Lend Me A Tenor The Musical
book and lyrics by Peter Sham, music by Brad Carroll
choreography by Randy Skinner
music direction by Paul Gemignani
directed by Ian Talbot
presented by Martin Platt & David Elliott, Eileen and Allen Anes, with Jason E. Grossman & M. Kilburg Reedy (Radio Mouse Entertainment)
with Sophie-Louise Dann, Cassidy Janson, Damian Humbley, Matthew Kelly, Michael Matus, Joanna Riding, Gay Soper and ensemble
at the Gielgud Theatre, West End, London / Theatre Royal Plymouth, U.K.
Lend Me A Tenor The Musical is based on the award-winning West End and Broadway hit comedy by Ken Ludwig. It takes place in Cleveland in 1934, where Tito Merelli, the world’s greatest tenor, is on the bill to save the struggling local opera company by singing a benefit performance of Verdi’s Otello. When right before the performance, he is discovered to be incapacitated, the opera performance will have to be cancelled. It will be a disaster for the Cleveland opera.
However, Saunders, the head of the opera, comes up with a plan. Since no one else knows that Tito is unable to perform, Max, the opera director’s meek assistant, is given the daunting task of stepping into the Otello role and pretend to be Tito. Chaos ensues – including mistaken identities, slamming doors, a jealous wife, shrimp gone bad and the Cleveland Police department.
This wonderful show opened originally at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 2006. My partner, Martin, had worked with the composer, Brad Carroll, on a developmental production of The Count of Monte Cristo, and Brad invited Martin out to Utah to see the show. Martin came back to NYC saying “there’s a great show here” and we partnered with Eileen and Allen Anes (big supporters of the Utah production) to produce the show in New York. In the midst of doing so, the Araca Group announced they were reviving Ludwig’s play Lend Me A Tenor, set for Broadway’s next season. That took New York off the table for us, and so we looked across the pond and decided to produce the show in the U.K.
The play had originally been done in London (produced by a very young Andrew Lloyd Webber, of all people) and we felt confident that U.K. audiences were well versed in the farce and antics that filled our show. We premiered the show at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth to rave reviews and a “What’s On Stage Awards” Nomination for Best Regional Production. 10 months later, we secured a booking at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End with a June opening set in 2011. The show earned four-and five-star notices and regular standing ovations from its delighted audiences.
“A good-hearted show with real laughs” – THE TIMES
“Far and away the most accomplished musical comedy opening in the West End this season”
—THE STAGE “Outstanding! I love this new musical comedy!” — THE INDEPENDENT
We assembled a brilliant creative and production team, including director Ian Talbot and worked again with the incomparable Paul Gemignani as Music Director. Our cast included Sophie Louise Dann, who would be nominated for an Oliver for her role in the show and Cassidy Janson, who would go on to star in Beautiful, playing the role of Carol King only a few years later.
This show will remain always one of the highest moments for me in the professional theatre.
