It sounds great. I still haven't booked my tickets or my transport to London. I better get a move on.

I have. Now I'm hoping I like it.

Ive booked my tickets and my hotel but not my travel yet.

I like that.

 

 

 

 

 

Jill and Darius

Yesterday I visited Tara, or rather the model set of this O'Hara plantation mansion. It was the rehearsal-room launch for the new Gone With The Wind musical, and the cast and production team were there to tell us about their new show. John Napier, the designer, explained they have gone back to the original book for the plot, place, time and characters, avoiding the Hollywood gloss of the film. He is transforming the New London Theatre into an authentic environment that will amaze when you enter the theatre - the seats surround half the circular stage, and verandas, balconies and walkways reach out into the auditorium. Andreane Neofitou, who has designed the costumes, told us how she has added extra colour to the clothes of the period, to complement the natural earthy colours of the set. Trevor Nunn was excited to be directing his largest production in many years, equivalent to Les Mis and Cats in scale but with an originality quite different from the film. It was then time for musical director Gareth ValentineOutsource-Valentines-Day to accompany the cast in examples of the musical numbers, stirring ensemble pieces, romantic ballads or sad songs of changing times. Madeleine Worral (Melanie) and Edward Baker-Duly (Ashley) sang with feeling and sensitivity, but it was Jill Paice (Scarlett) and Darius Danesh (Rhett) who really raised the temperature with their passionate duet and lingering kiss! I must not overlook NaTasha Yvette Williams as a strongly emotional Mammy, nor the energetic cast of soldiers and slaves who filled the stage-space with their dancing and raised the roof of Tara with their voices. The show will be an entirely theatrical experience, involving and emotional, owing nothing to the movie, but how they will set the place aflame for that 'burning of Atlanta' climax which everyone remembers, that must remain a secret until Opening Night - John Napier's lips were sealed but the sparkle in his eye suggested he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

For those of you who haven't yet booked with us - sorry, our tickets have gone with the wind!

Mike 07/03/08

 

 

Lingering kiss - part of the proposal scene do you think? Where Rhett tells Scarlett she's only ever been kissed by a boy or an old man before.

 

 

from Rachel on .net

 

I found this article on AccessAtlanta.com :

 

 

QUOTE

'Gone With the Wind' curtain doesn't rise in the South

London will stage musical version of Margaret Mitchell classic

 

By JILL VEJNOSKA

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 03/18/2008

 

Talk about holding a grudge.

 

One day you toss the tyrannical mother country's load of Lipton into Boston Harbor. The next — give or take some 235 years — she retaliates by turning your beloved "Gone With the Wind" into, gulp, a musical.

 

(A musical, we hear, where Melanie sings a ditty entitled "Desperate Times" after Scarlett kills that nasty Yankee soldier who tried to get into her pantaloons. Fingers crossed there'll also be tap-dancing!)

 

Directed by Mr. "Cats" himself, Sir Trevor Nunn, "Gone With the Wind: The Musical" officially opens Apr. 22 in London's famed West End.

 

That's about 4,200 miles as the Delta bird flies for Atlantans itching to see homegirl Margaret Mitchell's literary classic onstage. Throw in some pricey admission ($55 to $120) and few of us likely will get to witness Glasgow native Darius Danesh (aka Capt. Butler) croon "I don't give a damn" live.

 

Fortunately, TCM is making an exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary about the musical to air Apr. 20. Unfortunately, you'll have to be watching television in England to see it.

 

Blimey! What's going on here?

 

Like Mitchell, Ted Turner's classic movie channel was born in Atlanta. But TCM now airs in 40 different territories worldwide, with separate budgets and programming. The "Wind" documentary is a British TCM production its American counterpart has no role in.

 

"We all communicate about our ongoing original projects [and] give each other an opportunity to get involved in them," said Charlie Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM in the United States. "It [the documentary] was pretty local to what was going on in the U.K."

 

Little news has leaked about the show, which was written by California sociologist Margaret Martin. In an interview with John Wiley, editor of the Virginia-based fan quarterly "The Scarlett Letter," Martin described Scarlett as "a stressed-out, teenage single mom." She also promised songs from Mammy, Prissy, Pork and Rhett (a lullaby!).

 

England's bigfooting of this Southern classic might seem to make as much sense as serving shepherd's pie at the Twelve Oaks barbecue.

 

Or maybe not.

 

"We got a Brit to play Scarlett in the movie," said Wiley, referring to Oscar-winner Vivien Leigh. "Maybe they're pulling the reverse."

 

Meanwhile, TCM's Tabesh doesn't totally rule out the documentary airing here someday.

 

"It will be available to be acquired if there's interest," he said. "I think there might be."

 

Translation: Tomorrow is another day.

 

 

This link also gives the show running time of 3 hours 20 minutes.

 

This also gives the previews as starting from the 5th, so may be an old idea of the time. I'm still holping for 2:30 - 3;00 hours long.

Thank you.

 

A lullaby- that makes sense Rhett loved the children and worshipped Bonnie. I wonder if that's the 'amazing' song or a second solo song.

 

 

Ah well, there shouldn't be any hard feelings if American TCM could have shown the documentary but decided it was too parochial for them.

If it transfers to broadway, they just may take it.

I do see their point. GWTW is so closely associated with the town and the film was premiered in Atlanta. If they think the show is going to be a blockbuster, of course they'd want the kudos of it opening there.

 

I also see Margaret Martin's point. I think she didn't want it to be a Broadway musical where every detail is rigorously controlled.

 

I can't remember if it's the Gareth Valentine interview or the William Brohn one where he talks about the Broadway straitjacket and how the broadway producers "inspect' the London productions to make sure they're absolutely the same - like a MacD franchise.

 

Margaret Martin would probably want more say in how it transferred from her script to the stage and it looks like Sir Trevor Nunn lets people exchange ideas.

It was also a lot cheaper to start it here. That'll help as well.

I suppose so if Sir Trevor wanted to work with all those creative team members who are based here in the UK.

I think it's an excellant idea myself.

An airline, an hotel group and the state of Gorgia are partners as well now.

Interesting. I must go and look.

I noticed that the sponsers had grown, its the actual state of Geogia? I was wondering what georgia was but I didnt click

I've been in Georgia but not in Atlanta. I spent a few days in Savannah. It had a real feel of history. The only other place in America which gave me a similar feeling when I visited was St Augustine.

 

The best landing I've ever had in an aeroplane was in a Delta plane, at Atlantic City en route to Las Vegas. My impression is that Delta handles a good proportion of internal flights in the US.

 

 

 

They didn't used to be able to do a good cup ot tea though. And that's serious.

When I go to New York, I'm taking loads of packets of tea with me

I prefer coffee but last year I started to drink tea a little after I discovered Chinese tea was more to my taste than Ceylon or Indian.

I don't like coffee at all

I do - very strong and black.