ME AND MY GIRL Books & Lyrics by L Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber Book revised by Stephen Fry with contributions by Mike Ockrent Music by Noel Gay
WELCOME
includes Les Misérables in the West End. Caroline Quentin plays the Duchess of Dene. Her television work includes Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek and her recent stage work includes The Hypocrite (RSC). Caroline also appeared in Les Misérables as a member of the original cast.
DANIEL EVANS AND RACHEL TACKLEY PHOTOGRAPH BY TOBIAS KEY
Welcome to summer and sunshine. And what could be more celebratory than Me and My Girl, the first major musical of our season – filling the Festival Theatre with music, song and dance. This much-loved musical comedy – one of the very first examples of a British musical – is presented here in a new staging, reuniting our Design Associate Lez Brotherston and choreographer Alistair David, who collaborated with Daniel on Festival 2017’s hit musical Fiddler on the Roof. Gareth Valentine returns to Chichester following his work on Guys and Dolls in 2014, to create brand new arrangements for Noel Gay’s score. We are delighted to welcome two of our most popular actors, Matt Lucas and Caroline Quentin, to make their debuts at Chichester. Matt, who plays Cockney barrow boy Bill Snibson, is known to a television audience of millions for the hit series Little Britain and his theatre work
If today’s performance inspires you to join in the ‘Lambeth Walk’, head along to Oaklands Park on 7 or 14 July when our Youth Dance Company perform their own version of this popular cockney dance craze – and be prepared to strut yourself! Do keep up with all our news from behind the scenes during Me and My Girl, by joining us on social media via #MeAndMyGirl and sign up to our podcast channel for exclusive interviews with the company. Coming next in the Festival Theatre is our second musical in Festival 2018, Flowers for Mrs Harris. Clare Burt, Joanna Riding and Gary Wilmot will be leading the company in this new musical based on the delightful Paul Gallico novella. We do hope you can join us for that too.
Artistic Director Daniel Evans
cft.org.uk
Executive Director Rachel Tackley
COMING SOON
Clare Burt Joanna Riding Gary Wilmot
FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS Based on the novel by Paul Gallico Book by Rachel Wagstaff Music & Lyrics by Richard Taylor 8 – 29 September #FlowersForMrsHarris
cft.org.uk
COMING SOON
K ETS C I T LY FAMI AIL ABLE AV
THE MIDNIGHT GANG By David Walliams Adapted by Bryony Lavery Music & Lyrics by Joe Stilgoe WORLD PREMIERE 13 October – 3 November #TheMidnightGang
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TH E CAFÉ & THE FOYLE TERRACE The Café in the Festival Theatre is open daily from 10am serving freshly made sandwiches, soup, cakes and pastries. Enjoy our barista coffee or choose from a range of hot and cold drinks including wines and beers. The Café is light and airy and offers al fresco seating and free Wi-Fi. The Bar and The Foyle Terrace in the Festival Theatre are open 90 minutes before the show and both serve a selection of locally produced spirits, beers, lagers and wine by the glass or the bottle. The Foyle Terrace also serves pizzas, quiches, jacket potatoes and salads before the show.
The Brasserie in the Minerva Theatre is open for pre-show dining in new stylish and elegant surroundings. The restaurant serves a contemporary British menu using local and seasonal ingredients as well as an excellent choice of wines. Open 12.30pm - 2.30pm on matinee days and from 5.30pm for evening performances.
Enjoy either a main meal or one of our lighter food options before or after the show in the Minerva Bar & Grill upstairs, which offers a more relaxed atmosphere. Open 90 minutes before matinee performances, from 5pm for evening performances, during the interval and post-show.
RESERVATIONS
To reserve a table in the Brasserie or Minerva Bar & Grill visit cft.org.uk/dining for online reservations. Alternatively please call 01243 782219 or email dining@cft.org.uk
ME AND MY GIRL Books & Lyrics by L Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber Book revised by Stephen Fry with contributions by Mike Ockrent Music by Noel Gay
THE ENTERTA THE NEW BEDFORD, c.1915 BY WALTER RICHARD SICKERT (1860-1942) MERCER ART GALLERY, HARROGATE, NORTH YORKSHIRE, UK / IMAGE COURTESY OF HARROGATE BOROUGH COUNCIL / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
AINERS
There are only two British musicals from the 1930s that are ever likely to be revived – Bitter Sweet and Me and My Girl. Noël Coward’s piece had its origins in the work of the Viennese waltz kings and the world of operetta, whereas the show you are seeing tonight has a distinct flavour of one of the British theatre’s most robust strains – the Music Hall. Its composer, Noel Gay, had already written material for such stars of the halls as Gracie Fields and George Formby and knew that the songs that worked best for them had simple, catchy tunes. He also knew that Me and My Girl was going to star Lupino Lane, latest of a great family of performers in this field, so writing songs in the music hall style was clearly a good decision. The history of the music hall is a fascinating one – a history that lasted from the 1830s (when it was born in pubs) to the 1950s when it could no longer survive the competition of the TV screen. When the industrial revolution changed Britain from an agricultural country to a manufacturing one, working people must have felt a loss of identity. However exploited they had been before the arrival of factories and mines, they did at least know their employer’s name and he knew theirs. But the change in the workplace meant faceless employers and the building of characterless towns with rows of identical streets. In these circumstances, where else to go for warmth and fun but the local? Pubs have always been at the heart of our social life and we can be sure that regular patrons have always recognised the larger than life characters that raised everyone’s spirits – phrases like, “Fred’s in tonight and he’s always a laugh” or “Sally’s going to give us a song and she’s a caution” must have been heard in every pub in the country. And any astute landlord would soon realise that the presence of Fred or Sally would increase the takings. Put a piano on a platform in the corner, book them on a regular basis and a new branch of the theatre springs to life. And these untrained but talented performers knew what their public wanted – a realistic but larger than life version of their daily lives. And so we find songs about work and food and drink, songs about courting and meeting the loved one’s family and songs about the shabby genteel who indulged in more airs and graces