodayDate: 28 January 2005
The musical The Far Pavilions was launched to the press this afternoon (Friday 28 January 2005). As previously reported (See News, 26 Oct 2004), the new stage musical version of MM Kaye’s popular historical novel will receive its world premiere at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 14 April 2005 (previews from 24 March).
The £4 million musical will have a 50-strong company led by Hadley Fraser and Gayatri Iyer (pictured at today’s event - See News, 14 Jan 2005). The premiere production is directed by Gale Edwards and designed by Lez Brotherston.The musical has music by Philip Henderson, with book and lyrics by Martin Guerre’s Stephen Clark.
Published in 1978, The Far Pavilions is set in 19th-century colonial India and follows the forbidden romance between British officer Ashton Pelham-Martyn and Indian princess Anjuli, whose marriage has already been arranged to a tyrannical ruler. In 1984, the story was made into a television mini-series – starring Ben Cross, Amy Irving and Christopher Lee – for the American cable channel HBO.
The stage version has been in development for more than eight years, the brainchild of producer Michael E Ward whose wife, a fan of the book, suggested it would make a good musical. Ward consulted regularly with MM Kaye on the project before her death, at the age of 95, in January 2004.
This production is produced by Michael E Ward and John Whitney for Far Pavilions (UK) Ltd in association with Arjun C Waney and Reita Gadkari.
- by Hannah Kennedy & Terri Paddock
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