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| Hal Fowler & Tim Rogers in The Thing About Men |
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King’s Head Premieres Perfect Duo’s New MusicalDate: 8 March 2007
The Thing About Men - the new musical comedy from the Joe Di Pietro and Jimmy Roberts, the American writers of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change - will receive its London premiere next month, directed by Anthony Drewe, best known as one half of leading British musical partnership Stiles and Drewe. The production – featuring a cast of West End regulars including Hal Fowler, Tim Rogers (pictured together) and Olivier Award winner Paul Baker – has a limited six-week season from 30 April to 3 June 2007 (previews from 25 April).
Based on the 1985 German film Men by Doris Dörrie, The Thing About Men concerns a New York love triangle and shows the extreme lengths men will go to keep their love affairs and pride intact. It ran for eight months in 2003/4 at New York’s Promenade Theatre, where it won a New York Outer Critics Circle Award. The piece has been revised and re-orchestrated by Di Pietro and Roberts ahead of the London premiere.
The pair’s biggest joint success to date has been I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change which has been running Off-Broadway since 1996 and which has had several UK incarnations, including a West End production at the Comedy Theatre in 1999. Di Pietro also wrote the book for the new Elvis musical All Shook Up, currently touring in the US, while his other credits, with Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, are Memphis and The Toxic Avenger.
Paul Baker, who plays ‘Man’ in The Thing About Men, won the 2003 Best Supporting Performance in a Musical Olivier for his turn as Philip Sallon in Boy George’s Taboo. Baker appeared at the King’s Head last year in Schwartz Stories, while his other West End credits include Chicago, The Lion King and Starlight Express.
The cast of The Thing About Men also features: Hal Fowler (Carousel, Aspects of Love, High Society as Tom; Tim Rogers (Whistle Down the Wind in the West End last year) as Sebastian; Nicola Dawn (When Barry Met Harry, Saltimbanco) as Lucy; and Tiffany Graves (Chicago, Follies as ‘Woman’.
Director Anthony Drewe’s musical writing credits with George Stiles include Mary Poppins, Honk!, Peter Pan and Just So, which Drewe directed at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2004. The Thing About Men is designed by Philip Whitcomb, with choreography/musical staging by Nick Winston and musical supervision Simon Sharp. It’s presented at the King’s Head by INK Productions.
- by Terri Paddock
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