Photos: Special Evening With the Legend Legrand

Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand gave a special, one-off concert last night (13 April 2008) at the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket (See The Goss, 29 Feb 2008). Legrand – at the piano – performed some of his best-known songs as well as new numbers from his new musical Marguerite, which premieres at the Haymarket next month. He was joined on stage by guests including Marguerite‘s stars, Ruthie Henshall (right) and Julian Ovenden.

Legrand’s prodigious career began at the age of 22 when his album “I Love Paris” became one of the best-selling instrumental albums of all time. Since then, he has composed the scores to over 200 films, winning three Oscars in the process. As well as this, he has written songs for some of the biggest names in popular music, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbara Streisand.

TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF LAST NIGHT’S CONCERT PHOTOS,
JUST CLICK ON THE “NEXT >” LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.
(PHOTOS BY DAN WOOLLER FOR WHATSONSTAGE.COM)

Last night’s concert provided something of a sneak-preview of the upcoming Marguerite. The musical is directed by Jonathan Kent, and has a book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, whose previous collaborations include Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre. Marguerite runs from 20 May to 1 November 2008 (previews from 7 May), the final production in the Haymarket’s inaugural in-house season.

– by Theo Bosanquet