Bad Girls: The Musical posts closing notices
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
LESS than two months after opening (September 12, 2007), Bad Girls: The Musical has posted early closing notices at the Garrick Theatre. Although originally booking until March 1, 2008, it will now close on November 17, 2007.
Previously Posted: It has now been confirmed that Bad Girls: The Musical will open at the Garrick Theatre on September 12, 2007 (previews from August 16).
As well as featuring original Leeds cast members, the London production will include David Burt, Sally Dexter and, from the original television show, Nicole Faraday (Snowball Merriman in two series) and Helen Fraser (Sylvia ‘Bodybag’ Hollamby in all eight series).
Burt (Jim Fenner) has appeared numerous times in the West End – in The Woman in White (as Count Fosco), Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, La Traviata, Les Miserables, Napoleon, The Far Pavilions and Show Boat.
Dexter (Yvonne Atkins) has been nominated twice for an Olivier Award – for her portrayal of Anna in the National Theatre’s 1998 production of Patrick Marber’s Closer, and her role as Nancy in the London Palladium’s 1995 production of Oliver!.
Her other recent West End credits include Theatre of Blood again at the National Theatre (2005), The Old Masters at the Comedy Theatre (2004), and Billy Elliot The Musical (as Mrs Wilkinson).
From the Leeds production are Laura Rogers as Helen Stewart; Julie Jupp (Bat Boy, Honk) as Julie Saunders; Amanda Posener (Caroline, or Change) as Denny Blood; Caroline Head as Nikki Wade; Rebecca Wheatley (Fame, Casualty) as Julie Johnson; and Chris Grierson (Blondel, Hollyoaks) as Justin Micklewaite.
Also from the Leeds production is director Maggie Norris.
Previously Posted: Although exact dates have yet to be confirmed, a stage adaptation of the popular television series Bad Girls, Bad Girls: The Musical, will open at the Garrick Theatre in September 2007.
The TV drama, set in fictional Larkhall prison, ran for eight years – between 1999 and 2006 – and the musical version revolves around key characters from the first series, in a story of deception, romance, revenge, and the occasional riot!
Helen Stewart, the new idealistic Wing Governor, has to battle against the devious and corrupt Jim Fenner who, aided and abetted by Sylvia Hollamby, is up to his usual seedy tricks – exploiting the female prisoners.
But on the other side of the bars ‘top dog’ Shell Dockley, described by a judge as ‘evil personified’, and her motley crew of fellow cons have their own disputes to settle.
Amid all this tension, romance blossoms between Stewart and beguiling inmate Nikki Wade. However, a death on the wing forces the two women to take sides and seek their own justice.
The musical, which has a book by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus, and music and lyrics by Kath Gotts, includes the songs The A-List, One Moment, The Baddest and the Best, All Banged up and Freedom Road.
Bad Girls: The Musical received its world premiere in July 2006 at Leed’s West Yorkshire Playhouse where it ran for six weeks.
The Garrick Theatre is currently dark following the scheduled closure of Treats on May 26, 2007.