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Preview by Jack Foley
THE 21st anniversary West End production of Snoopy! The Musical
is to re-launch the New Players Theatre, in Villiers Street,
London, from July 22.
Snoopy! The Musical brings Charles Schulz’s much-loved
Peanuts™ comic-strip characters to life, with a big band
jazz-style score by Larry Grossman (best-known for scoring The
Muppet Show) and Hal Hackaday.
It will be directed by legendary Broadway director/producer,
Arthur Whitelaw, who conceived Snoopy! as a musical, co-wrote
the book, and produced and directed the original production.
He will be joined by choreographer, Lizzi Gee, and musical supervisor,
Matt Malone, while joining them from America, will be the original
US collaborators, designer, David Graden, and composer, Larry
Grossman.
Snoopy! The Musical hasn’t been seen in the West
End since its original, Olivier-award winning run in 1983.
Then, the cast included Susie Blake, who went on to appear in
Victoria Wood’s cult TV comedy series, and is currently in
Coronation Street.
Reprising their critically-acclaimed performances from a sell-out
Jermyn Street Theatre try-out production are Sarah Lark (Lucy
Van Pelt), whose theatre credits include the original casts of
Witches of Eastwick and Beautiful and Damned, and
Stuart Piper (Linus Van Pelt), whose credits include Honk!,
Bugsy Malone, Scrooge and TV’s The Politician’s
Wife.
Joining them for the 21st Anniversary West End run are Clare
Louise Connelly (Sally Brown); Alex Woodhall (Woodstock); Steven
Kynman (Charlie Brown), who created the role of Schlomo, in the
original cast of Fame; Kellie Ryan (Peppermint Patty), who recently
starred as Katie Brown, opposite Toyah Wilcox, in Calamity
Jane, at the Shaftesbury Theatre; and, making his West-End
debut, Robin Armstrong, in the title role of Snoopy.
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Armstrong most recently won rave reviews as Bob Cratchit, opposite
Tommy Steele, in Scrooge: The Musical.
Peanuts™ comic strips are today still published in The Daily
Mail, The Mail on Sunday and The Evening Standard, along with
2,400 newspapers world-wide.
Peanuts™ made its debut on October 2, 1950, appearing in
just seven US newspapers.
The strip celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2000.
On January 3, 2000, Charles Schulz bid a fond farewell to all
his readers in the final daily Peanuts™ newspaper strip,
and on February 12, that same year, he sadly passed away, aged
77.
On February 13, 2000, the final Peanuts™ newspaper strip
appeared.
Snoopy has, to date, generated $1 billion in retail sales world-wide
and the characters appear annually on more than 100 million items
of consumer goods.
One in every five Hallmark greetings cards sold is a Peanuts
card, while the website - www.snoopy.com
- attracts 350,000 visitors a month.
On July 12, corporate sponsors, Paramount Home Entertainment,
will release the feature-length animated feature Snoopy, Come
Home, on DVD for the first time, to coincide with the West End
production of Snoopy! The Musical.
Morning Vicar Productions, set up by actor/producers Stephen
Carlile and Stuart Piper, first produced Snoopy! The Musical
for a hugely successful sell-out, Off-West-End run, in February
to March 2003, at Jermyn Street
Theatre.
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