Gossip

Salisbury’s Christmas Show Dances to West End???

New concert show Let’s Face the Music and Dance, which runs at the Salisbury Playhouse over the festive season (11 December-10 January 2009) is rumoured to be ‘trying out’ for the West End.

The show is a “newly compiled musical celebration” of composer Irving Berlin, best known for timeless hits such as White Christmas, Cheek to Cheek, Let’s Face the Music and Dance and the score for the musical Annie Get Your Gun.

According to today’s Daily Mail, producer Terry Eldridge recently revealed the show is backed by a “team of West End producers” acting through the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), who are eager for director Simon Green to develop it for a London stage if the Salisbury run proves a success.

Let’s Face the Music and Dance combines original versions of Berlin’s classics with new arrangements, performed by three singers with plenty of West End pedigree – Helen Anker (Parade at the Donmar Warehouse), Edward Baker-Duly (Gone with the Wind) and Melanie La Barrie (Mary Poppins and Les Miserables).