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Someone Like You (musical)
Encyclopedia
Someone Like You is a musicalMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with a book by Robin Midgley
Robin Midgley
Robin Midgley was a director in theatre, television and radio and responsible for some of the earliest episodes of Z-Cars and for the television version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Wars of the Roses.-Early life:...
and Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon CBE is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.-Biography:Weldon was...
, lyrics by Dee Shipman
Dee Shipman
Dee Shipman is a songwriter who has worked with Charles Aznavour and Petula Clark, with whom she wrote the 1990 West End musical Someone Like You.-Early Acting and Singing:...
, and music by Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
.
Based on a concept developed by Clark and Ferdie Pacheco over a period of several years, it is set in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
immediately after the end of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Originally entitled Amen, it was conceived as a dark view of the difficulties Southerners faced dealing with carpetbaggers during the Reconstruction period, and also dealt with the problems of morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
-addicted Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldiers returning home. It lost many of its serious overtones as the project evolved; Clark and Shipman's original book was revised substantially by Weldon (who also contributed the new title), and the plot became convoluted, often bordering on the ridiculous. Shipman later stated, "For all the faults there were in the original book . . . it was better than the hybrid we ended up with because it had passion."
The story centers on Abigail Kane, who journeys to America from her native England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with her son Andy in search of her preacher husband, who allegedly had gone to the States to participate in the skirmish between North and South. She comes to the aid of the Major, a doctor struggling to care for a multitude of injured soldiers without benefit of medical supplies, and soon discovers her missing husband is involved in shady dealings not usually associated with a man of the cloth. Drawn together out of both necessity and desire, Abigail and the Major forsake their marital vows and become involved in a passionate romance.
Directed by Midgley
Robin Midgley
Robin Midgley was a director in theatre, television and radio and responsible for some of the earliest episodes of Z-Cars and for the television version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Wars of the Roses.-Early life:...
, the musical premiered on October 25, 1989 at the Cambridge Arts Theatre
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions in the country, as well as many shows direct from, or prior to, seasons in the...
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and in his review in the Cambridge Evening News, Alan Kersey wrote, "Petula Clark proved last night at the world premiere of Someone Like You that she can still work wonders both on stage and in the tough real world of show business." The production toured the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
through December 9.
On March 22, 1990, Someone Like You opened at the Strand Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. In addition to Clark, it starred Dave Willetts
Dave Willetts
Dave Willetts is an English singer and actor known for having leading roles in West End musicals.Willetts is something of an enigma in that he has had no formal singing, dancing, or acting lessons. Before he was 20 he rarely visited the theatre...
(The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
) as the Major and Clive Carter
Clive Carter
Clive Carter is a British actor and singer.Carter studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His West End theatre credits include Someone Like You with Petula Clark, A Man for All Seasons with Martin Shaw, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Brendan Fraser and Ned Beatty, We Will Rock You, I...
as Kane (roles in which Clark had hoped Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
and Sting would be cast). Reviews were mixed, although most critics praised Clark's performance and her contribution to the score.
Due to financial difficulties faced by producer Harold Fielding, all his assets were seized, and the show closed without warning after the April 25 performance. Although an original cast album was never released at the time, Clark's recordings of several of the tunes were issued on various CDs throughout the ensuing years.
A studio recording of the score was released by Sepia Records in May 2007 http://www.sepiarecords.com/sepia8000.html. With arrangements by the show's original musical director and arranger, Kenny Clayton
Kenny Clayton
Kenny Clayton is a British music producer, arranger, conductor and jazz pianist.Clayton studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London...
, it features vocals by Debi Doss
Debi Doss
Debi Doss is an American-born photographer and singer.Doss attended Webster University in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri in the United States, where she became interested in photography.- Career :...
, Andrew Derbyshire
Andrew Derbyshire
Andrew Derbyshire is a British singer and actor. He trained at the Arts Educational School in London, where he appeared in Starting Here, Starting Now, The Lion King Dance Project, as Tony in West Side Story, and The Hot Mikado....
, and Lewis Rae, who appeared in the original production as young Andy. Clayton is featured on piano and keyboards, with David Martin on guitar and Eric Young on percussion.
Song list
- Introduction
- Home is Where the Heart Is
- Here We Are
- Empty Spaces
- Someone Like You
- All Through the Years
- So Easy
- What You Got!
- Getting the Right Thing Wrong
- I Am What You Need
- Young 'Un
- Losing You
- Amen