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All You Need Cancels Extension & Closes 1 Sep

As rumoured last week, the musical show All You Need Is Love is indeed to close early on 1 September 2001 despite recently extending its booking period to March 2002. The production opened at the West End's Queen's Theatre on 29 May 2001 after a short regional tour, but soon faced both poor reviews as well as the tourism-affected summer slump.

The show was co-devised and directed by Jon Miller, who in turn was an assistant to the Beatles' creative producer George Martin. Miller's co-director is Pete Brooks, an award-winning designer and writer who has worked on over 40 shows.

All You Need Is Love, which draws heavily on the Beatles' music, portrays a young couple's love affair during the group's heyday. An exercise in musical and romantic nostalgia, the event features around 50 of Lennon and McCartney's most famous songs including "Strawberry Fields" and "Helter Skelter". The title track of the show topped the UK chart for three weeks in 1967 and subsequently around the world.

The entertainment features a cast of relatively unknown performers and is designed by Laura Hopkins, with choreography from Kate Prince. Musical direction is by Chris Brooker, musical arrangements by Keith Strachan and the musical staging is from Nigel Charnock.

According to rumours, posted in Whatsonstage.com's The Goss, backstage staff at the Queen's were given notice last week after not having been paid by All You Need Is Love producers for a fortnight.

- by Gareth Thompson

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