Theatre News

David Essex Brings His Fun of the Fair to Garrick

| London's West End |

8 December 2009

Seventies pop pin-up David Essex will return to the West End in the new year in his self-penned musical All the Fun of the Fair, which is named after his top-selling 1975 album and features many of his greatest hits (See News, 1 Apr 2008).

All the Fun of the Fair premiered in September 2008 at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre and has already toured extensively. It will now transfer to the West End’s Garrick Theatre, where it’s initially booking from 17 April to 5 September 2010.

Essex is no stranger to musical theatre. His big break came in 1971 when, as a 23-year-old newcomer he was cast as Jesus in the original London production of Godspell. Other roles have included Fletcher Christian in Mutiny! (which he also co-wrote) and Che in the original cast of Evita, which gave him a top 3 hit in 1978 (“Oh What a Circus”). His more recent musical credits include Footloose in the West End and Aspects of Love on tour.

Set against the backdrop of a travelling funfair, All the Fun of the Fair tells the story of widower and funfair owner Levi Lee (Essex), who’s coming to terms with the loss of his wife and battling the attentions of a newly-divorced woman. He’s also struggling to deal with his rebellious teenage son’s tangled love life, and the gloomy predictions of a gypsy fortune-teller.

The musical is co-written by Jon Conway, the creator of Boogie Nights, who has previously said that the idea was born when he worked with Essex on Boogie Nights 2 in 2005. “My first thought, especially given David’s association and my background, was to create a show set on a fairground. I believed the notion to be romantic, with interesting characters that fits his music and has never been done since Carousel!” According to Conway, the show offers “a fresh, novel story in an unusual setting, but with the comfort of so many great hit songs”.

These songs include Essex hits such as “Winter’s Tale”, “Hold Me Close”, “Gonna Make You a Star”, “Rock On” and “Silver Dream Machine”, as well as a few less well-known album tracks that Essex and his musical associate Ian Wherry adapted especially for the show.

Prior to All the Fun of the Fair (See News, 4 Sep 2009), the Garrick hosts the UK premiere of Douglas Carter Beane’s hit Broadway comedy The Little Dog Laughed, which runs from 20 January to 10 April 2010 (previews from 3 January) and stars Rupert Friend, Tamsin Greig, Gemma Arterton and Harry Lloyd.

** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED on 4 February 2010 – inc FREE programme & EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A, all for £34.50!!! – click here to book now! **