Home \| Advertise With Us \| Member Login \| View Basket \|

Whether you're after a bit of musical madness, or it's a play you'd prefer, we have something for everyone with our great selection of tickets.
Access our Ticket Central for all our London tickets as well as our ticket offers, discounts, meal deals and corporate hospitality.

VIEW ALL TICKETS


Marc Bolan
Tweet

Marc Bolan Musical Premieres in Sep, Aims for West End

Date: 21 July 2011

The life and music of T Rex frontman Marc Bolan will be celebrated in new musical 20th Century Boy, which is supported by his son Rolan Bolan and directed by Gary Lloyd. It premieres at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich from 13 September to 1 October 2011 (previews from 8 September), ahead of a hoped-for West End transfer.

Bolan, one of the earliest glam rockers, was an icon of the 1970s, famed for his appearances dressed in feather boas and top hats with drops of glitter on each cheek. 20th Century Boy, written by New Wolsey artistic director Peter Rowe with Lloyd, features 27 songs from Bolan's back catalogue, which includes hits like "Bang a Gong (Get It On)", "Children of the Revolution", "Hot Love", "Ride a White Swan" and "Metal Guru", as well as the show's title song.

George Maguire leads an 11-strong cast as Bolan. Maguire's previous stage credits include Fame at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Bank at the King’s Head, Rent on European tour, Tonight’s the Night, The Gate Escape and Sixteen on tour, Quadrophenia at the Nuffield Theatre and Oliver at the London Palladium.

20th Century Boy tells the story of the rock star's life from the perspective of the son seeking answers about his famous and short-lived father. Bolan died when the car driven by his girlfriend crashed into a tree, just weeks short of his 30th birthday in 1977.

Speaking to Whatsonstage.com, Gary Lloyd said he had been fascinated by Bolan's "rags to riches, ambition-driven story, which includes a huge fall from grace and has a tragic ending".

Lloyd, whose extensive credits include Michael Jackson tribute Thriller Live!, said he hoped the musical would have the same West End appeal as Jersey Boys or Buddy, telling the story of the artist and widening interest beyond established Bolan fans.

Hopeful that the show will tour ahead of a possible London transfer, Lloyd praised the New Wolsey for "embracing the project", saying the creative team were excited about "getting the musical right" during its Ipswich outing before "using it as a springboard to take the show around the country and into the West End".

20th Century Boy follows the Ian Dury-inspired Reasons to Be Cheerful, a co-production between the New Wolsey, Graeae and Theatre Royal Stratford East, which is set to tour again in 2012.

The new musical is based on an idea by Brian Dunham, Colin Giffin and Nicky Graham and has music and lyrics by Marc Bolan. Also in the cast are Jenna Lee James, Donna Hines (Gloria), Craig Storrod (Rolan Bolan), Greg Barnett (Tony Visconti), Katie Bernstein (Helen Shapiro), Peter Manchester (Simon Napier-Bell) and Matthew Ashcroft (Steve Took).

- by Andrew Girvan

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	20th Century Boy Listing Page

Internal Links
	Lee Mead Leads Marc Bolan Glam Rock Musical??? - 20th Mar 2009 Gossip
	20th Century Boy (Ipswich) - 13th Sep 2011 reviews
	Five Reasons To See... 20th Century Boy - 9th Sep 2011 interviews

Reader Comments

Comment	Date
Saw this twice at Belgrade in Coventry last year. Brilliant! Keep searching for more dates in 2013 please. Would travel anywhere in the UK. - Neal O	20 Jan 13

I saw this show three times in Ipswich and again in September 2012 in Birmingham.Some changes have been made to the show but it's still moving, funny and boy you just want to dance.I highly reccommend it. - Salamanda	08 Dec 12

I would just like to say that having seen this show @ the belgrade theatre in coventry i would have paid double the price of the ticket ! ! ,fabulous show,top class,well done to all the cast. - bob,coventry	04 Nov 12

I saw the premiere in Ipswich at the Wolsey Theatre, just brilliant and amazing! My son who is a drama student also thought the same, would see it again and again and again, just fantastic!! - sue	20 Jul 12

I have seen the show, and thought it was excellent. Marc Bolan is iconic and the instigator of glam rock. Just look at the artists who took inspiration from him, oasis, keane and even lady gaga. They deserve the west end stage, the audience were rocked with Bolan fever. - jennifer	01 Oct 11

Having travelled up from Lodnon to see this in Ipswich, I can't see it making the journey the other way into the West End (or hard to believe the Box office manager telling people pre show it is going to Broadway and Tokyo!) There's potential here but in current form the book is a mess, dialogue poor, characters badly drawn and its overlong and overblown. The cast are impressive but there are equally impressive tribute bands out there and at the moment this show doesn't add anything to that tribute band experience. - Phil	29 Sep 11

John ono lennon, i take it you are a lennon fan, the guy who wrote about peace in one song and praised the ira in another. Bolan's range from Tyrannasaurus Rex, to Dandy in the Underworld is fantasic. Bands to-day are not fit to lick his boots. I have been to see the musical it is brilliant. Marc maybe wsnt liked by the suits cos he wanted gig tickets sold cheap and gave value for money on his singles.As he always said he was a Fan as well and had to skimp and scrape to buy records. Not to many care about Lennon these days he was a waste off space. - Tanx jeepster	28 Sep 11

I hope that many young people will go and see this and hear the music of T.Rex. They were and always will be an iconic band. Marc Bolan's songs are still alive today and important. Keep a little Marc in your heart! To the cast-break a leg and hope this makes it to the West End. Rock On! from a fan Indonesia - Maria Gilbert	13 Aug 11

Marc Bolan, like Lennon, like Mercury, Like Hendrix, is and will remain an iconic figure within the histrionics of popular music for ever, whether the critics agree or not. The musical is yet another strand to Marc's legacy and I wish it well. I have been touring my band T-Rextasy for nearly 20 years and in that time our popularity has grown and grown, so there is an actual market place for Bolan's music, whether it be in playing it live (as I do) or in a musical-play situation. Just one thing...Oasis (great), the Chillies (great), but I wish people would stop mentioning Marc in the same breath as Lady Gaga - someone who has no substance in her music at all but has achieved status by purely image alone! - T.Rextasy)	02 Aug 11

You could try spelling his name correctly for a start - Marc (not Mark) - Zahir Jaffer	27 Jul 11

PLEASE - Do not bring this tour to the U.S. - Execelsior	27 Jul 11

Bring this tour to the US please. :D - Allison	26 Jul 11

Try telling that to the thousands that turned up in London's Sheppard�s bush empire for Bolans 30th anniversary concert a few of years back or those that made born to boogie the best selling music video of 2005. also the list of top artists over the past 20-30 years who claim to have been influenced by Bolan�s music and image runs into hundreds, from GaGa,Bono to The Red Hot Chillies, so you were either born yesterday or are have extremely limited musical knowledge my friend. - Elton	23 Jul 11

to say that no one cares about Marc Bolan or to funnel him into one single strand of music is both wide of the marc(excuse the pun) & downright uneducated(in a musical sense), Bolan gave so much to the industry,you only have to listen to the likes of Keane, Oasis, U2, Lady GaGa but to name a few to hear the influence he still has of todays music,his own music has stood the test of time while others from the same period sound so dated now,so yeah its fab that this project is going ahead,in fact its a dis-sevice to his memory that this hasnt been done long before now, i truly hope the proposed movie of his life too sees the light of day,the very best of luck with this show,i know the tickets are selling like hot cakes & demand is high,i cant wait to see this show myself - Col	22 Jul 11

Much though I wish this show well, I have to admit I share some of the misgivings about a show based on a strand of music which doesn't really have a particularly broad appeal. Still best of luck with it. - Richard Voyce	21 Jul 11

This won't make it into the West End. No one cares about Marc Bolan and jukebox musicals are just dire. - John Ono Lennon	21 Jul 11

Write a Comment
Give us your opinion on this entry
Comment:
Name:	Required, will appear on website
Email:	Required, will not appear on website
Confirm:	Please type in
	Please enter this number > SEVENTY-EIGHT < Just the two digits only, without any spaces.

Buy Tickets

Click here to visit the Whatsonstage.com Ticket Central

The best availability & the best prices for London theatre.

Free Newsletter

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Welcome to the Whatsonstage.com Theatre Club

Spring Sales

Must See

Coming Soon

Club Outings

VIEW ALL TICKETS

Marc Bolan Musical Premieres in Sep, Aims for West End

Related Content