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Musicals Extend on the Strand: Rat Pack & Stomp

Two long-running West End musical productions – tribute show The Rat Pack and dance spectacular Stomp, both situated on the Strand – have extended their booking periods.

At the Savoy, The Rat Pack has added more than four months to its schedule, taking it up to 27 May 2006. The musical tribute to Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin, featuring look and sound-alikes of the three crooners, moved to the Savoy on 3 June 2005, with its annual Christmas version running from 21 November until 7 January 2006.

After touring the UK extensively since 2000, previously visiting London for one-off dates at the London Palladium and a limited run at Sadler's Wells Peacock Theatre, The Rat Pack opened for what was meant to be a limited West End season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in March 2003. After extending at the Haymarket, the show moved in June of that year to the Strand Theatre (now renamed the Novello), where it again extended repeatedly. It then moved to the Savoy.

Hits made famous by the Rat Pack and performed in the show include "I've Got You Under My Skin", "That's Amore", "That Old Black Magic" and "My Way" to the accompaniment of a live 15-piece Big Band and a full supporting cast.

Meanwhile, at the Vaudeville Theatre, Stomp has added seven months to its schedule and is now taking bookings up to 1 October 2006. The show, which originated in Brighton in 1991, has toured all over the world but only started its first West End run at the Vaudeville Theatre in September 2002.

Stomp transforms the junk and clutter of urban life into a source of rhythm and dance. In 100 minutes, a cast of eight performers use boots, bins, garbage, zippo lighters, plumbers' plungers and everything including the kitchen sink to hammer out a symphony.

- by Caroline Ansdell

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