Theatre News

Jermyn Street Whistles for Sondheim’s Birthday

4 January 2010

Stephen Sondheim’s 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle is being revived at the Jermyn Street Theatre in March to mark the composer’s 80th birthday.

The production, which runs from 10 March to 17 April 2010, will be directed by Tom Littler – who helmed Sondheim’s Saturday Night at the same venue in 2008 (See News, 20 Aug 2008) – and feature a cast including Issy van Randwyck, David Ricardo-Pearce and Rosalie Craig.

Opened on Broadway in April 1964 with a cast that included Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, Anyone Can Whistle ran for a mere nine performances in a premiere production plagued by fist fights, failing machinery and two fatalities.

Despite its initial failure, the musical went on to achieve cult
success, with numerous cast and concert recordings of some of
Sondheim’s most memorable songs, including “There Won’t Be Trumpets”,
“Everybody Says Don’t”, “There’s a Parade in Town” and the title song.

A surrealistic satire about madness and nonconformity, Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt and bankrupt town that invents a
miracle to attract tourists. It only received its first fully staged production in London in 2003, in a version that featured a new script by book writer Arthur
Laurents (See News, 15 Nov 2002).